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Newsletter ~ 20 March, 2025
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From the Principal
Tena koutou ngā whānau, ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa,
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It is hard to believe we are at the end of week 7; this term has just flown by! However, when we reflect we also realise we have achieved a lot, both in the classroom and behind the scenes. Teachers have focussed on embedding the new Mathematics curriculum in the classroom, and we have been discussing how we are able to effectively report on the Mathematics curriculum scope and sequence which is quite explicit as to the requirements for students at each year level. As we adapt our reporting for parents we will keep you informed about any changes.
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Over the past week we have had some of our swimmers attend the South-East Zones swimming competition. Well done to those students for representing our school, and thank you to Kate for your assistance with this. Over the last two days we have also had cycle-safe, which is run by the City Council and ensures that our students are aware of safe cycling practices, especially around our Diamond Harbour roads.
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Coming up next week is our termly Enviroafternoon. This is next Tuesday and a number of our students will be going down to Orton Bradley with our Nature Agents programme. Through this we monitor the ongoing quality of the water, and, with a number of other schools who monitor other streams in Canterbury, this data is shared through an online portal that enables scientists to monitor water quality. We have been part of this initiative for a number of years, and it is a wonderful way to engage students with real-world science, and provide opportunities for them to be ‘citizen scientists.’ Other students ensure the native plantings are thriving (not that they will need watered after the rain this week), monitor predator cameras, and engage in environmental activities around the school. We run these events near the end of each term and if you ever want to assist on these afternoons please contact Kat Pringle.
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Please also remember that Book Week is week 9 this year. We moved it from Term 3 and that generally is such a busy term. We have our Book Character parade on teh Wednesday and out PJs and Storybook Time on Thursday. Hopefully it doesn't catch anybody unaware.
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Board elections are coming up later this year. If you are potentially interested in school governance and wish to learn more about how you can contribute to the school through a role on the Board you are welcome to contact any of our current Board members, or pop along to a Board meeting.
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Best wishes for a wonderful weekend.
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Tuesday Sport - Pioneer Basketball
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Every Tuesday afternoon, the year 7s and 8s do basketball training on the court with Ollie from Pioneer Stadium. He comes and teaches us ball skills like dribbling and shooting. We tend to be in two groups, doing separate skills per group. He gets us to play a game where one group has to shoot the ball and the other group has to run around the court and whichever group finishes first wins. After practicing our skills we play a game. Each week we are improving. We will be doing sports with Ollie every week for the next 5 week’s.
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Tuesday Sport - Cricket Skills
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On the first Tuesday of sport for term one, we got split into
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groups (I was in group 1).
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First we did under armed throws to our partners (I was with Jack). Then we split our group into two groups. The two groups both formed a circle. Somebody had to stand in the middle of the circle and throws a tennis ball to somebody standing up and then they have to run around the circle. It was a race between the two teams.
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Next we played french cricket. It a simple version of cricket. It wasn't as fun as normal cricket but still very fun.
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The second Tuesday my group started over-arm throwing.
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The people who played cricket stood further back.
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Then Jack and I taught everyone the basics of bowling. It was really fun!
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On the first Tuesday sports of term 1, We got split into groups. Our group was playing cricket.
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First, we did underarm throws [I was with Luke]. We were about 2 meters away from each other. Then we split the group into 2 groups. We went into a circle. Somebody had to go In the middle they threw a tennis ball to somebody standing up. Then they ran around the circle. It was a race between the teams. Finally, we played French cricket. Your legs were the wickets and you had to run.
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In week 2 we were doing overarm throws. The people who play cricket, including me, went further back. Then we played French cricket in two groups. Finally, we taught everybody the basics of bowling.
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People are getting better at underarm, over-arm, and bowling. We are hoping to play a game of cricket on the pitch by the end of term.
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Patiki Science
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How does the water cycle work?
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First we put boiling water in the bowl, then we put cling wrap on the glass bowl and we put hairspray in the bowl and we waited for the water to rise up then the rain came down. There was a big drop and when you touched the cling wrap it would follow your finger.
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PCT Competition
On Monday the 10th of March two teams of 4 (Team one Lewis, Finn, Payton and Jessie) (Team two Mickle, Kaia, Kate - Lily and Bluebelle) went to Cowles Stadium to participate in the PCT competition. We all went on a bus but someone was late and the girls were being annoying as usual. The bus was a very interesting ride to say the least.
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Once we got there and went inside, we got some wrist bands and found out that we were doing PCT last… (Sad). At 9:00 we had a briefing on how to do the pct and a bit of safety. The first activity we did was we had to stand on a tarp and get the least amount of folds. (We failed).
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The next activity was a minefield. We were in our group and we had to go through a minefield. We had to gather information about where to stand from the other groups. I feel like we did alright at it. We got to the end in like 11 moves or something like that. The person who was hosting it said that the course was wrong until he fixed something on the course.
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Then we went to play this game kinda like ripper rugby but you hold the person's shoulder in front of you and try to rip the person's tag on their back and everyone had one and if you got ripped you went to the front of the line to try and rip the other team's ones. Then we had like four of these small half pipes and we had a tennis ball and we had to try to get to the other side with the tennis ball in the pipe and when the pipe left our tube we had to go to the front. (We kinda failed).
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Once we finished those we went to see how fast you could sprint. The person who was running had a speed gun and he would count up our km/h in our team and combine them to see how fast each team got. My team got 87 km/h and the other DHS team got 86 km/h I think. (Not too sure).
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After that we went to this game with a rugby ball and we first played naughts and crosses but with bibs and we had to run to nine squares and put a bib in one of them and run back and tag the other person. Then we were in a whole group with our whole school and like 3 more and we had to make the rugby ball touch everyone's hands. The record was 11 seconds and the first one we got 13, then we got 11.98 and we realised we could easily beat it. Then we came up with strategy and we went close in and we got around 10 then we threw the ball at one person but it would skim like 8 peoples hands before it hit the person and we got like 7 seconds. But then we got a better one where one person just touched the ball with everyone's hands but they said it didn't count even though it followed all the rules but he didn't count it but we still smashed the record anyway.
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Then we played a game where we connected hands and had to disjoin. We did alright with that then we had to carry two air containers, two metal objects, a dead body and 2 gas canisters and we had to run to one side swap with the other two people. Only the air container and body could touch the ground. Then we switched and went back (we had some issues) then we checked out a police car and got to put some of the uniform on.
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Then we went inside for the PCT course. The first obstacle was wheeling to bins around some cones and we did fine on that then we ran one lap around the court then we went on a balance beam and that was easy but we had to do it one by one and at the end of it we all had to touch a blue mat until all our teammates finished. Then we did a long jump but it was quite short. Then we had a post sideways thing. Two had to go over and two had to go under and two went over then had to crawl under a bar then we jumped through a window. Then we climbed over a wall and carried a dead body, then climbed over a fence and we were finished. I think our time was alright. Once everyone's team finished they announced the top 3 teams who were in the finals. Neither of the DHS teams made finals but it was still fun to watch it. Then we got back on the bus and it was another interesting ride and we also are still continuing with a challenge for who can keep their wrist band on for the longest (still going and probably will for many more weeks) and then we arrived back at school around 12:30.
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Garden to Table News
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Every lunchtime Aria and me garden and we look after it and do the extra things that were not done on Fridays. Here are some of the things that we do
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Weed and harvest Strawberry patch
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Put the pumpkin vines in the middle compost bin
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Check the brassicas for caterpillars
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I like looking after the garden because we get to do all these gardening jobs and we get to do them in the silence of the garden. The first thing that we did was put the pumpkin vines in the middle compost bin. We took the pumpkin vines out of the garden bed . Then we put them in the middle compost bin then we did some weeding not much because then the bell rang and so we walked back to class
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At lunchtime Aria and I weeded the strawberry patch. We started at the front then we went around the strawberry patch. After we weeded the herb garden and then we watered the seedlings which is also a job that I do because there in a hot house they don't get the rain like the other big plants or flowers so we sprinkle them with the hose. The tomatoes also are in the hot house so we water them too.
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We didn't do Wednesday because of the weather. I'm pretty sure, cause it was raining really hard, I'm pretty sure.
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On Thursday lunchtime we harvested some of the Apples. We got 2 big baskets full then we checked the brassicas for caterpillars. And then we watered the hothouse. After that we harvested some of the strawberries that had maggots in them so we threw them away but all together we found six strawberries so we took them inside.
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On Friday lunchtime we collected the quinces which was very hard because most of the good ones were just out of our reach and most of them were split but then we came up with a solution to get them. We asked Karen Coom if we could get a chair and get the quinces so we got the quinces and in total, we got 13 big quinces. After that, we got all the quinces, apples and strawberries together and we put them in a basket. The apples on one side and the quinces on the other side and the strawberries in a little basket in the middle.
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Garden Diary by Grace North
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We are looking forward to celebrating our upcoming Book Week 31 March - 4 April.
Our popular storytime in pyjamas and hot chocolate will be on Tuesday 1 April starting at 5.30pm and finishing around 7pm in Te Kohanga. (The Year 2 and 3 classroom). We have a few guest readers and please remember to bring a cup for your hot chocolate. We welcome all those who would like to attend from our community ... not just to students who go to our school :-)
Our book week also coincides with International Children's Book Day which is celebrated around the world every year on or around 2 April (Hans Christian Andersen's birthday). As a school we are celebrating this day with our 'Dress up as a book character' parade and a visit from local author: Heather McQuillan. The parade will begin at 9.15am and we look forward to seeing all the book characters emerge and our author sessions will begin at the end of the parade.
Along with the above, there will be a different activity in the library during break times each day as follows:
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Monday 31 March: The Great Library Hunt
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Tuesday 1 April: Book Quiz
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Wednesday 3 April: Feed a Dragon
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Thursday 4 April: Chalk drawing and make something to keep
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Friday 5 April: Who am I?
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Posters detailing these will be around the school so all students are informed.
It is not compulsory to get involved in these events but traditionally it has been alot of fun.
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Dental Van Notice
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Mana Ake Drop In Session
Mana Ake will be visiting school on the 28th March. We will introduce the Mana Ake workers during assembly and they will then be free after assembly for you to introduce yourselves. There will also be some time available to book a 'Drop In' session if you would like to take up this offer
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What is a 'Drop-in' Mana Ake can provide advice and guidance through a 'drop-in'. Some examples of what other parents ask about at a drop-in:
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- Child experiencing big emotions
- Positive parenting
- Child's physical health eg sleep, eating, screen time etc
- Supporting boundaries and routines at home
- Supporting a child through grief, loss or change
- Concerns around child's friendships
- Anything that impacts the child's wellbeing
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How to I request a 'drop-in' session?
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Please contact Karen S to register interest karen.steedman@diamondharbour.school.nz
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This is a confidential service, school does not need to know what you wish to discuss
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We are looking for people who are willing to help run our Friday Coffee's this year, it would only be one or two Friday's a term.
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- able to use the coffee machine and are willing to be on the roster
- would like to learn how to use the coffee machine and be on the roster
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please contact Karen S - karen.steedman@diamondharbour.school.nz
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What's Coming Up at Diamond Harbour School
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- Tuesday, 25 March, School Enviro afternoon
- Thursday, 27 March, Junior School Swimming Display
- Monday 31 March - Friday 4 April, Book Week
- Wednesday, 2 March, Book Character Parade - 9:15am
- Monday, 7 April, Board Meeting - School Staff Room @ 6:30pm
- Thursday, 10 April, Celebration of Learning 5:00pm - 6:30pm
- Friday, 11 April, Diamond Challenge Assembly
- Friday, 11 April, Final Day of Term 1
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Lunch programme $3:50 per week (a slight increase from the last few years) - Thursdays
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After School Care: Contact Ursi - ursina.riederer@diamondharbour.school.nz
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What's Up In The Local Community
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Kia ora Diamond Harbour Kindy friends and family (past and present).
We are having a gathering at kindy to celebrate our 10th Anniversary!!
Date: Tuesday the 25th of March, 3:30-5:30 pm
We would love for you to join us and celebrate your part in helping to make our place so special.
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Rugby Club Registration
Kia ora,
The NZ Rugby Federation has changed the way that you register to play with a club. They are no longer using Sporty instead they are using Rugby Xplorer which is a more streamlined system.
To register to play with our club in the 2025 season please click on the link below. Rugby Xplorer Registrations
Please note if your child is under 16 you will first need to create an adult user and then create one for your child which is linked to your account. If they have played rugby within New Zealand previously their information should already be in the system.
Once you have registered with our club it will take you through to a payment screen which will show $0 as the payment options are still being developed. Our subs are as follows
$90 Junior Family
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$10 Social Member.
The subs are to be paid directly into the following bank account:
Diamond Harbour Rugby Club BNZ02-0864-0061089-00
Please include your child's name as the reference. .
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Art Tuition with Bex Gibbs
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Join Bex Gibbs for creative art sessions every Friday from 2:45 pm to 4:00 pm at Diamond Harbour School. These classes are a fantastic opportunity for aspiring artists to enhance their skills.
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Each session costs $25.00, and all materials are provided,
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To enroll or for more information, text 021 250 1596. — spaces are limited!
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What's Up Outside Diamond Harbour
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