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Western Heights School
Our Vision We are … Caring, Creative, Confident, Cognisant, Connecting, Contributing, Collaborative. Our Mission Our children love to learn to lead as they dream, grow, shine and reflect. Love - ourselves - others - our world Learn about - ourselves - others - our world Lead - ourselves - others - in our world |
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Calendar of Events
Whanau Time is every second Friday in our hall, starting at 9:45 am sharp. Everyone is warmly welcomed to join us for these special WHS family occasions. Next Whanau Time - Friday 12 August. Rooms 16 and 21 hosting.
WHS Calendar
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Tuesday 23/8
Pubertal Education Talk for parents of senior children. 5 - 6pm in our MLE.
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Wednesday 24/8
Junior School Olympic Sports Day
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Friday 25/8
Whanau Time - 9:45am. Rooms 3, 4, 11 hosting. All welcome. |
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Tuesday 30/8
School Photos. Netball photos from 2:30pm - 3:15pm.
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News Flash
Tomorrow morning, Friday 19 August, we need ALL lunch orders to be placed before 9am please. This is because morning tea will be at 10am tomorrow due to stage performances happening in our hall throughout the day. Orders need to be in before 9am so our Tuckshop Team have time to process the orders and prepare the food in time for our 10am morning interval. Thanks. |
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How The Olympic Games Relates To Learners at WHS
The Motto of the Olympic Games is “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. When reflecting on this in relation to Western Heights school I thought we could look at an alternative that fits well for our children and our focus on setting goals, planning to achieve them and persevering to achieve them - “Dream, Dare, Do”. Dream what you want to be Dream what you want to do Dare to Believe you can be it Dare to Believe you can do it Do the hard work and persevere Dare to Dream Dare to Believe Dare to Do
So the Olympic Message for Western Heights is May You All Dream Dare and Do with pride and perseverance May What you Dream Dare and Do come true |
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Reflections on 21st Century Skills
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Our children need 21st century skills to be able to successfully participate in the global economy. What, exactly, are 21st century skills? It depends on who you ask. A recent Hanover Research report, A Crosswalk of 21st Century Skills, sheds some light on the subject. Hanover Research recently analyzed six major educational frameworks designed to improve the development of 21st century skills. This included frameworks and critical skills listed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Tony Wagner’s Seven Survival Skills, the Metiri Group’s enGauge framework, the Iowa Core 21st Century Skills, developed by the Iowa Department of Education, the Connecticut State Department of Education and the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S). While each framework has slightly different list of critical 21st century skills, all agree on four critical areas for development: - Collaboration and teamwork
- Creativity and imagination
- Critical thinking
- Problem solving
“It is easy to see how these skills could be valuable, and can easily interact with one another,” according to the Hanover Research report. “More than technological expertise, 21st century skills refer to content knowledge, literacies and proficiencies that prepare individuals to meet the challenges and opportunities of today’s world,” stated the Kamehameha Schools report, An Overview of 21st Century Skills. Other Critical Skills for Success. The Hanover Research analysis also identifies a second tier of important 21st century skills, present in five of the six major frameworks: - Flexibility and adaptability
- Global and cultural awareness
- Information literacy Leadership
The following skills were present in four of the six frameworks: - Civic literacy and citizenship
- Oral and written communication skills
- Social responsibility and ethics
- Technology literacy
- Initiative
As a school, we focus on the Seven Cs - Caring
- Critical
- Creative
- Confident
- Connecting
- Contributing
- Collaborative
Over the next week or two we will look at our Seven Cs and our school values. It is good for us to keep up with current research and reflect on where we are going and why. We are confident our focus on the Key Competencies, 21st Century Skills, Love to Learn to Lead and Pay It Forward, are helping to ensure our children are prepared for all 21st Century challenges. |
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More on Growth Mindset
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Eight Tips for Promoting a Growth Mindset in Our Kids: Help children understand that the brain works like a muscle, that can only grow through hard work, determination, and lots and lots of practice. Don’t tell students they are smart, gifted, or talented, since this implies that they were born with the knowledge, and does not encourage effort and growth. Let children know when they demonstrate a growth mindset. Praise the process. It’s effort, hard work, and practice that allow children to achieve their true potential. Don’t praise the results. Test scores and rigid ways of measuring learning and knowledge limit the growth that would otherwise be tapped. Embrace failures and missteps. Children sometimes learn the most when they fail. Let them know that mistakes are a big part of the learning process. There is nothing like the feeling of struggling through a very difficult problem, only to finally break through and solve it! The harder the problem, the more satisfying it is to find the solution. Encourage participation and collaborative group learning. Children learn best when they are immersed in a topic and allowed to discuss and advance with their peers. Encourage competency-based learning. Get kids excited about subject matter by explaining why it is important and how it will help them in the future. The goal should never be to get the ‘correct’ answer, but to understand the topic at a fundamental, deep level, and want to learn more. How can we as educators adopt a deeper, true growth mindset, one that will show in our classroom practices? You may be surprised - by acknowledging that 1) we’re all a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets 2) we will probably always be 3) if we want to move closer to a growth mindset in our thoughts and practices, we need to stay in touch with our fixed-mindset thoughts and deeds. |
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Pay It Forward For Vanuatu - from Lauren Nummy
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Room 1 is Paying It Forward to a small school in Port Vila. After Cyclone Pam hit the Port Vila area in March 2015 many schools in the area have been struggling to rebuild and are very low on supplies. As Lauren is fortunate enough to be visiting Vanuatu in the upcoming school holiday break it provides an opportunity for her to deliver the supplies and bring back photos to Room 1 so they can see the actual children they have helped. Although it would be wonderful to take loads of supplies, she is limited to the amount she can squeeze in with her own luggage on the plane, so consider weight/size of your donated item. Some ideas: 1. Pencils, colour pencils, sharpeners, felts, pens, boxes of chalk, glue sticks 2. Colouring books, small readers, educational posters 3. Basic first Aid supplies- plasters etc. $2 shop type reading glasses. 4. Deflated balls, ball pump, frisbees, small percussion instruments 5. Puzzles, activity books Items can be dropped off to Room 1 no later than Friday 26 August, in order to allow time for packing and organising. Thanks for your support. Please Note: That is only a two week opportunity to donate |
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A Weekly Series on Ways to Boost Brain Power
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WHS Quiz Night |
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Springboard Diving Learn-To-Dive Programmes.
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Free Have-a-Go Sessions in the Holidays Western Heights School was very fortunate to have expert coaches from Auckland Diving and Diving New Zealand visit over the last two weeks to deliver a programme introducing this exhilarating sport and testing our children for potential aptitude in it. Relatively unknown to most children in New Zealand as a sports option, there are opportunities available for all students. Some year 4-6 student received a notice to take home following these classes. For others you may wish to collect a letter from reception, or one can be emailed to you. The Free Come-And-Try offer still exists at the WestWave Aquatic Centre through Term 3. These one hour sessions are available at: WestWave Aquatic Centre at 11:30am on Saturdays 13, 20 and 27 August and at 3:30pm on Tuesdays 16, 23 and 30 August If you want to take advantage, registrations for these free sessions can be made by emailing lindsaystone@xtra.co.nz If you are unable to make these times email anyway and they’ll find another session that suits. |
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Scholastic Book Club Orders
Scholastic order forms went home last week on Wednesday. Orders close Friday 19 August. Please make cheques payable to Scholastic NZ. Thanks. |
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Creative Art Courses
I AM I Creative Arts Courses 20 Alderman Drive, Henderson Semester 2 August 14 - December 9 $60 (15 wks)
Primary/Intermediate * Hip hop primary (5-9yrs) Tues 3.45 – 4.30pm * Hip hop intermediate (10-12yrs) Tues 4.30-5.30pm * Break Dance (6-13yrs) Wed 5-6.00pm
To Enrol: For more info: |
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Welcome to our Western Heights Whanau
The warmest of warm Western Heights welcome to... Daniel Dones, Othniel Dones, Aiden David and Lukas Smith. We are delighted to have you join our Western Heights whanau and hope and trust you all feel right at home here, are happy, and Loving, Learning and Leading.
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Western Heights School126 Sturges Road Henderson Auckland 0612 P - 09 8361213 M - 021 779 009
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