Having trouble seeing this email? View it online
Western Heights School  
Week 7 T3
 
 
 
 
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
Our Charter
 
 
 
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 9 September. Rooms 18 and 23 hosting.
WHS Calendar
 
 
 
Friday 9/9
Western Heights Quiz Night - doors open at 6pm. Quiz starts at 7pm. $10 entry fee.
 
Friday 9/9
Whanau Time - 9:45am. Rooms 18 and 23 hosting. All welcome.
 
Monday 12/9
Paid Union Meeting - school continues as usual. Some classes combined though.
 
Thursday 15/9
Junior School Folk Dance Evening - in our hall from 6:30pm
 
 
Paid Union Meetings for Teachers and Support Staff
 







On the afternoon of Monday September 12 there is a combined Paid Union Meeting for our teachers and teacher aides who are Union members.
Some schools are closing at this time - we are not closing.
We have sufficient non-union-member staff to be able to provide care and supervision for our children. I am a union member, but will be staying on here to help with care and supervision.
School will finish at the usual time of 3pm. Thanks.

 
 
Reporting Student Absences - Important Reminder
 

We have to be really thorough in monitoring student attendance and absences.
This is all done electronically, every morning and every afternoon, for every child.
If a child is not present at roll call time, they are marked absent. If the teacher has not been notified about the absence, they record it as Unjustified. This is the Ministry term we have to use. Our Office team generate a spreadsheet of all Unjustified absences at about 9:15am. They then make phone calls to every family of every Unjustified Absence child. Many days this can take an hour and a half, as they have to keep ringing all available contacts for each child until they make contact with an caregiver/parent.
Those calls and that time would not be needed if parents let us know when their child is away.
You can imagine how expensive and frustrating this can be for us.
A further problem is that sometimes children are late to class but don’t collect a Late-pass from the Office. They then slip into class after the roll-call and our Office makes calls to the parents who are then worried because they sent their child to school.
We really need parents to do all they can to get their children to school on time.
We also really need late arriving children to report in to our Office and collect their Late-pass.
The final point we need to make is that our electronic attendance records are collected and collated by the Ministry of Education. Unjustified absences are noted as Truancy in their system - it’s the official term they use.
They follow up with us regarding our tracking off and support for Truant children, and in some cases they get involved and can take legal action against parents for not having their child at school.

There are a number of ways you can inform us about student absences - 
We need child’s name, room number and reason for absence.
Phone our main school number - 836 1213 - extension 202 - leave a message 
Phone our school mobile number - 021040 2125 - leave a message
Our school phone app available via iTunes or the Google Play stores is free - search under Western Heights - the app has an absence tab at the bottom that is auto configured to send the information to the right place with one click. It makes recording multiple-day absences a breeze also.





























 
 
Whole School Disco
 



























  

Next Friday, 16 September, our Student Council and our Jump Jam team will be holding a whole school disco to raise money towards costumes and expenses for the Jump Jam team to compete at the Nationals in Tauranga.
Junior and Middle School disco will be from 4.30 to 6pm and Senior School disco will be from 6.30 to 8pm. 
The theme for the Junior and Middle disco is Super Heroes and the theme for the Seniors is ‘Scary’.

We will be selling a ‘combo deal’ which includes entry, a slice of pizza and a drink for $5.

If you don’t order the combo - entry is $2, drinks $1, chocolate $1, glo sticks, 2 x $1, and cupcakes for $2. Extra pizza will also be available for $2 a slice.
Please preorder for disco combo (entry, pizza and drink) by Thursday 15th September

The Jump Jam team will perform at each disco.
Drop off at door by car park and pickup from deck facing garden.

PS: We will do a story and pictures on our Jump Jam team next week - they qualified  for Jump Jam
Nationals in the advanced Category - our first time ever as a school. Huge congratulations to our girls
and their awesome coach Jenna Aalbers.

 
 
A Growth Mindset Approach to Work and Retirement
 















My son: So dad, aren’t you going to retire, ever?
Me: Definitely. I’m not going to retire.
My son: Why?
Me: Because I think the whole idea that you work and then retire is flawed. 
If you count years till retirement it means two things:
1/ you suffer throughout your life and see the retirement as a moment in your life when you’ll be set free from this pain, when you can finally say “Now I’m a free man. I don’t have to work anymore,” and
2/ you treat work primarily as a way of earning money and not something that should, in and of itself, bring you joy, satisfaction and be important to you (have meaning).
And if that’s how you treat your work, your belief is that you need a lot of money in order to buy things that will bring you pleasure. You end up believing that the work itself is not meant to be pleasurable, that only the things that money will buy you will bring you pleasure.
Sure, you need money to buy food, clothes, pay for the rent, electricity, etc. but that shouldn’t be the main reason behind working. Work could be (and should be) so much more. If you love what you do, you don’t wait for the day when you can retire, you enjoy almost every single moment of your work, and eventually you don’t want to retire even if you can. After all you can choose not to retire. Retirement is not compulsory.
If you work solely for money (you do need it because you have to pay for stuff) and never ask yourself what it is that you would really enjoy doing, it’s obvious that after so many years of  saying “I hate Mondays!” at the beginning of each week and “Thank God it’s Friday!” at the end of each week you will be exhausted, fed up and want to retire. 
On the other hand, people who love what they do in life will never think of it this way. They want to keep on working because they enjoy it. They often work even when they’re in their 80s or 90s.
My son: But granny Anna couldn’t work now. Her health and age wouldn’t allow her.
Me: True, granny Anna couldn’t work physically anymore, but she could write books for example. Like Astrid Lindgren.
My son: [excited] Astrid wrote even in her 90s!
Me: See.
Let me tell you something else about Astrid. Over her lifetime Astrid wrote so many books that she didn’t need the pension at all. She created something of value that paid for her bills 10, 20, 30, 40 years later. Each new book that she wrote was one piece of a body of work that she created throughout her life and each brought her some money. Individually those contributions might not be large but because she wrote a lot, it soon added up. 

For me it reminds me of the importance of giving my son (and our WHS children) a broad education, lots of varied experiences and challenges, lots of encouragement and support, so he (and they) can find way to make a living that also makes a great life. To find a vocation that brings meaning, reward and purpose to their life as well as a good income. No small challenge!

 
 
Dads' Morning for our Junior School
 
















We started last Friday with Dad's Day for our junior school - and it exceeded all our hopes and expectations. More than 120 dads came along to support their junior school children. For the juniors it was just awesome to have their dad's come along and join in with their learning. This began with Jump Jam in our hall, and the dad's were anything but shy - some even joined our teachers on stage.
From there it was off to classrooms to see maths and literacy in action. 
Some classes then took on a game of football and the dads took up the challenge of joining in. Lots of skill and lots of laughs ensued.
The morning finished with morning tea.
A huge vote of thanks to all the dads who were able to make it. There is no question this needs to become an annual event - as a dad noted in this email afterwards...
Hi Ash
I just wanted to email and say thanks a lot to you and your team for organizing the fathers day with kids. It was really exciting to see how a typical morning is like for the kids and what this JUMP JAM was all about. My daughter talks about it almost every day. I can now more appreciate and understand when she tells me all about her day. Thanks to all the teachers for accommodating us in class and getting us involved in the activities. Again well done and I really enjoyed my morning.
Will be really good to do this every year.

 
 
Dad Stuff
 

Stuff You Ask Your Mum:
  1. mum where’s my towel?
  2. mum what’s for dinner?
  3. mom what time is it?
  4. mum where’s my schoolbag?
  5. mum where’s my phone?
  6. mum have you seen my homework?
  7. mum can you pick me up please?

Stuff You Ask Your Dad:
  1. dad where’s mum?




 
 
WHS Netball Club Prize Giving
 


















Last Friday concluded with our WHS Netball prize giving.
We have six teams competing - two from each of junior, middle and senior school areas.
All teams did really well. All played with pride, passion, and persistence. Many mentions of braving the conditions were made, and a big well-done to all our girls for giving their best, rain, hail or shine (often on the same day, it being Auckland after all).
Big thanks to all the parents who supported their children throughout the season, to our coaches who gave so much time and energy, to our umpires for your support (sometimes in challenging circumstances), and to coordinator extraordinaire Tanya Boyd. She did an awesome job and we are all very grateful to her.












 
 
Eesha Continues to Shine in Karate
 















Two weekends ago, August 28, I took part in the Mabuni Championships in Karate. I won a gold in Team Kata and a silver in Individual Kata and another silver in Kumite (Fight). In Kumite I beat a girl twice my size! 

My club is in Henderson called SSKANZ
I fought in the 8 - 9 Development and Premier divisions.

I am a brown belt with white tips, which means I am almost a brown belt.

Awesome Eesha.

 
 
Touch Rugby 2016/2017 at The Trust Stadium
 















Pearljam Sports are looking for teams or individuals to join their competition. If you don’t have a ready-made team, they will find one for you.
For more information go to 
Or contact Trevor on 0277760640
Or email Touch2gonz@xtra.co.nz

 
 
Some Growth Mindset Quotes
 






















We are what we repeatedly do. 
Aristotle

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. 
Maya Angelou

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. 
Socrates

Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself. 
Coco Chanel 

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one. 
Mother Teresa

Being different isn’t a bad thing. It means you’re brave enough to be yourself. 
Luna Lovegood 

Don’t doubt your value. Don’t run from who you are. 
Aslan

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
Thomas Alva Edison

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a products of my decisions. 
Stephen Covey 

It is our choices that show what we truly are far more than our abilities.
Albus Dumbledore

We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy. 
Albus Dumbledore

Sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think. 
Rumi

 
 
Scholastic Bookclub Orders
 

Brochures went out this week.  Orders close on Friday 9 September.  Please make cheques payable to Scholastic New Zealand.

 
 
  A Weekly Series on Ways to Boost Brain Power

 
 
 
  It’s Tomorrow - But It’s Not Too Late to Sign Up  
 
 
   
 
 
A Few Animal









 
Jokes...






 
 
Welcome to our Western Heights Whanau
 

The warmest of warm Western Heights welcome to... 
Leutu Hoeft-Uitime, Luke Thompson, Safa Irshad, Zayden Auva’a, Brigham Samuela and Elaine Xu.
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.

 
 
 
Unsubscribe                                         Update Email Address  
Western Heights School
126 Sturges Road
Henderson
Auckland 0612
P -  09 8361213
M - 021 779 009
 
 
 
 
 
© [2016] Western Heights School
Share on FacebookTwitterForward to a Friend                 







 
Direct Mail for Mac OS X This email is powered by Direct Mail for Mac OS X. Learn MoreReport Spam