| | | | Click on the Calendar icon for our Live Community Calendar | |
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| | Calendar of Events - through to Week 8 of Term 3: | |
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| | | | | Kia Ora, Talofa Lava, Malo e Lelei, Bula, Namastē, Namaskar, Ayubowan, Kia Orana, Taloha Ni, Kumusta, Aloha Mai E, Fakaalofa Lahi Atu, ‘Alii, Malo Ni, Halo Aloketa Aloha, Nī Hāo, Sawatdeekhrap Sabaidi, Terve, Dobradan, Bonjour, Hola, Guten Tag, Ciao, Salaam, Olā, Zdravstvuyte, Konnichiwa, Ahn Young Ha Se Yo, Hoi, Merhaba, Jambo, Yasou, Shalom, Salamat Siang, Ahoj, Xin Chāo, Sawubona, Bok, Yiassoo, Hej, Dia Dhaoibh, Cham Reap Sour, Hoi, Vanakkam. | | | |
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| | Basketball Champs and Runners Up:
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| | Sport is a wonderful vehicle for growing and developing character. Last Thursday we entered an A and a B Team in the West Zone Basketball Championships at the Trust Arena. Our A Team lost their second game to Summerland A, and it was a tough one. We were down by ten before we scored a point but straight after half time we were down by only two. That was as close as it got and in the end Summerland won by eight points. They had a North Harbour Rep who was head and shoulders ahead of us in experience, size and height - but not heart. More on Summerland shortly. The A Team won the rest of their games, setting up a semi final against St Paul’s school in Massey. It was an absolute battle but our athletes never gave a centimetre and won by two points. This meant the A Team made the final. Meanwhile, after losing only one game and a massive win in their semi final, our B Team made their final also. | |
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| | Our B Team were up against Ranui for their final. At half time it was two all. Sadly for our team, they couldn’t quite keep up in the second half and lost a close-fought game by four points. Our A Team had learned their lesson well from their first game against Summerland. They double teamed the star players, forcing the pass, then putting in lung-busting runs to shut down shots and possession. As a result they went out to a big lead and kept it, winning by 12 at the final whistle. Huge thanks and congratulations to coaches Tim Taura and Shradha Marshall. Special thanks to Henderson High School for providing student referees - they did an outstanding job. We were incredibly proud of our athletes, they gave their all - with skills, passion and exceptional determination. Our B Team took the loss really hard - but we are working on that, making sure we are able to handle losses with sportsmanship and equanimity. | |
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| | More on Danielle’s Toyworld Lego National Winning Entry: | |
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| | | | Last week we shared how Danielle has won tickets for four to Dubai for six days, with a visit to Legoland of course.
Here is her writing on the passion behind her Lego hobby. My Lego Passion Why Lego?
I have been building and playing with Lego for the last five years. Over those years, I decided to make Lego one of my passions. My true passion is art but I believe Lego is a form of art. You can build, play, and create with it! Those are the three reasons why I love Lego. My Lego Wins I have entered many competitions during my Lego journey. My family often goes to Toyworld's Lego School holiday events. In 2017, I won the Creative Free Build Competition for my ‘Nemo’ build. This year ( 2019 ) I won again with my Poppy Bunny creation - a bunny holding a Poppy because it was near Anzac Day and Easter - I won a Lego Movie 2 brick set. In the past three years, I entered and was chosen Store Winner in Henderson for the Toyworld NLBC ( National Lego Building Competition). Since 2016, I have entered the Toyworld NLBC and have been chosen as the Henderson Store Winner and Finalist every year. My creations were a Parrot for 2016, an amusement park for 2017 and a City Museum for 2018. This year my entry was a 5 - Storey Treehouse inspired by the 51 - Storey Treehouse authored by Andy Grifiths and Illustrated by Terry Denton and I won both the Store Winner for Henderson and was thevNational Grand Winner! The Prize included return flights for two adults and two children to LEGOLAND® Dubai, five nights accommodation at the LEGOLAND® Dubai Resort, four days admission for two adults and two children to LEGOLAND® Dubai, and NZD $1,000 spending money for the Grand Prize. If you have a passion for Lego, or you want to make an amazing build, you just have to imagine something big and bring that to life. If you encounter a problem, just keep on trying! | | | |
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| | | Sister Samantha with her winning entry at a different store. | | | |
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| | Queen’s Birthday Honours: | |
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| | | | Our warmest, proudest and sincerest congratulations and appreciation goes out to Mrs Laine Leata Tipi who was acknowledged in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her contribution to youth and education. • Mrs Laine Leata Tipi, JP, received the New Zealand Order of Merit award specifically for services to Pacific communities and education. She is WHS teacher Stephanie Tipi’s mum, and again this year brought her Samoan Kindy children here to perform for classes during Samoan Language week. | | | |
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| | At top right ex student Charlotte Brown continues to shine, this time competing at the Auckland Duathlon Championships in Pukekohe recently. Charlotte finished fourth. Awesome.
At right below and below: Hands-on learning in room seven. We never did cool learning like this in my day, but that was partly because electric beaters hadn’t been invented!
The proof of the learning is in the pudding as they say, and in this case they are certainly right.
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| | | | Celebrating our students - in and out of school time: Abi getting her final two stickers in her swimming level. | | | |
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| | | | These happen for all children on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 July - in week 10 - the final week of this term. You will have received a GREEN notice about this from your child. You can book your time online at www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the code 36yd9. School will finish at 12.30pm on both these days. It would be greatly appreciated if you could make arrangements for your children to be picked up early on both days. If this is not possible, we have the ability to supervise a limited number of children on site. This must be arranged by emailing julieo@westernheights.school.nz to arrange supervision at school until 3pm.
Please state your child’s full name, room number, which days you need supervision for and what time they will be picked up (or if they are to go to After School Care etc). Thank you. | | | |
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| | Why You Should Write More Thank You Notes: | | | |
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| | BY JAMIE DUCHARME AUGUST 31, 2018 Research has shown time and time again that being grateful is good for your health, mood and general well-being. In fact, it’s one of the easiest things you can do to increase your mental health. But if you can’t remember the last time you sent a real thank-you note, a recent study may explain why. The research, published recently in Psychological Science, says people chronically underestimate the power of expressing gratitude and overestimate how awkward it will be, which may keep them from engaging in the simple but impactful practice. | |
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| | “Saying thanks can improve somebody’s own happiness, and it can improve the well-being of another person as well — even more than we anticipate, in fact,” says study co-author Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. “If both parties are benefitting from this, I think that’s the type of action we should be pursuing more often in our everyday lives.”
Kumar’s research involved a series of experiments. Each one differed slightly, but the general concept remained the same: People were asked to send a letter to someone in their life, expressing gratitude. Before sending the letters, the writers were asked about how they expected the recipient to react. Then, the researchers polled the recipients about their actual reactions.
They found that writers consistently misjudged how their letters would land, overestimating awkwardness and underestimating the recipients’ reported mood and surprise at receiving the note. Kumar says that imbalance points to different priorities and concerns from writers and recipients.
“Writers think about things like, ‘Am I going to get the words just right and am I going to be articulate?’ That might be a barrier to actually sitting down
and writing the thing,” he says. “But when you’re the recipient of something like a gratitude letter, you tend to evaluate things on the basis of warmth and prosocial intent. As long as somebody’s expression is sincere and warm and friendly, recipients are often going to have a very positive reaction to that.” (For what it’s worth, the study also found that recipients tended to view the letters as warmer and more articulate than the writers thought they would.)
The researchers also surveyed writers before and after they composed their notes, and found that writing the gratitude letters consistently put them in more positive spirits — a finding in keeping with plenty of existing research on the mood-enhancing effects of gratitude.
The new study didn’t look at whether other forms of expressing gratitude — like sending a quick text message, or thanking someone in person — would have different effects. But Kumar says the broader takeaway is that we shouldn’t let our own self-consciousness stand in the way of giving genuine thanks. To make it easier to follow through, he suggests keeping cards on hand, so you can compose a note whenever the mood strikes.
“Writing gratitude letters seems to come at little or no real cost. People were composing these really thoughtful messages in just a matter of minutes,” Kumar says. “The broader message is that people should express gratitude more often, and precisely how you go about doing that might not matter that much.” | |
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| | Somehow children have a knack for finding puddles and falling into them. The muddier the puddle, the more likely they are to fall in. The muddier the ground the more likely they are to fall over. This is why every child needs a spare set of clothes to keep in their bag - so we can get them into warm dry clothes after an emergency puddle event. Your help in this will be greatly appreciated. | |
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| | Give. Kid A Blanket - or A Jacket: | |
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| | | | Western Heights School is supporting this worthy cause. `Give a Kid a Blanket' is a community action of kindness. We gather donations of warmth from across the wider Auckland area and beyond, and gift these to kids and families in need. Our aim is for recipients to feel both warmed and valued by the community. Our focus is to celebrate the acts of kindness many are able to make, and acknowledge the important work of those working with families from health and social agencies. - When. Collecting runs from June 1st - July 21st 2019 - What to donate. New and excellent condition pre-loved blankets, sleeping bags, duvets, baby sleep sacks, winter bedding, duvet covers, new pillows, new hot-water bottles. pyjamas, beanies, socks, jumpers, winter coats, rain coats, toiletries. (NO other types of clothing thanks) - Where. Follow the project on the 'Give a Kid a Blanket' page on Facebook. There is a list of over 70 places you can take donations to across the wider Auckland area, from Warkworth to Pokeno and most places in between - including at Western Heights School. At Right Above: Our collection to date. Thank you so much to all those kind families who have contributed. You are making a big difference. Hopefully we will get lots more donations and really make an impact in west Auckland. Thanks all. | | | |
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| | Parenting - Teaching - Learning = A Weekly Series: | |
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| | Please help keep your children safe by insisting they wear a helmet when scootering to or from school. AND make sure it is done up - firmly fastened!. I have seen the severe brain damage a child can suffer when they hit a concrete curb with no helmet to save them. Please don’'t let this happen to your child. | | | |
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| | | | We are holding our Annual Book Fair from Monday 1 July to Friday 5 July. Opening times are : Monday: 3pm to 3:30pm Tuesday: 8:30 to 9am and 3 to 3:30pm Wednesday: 8:30 to 9am and 1pm to 6:45pm Thursday: 8:30 to 9am and 1pm to 5:30pm Friday: 8:30 to 9am | | | |
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| | David Pogue’s Life Hacks - A Series - Food Tips: | |
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| | Welcome to our Newest Western Heights Whanau: | |
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| | | | No one new to welcome this week. | | | |
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| | As part of our ongoing initiative to move towards Zero Waste, we no longer send home printed newsletters. This way of keeping you in touch with our school is mobile friendly and enviro-friendly. | |
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| | | Should you not want to receive our newsletter via email, please click the Unsubscribe link above. | |
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| | | | | Thank you for reading our newsletter. Thank you for supporting our awesome school and wonderful teachers. | | | |
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