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Western Heights School
Our Vision We are … Caring, Curious, Creative, Critical, Confident, Connecting, Contributing. 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
We Love to Learn so we can Learn to Lead so we can Lead with Love |
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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 17 March - rooms 5 and 26 hosting.
WHS Calendar
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Tuesday 14/3
Junior School Holi Celebrations at WHS - a Festival of Colour, Light and Love.
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Wednesday 15/3
Chinese Community Hui in our ILE - in our senior classroom block - from 7pm
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Friday 17/3
Whanau Time - rooms 5 and 26 hosting. 9:45 in our hall. All welcome.
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Friday 17/3
St Patrick’s Day - dress in Emerald Green (or any green) and celebrate all things Irish.
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Chinese Community Hui - Wednesday Evening:
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Thank you to those who attended our Pasifika Community Hui. Some great discussion and ideas resulted. Our community hui this week is for our Chinese Community. Please come along and find out how our children are progressing, share ideas and ask any questions you may have. 各位家长你们好： 法律规定我们每年需要和毛利社区进行磋商。 在奥克兰，我们有一个强大的太平洋岛屿族裔。 同时，奥克兰也是世界上最大的太平洋岛屿族裔城市。在新西兰，相比于其他种族，毛利和太平洋岛屿族裔的成就水平存在着差异。政府已经采取了很多相应的措施来解决这个问题。在这个案例中，在成就水平上的差异已经小于新西兰其他地区。尽管如此，还是存在着小的差异，所以这也是我们这个研讨会的初衷，为了更好的与毛利和太平洋岛屿族裔社区合作去改善这个问题。 同时 Western Heights学校现在有大量的华裔和印度学生。英文并不是这些家长的第一语言，更不是学生祖父母的第一语言。通常祖父母非常关心和支持我们的孩子，所以我们为他们提供口语翻译的服务。 这有助于我们获得一些宝贵的信息， 比如人生观，价值观。同时也提供了一个很好的机会， 可以让大家用自己的语言咨询并得到回答。 请注意： 学校决定举办一个华裔社区研讨会 – 3月15日， 周三晚上7点。 我们可以相互分享自己的成就，回答你们的问题， 找出你们对孩子的具体目标和愿望，同时听取你们的意见和建议。希望家长们可以借此机会帮助我们更好的支持孩子们在Western Heights学校的学习。 *参加华裔社区研讨会的家长请与华语联系人： Candy 021-330159 | 电邮：candy_lifei@hotmail.com Thank you to Candy Xu for her translation support, and for being an awesome supporter of Western Heights generally.
Hui Schedule: Chinese Community Hui - Wednesday 15 March - 7pm in our ILE - Senior School Block Indian Community Hui - Wednesday 22 March - 7pm in our ILE - Senior School Block Board of Trustees Meeting - Wednesday 29 March at 7pm in Principal’s office - no hui this week. Full Community Open Hui - Wednesday 5 April - 7pm in our ILE - Senior School Block |
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Keep Up With the Play Through Our (Many) Websites:
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Rainy Day Traffic Issues:
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We REALLY need your help on this one. Auckland has a fair number of rainy days, so we need to understand that and prepare for it. A rain jacket or poncho that stays in your child’s schoolbag is a great idea. A compact umbrella to fit in the schoolbag is a good idea. A walk in a bit of rain is also a good idea - much better than parking illegally just so your child doesn’t have to walk a few extra metres. We are regularly receiving very angry phone calls, visits and emails from local residents about parents parking in the Palomino Shopping carpark; parking in driveways and on footpaths on Riesling; disobeying basic rules, such as stopping traffic to try to enter our drop-off zone from the wrong end; and parking on the footpath in front of the Sturges Road Kindy. No child is going to die from getting wet outside our school. However one could easily die or suffer serious injury with the way some parents are parking and stopping so dangerously.
I am out in our drop-off zone most days and will help keep traffic flowing. When you enter the drop-off zone, pull forward right up to near the exit if you are doing a quick stop and collect. This allows a lot more cars to come in behind you and do the same thing, thus stopping some of the traffic blockages on Sturges. We all need to give this some serious thought friends, your support will be greatly appreciated. |
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Key Competencies - Life Skills for All Learners
There are five Key Competencies - Thinking; Relating to Others; Understanding Signs, Symbols and Texts; Managing Self; Participating and Contributing. We simplify these down to our TRUMPs Thinking; Relating; Understanding; Managing; Participating. |
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Key Competencies - Relating to Others
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A First Look: Relating well to a diverse range of people involves skills such as: - listening actively
- recognising different points of view
- negotiating and sharing ideas.
These skills are important in a wide range of situations and they involve much more than being nice to other people or working well in a group.
A Deeper Look: Relating to others involves knowledge as well as skills. For example students learn about how and why people might be different from each other. One way to help students grow their knowledge of difference is to help them see things from other people’s perspectives – to stand in other people’s shoes. Often cultural or interpersonal differences are underpinned by differences in values. The New Zealand Curriculum lists values that students need to explore. How To Develop the Skills: We can make sure our students have opportunities to work in different and diverse learning groups, on tasks where different points of view can be heard. These tasks might look very different depending on the curriculum area. For example, if students are developing a product in technology, they have to imagine the needs of a range of users. In English they might be exploring a novel that introduces characters from a different era or country, where they need to work out why different people think and behave as they do in the story. In this type of learning there will not be one “right” answer so students are also building their resilience. Adults understand the importance of relating to others, because being a good team worker is important for most jobs nowadays. Many jobs are “knowledge work” where people with different expertise get together to create ideas or products that none of the team members could have created on their own.
Another 21st century demand is learning to use the Internet wisely. It can be unhealthy for people to get stuck in virtual conversations where everyone thinks like they do, rather seeking out and evaluating different ways of looking at an issue. Being comfortable with difference is yet another of the many challenges that demand both the competencies of relating to others and of managing self.
Three things to try at home: Talk openly about different ways of “being” in the world. Compare the different cultures in your life, so you can talk about what’s right in different contexts, and why. If you model respect, children are more likely to show it too. Take an “opposite point of view” from time to time. It is great for children to practice seeing things from different perspectives and to understand that respectful debate is healthy. Think about how you negotiate with your children and what you model by the ways you respond during those interactions.
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Thinking Key Competency Poster - Missed Last Week
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Great Results from Zone Swimming Sports:
A really big thank-you to everyone who supported our Zone Sports Swim Team - especially to Jo-Ann Yukich who trained our children hard and prepared them well. We finished third equal overall. 10 year girls freestyle - finalists
9 year girls freestyle - winners
9 year boys freestyle - finalists
8 year mixed freestyle - second
10 year boys backstroke - finalists
9 year girls backstroke - winners
9 year boys backstroke - second
8 years mixed backstroke - finalists
9 years and under medley - finalists
10 years medley - finalists
9 years and under freestyle (8 children) - winners
10 years and under freestyle (8 children) - third I’ll have some names of stars to share next week. |
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Structured Play Resources Needed Please:
Our juniors need pine off-cuts for them to drill and hammer into. If you have smooth pine off-cuts you’d care to donate, also down-pipes, plumbing or PVC pipe off-cuts. A lot of little Bob (and Bobette) the Builders would love to receive them. Donations can be dropped off at room three or to our office. Thanks. |
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Western Heights School Saturday Netball Teams
A message from our WHS Netball Club coordinator, Tanya Boyd. The season is nearly upon us and things are looking bright for us. Most of our teams are nearly full, but there is definitely room for an extra one or two players in most teams. If your child is interested in playing this season please contact Tanya at tanyab@westernheights.school.nz Or collect a registration form from Tanya in room 6. Completed registration forms need to be in by this Friday 17 March. Thanks. |
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Receptionist / Assistant to Office Administrator & Directors
Receptionist / Assistant to Office Administrator & Directors required for busy consulting Structural Engineering practice in Henderson, Auckland. Hours 9 – 4, Monday to Friday. Role includes, but is not limited to, answering phones, administrative support to structural engineers, and general office duties. Knowledge in Microsoft Word & general computer skills is required. Please e-mail CV’s to mel@sullivanhall.co.nz or to contact for a more detailed job description. Closing date for applications, Monday 20 March 2017. |
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Good News from the eMail Desk
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Dear Mrs Hall,
Hello from Epsom! I really miss WHS, my school ANI is awesome but it is not the same as WHS. At ANI we get to do some really cool things, I could even visit Cairns in Australia - a special trip for a few students! I was the first person in my class to receive an award from my teacher Ms Major. Our class Rm 20 have a pretty full timetable every day. I also made friends with some very special people. On that note could you say hello to Alex, Cameron and Abel please, I miss them so much. Anyway, how are you doing? I think WHS is still the ideal place to be! I have so many questions, but I won't ask them all. It is pretty late now and I think I will get some rest.
Farewell until later,
Andrew Chen 
Hi Principal Ash This is Eason's mom Amanda. Attached please find the pictures taken last week. Eason had a great time during his two week short stay and he wishes so much to come back again to meet his classmates and next time stay longer. Wish you all the best
Amanda
Thanks Ash. It's an end of an era for us, we've been involved with Western Heights for eight years and it is a fantastic school. Alannah has been an awesome teacher for Kayla this year, as she was for Jayden’s final year. All the best for making it even better and thank you for being involved with our children. Kind regards,
Sandra and Dave
Evening Ash
Tonight I heard all about how 'Mr Maindonald was at the sandpit with his phone, and he was playing music and we played statues and it was so cool'!
Major highlight for Charlotte today.
Thank you so much for taking the time and being an awesome principal.
Have a great night.
Kind regards
Marisa |
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Pasifika Festival - An Event Not To Be Missed:
Western Springs Park will be transformed into 11 Pacific Island villages, each with a performance stage and market stalls. Experience the sounds and flavours of Pacific Island cultures without leaving Auckland. WHAT: 25th Pasifika Festival WHEN: Saturday 25 - Sunday 26 March TIME: Saturday from 10am - 5pm; Sunday from 10am - 4pm WHERE: Western Springs Park ENTRY: FREE!
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Lincoln Music School:
We still have spaces in our Saturday morning music classes for violin, recorder and guitar, held at Lincoln Heights School. We also have limited spaces for Saturday morning flute and clarinet and Tuesday afternoon guitar and flute classes. At $70 for primary and intermediate aged children and $220 for high school students and adults, it is a very affordable way to learn an instrument. |
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Latest Tech Offers for Western Heights - If Interested:
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Love Our Place and Our People
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I Teach...
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Thoughtful Thursday
I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
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Welcome to our Newest Western Heights Whanau
The warmest of warm Western Heights welcome to Shishant Kumar, Cecelia-Hanalei Matthes and Catarina Diogo. 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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