Tēnā Koutou, Talofa Lava, Malo e Lelei, Namaste, Ni sa bula, Noaia’e mauri, Fakalofa lahi atu, Kia Orana, Ni Hao, An Nyung Ha Sai Yo, Nay Ho, Hej, Hallo, Sawat Dee, Cześć, Goeie Dag, សួស្តី, Здравствуйте, hola. Greetings to our school families.

Welcome to Term 2! I really enjoy this term – the sport Inter School Zone Days kick in with Netball, Soccer and Rippa Rugby, the Year 6’s head off to Tongariro for Camp, and the adults have a good time at the PTA Quiz Night. Mid year reports and Parent Interviews happen at the end of Term 2 as well. Good times!

Our Value this term is Mana, Freedom.

Kei te kapu o to ringa te ao – The world is yours.

We teach that:

  • Freedom resides within the mind and heart (you can always own it)
  • Freedom is a precious gift.
  • There can be full freedom when rights are balanced with responsibilities. (Sometimes we have rules to ensure freedom – freedom doesn’t mean no rules)
  • There is full Freedom when everyone has equal rights.
  • All people have a right to be free. For all to be free, each one has to respect the rights of others. (This is key – you have the right to be free to choose, but your choices should not affect others freedom)
  • Inner freedom is experienced when I have positive thoughts for all, including myself.

Nga mihi,

Kathryn Ramel

Principal

Welcome to our new students – we hope you enjoy your time at our school!

Sol W, Scarlett G, Matilda G, Chelsea H, Max M, Nico M, Natalia P, Phoenix R, Caleb T

School Diary

Week 2: 10 – 14 May

  • Mon 10.5 Pubertal Health sessions start for Years 5 & 6
  • Tues 11.5 PTA Meeting – re Quiz Night. 7pm in the staffroom
  • Weds 12.5 Year 6 Camp Meeting
  • Fri 14 May Mini Gala 12pm (details below)

Week 3: 17 – 21 May

  • Fri 21.5 Full School Assembly 2:10pm (Pur 1 presenting)

Week 4: 24 – 28 May

  • Weds 26.5 BOT Meeting 6:30pm
  • Fri 28.5 MMK Raffle Draw

Mini Gala is next Friday, 12pm!


Our Mini Gala is an annual tradition here at SBS. 100% of profits raised go towards our Year 6’s attending Camp Tongariro next month. Our Year 5 & 6 students team up to design and run stalls at the event – the Year 5’s supporting the Year 6’s, knowing that they, in turn, will be supported next year. 

We believe in teaching kids they can work hard and contribute towards activities and expenses, not just stick their hands out and ask the Bank of Mum and Dad.

Everyone is welcome – many parents come too. Students bring pocket money to spend – please pop this in a named purse or zip seal bag. It’s amazing how much money is found on the ground and handed in, and when it’s named we can return it to the owner. We also recommend that junior students hand this to their teachers at the start of the day, to be handed back to them at the start of the gala.

There will be no pizza day next Friday – instead students can purchase sausages for lunch from the sausage sizzle at the mini-gala. 

If you have any goods for our second hand stall, we would love them! See you all next week!

Walkathon – what a huge success! Over $14,000 raised!

We are truly humbled at the huge support our Walkathon received. Over $14,000! Wow! 

Thank you to our Travelwise team, who organised a great Walkathon this year, featuring Fireman Morley with the fire engine, the PTA on the sausage sizzle and bake sale, and DJ Ramel re-living her younger years, running the music. A highlight was definitely the YMCA dance off between the PTA/parents and the staff, which we are going to say the staff won…..although the judge may have been biased. :-).

Walkathon funds will go towards providing more bike and scooter racks around the school to keep our wheels tidy and in good working order. We received a grant for a converted container and large set of different sized bikes to have here at school, for kids who bus etc and can’t bring their own. We will also be able to use some funds to increase our bike numbers.

Snells Beach kids are active kids!

PTA Quiz Night – Meeting next week

The SBS PTA Quiz Night has been an epic night of fun for the parents, and a huge support for our school over the years. We missed it when Covid robbed us of it last year! It takes a solid team of volunteers to organise this event, which is currently scheduled to go ahead on the last night of term, Friday 9 July. The Quiz Night is a fun evening to help organise – we need bar tenders, table waiters,  table setters/decorators and people to arrange auction items. There is a PTA Meeting next Tuesday 11 May at 7pm in the staffroom – we will make a decision if we have enough helpers to go ahead with this event there. 

Getting to School Safely

Many of you will be aware that there was an incident involving a Horizon School student being hit by a car at the end of last term. We are all thankful that this student was

relatively unharmed, and send our thoughts to the Horizon School community. Auckland Transport have now confirmed that the crossing outside Horizon School (that many of our students use), will be upgraded to make it more visible to traffic. This will happen in conjunction with our own crossing being installed, located where we currently manage our Kea Crossing before and after school.

A reminder that our crossing is patrolled from 8:30am – 8:50am, and from 3:00pm until 3:20pm. We recommend kids walking or riding to school come at this time, so we can help them safely across the road. If your child is travelling outside of these times (early, or after a sports practice etc), please remind them to use the existing zebra crossing further along Dawson Rd. The current Kea Crossing only operates when supervised.

We also recommend that students join our Walking and Riding School Buses as much as possible. For more details contact either Kerry Thomas kthomas@snellsbeach.school.nz or Shannon Corsan scorsan@snellsbeach.school.nz .

Huge thanks to Design by Morris & Co, https://www.designbymorrisandco.nz who have donated some kid sized high vis vests to keep our Walking School Bus kids super safe. We think they look great!

 

For our many new parents: Keeping in touch with what’s happening at SBS

Schools are busy places – especially in Term 1. The weather is warm, and classes are often out and about with events on. We strongly encourage parents to make sure they are in our communication loop by:

  • ensuring that you are in our email database. You will receive the newsletter and other important notices direct to your inbox. This normally happens at enrolment, but sometimes only one parent’s email is used. We are happy to add parents and whanāu – please email us at admin@snellsbeach.school.nz and we can add you in.
  • following us on our school Facebook page
  • downloading our free school app. You will be sent notifications and reminders as necessary. To do this simply go to App Store (Apple) or Play Store (Android) and download the “Skool Loop” app. Once this is installed, use the drop down box to select “Snells Beach School”.
  • please also update us if your phone number or emergency contacts have changed. There is honestly nothing worse than sitting with a sick or unwell child in the sickbay, and not being able to contact parents.

Calm Amongst the Chaos – parent sessions

“We specialise in helping mums take stock of their situation. We’ll help you get your body and mind in the right place to cope with the stresses of modern life.” For more information about this programme see the attached flyer:

Calm amongst the chaos

Flow with Nurse Jacqui and Coach Melanie.

Working together, Jacqui and Melanie will coach you to empower your teenagers, enhance your
relationship AND add to your parenting skills. A 3 hour workshop with separate learning groups for parents and teens and time for sharing all
the goodness. For more information about this programme see the attached flyer:

Flow with Nurse Jacqui and Coach Melanie

Speech Language Therapy Sessions Here At School

One of our school parents, Kendall Stewart is a speech language therapist. Give her a call, text or email to discuss your child and whether Speech Therapy could help them. 0275888879  kendall.stewart@me.com