School Reopening Thursday and Friday

School will be open Thursday, August18th and Friday, August 19th.

The school grounds continue to be quite hazardous, however large quantities of snow have been moved today to ensure there are paths to access all buildings.

Due to the continued road hazards and the possibility of freezing conditions we will not be opening school until 10:30am for the remainder of the week.  Please do not bring your children to school before10:30am. 

Students are asked to wear their gumboots as the grounds are quite wet and slushy.

Have a look at these great snow photos taken by the McKay family. 

Can you guess where they were taken?

School Will Be Closed Wednesday, August 17th

School will unfortunately be closed again on Wednesday, August 17th as there is still a lot of snow and sludge on the ground and if this freezes overnight conditions in the morning could be treacherous.

Staff will be in at school later in the day clearing snow from paths, ramps, etc. so that hopefully it will be safe enough to reopen on Thursday.

Snow Closes School Again Today - Tuesday, August 16th

Due to the continuing inclement weather school will be closed again on Tuesday, August 16th.

If any of you have snow photos you would like to have put on the blog

email them to: rstuart@woolston.school.nz

If you are bored today write a poem for me about the snow.
Fill in the ideas sheet first, then go to the web link to get ideas about the type of poem to write.
I will look forward to seeing your poems when we get back to school.
It could be worth a Woollabuck if its a great one!

 


Here is the link to a poetry writing website to give you some ideas for writing your poem:
http://lesson-plans.theteacherscorner.net/writing/poetry/index.php

SCHOOL CLOSED TODAY - Monday, August 15

School is closed today due to the heavy snow.

Check back here for further updates.

Stay safe and keep warm

Kids, have fun, but do some reading and practice some Maths facts too.
Here are some links to websites you could visit:
Word Building Activities
Sentence Building Activities
Addition Activities
Multiplication Activities

Wellies from Welbourn

On the last day of Term 2 the whole school assembled outside to see what had been delivered in the big boxes that had arrived earlier in the week.


We lined up in classes, with a big box labelled for each class. Inside each box was a parcel addressed to every child in the class, and inside the parcel was a pair of gumboots aka wellies.
The wellies had been personally chosen for each pupil by a family from Welbourn School in New Plymouth.


Whaea Rere had made sure that everyone's feet were measured and the sizes sent to Welbourn School so they could choose the right pair for the right person.


The wellies came in all sizes, colours and designs and we loved them.


They will be great for walking through the silt and puddles in our area caused by the earthquakes.

THANK YOU WELBOURN SCHOOL

Thermals to Keep Us Warm From Vulcan Steel

The children from Woolston School have been very lucky to receive a pack of lovely warm thermals donated by Vulcan Steel Ltd. The team from Vulcan Steel were worried that many of the students at our school are living in earthquake damaged homes that are cold and drafty and maybe have no heating. Some of our families are even living in caravans and tents as their homes are too damaged to live in.


Each pack was worth about $80. Every child received 4 navy thermals that can be worn under their school uniforms. Everyone also received other items including funky purple hats  and pink gloves for the junior girls; red scarves and thermal leggings for the senior girls; and beanies, longjohns and socks for the boys.


Have a look at the slideshow of us receiving our thermals.

What a very generous donation from Vulcan Steel. We thank you very much.

Matua Apirana's Awesome Storytelling

What a great end we had to Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Matua Apirana Taylor visited our kura and shared his music and storytelling with us.

                           

Following Matua Api's amazing storytelling he worked with a group of senior students and inspired them to write some fantastic poems.

                    

 

THANK YOU MATUA APIRANA

Kunekune Pig Visits Woolston School!

One day a kunekune pig visited our school. The children from Pīwakawaka 2 sat in a circle and the piglet went around the circle to meet all the tamariki.

Kīwaha for Kids - Māori Language Classes

During Term 2 we held a series of Māori Language classes at school for our parents.

The classes were based on learning a number of phrases and sayings, kīwhaha or idioms, that whānau could use with their kids in everyday contexts.

The classes this term focussed on kīwaha we might use while preparing kai, so they were taught in the context of cooking classes.

We were extremely lucky to have Hana O'Regan from CPiT take the classes.

We had lots of fun, making interesting dishes such as Fried Noodles and Hamburgers and finishing up with Hana's signature dish - Thai Beef Salad, arā Te Huamata Mīti Tai.

It was delicious!

Namunamua!

Christchurch Heart T-Shirts for Woolston School

On the 7th of June Deborah Kelland who designed the heart for Chch t-shirts, visited Woolston School to launch the red heart t-shirts. 

Chch heart t-shirts were created so that people outside of Christchurch could show us that we are in their hearts and to give us hope and money to help rebuild our lives. The t-shirts were also popular with people here in Christchurch, so Barbara designed the red t-shirts for the people of Christchurch.

Barbara and her crew visited Woolston School and gave every child and staff member a red 

t-shirt.

If you would like to buy one they are available in many Christchurch stores for just $10. 

We love our Chch heart t-shirts!

Woolston School Has Reopened

Woolston School reopened on Thursday, June 16th following the 5.6 & 6.3 earthquakes on Monday, June 13th.

Once again our buildings have stood up to the battering and our students and staff have shown how resilient they are. 

On Thursday morning we went ahead with our planned Matariki activities to celebrate the Māori New Year. As you can see from the slideshow below, there were some fun things to do, including: poi making, painting mauri stones, games, craft activities, jewellery making, team building activities, making Gods eyes, gardening, sports and making Matariki stars, woven baskets and fans.

School to Reopen on Thursday, June 16th

Following yesterday's 5.7 and 6.3 earthquakes the school has been inspected by structural engineers and we have been given the clearance to reopen on Thursday, June 16th after the small amount of silt is water blasted and roped off at the back of the school.


All students will need to bring water bottles filled with boiled drinking water as our drinking fountains will be turned off until further notice. We currently only have a very limited supply of drinking water available at school.

We hope that you and your whānau are all okay and your houses have not suffered too much more damage. If you know of any families who have been displaced or are in need of some extra support please let the school know so we can see how we might get some assistance for them.

Bedtime Beanies!

On the 18th May some lovely ladies came to our kura to give every student a beanie. 

The beanies had been knitted by people all over New Zealand for children in Christchurch.

The idea started with a lady in New Brighton who realised that since the February 22 earthquake many Christchurch children would be living in cold homes, many without heating, this coming winter.

The New Brighton group had a philosophy:

"A lot of our body heat leaves through the head – keep the head warm and the body stays warm. 

The goal is to provide the children in our district with a “Bedtime Beanie”, a soft and comfortable bed hat, to wear each night."

We are very grateful to all the people who knitted the beanies for us. There were all sorts of styles and colours  so we were able to choose one that just suited us perfectly.

WE LOVE OUR BEANIES!

THANK YOU

Rachel Hunter Visits Woolston School

Last weekend, while Rachel Hunter was in town for the Rise Up Christchurch Telethon, she visited Woolston School. She had seen some of the poems written and read by students from K2 and the Earthquake rap composed by students in Ruru 2 and wanted to meet these students who had experienced the February 22 earthquake. She said she was moved by their expressive performances and what they had been through.
It was fantastic to meet Rachel in person and see how kind and caring she was. She made us all feel very special.