Y8 Leavers Breakfast

What a fantastic morning the Y8 Leavers were provided with.  Mr Brown and the Y7s put on a wonderful three course breakfast to celebrate the Y8s contributions to Gladstone School. This is an annual tradition that Y8s look forward to.

Y7 & Y8 Leadership Camp

What a genuine pleasure it was to share the Castlepoint camp with our Y7 & Y8 students last week. Gladstone School has some great senior school leaders that we can all be very proud of.

Y1 & Y2 Athletics Day

The Y1 & Y2 students from Gladstone School and Dalefield School had a great morning sharing their athletic skills on our top field today. Lots of great jumping, running and throwing skills were on display. Go Gladdy!

Y7 & Y8 Kiwi Hoops Taster Session

Our Y7 & Y8 students were lucky to have a taster basketball session with the Kiwi Hoops tutors today.

Red and Black Day

Gladstone School is supporting the following event by holding a Red and Black Day this Friday, 25.11.16. Students are asked to wear something Red and Black and bring along a gold coin donation, which will be forwarded to the Council to donate to the North Canterbury region. All support will be greatly appreciated.

"At last weeks forum for Regional and District Councils attendees were made aware of the impact that the earthquake has had on the townships within the North Canterbury region. The cost of replacing the infrastructure and the social and economic cost to the people within those communities is huge.. Accordingly the District Councils within Wairarapa have initiated a RED and BLACK DAY to help support the shaken communities. Schools and businesses are invited to participate in the initiative which is to be held this Friday 25th of November. Your support would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks."

Earthquake Drills

Every day a visual inspection is carried out before school opens to ensure that our property is safe for the day. (This is currently part of Ministry of Education requirements following the recent earthquakes). Should the school have to close for any reason, we would follow our emergency procedures as available on the school website. We would also notify school families via the school app immediately.

All students have been able to follow the Drop Cover and Hold expectations as part of our emergency drills carried out this week (and routinely throughout the year).  We have been really impressed with the way students have responded to our earthquake drills in a positive, calm manner.

A good resource for school families about how to prepare and respond in an earthquake emergency can be found on  http://www.whatstheplanstan.govt.nz/earthquakes/

All the Fun of the Scarecrow Fair

What a brilliant, hard working FOGS committee we have to organise such an amazing Scarecrow Fair last weekend. We really appreciated all the hard work and resources that our school families contributed to make the fair such a success. The four wheelbarrow races were thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd and the participants.

Chess Tournament

Eight students represented Gladstone School at the South Wairarapa Chess tournament at Carterton School today. They won a number of games and should feel very proud of their efforts.

World Haka Record

What a fantastic effort Gladstone School to be part of todays's World Haka Record at Memorial Park in Masterton. Thank you to our all our families who supported the students throughout the day and thank you to our great teachers for all their work in preparation for the event. A special thank you to
Mrs Micaela Rutene for leading the school through this preparation so that we could take part so confidently and enthusiastically. What a special day for us all.

Greats and Grands Afternoon

We had a fabulous afternoon with our Greats and Grands on Friday the 28th October. The students celebrated the afternoon by performing our school waiata, our local Wairarapa Haka (that we have been practising for the World Record attempt) and our school song in the hall.  This was followed by an enthusiastic country dance by Year 1 students from Room 2. Our Greats and Grands then took the stage by joining in the dance as well.  Next it was off to the classrooms to share games and have a look around the school. At the end of the day we all met back at the hall and had afternoon tea. We really enjoyed our Greats and Grands visit and can't wait for them to come back again.

Pets Day 2016

What a fantastic Pets Day we had today at Gladstone School. The sun was shining throughout the events and the Pets were all well behaved. It was wonderful for the students to have so much support from our school families. Congratulations everyone on the great job you did with your Pets and Sand trays.

Welcome Back to Term 4

We have had a fantastic start to Term 4 with lots of fun learning activities taking place across the classrooms. We are really looking forward to Pets Day on Thursday the 20th October 2016 and hope to catch up with lots of school families and members of the school community at that event. If you are ever passing school and have time to spare, come and have a look around and spend some time in the classrooms.   This is a great way to see first hand what is happening and the students always love sharing their learning with visitors.

Room 1 students making some amazing masks for their play

Scarecrow Making

We all had a fabulous morning making some outstanding "Wearable Arts" scarecrows.  Thank you to the great support we received from so many parents.  This year's batch of scarecrows are some of the best scarecrows we have had. Next time you are passing by school have a look along our front fence.

World Record Haka Attempt - Postponed

7th September  2016

The World Record Haka attempt event planned for tomorrow 8.9.16 is now postponed.

The organisers have said that following direct advice from the Meteorologist at MetService they feel that the weather forecast of growing south westerly’s, rain and a chill factor down to 4 degrees will be too cold, windy and wet for our children to be standing in for three hours. Next Thursday (the postponement date) is also looking very bad weather wise so the organisers will advise us of the new postponement date when it is confirmed.  As soon as we receive this information we will send a notice home to school families and put a notice on the school app and the Principals Blog.

Wairarapa World Record Haka Attempt

This notice was given to all students today

5th September 2016

To Whanau of Gladstone School

Thank you to the families who have indicated that they can support us with this trip, we very much appreciate your time.

Please read all of the following information about our trip for the Wairarapa World Record Haka Attempt, taking place this Thursday, 8th September 2016 at 12.00 noon, at Memorial Park in Masterton.  If you require further information please contact either your child’s class teacher, or Mrs Rutene or Mrs Hyslop asap, thanks.

Supervision

All classes will be with their class teacher. Supervising adults will be allocated to a group of students. A list of who the adults are looking after will be given to them by their child’s class teacher on the morning of the event. For any concerns on the day regarding any child please refer this directly to your child’s class teacher or Mrs Hyslop immediately. Supervising adults will travel with our group on the buses provided (unless they have advised either their child’s class teacher or Mrs Hyslop that they will be meeting us at the event).

We will be departing from Gladstone School by bus at approximately 11am.

We will be returning to Gladstone School by approximately 1.10pm.

Stewards

We have one steward per 50 participants. (Stewards can not take part but are there to ensure that the people in their group complete the haka for the full time). Each steward will wear a hi-vis jacket/waistcoat.

Wristbands

On arrival at the venue we will receive our allocated number of wristbands for all our participants. These wristbands will be collected by either

Mrs Hyslop or Mrs Rutene for our group.

If we require more wristbands than we have indicated, they will be provided to us but it will mean a wait for our whole group, so please let us know if you are attending by tomorrow morning at the latest. Teachers (and supervising adults of specific students) will put students wristbands on for them. In order to be counted for the record we need to be wearing a wristband.

Time Of Arrival

Tranzit are working very hard to allocate and organise buses. There is a designated bus zone for school buses. At this point in time the South Wairarapa and East Coast Schools will be picked up first. (Then Masterton schools). When leaving (after we have broken the world record) schools are asked to remain in the venue until their name is called over the speaker.

Parking

ONLY school buses are allowed in the main gates of Memorial Park. Cars and other vehicles will need to find car parking spaces. There will also be a BUS ONLY Zone on Russell Street, on the Church side to allow school buses to wait to cross into Memorial Park.

Food/Drink

It is a very strict Memorial Park requirement that there is NO food or drink allowed on the turf and for this reason there will not be any food or drink available for sale on the day. Our morning tea for students will be brought in one box/bag as there will be no place for bag storage. Our school will provide a small additional morning tea for our group at the venue. There will be bins available for rubbish. The organisers aim to have water available for emergencies. We will have morning tea before leaving school and will have lunch when we return to school.

Footwear

It is a very strict Memorial Park requirement that there are NO hard shoes on the turf. We suggest that students wear trainers or bare feet on the turf only. This applies for all adults too.

Turf and Timing

We are not allowed on the turf until at least 30 minutes prior to the attempt. On arrival we will be taken to where we can wait before being shown onto the turf.

Flashing Lights

To keep the beat of the haka and to avoid voices running into each other there will be two big lights flashing in the grandstand. (Please advise us if you have, or your child has epilepsy or any other light sensitive conditions so our group can be relocated). The beat of the lights is 50bpm.

Uniform

All school students must wear a uniform. This means students must wear their Gladstone School shirt (it can be worn overtop of a longer sleeved shirt, not underneath other clothing please, as it needs to be seen). Students can also wear their Gladstone School polar fleece if they have one. It is going to look fantastic from the sky (as the event is being filmed by a drone) and will make it easier to keep our students together. Please note - We do have a limited number of adult shirts and jackets with Gladstone School on them that can be loaned to supervising adults for this event. Please let Mrs Henderson know at the school office before Thursday if you would like to borrow one. Shirts for students can be purchased from the NZ Uniforms shop in Masterton, as these are now in stock.

Community Involvement

The organisers welcome anyone to be part of this world record attempt. (To to take part on the day you will need to register through Trudy at REAP, if you have not registered to be part of the Gladstone School group).

We have been advised that due to the volume of pre-registered participants, there will be no room for spectators.

Pre and Post Entertainment

There will be pre and post entertainment in the form of a waiata sing a long.

Variety Show

All classes have been working very hard to produce some fantastic acts for our Variety Show performances. There are also some wonderful individual and group acts from various students. We are looking forward to sharing our Variety Show with our school friends and whanau at 1pm and 7pm today, Wednesday the 31st August 2016 and at 7pm tomorrow, the 1st September 2016.

Room 1, Room 2 and Room 3 Visit to Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae

Our three Junior Syndicate classes enjoyed a special morning at Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae today, listening to some fantastic local stories told by Nanny Frances and Matua Ra.  It was wonderful to have so many of our school whanau join the students for this visit and provide such wonderful support.

Mathematics Competition

Three teams represented Gladstone School at today's Wai Maths Competition in Masterton at Wairarapa College. While our Y5 & Y6 team, Y7 Team and Y8 team didn't gain a main placing they certainly competed with enthusiasm.

The Y7 team

Tukutuku Panel Restoration

We have been so privileged to take part in the restoration of the tukutuku panels for Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae.  REAP have generously provided us with some funding for this project, which is being led by teacher, Mrs Micaela Rutene. Every student, staff member and hopefully as many school whanau members as possible, will have a chance this week to participate in this activity.  If you are calling in to school at any time over the next few days, please pop into the school hall and see what is happening.

World Record Haka

This term, on the 8th September 2016, our school will be taking part in the Wairarapa-wide attempt to smash the world record (held by France) for the most amount of people doing the haka at the same time. Our own Ko Wairarapa haka has been chosen for this. We'd love for all families to be involved too, so here's a helpful video on this blog and some classroom blogs that will assist you all in learning this awesome haka for a fantastic world record attempt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnlseJjlg5I&feature=youtu.be

Rainbows End

School Bus High Visibility Vests

Our junior students tried on their high visibility vests for using on their rural bus travels, when walking to and from their bus stops. These vests were donated to the school (for every student) from the Wairarapa Road Safety Council who are campaigning to keep students safe on our roads.

Looking forward to Term 3 at Gladstone School

It is great to be back after having a wonderful month visiting family in London and enjoying the experiences of seven completely different countries, including Turkey. How lucky we are to live in New Zealand where children can attend schools like Gladstone and have so much space and exciting learning experiences.

I am really looking forward to catching up with children and school whanau when Term 3 commences on Monday, 25th July 2016. Our 'Welcome Back' assembly will take place in the school hall at approx 9.05am on the first day and school families are most welcome to join us for this event.

You will receive information later in the term about scarecrow making. This year's theme is  Wearable Arts. Start hunting out your trash and treasure to recycle. Students make their scarecrows (usually in teams of two or three) at the end of the term for placing on our school fence by the hall.  We always appreciate the help we get from parents with this activity There is also a district scarecrow competition as per the following information from FOGS.

The Scarecrow Theme is Wearable Arts.

Let your imagination go wild with our Wearable Art theme this year.

Start hunting out your trash and treasure to recycle – think ......  builders wrap, insulation wrap, vineyard netting, plastic bottles , tin cans , fencing materials etc.

Think of fantasy themes with shiny flowing outfits . Google wearable art image .

Remember their are always great prizes and our School Fair Day is November 6th, 2016.

Room 6, Room 4 and Room 5 Sing Out

It was fantastic to see our students enthusiastically taking part in the Sing Out Festival last night at Wairarapa College Hall. What a great experience to be part of a large choir of local schools and to work with a talented music educator Julian Raphael and Lala Simpson from Madagascar.

A Day of Learning at Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae

Room 4, Room 5 and Room 6 had a fantastic day of learning at Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae yesterday.   What lucky children to experience the expertise of  such gifted tutors. Thank you to all the parents who supported the staff and students throughout the day. We really value your support with such wonderful learning experiences for our students.

South Wairarapa Super Whanau Advisory Group (SWSWAG) Hui

All friends and whānau of Gladstone School students (and including students) are invited to Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae (Gladstone Road) this coming Tuesday 14th June at 5.30pm for a Matariki Art Exhibition.

Powhiri @ 5.30pm (it is important to be at the marae for this) followed by story time and then some lovely soup.  Art made by students from all over the South Wairarapa will be on display. Your children's work will be included in this.

Y5 & Y6 Rugby 7s Champions

Two Gladstone teams competed in the Rugby 7s tournament on Friday, Y5 & Y6 and Y7 & Y8.    Congratulations to the Y5 & Y6 team (coach Angus Thomson) who won their competition. This is a fantastic result. Mrs Rutene and the adults who supported these students throughout the day, commented on the wonderful effort by all our students.  Go Gladdy!

Cross Country

Our whole school had a fantastic trip to the Wyeth's Farm on Friday the 20th May to enjoy our annual Carterton Country Schools Cluster Cross Country event.  Students from Gladstone School achieved some amazing results. 46 Gladstone runners from Y3 to Y8 have now made it through to the South Wairarapa Inter School Cross Country being held at Kahutara School on the 22 June 2016. Go Gladdy!

Juniors making their way up to the top of the hill at the start of the day.

Year 2 Boys about to start their race.

Apple Tvs

The three junior classes (Room 1, 2, and 3) are enjoying sharing their learning using the new Apple Tvs (and Tv screens). These were recently purchased from FOGS funding. We are very grateful to FOGS for this wonderful support.

Students are able to share their learning on their ipads directly onto the screen for other students to view. There are lots of ways these devices are being used as part of class learning programmes. If you are passing school and want to know how these work, call in and visit the classrooms.

Scooter Rack

Thank you to FOGS for funding the great new scooter rack.  This rack houses 12 scooters at a time. As needs dictate we may purchase another rack in the future.

Thank You Parents - Firewood Working B

Thank you to everyone who turned up today for the school firewood Working B. Your time and efforts were very much appreciated. What a fantastic effort to get the gum tree wood chopped and piled into the wood shed so quickly. Thank you to Piers Fuller for organising this event.

ANZAC Service

This morning Y8 led the school through our ANZAC service at 9.15am. We were very fortunate to have Masterton RSA President and New Zealand RSA Vice President Mr Bob Hill speak at our service and answer many questions form the students. Later in the morning the Year 8 students and I took our wreaths and flowers (presented by the students) down to the Maungaraki War Memorial.

Principals Morning Tea Outing

What a pleasure it was to spend Thursday morning with our Principals Morning Tea recipients. These students were nominated by their teachers for not only displaying our school values, but also showing a consistent positive attitude and effort towards their school programmes throughout Term 1.

 

Car Wash Fundraising

The Room 4 and Room 5 students had a fantastic three days on camp at El Rancho (Waikanae) earlier this week, thanks to the great organisation by Mr Brown and Mrs Rutene, and the superb assistance of the parent helpers. The students even had enough energy left over to do their carwash fundraiser at school this afternoon.