From the Principal

It has been wonderful to get back to doing some the events and activities that we have not been able to do for the last two years because of Covid.

Our PJ Day and Book Character parade during Book Week were super cool days. The kids were very excited and had a great time. For me, it was wonderful to have our parent community back in the school.

Yesterday we took a group of children to rippa and a group of children to cross-country. The lovely weather definitely added to the fun of the events. I am always so proud of our children when they compete against other schools. They give 150%, they are kind to the opposition, they work together, and most importantly, they have so much fun. Our rippa children really worked as a team and were so positive towards each other. They also coped remarkably well when some teams from other schools were less than sportsmanlike - such wonderful RidgeView REPs.

Our school got a special mention at the cross-country yesterday. They acknowledged the fact that we are a small school, but they we always come along and do our best. Samuel came first in the 9 year old boys and Ruby G came seventh in the 10 year old girls. Both children ran their hearts out and will go to supercluster and take part amongst even more schools.

Mr Dobson away

Some of your children may have mentioned that Mr D is not at school. His wife has been very ill in hospital. She is doing much better after surgery, but he will be supporting her until she is on the mend.

In the meantime we are very grateful to Heidi Miller who is helping us with the cleaning at the school.

Parent Volunteers for Disco 1 July 2022

Following on from the events of the last couple of weeks, we would like to try and organise a disco for our students on 1 July 2022. We will keep this quite low key as we do need to balance our need for community events with health and safety at the Orange Setting.

It would be awesome if we could have parents who would be able to help. Some of the jobs that need to be done are:

Set-up and decorating on Thursday afternoon
Manning the barbecue
Selling lollies and drinks
Coloured hair spray

Please drop me a line if you can give us a hand on principal@ridgeview.school.nz.

School Uniform

Please remember that our school uniform consists of plain black pants, shorts, leggings, skorts as well as a uniform shirt and a uniform fleece. If you are needing uniform, but are unable to afford to buy it at the moment, please make contact with me so that I can see what I can sort out.

As we head into the winter months, we ask that ALL children bring a change of clothes. This does not have to be uniform, but children of all ages seem to be attracted to the slippery mud!

We also have a huge number of fleeces in lost property. These are not named so it is very difficult to find the owner. Please come and look if your child has lost his or her fleece.

Paint for our Murals

I am still looking for test pots or leftover paint for our murals - particularly bright or unusual colours. I will happily take your leftovers to use.

New Entrant Enrolments

Are you, or anyone you know, planning on sending your new entrant child to RidgeView School this year (2022) or the beginning of next year (2023)? It would be very helpful for me if you could contact the office and pre-enrol i.e. complete the enrolment forms.

Year 6 Albany Junior High School Experience Day - 30 June

Our Year 6 students have been invited to spend a day at AJHS to meet some teachers, look around the school, and experience some of the teaching and leaning at the school. It is usually a great day.

AJHS is one of the schools in our Community of Learners and is the next step on the learning pathway for RidgeView Students.

The children will be collected by bus and will travel with a teacher to AJHS. They need to wear full school uniform and shoes on this day. They will take their bags with their morning tea and lunch with them.

Drink Bottles

We still have a number of children who are not bringing their water bottle to school. Please can you check that they pack it and bring it with them.

Bell Times

School starts at 8.55am and finishes at 3pm. Please could you make sure that your child is on school property by 8.55am as this is when they find out what they need to do for the day.

Yummy Stickers

Just a reminder to collect the Yummy Stickers found on apples and stone fruit. We send them in at the end of September and are then gifted sports equipment such as skipping ropes and balls. You can either collect a sticker collection sheet from the office or download one here.

Old Mobile Phones

Do you have an old phone that you no longer use and would be happy to wipe clean and donate to the school? We are able to connect the phones to our internet and the children can then use them to take photos of their work or use some of the educational apps that are available.

Tying up Long Hair

I am still going to ask that children with long hair keep their hair tied up while at school. Our children climb trees, chains and other things and we have had some whose hair has become tangled up. It is also easier for the children to read and write if they do not have their hair in their face. Finally, nits are a thing and keeping your hair tied up is one way to stop the spread of these little critters.

New Telephone Number

Our new telephone number is 027 593 5963.

Absences

Thank you to everyone who is keeping their children home when they have coughs and colds. I want to acknowledge that this can be really tricky for you, but so far we have managed to spread out the number of children who are ill so that the school has not been overwhelmed.

If your child is going to be away from school, please either email Kalene on office@ridgeview.school.nz or phone and leave a message on the answer phone. We need to follow up every day.

Important Dates for your Diary

Please make a note of the following: