20 October 2003

A school is as strong as its community

Faith and Deeds

Dear Parents, 

It has been great over the past week to see strong themes of ’service to others’ coming through the Primary School.

I was very pleased to be able to accompany a group of children from Room 6 (Year 2) and Room A (Year 5) who visited residents at ’The Maples’ Retirement Home in Middleton Road. It was wonderful to see these two ’buddy’ classes reaching out to other people in our community - our neighbours.

The children sang and recited poems to a large group of residents. They then went around and spoke individually to residents and gave them a small potted plant each with a lovely card (with a Christian message). The reception from all the men and women there was fabulous. The whole experience was a very positive one … building inter-generational bridges.

Many of the residents would not receive any visits from children, some would receive very few visits at all. The children learnt that they could bring happiness and light into the lives of others. Their visit was appreciated so much that they have been invited back to sing Christmas carols later in the Term. This visit was very much a demonstration of faith in action and service to others. (See photos later in the newsletter.)

This theme also came through the Room 8 (Mr Pomare, Year 4) leadership of school assembly on Wednesday. The story of the good Samaritan was used as a focus on the importance of love. The Samaritan showed his love for a fellow man by helping him in a real way. I briefly highlighted this through a reading from James 2. Here the onus is put on us to show our faith by our deeds.

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims
to have faith but has no deeds?” James 2:14

I was encouraged to see the outworking of our theme of service to others by the deeds done by our children.

On to another topic. We have some amazing children at our school. The past two weeks have been Christchurch Music Festival performance season. Our choir was primed and ready to go … performance night Thursday 16 October. The choir, under the able leadership of Mrs Kench, has put in much practice and effort through the year to reach such a standard of excellence. Special mention must also be made of achievements of our special choir members … these people were especially chosen because of their vocal excellence …

E. M., Tiffany W, Rebecca V, Carolyn I have all spent the past two weeks performing each weekday evening. Exhausting but rewarding!

It is wonderful to see children using their talents like this. You will also notice we have a number of very able children who achieved great results in the University of New South Wales English test. Special congratulations to Natalie F (Year 4) and Jonathan K (Year 6) who were awarded high distinctions. This puts these two in the top 1% of the 430,000 pupils who sat the test. This year full results are listed later in the newsletter.

John Stackhouse, Head of Primary School

CLASS PLACEMENTS FOR 2004

Staff will soon be looking at class placements for next year. When looking at placements we consider a wide range of issues:

Child needs - academic and social.

Teachers’ teaching styles/strengths.

Child learning styles.

Combinations of children.

Thoughts/perceptions of parents.

… to name a few.

Now is your chance to contribute to this process. If you have a thought or idea you would like to convey to us regarding the placement of your child for 2004, please contact me (John Stackhouse) by phone (348 9826), email (john@middleton.school.nz) or note, by 31 October.

We consider all requests or thoughts from parents but we cannot guarantee your child’s placement with a particular teacher. We always endeavour to do the best for each child, but also realising we only have two classes at each level and there are many combinations/dynamics to consider.

Remember, if you want your ‘say’ please let me know by 31 October.

Something Great Happened Last Week ...

Lots of good things happened around the Primary School and I was really pleased to be part of a special event last week.

As part of our outward focus and putting our faith into action a group of Year 2 children from Room 6 combined with the Year 5’s from Room A visited ‘The Maples’ Retirement Home.

These people are our neighbours and part of our outward focus for the children is to serve others in our community. The group sang, recited poems and gave a potted plant in a beautifully decorated pot with a hand-made card. The residents of ‘The Maples’ were thrilled and the children have been invited back.

As it says in James 2:14-16

“What good is it my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

It was wonderful to see faith in action. You can also see for yourself from the photographs!

Thanks to Mrs Lawn and Mrs Kau Kau for arranging the visit.

 

 

Fantastic English Results

As I mentioned in my comment earlier in the Update … the Middleton Grange Primary School children did extremely well 
in The University of New South Wales English test. Over 400,000 pupils from around the South Pacific sat this test.

Results were:

2 High Distinctions (top 1% nationally)

Year 6 Jonathan K                              Year 5 Natalie F                  A fantastic achievement

16 Distinctions (top 10% nationally)

Year 6  Sarah A Andrew C Roseanna G Carolyn I Lydia K

Year 5 Sam A Charlotte C Chris C Chris McF Nicholas O

Year 4 Jessica J Elinor J Deborah P Charlotte R Isla S Lucie V

17 Credits

Year 6  Alice McL Seonbu N Lydia N Elisha N Tiffany W

Year 5 S.B Hayley F Julia M Sophie P Haeun S Erin W

Year 4 Jackie F Nicola F Rowan H Catherine L Rebekah S Sam W

A total of 65 children sat the test. It is great to see over half the candidates receiving distinctions or credits.

 Well done to everyone!

---

Have a laugh...

My nephew, Isaac, brought home a copy of some proverbs his class had been asked to complete. Here are some ‘gems’ from Room 13, Windsor School.

If you lie down with dogs … you’ll get fleas. (Olivia)

Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and … you get wet eyelids. (Fraser)

A miss is as good as a … mister. (Amelia)

An idle mind … is a brainless kid. (Georgina P)

When the blind lead the blind … you bang into the signs on the road. (Dani)

Children should be seen … and not ignored. (Brittnee)

Happy is the bride who … got a good deal on her wedding dress. (Eddie)

… from the mouths of babes?!!

"In thy light shall we see light." 
                                        Psalm 36:9

 

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