Fakaalofa Lahi Atu Parents, Caregivers and Sunnynook Whānau,

It is lovely to see our tamariki back at school for our final term.  This will be a busy term and I encourage you to look out for the notices on Hero, and in our newsletter, with information on items and events that are happening this term.

This week is Niuean language week.   Although Niue is a small island nation, it is one of the world's largest coral islands surrounded by a reef.  Niue has a population of around 1,800 and it is known for its limestone cliffs and coral-reef dive sites. The cultural dress of Niue was discussed at assembly on Monday.

Diwali is a special time in the Hindu Indian culture, and is known as the ‘Festival of Lights’.  We will be holding several celebrations for Diwali in Week 3.  

Tomorrow is ‘Bring a Toy’ day for our Ngā Kōwhai students which they will enjoy.  

At the end of Term 3 we held our Fun Run Athon - please see the photos later in the newsletter.  Thank you to those who supported our Athon, and congratulations to the class and individual winners! 

Please remember our Teacher Only Day on Friday 25th October.  School will be closed for instruction this day.  Monday, 28th October is Labour Day, which is a public holiday,  and school will be closed.  Students return to school on Tuesday, 29th October. 

Ngā mihi 

Rebeccah Bassett-Smith (Acting Principal)

Banner:
Week 10, Term 3:  
The banner went to Ruma 7, a class who has been working  on their geometry identifying 2D and 3D shapes. 
Researching their inquiry questions "How do we see the power of nature change the world we live in?"
Also for writing deep questions for their inquiry on things like "Vicious Volcanoes" and "Twirling Tornadoes".

Week 1, Term 4:
The banner went to Ruma 4 for using maths to create art, the 'Fibonacci Sequence", their ability to ask and answer patai in te reo Maōri and for summarising an article about our Olympic visitor and writing questions to ask her - the best was "Is your team mate related to Mrs Hosken?".   

Yummy Apples:
Top collecting classes for this year are:
Nga Kauri R5
Nga Tōtara R7 & 20
Nga Kōwhai R12 collected  93 sheets = 9300 apples eaten
Trophy R8 - Mila
Rm 19 Jayden
Rm 21 Scarlett
Rm 22 Cam
Mrs Bassett-Smith 3 forms

The 2024 Fun Run A-thon
The decision to postpone last term's major scheduled fundraiser, The Fun Run was justified by the horrific weather we had. However on Wednesday 25 September, the weather could not have been better.

Our students were awesome, they showed sportsmanship and demonstrated our Sunnynook School Values. The smiles on everyone's faces were fantastic to see.

A huge congratulations and thank you to our students and whānau for supporting this fundraiser. Over $16,000 was raised!

The money raised will benefit all students by adding equipment that students can use during break times.

Thank you again to everyone for making the event such a success.

Thank you to all staff members for your efforts and ensuring everyone was having fun.

Results Classes:
R21   $1,430.50 - won a movie with popcorn, iceblocks and 15 minutes extra play
R7      $1,400.00 - won a pizza and 15 minutes extra play
R14    $1,342.00 - won iceblocks and 15 minutes extra play

Results Individual:
R9 Frankie  $500 - first place
R4 Alex M.  $430 - second place
R1 Taylem.  $330 - third place
R12 Ira - lucky prize draw

This term sees each of our teams beginning a new Inquiry under our year long umbrella concept of ‘Change’.

Ngā Kōwhai will continue exploring the theme of ‘Change’ through the Science lens of forces.  They will explore different ways we can change the shape of an object, the direction an object is moving and the speed of an object through the forces of push and pull.  They will also explore the effect of friction on a moving object and begin looking at gravity.  There will be lots of exciting experiments as we explore these concepts. 

Ngā Tōtara are excited to be beginning a new inquiry topic under the theme of ‘Change’.  Their big question to investigate is How has technology changed our world? This began with the set up of a mini museum of different technologies. The children had a chance to look at and predict what these were/are used for. Other activities may include investigating famous inventors and their inventions. The children will also engage in collaborative tasks to build or make something using selected materials, such as constructing a bridge, or making a balloon powered car. 

Ngā Kauri Students will use the engineering design process to create a useful product of their choice from recyclable items and "trash” as they explore their big pātai (question) ‘How can materials be changed and manipulated’? Each class will be given a "landfill" of reusable items, such as aluminium cans, cardboard, paper, juice boxes, chip bags, egg cartons, milk cartons, etc., and each group is allowed a limited amount of bonding materials, such as duct tape, hot glue and string. This activity addresses the importance of reuse and encourages students to look at ways to reuse items they would otherwise throw away.

On Tuesday, Ngā Tōtara began the ‘explore’ phase of their Inquiry. The kaiako (teachers) spent their holidays sourcing a vast array of old technologies and setting up a mini museum and invited the North Shore vintage car club to school! The men who came in with their cars very generously let the children sit in them, beep the horns and took the time to explain the difference between their vintage cars and new cars. This certainly ‘sparked interest’ in the children as they moved excitedly about the exhibition and amongst the cars. This was a great way for them to engage in their topic and begin to share what they already know. It was a delight to join them in what was an exciting day and to hear the rich discussions between the tamariki as they tried to guess what items were. A video tape had them stumped! We also had one of our ‘Rotary Readers’ join Rm 20 and explain about technology from when she was young. 

Katrina Hosken
Deputy Principal

On Wednesday 16th  October, Tara Vaughan visited Sunnynook Primary School and talked to the year 4’s,5’s,and 6’s about her 1st amazing Olympic Games. The sport she did was the K4 Kayaking and her team got in finals and won GOLD!!! 

Scarlett & Zachary Pierce’s mum, who is a physiotherapist, arranged for Tara Vaughan to come to our school because she is one of her patients. Each of the class’s thought of a question to ask Tara and then she answered them.    

Tara went to Mairangi Bay Primary, Murrays Bay Intermediate and then to Westlake Girls High School. She also went to Mairangi bay surf club where she learned how to surfski and then was inspired by others to kayak and soon she was going to Lake Pupuke to the canoe club and loved it so much she started to kayak  everyday!

It was very inspiring to hear Tara speak because she grew up where we are and many of us also go to Mairangi Surf Club!

She told us that when she was our age she did a lot of sports but she was never in the top teams but she preserved and now is a gold medal winning Olympian!

She also talked a lot about team work and how important it is to collaborate and communicate with others.

We felt very lucky to have her visit our school and inspire us. 

As we celebrate Niuean Language week this week, we also celebrate one of our Niuean students, Ailani Bahn, who was chosen to participate in the Tumau E Agafakamotu - Niue Arts Exhibition, held at the Mangere Arts Town Centre. 

The exhibition lasts for four days where her art work will be beautifully displayed for all to view. She created three pieces (top three pieces in the photo) that represent her Niue heritage and culture called:

"Navigating Our Legacy: Vaka and Stars"
"Protection and Preservation" and
"Roots of my Culture"
 
The youngest artist in the exhibition at just 7 years old, Ailani has enjoyed being part of this Niuean Art Exhibition, and hopes her paintings bring a smile to your face.

They are such beautiful artwork Ailani - well done! 

Congratulations to our two students that competed and placed in the Snow Sports event at Snow Planet the end of term 3!

Recently I competed in the 365 Slalom Challenger Cup at Snow Planet. Slalom is a skiing race where you weave between the flags and then when you reach the bottom you go through a timing gate. Two people go at a time.When everyone had entered and sat down the person organizing it came over a microphone to announce stuff about the competition, rankings, and how it would work. As she finished she asked all of the competitors to go onto the slope. How it worked is that you line up in number order. When your number was called you took the platter lift up, did your run and lined up again you did this three times and then you were done. The first time going up the platter lift I was nervous. When the person at the top told me to go I weaved between the flags and reached the bottom.Then after a while everyone came out for prize giving where I received my medal.

By Sophie Hanley Year 5, Room 2

On Thursday 19 September Sopie and I went to a school skiing race. We got our own table but the restaurant was FULL. We had to get ready as we had a briefing at 9AM. The inspectors talked about what rules we had to follow.Then we went up the lift and waited in line. When it was my turn, I just stared down the course (The course is a GS course that stands for giant slalom), then I just heard “3 2 1 GO!” I plunged my ski poles into the snow and propelled myself forward and round the first gate, on the final quarter of the course I put myself into a tuck position (to make you go faster because you are more aerodynamic). I sped through the finish line and immediately went inside to  warm up. After that it was time for prize giving. First we had to go through the year 1-2 then 3-4 but also it took longer because the boys and girls are separate so we had to go through boys and girls then it was the year 5-6 turn. I patiently waited for them to announce the people then I heard my name get called out!  I made my way up to the podium and the coach gave me the bronze medal. I was a bit disappointed for getting third but it's alright I'm still proud of myself and also I'm excited because I'm going to Canada soon to ski, YIPPEE! 

On Tuesday, 24 September, the Year 5/6 football team played in the Super Cluster event held at Ashley Reserve in Long Bay. They played great football, showed sportsmanship and represented our school well. They came 7th overall.

Sunnynook is well represented at this year's Term 4  Local Touch module being held at Sunnynook Park on Monday and Thursday afternoon.  There is a fantastic number of kids participating in team sports. 

Games start next week Monday 22nd and Thursday 24th November.

A massive THANK YOU to all our volunteer coaches and managers and parents for enabling the kids to be involved.

                                  

SPORTS RESULTS :
Our latest results from our sports teams:

WEEKLY SPORT RESULTS Managers, here is the link if you would like to record results for publication in the newsletter: SPORTS RESULTS

More information about sports available can be found on the Sports page on Sunnynook School Website.

Any questions can be emailed to: sports@sunnynookschool.nz

We are urgently seeking the support of parent or grandparent volunteers to help supervise the crossing on Tonkin Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, as well as Wednesday afternoons. Morning supervision is from 8.15am-8.45am. Afternoon supervision is from 2.50pm-3.15pm.
 

Without parent volunteers we will be unable to supervise this crossing on a daily basis.

If you are available to volunteer, please email Mrs Bassett-Smith at rebeccahb@sunnynookschool.nz

Thank you! 

Hats must be worn in Term 4. 
To keep the children safe, children who are not wearing a school hat at morning tea or lunch time will be required to play in a designated shade area. Please ensure hats are clearly labelled as they have a tendency to get mixed up or lost.

If your child has misplaced their school hat, these can be purchased from the school office for $14.50 or ordered via KINDO.

It is easy to pay your school account via Kindo and there are no fees to do this unless using your credit or debit card.  Please see the link from Kindo on how to top up your account: Payment methods for topping up

Ways to top up your Kindo Account and pay for items:

Hero School App
In 2024 our main form of communication with you - our school community, is via Hero. On the Hero app, the little bell icon at the top right of your screen shows whether you have any new notifications.  At times if the post is a longer one you may need to click ‘read more’ to view the whole message. We would appreciate it if you could also use Hero to report absences.

Any parents/caregivers who haven't yet signed up for the Hero App can do so by clicking on this link.

School Hours
Our school day is structured as follows:

Late - Students who arrive after 8:50 am need to report to the office via the student entrance for their late pass before going to class. It is important that your child arrives on time.

Absences - If your child is going to be absent from school, please inform the school office every day that your child is going to be absent by either phoning 410 6534 option 1, via the Hero app or via our website. If possible, please inform the school office before 9:00 am.