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Preparatory School Newsletter

Thursday 14 March 2024

Road and Traffic Safety

We had two near misses on site this week – please note the following: 

  • your children need to walk or scoot beside you to ensure their safety i.e. at walking speed;
  • bicycles need to be walked on site when negotiating the main carpark, drop-off/pick-up area, Preparatory School drive and connected footpaths;
  • ensure onsite footpaths and crossing points are used;
  • the Preparatory School drive is dangerous at all times during the school day, but particularly so immediately before school and after school – extreme care is required;
  • please do not shortcut the footpath and walk on the Preparatory School drive when the crossing is operating before and after school;
  • children with scooters in the Year 1–5 storage area need to use the crossing point beside the barrier arm. Scooters should only be collected when leaving the site. Parents need to oversee this process;
  • there cannot be any scooting or playing games near the drive after school – please collect your children and supervise them leaving the site;
  • the College crossing on Normans Road must be used when it is operating before and after school – this is a legal requirement;
  • the College crossing and traffic lights by the main gate should be used if crossing Papanui Road.

Pasta machine

Does anyone have a manual (hand crank) pasta machine you would be happy to donate to our Food Technology room?

Our family donated our machine to the Preparatory School a few years ago, but another one or two would enable a much better small group experience. It could either be a long term loan until the end of 2024, or a permanent donation if it is no longer in use. Thank you, Therese Bierwirth.

Parent Interviews are on next week | Bookings close tomorrow, Friday 15 March, 4.00pm

Please note, all Years 4–8 children are required to attend the interviews.

Please enter and leave the Junior Department via the gate behind the Pre-school.

Entry to the Years 4–8 building is via the front door and exit via one of the two maglock doors either beside Year 5 (at the end of the building) or beside Year 4 (in the middle of the building).

Site link: www.schoolinterviews.co.nz
School code: 79p4z

 

Regards

 

Jonathan Bierwirth
Principal of Preparatory School
Deputy for Rector

JB

Around the Campus

Preparatory School Chapel

Last Sunday, the Preparatory School held its first Sunday service of the year in the Centennial Chapel. The service was led by Preparatory School Chaplain, Mrs Jillian Fenton, with Mr Ben Hughes delivering some key messages around learning from our mistakes, which was well received by the community. The Cantare choir, led by Ros Emeleus, gave a beautiful rendition of ‘Kyrie’. Year 8 sacristans, Louis Hyland-Cook, Alex Heiler and Zoe Stronach shared the call to worship and readings for the service. Thank you for the support of the community. 

The Preparatory School looks forward to the next Sunday service in Term 2, at 4.00pm on Sunday 16 June.

Flickr >
PrepChapel D72 9136
Pre schoolHeart untitled 84

Pre-school Healthy Heart Week

This week at Pre-school has been Healthy Heart Week! Throughout the week the children have learnt about the different things they can do to keep their hearts healthy, including eating yummy healthy kai and enjoying lots of physical activity! On Monday morning, the week was kick started with a Dance Fitness session lead by Miss Parker, one of the Ballet teachers from the Ballet Academy! The children have kept their heart rates up through the week with lots more dancing, obstacle courses, and ball games; they’ve made their own yummy smoothies and juices; and borrowed lots of exciting resources from Pre-school whānau, including heart models, books and stethoscopes!

Healthy Heart Week will finish tomorrow with a red theme dress up day for Little Heart Day 💖. Little Heart Day is Heart Kids New Zealand's annual fundraising campaign where they aim to raise as much money as possible to ensure that they can continue to provide vital support services to tamariki impacted by heart issues, and their whānau, free of charge. What a great week!

Flickr >

Student Success

ISSA Swimming Sports

Last Wednesday, a number of students from the Preparatory School competed at the ISSA Swimming Sports Day. The students demonstrated excellent character and professionalism and performed in a successful day for the St Andrews’ Preparatory Swimming Sports team, winning the Years 5–6 Mixed Medley and Years 7–8 Mixed Medley, as well as a number of first, second and third placings in finals.

See final top 3 results here >

Flickr >
ISSASwimming untitled 253

Mathematics

Benjamin Yu and Cong (Zilong) Chen (both Year 8) sat the first round Singapore Maths Challenge last September and received gold medals. This qualified them for the Singapore Maths Global Final which they sat in early this month. They received gold medals in the final again, which means they have both qualified for the Singapore International Math Olympiad Challenge (SIMOC). This is a four-day-competition in July in Singapore.

Kelicia Swimming

Swimming

Kelicia Rui En Purcell (Year 7) competed in 14 events at the 54th Singapore National Age Groups Swimming Championships, achieving 12 Personal Best’s and meeting the Meet Time Standard (MTS) in all events.

Notices

Enrolments for Year 9 2025 | Monday 18 March deadline

We are currently accepting enrolments for the Year 9 intake in 2025. Kindly note that the deadline for applications from siblings of current and past students, children of alumni and children of our current staff is Monday 18 March. The deadline for boarding applications is Friday 22 March.

To register your interest in a place at St Andrew’s College for students new to the College, complete our online application form by clicking here >

For further information please don’t hesitate to contact our Registrar, Lynn Smith. 

Sport Medley Holiday Programme

In the April/May holidays we will be running a Sport Holiday Programme during the last week of the holidays (Monday 29 April – Friday 3 May). The sessions will run between 9.00am–1.30pm each day. Students can be dropped off from 8.30am. We will meet in the Preparatory School Library. Lunch will be included. The sessions will be run by a variety of staff. The sports included are futsal, netball, basketball, cooperative games, and more…

The cost of the programme will be $300 for the week. Students have the option of a six-inch or foot-long Subway sandwich for lunch. Gluten-free wraps are also available. Students will have Subway on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. They will have pizza on Tuesday and Thursday. There will be an additional $10.00 charged for a foot-long for the three days. Students will need to bring morning tea and a water bottle. The programme will be available for Year 1–8 students. An additional service is available for your child to be supervised from 1.30pm until 3.30pm. The cost of this will be a further $10.00 per day and will be added to your disbursement.

Please complete the online permission slip and return the Subway order form (please complete one order per day – all three entries) to the Preparatory School office by Thursday 11 April. Payment will be disbursed to your College account. 

COMPLETE THE ONLINE PERMISSION FORM HERE >

If you have any questions, please contact Head of Preparatory School Sport, Alex Kelley via email at AKE@stac.school.nz.

Lost Property

Please come and look at the Lost Property rack situated under the stairway in the Preparatory School foyer. There are lots of items of clothing including blazers, trackpants, jerseys, shoes and many many hats! There are miscellaneous items including swimming googles, lunch boxes, lots of drink bottles and much more.

The Lost Property is cleaned out and donated at the end of each term, so please take the chance to look now if your child is missing anything.

Christchurch Schools' Music Festival Representative Groups

This is to advise you that talented singers and musicians from St Andrew's College Preparatory School can now apply for an audition to join a Representative Group – Junior and Senior Choir, Concert Band, Orchestra.

Applications are made online on the Music Festival website. We ask that parents/caregivers make the application so that they are aware of the rehearsal and performance commitments. Please note that applications close on Monday 1 April which is also Easter Monday.

Apply on the Music Festival website by clicking here.

Motivationz School Holiday Netball Programme

Motivationz School Holiday Rugby Programme