Smart Start Montessori Preschools
22 Ellerton Road and 99 Grange Road, Mt Eden, Ph 623-0097
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Newsletter
Term 2
Hi to our lovely Montessori community
Over the holidays, MrsAnulani, Mrs Sarah,MrsVivian(Grange Rd) and I, have attended the MANZ Conference (Sustaining the Light in Every Child) in Wellington. The conference had some wonderful keynote speakers. It refreshed our thinking and gave new ideas to incorporate into our program. We also purchased some wonderful new resources (Human Ancestors, Musical Instruments, Life Cycle of Monachy Butterfly, Land, Water and Air matching set, 3 Continent maps and the Animals Living on these Continents and 4 knobbed cylinder sets for our sensorial area) to stimulate the wonderful learning journey’s taking place. The children are also enjoying using their new chairs!
I hope you are all coping with the colder weather, although we can’t complain with the beautiful mostly sunny weather to date! We hope you enjoyed our figs and tomatoes, last term.
All children are settling well into the new term, where “the Human Body and Maori Legends” is developing as topics of interest with the children. The final day of this term before our holiday program is the 7th July 2016. Term 3, 2017 opens on the 24th July. I will let you know when registrations for the Holiday program are available.
Important Dates:
Parent/Teacher Interviews -7th June and 12th June 2017
Matariki- 6th June. Please watch for our notice to see how you can help with our Matariki celebrations.
New Students
A big welcome to our new studentswho have started this term and towards the end of last Term: Anon Fukushita, Lucas Li, and Zunaira Ahmad
We hope you enjoy your time and learning with us at Smart Start.
Farewell to Joy. We have really enjoyed having her as part of our Smart Start class, and wish her all the best on her trip to China and starting primary!
Thank you
A big thank you Samantha’s Dad Michael for giving us 9 phonics books (Jolly and Bean)! The children are really enjoying learning to read with these wonderful resources!
Newsletter – Email
If any families, particularly new families wish to receive the
newsletter by email please forward your email address to:
or contact Rebecca Ph 623-0097
Sign in/sign out sheets
Please ensure you sign your child in and out of Smart Start. The Ministry has very strict rules. If there is no signature, we receive no funding.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
Please note in your diary the 7th June and 12th June 2017 for parent/ teacher interviews. A notice will be put in your child’s pocket in the next couple of weeks, please remember to return this to preschool with your preferred time slot to the teachers.
Allergies
Just a reminder about the danger of allergies for our little ones. We have children at both schools with severe allergies. We ask that the following be excluded from lunch boxes; Nutsand any food containing nuts. This means no nut spread in sandwiches, no nut muesli bars etc.
Some packaging states that the food within may contain traces of nuts. As long as the nuts aren’t part of the ingredients, this is alright to include this in your child’s lunchbox. Seeds are fine as well. We kindly thank all parents for their consideration in this matter. For birthdays and graduations, if you want to provide something for the children to share, fruit platters or fruit kebabs are an excellent healthy option, and this means that no child is left out.
Birthday Celebrations-Montessori Way
In Montessori we celebrate birthdays by showing the child’s timeline (from birth to their current age) in the form of photos (one photo for each year). You are welcome to bring photos of each year for your child to celebrate their milestones. If you wish to bring some food to share with the children, it would be helpful to bring fruit platters and/or popcorn in keeping with promoting healthy eating habits. There is no need to bring any goodie bags for this occasion.
Graduations
In celebrating graduations, if you wish to give children gifts individually, please consider something educational for the school instead so that all our children can benefit. For example, a book, a puzzle or a board game.
Gumboots
Please bring gumboots for your child for outside play only during wet weather. However, proper shoes which your child can easily put on and take off, are still required for indoors.
Leaving Policy
Please note 6 weeks notice is required to withdraw your child from preschool. This notice must be received in writing. Please note that this notice needs to be given during term time i.e. not during the holidays. We understand that circumstances can change over the summer holidays, however due to many of our families and those on the waiting list being away, we are unable to contact them and organize spaces to be filled.
Portfolios
Please take some time to catch up on your child’s portfolio, and add your voice, but remember to bring it back please.
Turning 5 years old
If your child is turning 5 years old in Term 1 2015, please contact Rebecca in the office to confirm leaving date. If your child’s birthday falls over half way through the term, we recommend they stay with us to the end of term so as to allow for an easier transition into school.
20 Hours ECE
Just a reminder that if your child turns three during the term and you wish to take advantage of the 20 hours ECE subsidy, please speak to Rebecca in the office. If you make any changes to your child’s preschool hours, this needs to be changed on the 20 Hours Free Attestation form. Please contact Rebecca in the office to arrange this.
Term Dates 2017
Term 2 Monday 1st MayTerm 4 Monday 16th October
To Friday 7th JulyTo Friday 15th December
Term 3 Monday 24th July
To Friday 29th September