WORKING BEE! Champion Dads and your children! Thank you for all your efforts at our Working Bee on Saturday 2 July.
Our ‘Champion Dads’ is aimed at:
Enhancing child development and improving academic progress.
Reducing school adjustment problems.
Reducing alcohol, tobacco and drug use in later years.
Increasing physical activity and better health outcomes.
Increasing social responsibility, social maturity, resilience and life skills.
Strengthening father and child and father and wife/partner relationships.
Our website link provides presentations, resources and tips and advice for our Champion Dads.
EVENTS!:
A beautiful sunny day ensured a large number of Champion Dads and their children attended our first family BBQ. A cake decorating challenge combined with paper aeroplane making, saw some healthy competition between our dads and their children! A big thanks to Hellers for kindly sponsoring the very popular sausages and to all our Champion Dads for making the event so successful.
FitDads Bootcamp started on Tuesday 10 May and there was an excellent turn out for our first week. Remember that every Tuesday in the courtyard we will be holding our free sessions for all our dads and their children! Fitness gear, water and sneakers a must!
Upcoming Events
Cooking – Mediterranean Style – Wednesday 27 July 6.30pm. email dwilcock@mhp.school.nz for details.
TIPS:
Often we are unwittingly too critical of our kids. Research shows that continuous criticism not only breeds resentment and defiance in kids, but also undermines children’s initiative, self-confidence and sense of purpose.
SO… ‘up your praise to criticism ratio’.
Here’s the bad news – even a 1:1 ratio is not going to cut it, as “balance,” or an equal ratio, of praise and criticism has been shown to be unhealthy, both in marriage and in parent-child relationships.
So, praise your kids often. Research tells us that the optimal ratio of praise to criticism to achieve growth and deepen relationships is around 6:1 (that’s 6 praise to 1 criticism).
Make the praise about things other than your child’s appearance. Try something like;
‘I like the way you’re thinking….’
‘I’m loving how generous you were to Max today…’
‘I’m proud of how you solved that problem with Emma…’
‘I respect your decision on that one’
‘I’m so impressed by the choice you made’.
We are still looking for volunteer Champion Dads to work with children in school for half an hour each week. No previous experience is needed, just a small amount of your precious time. Email Mr Wilcock at dwilcock@mhp.school.nz for more details.
Mission Heights Primary is a Gold Travel Wise school and our focus is sustainable and safe transport for our students and families. We will be looking for ways to further reduce our carbon footprint by encouraging students to walk to school. Our big focus this year will be reminding our community that wearing seat belts is critical to safety and getting the message out there that texting while driving is a big no-no.
A team of eight students attended the annual celebration at The Cloud. The objective was to make us aware of the various transport experiences that we can enjoy in our City of Sails.
We learned a lot from our Speed Camera initiative. We recorded speeds as high as 64kph. We reminded drivers of the dangers of speeding around schools and thanked those who drove within safe speed limits.
Helmet safety: putting the skills we learned as Bike Ambassadors to use.
We so enjoyed having Zara the Zebra with us one afternoon. We highlighted the importance of crossing at the zebra crossing on Jeffs Road by walking across with our zebra cutouts.
We rewarded our Walking School Bus with a winter treat of Milo and lamingtons. The theme was Be Bright Be Seen.
At the start of each term you will see us out and about with placards to remind our community that they need to look out for us. Mrs Vohra flagged us off.
A team of students enjoyed the Bike Ambassadors initiative. They learned about helmet safety, bike maintenance and riding safely.
Two fingers above the brow
One finger between the chin and chin strap
Make a vee about the ears
Check the fork is snapped onto the wheel and the tyres feel firm
Check spokes are even and reflectors are in good shape
After the classroom theory session we went on the courts to learn the practical aspect of riding safely in confined spaces and changing direction. The purpose of the exercises was to remember that we share the road with pedestrians, other cyclists and vehicles. It was intense and we enjoyed learning a life skill.
During Road Safety Week we held up our placards, rewarded parents who parked responsibly around our school and ran a poster competition. Students were encouraged to design digital posters with a focus on the importance of wearing seat belts and not texting while driving. We had heaps of entries and the class that submitted the most entries was LZ 30! Congratulations!
We kicked off Walking School Bus Week by holding up our placards wearing our Be Bright Be Seen accessories.
Almost every student was on board with our theme and it was a huge success. We awarded prizes to the brightest dressed in each Learning Zone. We also rewarded students who walked with the Walking School Bus and every child who rode their bikes or scooters on the day.
Our staff supported the initiative as well by wearing eye popping colours. Here we are with our Principal.
We awarded prizes to the brightest dressed child in each learning zone. Thank you Auckland Transport for the cool prizes.
These are our road patrollers – they work rain or shine to keep us safe at the Jeffs Road crossing
The Auckland Transport team worked tirelessly to punch out badges for our students at the school picnic
.
We played the fun pedestrian game and won seriously cool prizes.
Here is one happy prize winner. He won a drink bottle which came in handy immediately.
This year biking to school seems to be the preferred mode of transport. This is what our bike stands looked like despite all the crazy weather at the start of this term!
We have just one Walking School Bus this year and would love to have more routes operated by parents. If you are interested and think you have the time and commitment we would love to hear from you.
Our speed initiative on Jeffs Rd. Mrs Vohra flagged us off.
Recording speeds which we then used as a maths activity. We worked out the mean, mode and median.
We spoke with drivers who had been pulled over by the police. We thanked those who were within the speed limit of 40k and rewarded them with a polish cloth. We reminded those that were over the speed limit that they share the road with children and put them at risk when they speed.
All ready to go with our speeches and words of encouragement from our community constable
We celebrated our Walking School Buses by having a Milo and donut morning in Term 3. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.
Zara the Zebra was @MHP one afternoon – and did she cause a stir! Here are some of the highlights of that memorable afternoon.
The team was ready and waiting for her at Reception.
Outside Reception waiting for our first glimpse of Zara.
Mrs Vohra as always got involved and joined in the fun.
The moment when we met Zara for the first time!
Stepping out with our Community Transport Coordinator.
On Jeffs Road to highlight the need to use our zebra crossing.
We had heaps of fun crossing with Zara and we are already looking forward to having her with us again!
Our Walking School Bus coordinator spent some time with three of our students training them on how to be Student Leaders. Here they are at the end of their training session. You will see them walking with our students and of course with an adult.
During Road Safety Week you would have seen our team around our ponds presenting lollies to parents who parked responsibly around our school.
The team returning after a hectic morning of handing out lollies and holding up signs to remind our community to Slow Down.
Our bay is manned by staff at drop off and pick up times.
Our community is aware of the need for booster seats.
Leading by example is our principal Mrs Vohra who carpools every day with one of our admin staff.
Our school van arrived just in time for Road Safety Week. We will be using it to transport teams to their various events. It will make a huge reduction to our carbon footprint.
In fact quite a few of our staff carpool as well.
Our Year 1 students wrote about what safety meant to them. Have a look at what they had to say.
To start off Walking School Bus Week, Wanda the Walking School Bus mascot walked with us on one of our regular routes. We were a fairly large group and we certainly made our community aware that they share the road with young children. To maximise the visual impact of the walk with Wanda our students wore Funky Footwear.
Here are some of the creative ideas our students came up with for Funky Feet.
Our teachers got into the act as well!
Mrs Vohra wandered off with Wanda and we had to get her back!
She stuck as many pom poms as she could onto her shoes. Cute!
Four of our team members represented our school at a Travelwise Student Workshop and came back brimming with ideas to implement.
With Mrs Vohra before we headed off to the workshop.
Ready and waiting in our team colour groups.
Testing each other with our slow cycling skills.
With our community constable.
Planning a strategy to implement with our Community Transport Coordinator.
Mrs Vohra joined the team in the very first week of school when we held up placards to remind our community to slow down and keep our kids safe.
Here we are on the opposite side of the road to get the attention of drivers going the other way.
Returning from our duties with big smiles. Parents honked and high fived us. Mission accomplished.
We put our best efforts into reducing our carbon footprint right through the year and were acknowledged as a Gold Travelwise school at the Annual Travelwise Celebration. Go school!
This is us hopping across the stripes en route to the Wynyard Quarter.
We celebrated our Walking School Buses with an ice block treat with Wanda the Walking School Bus mascot.
Here are our Walking School Bus operators with our regular walkers.
We entered a poster competition and won a Big Foot Adventure for our Year 4 and Year 6 students.
Safety at the School Gate is a partnership programme run with Auckland Transport. The aim is to improve safety around the school gate for students who are put at risk by drivers who park illegally.
Please be aware that parking officers will be on patrol and you must park safely. They will not be issuing warnings and will be ticketing drivers who are illegally parked. Thank you parents for your commitment to keeping our students safe.
On another note, we entered a writing competition and won a visit from Jerome Kaino the Captain of the Blues. He walked with the Walking School Bus during Walking School Bus Week. It was Hilarious Hats day as well. We must have made a strange sight that day, Jerome in the midst of a sea of hats!
Jerome with some of our parent walkers.
Jerome walking with our students
Auckland Transport arranged scooter training for us. They demonstrated the correct use of helmets, made us aware of potential hazards en route to school and instilled sound safety practices.
We have scooter racks at school and students are welcome to scooter to school and use their own locks to secure their scooters. Students must wear helmets – these are to be worn with the pointed end at the back, two fingers above the brow, one finger between chin and chin strap and straps around the ears in a V. They need to be alert for sneaky driveways and wheel their scooters across roads and crossings.
Please use the school crossings when crossing Jeffs Road and Valderama Drive. Parents please remember to drop your speed to 40km during drop off and pick up times. Please note the road patrollers on Jeffs Road are on patrol from 8:00am till 8:30am. Then again from 3:00pm till 3:20pm.
Mission Heights Walking School Bus Map January 2018. Please click on the link below for the map and contact details of our wonderful parent helper. We have one Walking School bus that starts at Beros Pl.
This map provides a bird’s eye view of parking spaces around our school at drop off and pick up times. The spaces are marked by the black dots.
The map below gives you an idea of how long it takes to walk to school from various points in our community. The red zone takes 5 minutes, the green takes 10 minutes and the blue zone takes 15 minutes. Our students actually walked these distances and timed themselves to provide you with this map.
The school encourages the involvement of parents through helping in the classroom and is appreciative of their valuable time and contribution. Please let your child’s teacher know if you are available to support the school’s programmes in any way. Training for Parent Helpers is also offered from time to time about the protocols that parent helpers need to follow when working in a learning zone.
An information booklet regarding protocols and expectations is available from the school office/LZ teacher where parent helpers wish to work regularly in a learning zone.
This programme is provided by ‘Mission Kids’ and is owned and managed by Paul Schlachter. It operates from 7:00 – 8:00am as a Breakfast Club and 3:00 – 6:00 pm after school. It is is a privately- run business. It is situated in the MHP Multi-Purpose Hall. The programme also runs through school holidays and term breaks. Details of holiday programmes are available from the school reception.
Students attending MKids programmes are expected to follow school guidelines at all times. The reception holds further information about the programme. Please let the Deputy Principals and your child’s teacher know if you have any concerns about the students’ behaviour or any other matter relating to this service.
The natural transition for students from Mission Heights Primary School is to Mission Heights Junior College. The two schools are situated on the same campus and share many facilities which include the administration bock, the school library, ICT infrastructure and the school fields.
More information about Mission Heights Junior College can be found on their website: http://www.mhjc.school.nz/
Mission Heights Family & Friends (MHP F&F) is a voluntary organisation that works collaboratively with the school’s Principal, Management Staff and the Student Council to lead approved fundraising and social activities that unite the School community.
MHP F&F aim is to provide a link between the school and its parent community whereby exchange of ideas and sharing of information can take place to enhance a sense of community and where required raise additional funds for a wider range of facilities and resources to support the great work that goes on at Mission Heights Primary School to ‘Grow Excellence’ in teaching and learning.
New members are welcome to join the working committee anytime during the year or to just simply become a friend of the MHP F&F and help out with specific school and social community event/s and activities such as the Disco, Movie Night, distributing uniforms to needy families or an annual fundraising initiative.
We value every contribution made by our families and community organisations to MHP F&F fundraising activities throughout the year.
Community meetings are held regularly in the Meeting Place (holidays excluded) 7.00pm – 8.00pm. Parents will be advised of the meetings in the weekly updates.
The MHP Board of Trustees meets every fourth Thursday in the Administration Building in Meeting Room 1 from 5.00pm onward.
MHP Board of Trustees
All of New Zealand’s state and state-integrated schools have a board of trustees. The board of trustees is the Crown entity responsible for the governance of Missions Heights Primary School. The board is responsible for establishing the School’s charter, which sets out the aims and objectives of the school and ensuring that the school provides a safe environment and quality education for all its students.
Board Membership
Mrs Veena Vohra – Principal
Mr Chris French – Chairperson
Mr John Bassano – Deputy Chairperson
Mr Rohit Prasad – Finance
Mrs Sian Grant – Property
Mr Andy Pratley- Member
Mr Jing Zhang – Member
Mr Ajenesh Lal – Member
Mrs Sue Kennedy – BoT Secretary MHP Complaints procedures
NZSTA is an independent organisation that represents and provides services to boards of trustees across New Zealand. Click on the link above to connect to their website for further information.
The home of Mission Heights Primary School, Auckland, New Zealand
WORKING BEE! Champion Dads and your children! Thank you for all your efforts at our Working Bee on Saturday 2 July. 
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