End of Year BBQ Get Together

We kicked off the end of year get together next to the new classrooms, in amazing weather, with the school band and food starting at 5. Our school band did a fantastic job. Next band was Spectrum who played a number of their original songs.
A big thank you to our sponsors, Carpet Court (donation of the carpet for raffle), Amalia Maheridis (massage vouchers), Mr Rentals (hamper and free freezer rental), Unilever (iceblocks), Cheryl Ashford (Christmas Cake), Leza Marfell (Christmas Cake) and Annemarie Dunlop (christmas tree mats). A big thank you to Tawa Linden Plunket Toy Library for reducing the bouncy castle fee for us and Papakowhai Kindy for lending us their bouncy castle free. Not to mention all the Home and School helpers who without them the event would not be possible. An especially big thank you to Sue Grazier for all the organising and purchasing for the event.
A decision was made at the Committee meeting to make the bouncy castles and tattoos all free. We also reduced the price of the sausages and had the ham buns as a cheaper option than a hamburger.  The aim of the event was to get the families together with the school.

At 6 Santa gave an appearance and was instantly surrounded. Lots of kids exhibited great values in sharing lollipops with other younger children.




Our third band is pictured above and unfortunately we did not get their band's name but I am sure you know who they are. The fourth band was Shiggaion. All of the bands had a connection to the school and gave their time for free.   Many thanks to them for their great performances.




Thanks to Richard Cory-Wright for taking most of these photos.

School BBQ 5th December

ON YOUR MARK! GET SET! BBQ RAIN OR SHINE!
Come and enjoy a night of fun at the Home & School Committee end-of-year school BBQ tomorrow, outside Rimu block. 5pm to 8pm. If the weather is not great the BBQ is still on and we will communicate whether we are in Rimu or the Hall tomorrow.
Leave the cooking to us; ham on the bone, sausages, hamburgers and ice blocks. Plus a range of drinks from $1 to $4. If you have any dietary requirements we are happy to cook your food on the BBQ.
Lots of fun activities; bouncy castle, tattoos, three live bands, lolly scrambles and games for the children.
The bands start at 5pm and the lolly scrambles will be at 6pm. Plus we have a raffle with lots of great prizes; wine from New World Porirua, gift basket from Mr Rental, large rug from Carpet Court, massage vouchers and more. See you there!
JUMP

A Big Thanks for the Ladies Shopping Night Support

    The Ladies Shopping Night was a great success according to the feedback we received from most who attended. We raised $5,000 towards the new playground.

     The drinks on arrival went down well and the tea shop was full of homemade goodies. The three demonstrations run by Leza Marfell, Susan Assadi and Annemarie Dunlop were well supported, and provided lots of discussion. The lucky envelopes and raffles had lots of support. There was a lot of last minute bidding on the silent auction that provided extra entertainment.

    

 Thank you to Gary from Clockwork Gold Bar who without him we could not have got a liquor licence for the event. For Marty Ritchie from Harcourts our great MC and sponsor for our signage. For all the following people and businesses who gave generously,  Carpet Court Porirua, Sharon Bowers,   Zone Dance Academy,  BodyMana,  Room of Beauty, Duo Family Photography,  Gordie Bins, Staglands, SHOTT, Ally Todd Swim School, Mana Pharmacy, Paper Plus Porirua,  Plimmerton School of Dance, Interislander, City Fitness, Kidz Kutz,  Numberworks,  GLO Hairdressing, British Goods,  Facepainting Wellington, House of Chic,  Art by Abby Farrow, Arena Porirua, Whittakers, New World, Pak N Save, Wendys and Body Shop.

Many thanks to those parents, demonstrators and helpers who gave their time to make this event a success.

Thank you again for the 25 stallholders who participated in our shopping night.

Ladies Night Shopping Demonstrations This Friday

Susan Assadi from My Persian Feast will be doing two demonstrations of  dips with an opportunity to try these as well.  She is an experienced Food Technologist.

Annemarie Dunlop is an experienced patchworker and quilter from the Coastal Quilters guild will be demonstrating making an easy patchwork Christmas Tree.  Visit www.coastalquilters.org.nz if you want to join some other quilters.

Ever struggled with the finishing touches to your fruit cake? Leza Marfell will make it easy for you to master your Christmas Cake decoration. She is an experienced Baker who owned her own successful  bakery business in the South Island.  She is also donating a fruit cake she has made to the silent auction.

Ladies Shopping Night - Silent Auction Prizes

We have some great prizes at our silent auction on the Ladies Shopping Night 18/10/13 at the Papakowhai School Hall. Here's a preview of them. If you can not make the night we are accepting bids in the first week of the term via a school notice or you can contact us via email.

Silent Auction List
·       Carpet Court Rhino Carpet Rug, colour pewter grey, 1.9M x 2.7M valued at $580
·        Zone Dance Academy a terms worth of dancing for a class of your choice. Valued at $105
·       Room of Beauty a 30 minute invigorating head and scalp massage.
·       2 x Duo Family Photography vouchers each worth $259. The voucher entitles you to a family photo shoot and 3 5" x 7" photos.  
·       3 x Gordie Bins Hireage namely 120 litre bin for 6 month hire, skip hire for 7 days or a 240 litre bin for 6 months. 
  BodyMana, Pilates and Yoga  10 session pass. 
·       $100 Supermarket voucher
·       Staglands Family Pass
·       2x SHOTT cocktail drink trios
·       2 x Ally Todd Swim School 50% discount vouchers.
·       Mana Pharmacy $50 voucher
·       Paper plus, Porirua donation of a signed copy of Jonah, my story.
·       Plimmerton School of Dance Voucher one free term of dance lessons valued at $90
·       Sharron Bowers, set of three paintings for the silent auction table.
·       $250 Interislander Voucher
·       3 x City Fitness passes 3 month pass valued at $475 each
·       3 x Ramset Easy Lasers. Great for finding the correct measurement. Valued at over $250 each.  
·       2 x Hairdresser cuts from Kidz Kutz 2 x  1 x adult and 1 x child
·       Numberworks One English and Maths Tuition valued at $450
·       2 x GLO Hairdressing Vouchers
·       $50 British Goods Voucher
·       Necklace and bracelet from Candi Brown
·       Facepainting Wellington $80 value,  Party for up to 10 children or discount a longer party of 20 or 30 children (or adults)
·       House of Chic  3 different eye treatments valued at $52
·       Art by Abby Farrow – Canvas with ceramic bunting
·       Framed frock in Paper Art
·       Decorated Christmas Cake

On Track for Ladies Shopping Night and Playground Planning

Just received notice that our liquor licence has been granted for our shopping night on the
18th October at 7-930pm. Hope to see you then. Please feel free to share the event with all.

Some other great news is that we now have an experienced Marketing Person to come on to the committee Jennifer Kinsella. This will help with a plan of how we can get our playground fundraised and built in the shortest time.

We are still looking for an auditor, its a small once a year job. Feel free if you know someone associated at the school who may be just waiting for an approach from us. Having an auditor is essential to applying for large amounts of grants money.

Have you some skills we can utilise?

Last week I was impressed with the power of the school newsletter. Only minutes after Mark sent out the newsletter in email form with our notice - we had a new project manager.

Lizena Gray who is an experienced project manager from Telecom is coming on board to the Committee to help us with the playground project. This will be a great help in breaking down what seems like a major undertaking into bite sized chunks.

We are still on the look out for,

A marketing person...

With the start of our fundraising for the new playground we need help keeping everyone updated and the momentum rolling. If you have an interest in or prior experience in marketing you could be part of a small team around the playground initiative.
An auditor... 
This is a once a year opportunity to give back to the school at no monetary cost to yourself. The PHSC is a registered Charity but inorder to apply for significant grants for the school playground we need to get our accounts audited. Our financial statements will be completed up to the year ended 31st December 2013. 

If you have some skills that you think could help out the playground project, please let us know. It all helps at the end of the day and it is great for getting to know more about the school where our children spend a lot of their time, not to mention all the other parents.

Movie Night Blue Jasmine

Many thanks for all the parents and friends of the school who supported the movie night.
We raised $782 for the movie and raffles on the night. 
Thanks also to our sponsors, SHOTTs drinks, Butlers Café, Rebel Sport Porirua, EasiYo, Tupperware, Te Rauparaha Arena, Whittakers, Spoil Yourself Spa, O.P.I and Kenepuru Chemist.

  

A Possible Site for a New Playground

Mark Smith, Darren O'Leary and myself met with a playground stockist who has done refurbishments to our playground.
This was to get an idea of cost and a suitable site.
The possible site of Rimu block has been eliminated due to Ministry restrictions and lack of sun during winter. Below is a picture of a proposed site near the back of the hall and swimming pool.
Its a unused area that could look better with some planting, paths and play equipment. Infact you can still see the old abandoned maypole still there. It would be great to put in a flying fox, some tunnels and slides over this bank.

In ballpark figures we are talking about $80,000 for playground equipment without any site development ie retaining walls and landscaping. There is a lot of scoping that has to be done if we are going to apply for some grants funding.

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events - Please keep the dates free

Friday 23 August, Afternoon Tea for Parents in the Staffroom, between 2 & 3pm. This is a chance for you to meet the committee and understand why we need a new playground. Then to

Tuesday 17 September: Movie fundraiser ‘Blue Jasmine’ at Lighthouse Cinema, Pauatahanui at 730pm Tickets $20. Email us for tickets homeandschool@papakowhai.school.nz or ring Lisa on 0275103973.

Friday 18th October: Papakowhai School ladies shopping night 7-930pm
Stallholders, craft demonstrations, silent auction and lots of fun. More details will follow.
 

Thursday 5th December End of Year BBQ Foodie night Parent and Student get together
Still under planning with some differences this year.

A New Playground - A new challenge

Its now official the Home and School, Board of Trustees, teachers and parents have a new fundraising mission of a new playground for the school.
With the growing number of students on the same playground space the time has come for a new playground.
This playground will be mainly targeted at 7-10 year olds but in no way limited to them.

A first estimate of cost is somewhere between $50,000 to $80,000 depending on specifics.  Unfortunately we do not have that kind of money sitting anywhere in a Home and School bank account to just buy it.  So we have started a round of fundraising up until Christmas that has been confirmed. Planning is continuing beyond this but obviously we need help. The Home and School Committee consists of less than ten parents. Please ask yourself what skills do you have that may help us to get to our fundraising goal quicker. It may be that you can offer us a voucher from your business for a raffle or you have baking skills and can help out with these at a function? It maybe that you can just give us some of your time at a fundraiser and that could make all the difference.

Please email us your ideas and thoughts on how we can get the money to fund the playground.

"I have tried raising money by asking for it, and by not asking for it. I always got more by asking for it." -Millard Fuller

What is happening to the Disco Money?

The Home and School Committee is currently working with the new Board of Trustees and the Principal to set a plan around what is the best priority for the school in terms of fundraising needs.

Every year  the Home and School Committees functions raise money for the leaver school books, piper and the school magazine. This will still continue but it is looking at other gaps in the school.  For example it has been suggested that the school needs another playground as with around 340 children currently and only two playgrounds overcrowding is a problem. There is currently no money in the School's budget from the Ministry for this.

Whatever the fundraising goal that is decided, the committee will look into ways to fundraise for this as well as applying for grants within the community. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see fundraised for at the school or how you think the home and school committee could fundraise, please email us.

Disco Night

What a great night it turned out to be. We had just over 265 kids attend the two sessions.
Lots of help from the parents, teachers, whanau leaders and committee members, made it all so well organised.  A big thank you to all of you. It was great to see the some of teachers attend and the Principal attend the whole function.
A thank you to Whittakers for their box of chocolate for prizes and Pak n' Save for the $50 voucher for use on purchases for the night.

We raised $1424 for the school. 

Here are just some of the photos....

The opening line for the disco

Inside the disco...

 Dancing Zombie and the backup dancer...

Theme for Disco

The theme for the disco is "FLUORO".

Prizes will be given for best costume and dancing.

2013 School Disco Friday 14th June

The Home and School Committee are proud to present the 2013 School Disco.

This year there will be two sessions :

Years 1-4 From 5pm to 6:30pm

Years 5- onwards From 7pm to 9pm

Tickets will be $3.50 per pupil.

Tickets will be sold from the office foyer from 8:30am to the start of school. Please bring your money in an envelope and a Committee member will be there to give you your tickets.

This year we will be selling pizza, chips, ice pops and drinks. You will be also able to buy glow sticks, have your nails and or face painted and get tattoos.