Stan’s Farewell

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:22:47 +1300

I had the privilege of being at Stan’s farewell assembly yesterday and although I commented in my last entry about his retirement, I feel that a special acknowledgement of his special time is appropriate. It was nice to see a good turn out of parents, past pupils and friends of the school as well as most of Stan’s family to wish him well in his ‘retirement’. The general feeling that I came away with, is that Stan is a man of many talents and has had many jobs in his lifetime but, in his words, his time at CTS has been the most rewarding. I think that this is true for us as well. I have been at the school longer than Stan and I can honestly say that he has been one of the biggest assets we have had during that time. Not only for his devotion to making our school a picture of beauty but also for his unselfishness and his genuine love of the children and the positive effect he has had on so many. Well done Stan, enjoy your fishing, you deserve it!

Where Has It Gone??

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:51:55 +1300

It is hard to believe that the 2011 school year is drawing to a close. Where has it all gone? When I look back over the year and reflect on all the things that have happened during the year I am amazed. Academically great programmes have been running in all classrooms and the children’s learning has been shown great gains in many, many cases. This is a reflection of not only the attitude of many of our children, here on The Terrace, who strive for personal excellence, but also a credit to the staff all of whom put in long hours and are devoted to do their best for the children and for the school. There has been an amazing number of activities, beside the academic ones, that have occurred throughout the year that once again reflect the values of our school, the attitude of the children to be actively involved and the commitment of the staff. This term has been no different with children involved in a variety of out of school sports, great assemblies by Rooms fourteen and four, tournaments such as gymnastics, soccer and tennis, the enviroschool team’s commitment to improving our school and striving to get Bronze recognition (good luck for that next Monday), edible gardens, jump jam, to name but a few. Again, thank you to the staff who are involved in these activities and congratulations and thanks to all the children involved, as well.
Speaking of staff, we have a few changes for next year. Firstly, Kim is taking a year off and travelling with her family to Vanuatu. We wish you well, Kim and hope you have a great time and a fulfilling experience. Debbie and James are back, with Debbie winning a permanent position at CTS. Congratulations to you both. Your enthusiasm and commitment are assets to our school. Megan is here for a term and then off to have her baby. We are all very excited for her and wish her well. Finally, next month will be the end of an era at CTS with the retirement of Stan, our caretaker. Stan has been a ‘fixture’ at CTS for the last nineteen years and has taken our school environment from being pleasant surroundings to something than is unique in the Nelson area. We have a lovely setting for our school and Stan has enhanced that with his commitment to planting native, fruit and exotic trees, keeping the flowerbeds full of a variety of blooms that give a brightness to the place, as well as keeping the overall appearance of the school neat and tidy and a place you enjoy working in. Not only that, but he has been interested in the children and their achievements and, I wager, knows almost all the children by their given name, no mean feat!! Nothing is ever a bother to Stan and if you want something done, repaired or dropped off to your class, you only have to ask once and it is done. Stan will be sorely missed but is due for a well deserved retirement. Some people refer to him as ‘The Legend’ and I think that he will be remembered by many staff, children and parents as that.
Congratulations on your achievements at our school, Stan and have a long, happy, healthy and rewarding retirement.
This will be the last entry by me for 2011. I would like to take the opportunity on behalf of all the staff of Clifton Terrace School to wish you a very Merry Christmas, if it is celebrated by you, and to all a very healthy and rewarding 2012.

Way To Go

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:15:55 +1300

Greetings to all. It’s great to be back for the last term of the year....where has it gone?? It is a short term too, being only seven and a half weeks. “Way to Go”? You may be forgiven for thinking that I am talking about the All Blacks who are now the World Champions in rugby, and yes, “way to go, ABs”. But in fact I am referring to the fantastic effort the school put into the mask parade at the end of last term. We had a day making our masks, two or three practices and then the big parade on the last Friday evening. It was a tremendous turn out, locally, with many schools and groups done up in a wide variety of costumes, all of which contributed to the colour, flavour and feeling of the parade. We, even if I do say so myself, looked and sounded brilliant. Josh and Madsen did a fantastic job with the waiata and chants. Everyone got into the spirit and the crowd responded magnificently to our efforts. It was a great night and thanks and well done to everyone.
Gallery
Also a fantastic “way to go” to room 14 who put on a fantastic “Jump Jam” assembly in the morning. Some great dancing guy and it was really great to see all the adults and children up dancing. Congratulations to all the award winners, as well.
Gallery
Movies
Term four is underway and already things are cranking up with a gym competition pending, a six-a-side soccer tournament coming up as well as great teaching and learning. This term is our caretaker, Stan’s, last term after 19 years, so a tinge of sadness amongst all the great things that happen here on The Terrace.

Term Three Winds Down......not!

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:43:40 +1300

You would perhaps think that with just under two weeks until the end of term that we would be winding down and getting into holiday mode. BUT, not here on The Terrace. Things are just as busy as usual and we have had a host of wonderful things happening and still more exciting things in the pipeline.
Room fifteen took last week’s assembly and part of that was a talk from Chris from Altrusa Nelson who had been to Fiji to assist with health care in rural areas. The talk was very interesting and one of the main points that Chris made was that the two schools she visited did not have a library. Therefore we are collecting old library books to send over to these schools. SO, bring along any old books you may have at home and leave them in the office and we will make these children in Fiji a little happier.
Today saw the annual speech finals for Year Five and Six. Congratulations to all the finalist. It was very interesting listening to all your speeches and a big congratulations to Hollie and Daniel, the Year Six and Year Five winners respectively.
We have ‘show and tell’ for clubs on Friday and that always proves to be interesting too. It is a chance to see and hear about what the ‘others’ have been up to over the last six weeks. The model boat race in the school pool always proves to be an apt finale and I hope this year is the same.
AND finally, the mask parade is still to come. This is on the last Friday and the CTS entry looks as though it is going to be great. A special thanks to Madsen for his assistance with the waiata and chants and to Rueben for a great waka bow to define our theme.

Keep On Keeping On

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:36:19 +1200

Once again a great term is drawing to a close at CTS but still the good times keep on rolling. Room eight ran a very slick assembly a week or so ago with songs, a digital story show and the usual congratulations and awards to the hard working children of CTS. This was followed by a morning tea for new families to CTS. The ski trip happened last week after a false start in August and a few nerves as the day drew closer and the southerly picked up. However, the day dawned clear and calm and the children (and adults) were up and away by 6:45. The day up at the ski field was clear, calm, sunny and there was an abundance of fresh snow. All the children had a ball, whether it be on skis or toboggans. Thank you to all the parents who helped on the day, the teachers who put in a great deal of their time to organise it, especially Megan who spent many hours getting it sorted so we could all enjoy the experience. Gallery
Yesterday saw an interesting day at CTS. It is not often that we get to work with other classes as well as spending a whole day devoted to one topic. Yesterday we had a day on mask making for the up coming Mask Parade. The theme is ‘Playful Pacific’ and the boys in the middle and senior syndicate spent the day making masks and paddles for our waka (Maori canoe) entry. The senior girls made lei (a Polynesian garland of flowers) and masks covered in bright flowers, with the juniors creating some amazingly colourful tropical fish masks. All in all, a great day where we displayed the CTS spirit of co-operation, perseverance, thinking and creativity. GO CTS and bring on the Mask Parade.
Finally, speeches. The three senior classes began their annual speech competition today with our class speeches. The initial feeling is that once again, the children at CTS have shown that they can be relied on to do a great job, by being prepared for the day and being able to deliver a variety of interesting speech topics to their peers, not an easy task. Well done guys and gals. Good luck to you all and no doubt, like the teachers, you are looking forward to the finals on Monday to see who the overall winners are.