Choir Rehearsal Update

 Another entry that's full of celebration!

The New Windsor School Choir went to Papakura Primary on Tuesday of this week to join with other choirs in our first Regional Rehearsal. The other choirs were mainly from South. We joined their group for the first rehearsal, as the Central Regional Rehearsal group was scheduled to be on NWS Accord Day. 

Our forty- five choir members were inspired with the power of group.  The choirs sang in unison, in two,  three and four part harmonies with one student from another school singing a solo part. 

The choirs are all working towards memorizing the words of all the songs and mastering the discipline involved in singing as part of a mass choir.

New Windsor students were able to rise to the challenge positively by using their New Windsor Way Values in an exemplary manner.

Our students are already deciding which of the songs is their favourite. It's a fine line between 'See You Again,' 'Memories' and 'On With The Show' at this stage.

What a joy it is to be their Choir trainer!

  😎 Community Service - Vision Screening 😎

Yesterday twenty Auckland University Ophthalmology Graduate Students came into school with their Tutor to do vision screening on all our Year 1 & 2 students and some Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 students who were identified by teachers with a possible visual impairment. 

 

New Windsor has welcomed their visit for the past six years and many families have benefited from this service. This annual community service is offered to our school free of charge. Unfortunately in 2020 this had to cancelled due to Lockdown.

The idea behind this service to give the university students experience working with young children. The students who came yesterday were lovely with our little people, and all our children enjoyed the experience. It was amusing to hear tales of which cool glasses they had to put on. One of our Year 5 students told me he got to wear the little pink glasses with the cute red bows on the side. He was very pleased to have an eye examination.

The assessment is followed up with a letter home next week, to let parents know if their child passed or failed the vision testing. For any child who has failed the screening a full examination will be offered at the eye clinic in Grafton. Parents just need to phone or email to make an appointment.

The first time we had free screening from Auckland University, in 2015 they screened the whole school, 550 students over three days. The Graduates picked up 80 children with a visual impairment, some mild, some extreme. 

I make a point of following up with parents so our students can be the best they can be. It's very hard to succeed at school when you can't see properly!