Latest update: 17/05/12
WEST AUCKLAND CHESS COMPETITION (AUG. 16th-17th)
For students in Yrs 4-6, or Yrs 7-8 (ie 8-10 years old, or 11-12 years old).
The Intermediate competition (yrs 7 – 8) will take place on Thursday 16 August 2012 (week 5, term 3) Venue: Rangeview Intermediate School, Keru Place, Te Atatu South, 9.15 am – 2.30 pm.
The Primary competition (yrs 1 - 6) will take place on Friday 17 August 2012 (week 5, term 3).Venue: Henderson North Primary School, 15 Norval Rd, Henderson
A team consists of 4 players. If your school is composed of both primary and intermediate children, primary children may help make up intermediate teams but not vice versa. Each student gets to play six games. Cost: $24 per child.
For more details contact Jennifer Reed (09) 832 1335 or (022)647 3449
THE WEBSITE PASSWORD HAS CHANGED
Details are in the last newsletter – see page 2.
SUZUKI VIOLIN IN DIAMOND HARBOUR
An offer for home schooling families. Click here for details.
IMPORTANT NOTICE CONCERNING TWO-DAY PARENT TRAINING
Please be advised that there is a change to this policy. When it was initially introduced by the New Zealand Academic Council, a transition period of grace was given which said that the course had to be done before a certificate could be issued. That period of grace has now come to an end, and the official wording is now that the two-day parent training “must be completed by the time your child is working on the first year of their secondary studies”, ie PACE 1085.
How does this affect you? In practice, what this means is that you will need to attend the next available two day parent training in your area. We strongly advise you not to put it off any longer.
All queries regarding this matter should be addressed to the New Zealand ACE's representative, Robert Steedman. His contact details are as follows:
(07) 544 6420 rsteedman@xtra.co.nz
See the following notice for more details.
TWO DAY PARENT TRAINING
On the basis of those who have responded to “Help us Plan a Training Near You” the following places of training are being planned for 2012.
Dates and venues will be advertised as and when details have been arranged.
Manukau 14th-15th June, 57 Cavenidish Drive, Manukau
Rotorua Mon-Tues June 25th-26th, Chapman College, 47 Biak St
South Island (to be advised)
Other places may be considered as more responses come in.
(If you still have to do this training, let Robert Steedman know where you live so that he can plan courses for this year in the venues which suit people best. This is not a formal registration, but an aid to effective planning. Click here to do that. )
CHANGE TO NEW ACE ORDER FORMS
SCEE has advised us of new postage rates that were NOT included in the new order form they published two weeks ago. This new form has been updated, and is available on our ‘Free Downloads’ page.
WOODTURNING CLASS OFFER
The Northland Wood Turners Club (with members from Bay of Islands down to Mangawhai) are wanting to know if any students aged 13 or older would be interested in tuition in woodturning. Class times would be negotiable. Contact: Don Coots (09) 435 5200 gillanddon@xtra.co.nz
NOTIFICATION OF A DISCONTINUED COURSE (ACECONNECT)
We have received the following announcement from SCEE.
This notice is to inform you that aceconnect Technology Training is no longer available. Sales of this product will stop effective immediately. The products that have already been sold will be supported through April 30, 2013.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
CUTOFF DATES FOR TERM 2 REPORTS
As reports are computer generated and are based upon (a) date of completion, and (b) correct data entry, in order for your family to receive Term 2 reports, this term's PACEs must be in to the office by Saturday July 7th. Term 2 PACEs received after this date cannot be carried over into Term 3 reports. Late PACE returns (within reason) will still be recorded for Certification purposes, but they will not appear upon any student's Term Report.
INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
This is being launched in September. It is essentially the equivalent of the current NZ Yr 13 Academic Certificate, and the process of accrediting it with the tertiary education sector in NZ has begun. More news will be coming out in this week’s Term Newsletter. In the meantime, a brochure and a prospectus for the ICCE is available from our Free Downloads webpage.
CENTRAL SOUTH ISLAND SCIENCE FAIR
This is an annual event where school students from Mid and South Canterbury are invited to display original exhibits on scientific or technological themes. These exhibits are judged by a panel of volunteer judges from the community and prizes are awarded on merit. Homeschoolers from Ashburton to Oamaru and west to Twizel are welcome to participate. For more details, visit the www.sanfordsciencefair.org.nz website - the login and password can be obtained from the HSNZ office.
A LETTER FROM THE FROM SCEE ORDERING DEPARTMENT
We have received the following letter from SCEE.
A customer has expressed her frustration with the perennial issue of mis-matching keys and paces. When we dug a bit deeper, we found out that she had acquired an old key from someone else.
As a rule, it would be good to remind families:
Acquiring second hand keys from other sources runs the risk of the key not matching the Pace. In such circumstance they should not hold SCEE responsible for issuing replacements free of charge
The NZ Social Studies stock on the shelf is the 2011 edition and will require the purchase of new keys – unless a new key has been obtained very recently.
The SCEE website will be up in the near future. We will attempt to post up-dated curriculum information on the site.
2012 ACE CERTIFICATES GUIDELINES BOOK
These contain all sorts of updated information about courses, certificates etc, and can be downloaded free from our 'Downloads' page. We advise all families to do this, as we are aware that many people are referring to outdated books.
FREE FIREWISE EDUCATION MATERIAL
Fire Safety education material is available to homeschooling families. There are packs for pre-schoolers, Yrs 1-2, and Yrs 7-8. Those families interested please contact Steve Jones . He is based at Devonport Fire Station, but will respond to homeschoolers’ requests from around the country. steven.jones@fire.org.nz