June 30

Tena koutou te whānau o te kura Muritai

Congratulations to Maya (6th), Gus (5th) and Andrew (4th) who all qualified for the New Zealand cross country championships in Hanmer next term and to Jack who finished 6th. We are all very proud of you.


In the last week 500 people have visited our Muritai TV blogsite to view our movie on reporting. Hopefully this was useful. If you haven't seen it click here, but it helps to explain and summarise our reporting process. We are heartened by this response and have enjoyed sharing the school's process of reporting against the National Standards. For many, the process of reporting will be enlightening and give clear affirmation that their child is on track or making even bigger progress steps than anticipated. We do appreciate that there will always be some children who are not yet on the national standards achievement level, however this shouldn’t necessarily give cause for concern. Rather here is an opportunity to identify ‘next step’ learning requirements and plan forward progress.

Our first session with parent interviews went extremely well - many staff saying they were the best they had been involved in. With 90% parent turnout over the 2 days and some interviews conducted beforehand we thank you for your positive engagement. With parent interviews this week our teachers and parents will need to think about how to involve the children in the reporting process. The reporting requirement is between the teacher and the parents, and we need to be careful that we don’t place the children in a situation where we undervalue their progress due to expectations that we place upon them. We do encourage parents to talk through their interviews with children, however I suggest the focus for each child should be on the positive progress already made as well as the next steps that can lead towards improved learning.

The big wet of 2010 continues. The children have been great and coping pretty well with being inside for most of the month of June. I hope your families enjoy the holiday break. It is a good chance for the children to recharge their batteries, explore different things in their lives, catch up with friends and spend extended time with family and relatives. Let us hope they can get out and about in the next 2 weeks so they can enjoy all the outside things that New Zealand can offer.

Staffing
Next term we welcome Barbara Ryan back to the staff and into room 1. Barbara has been on leave on a Science Teacher Scholarship with the Royal Society. She has documented what she has been doing in her science blog which is very interesting.

Thank you to Margs Mills-Smith for her work this term. Margs will be back teaching in the senior school next term and returning to start our next new entrant class, room 16 in term 4.

Dates
Fri 2 July - Green Day for Orphans of Nepal
Fri 2 July - Assembly 1.40 and School finishes at normal time
Mon 19 July - First day back, Term 3

Term dates for 2011
At the Board meeting last week term dates were confirmed for 2011. Next year is a bit different because of the Rugby World Cup - the consequence of which is we have a very short term 4 of about 8 weeks. The dates for your diaries are as follows -

Term 1 - Wednesday 2 February - Friday 15 April
Term 2 - Monday 2 May - Friday 15 July
Term 3 - Monday 1 August - Friday 7 October
Term 4 - Tuesday 25 October - Friday 16 December

There will be a 4 day weekend at Queen's Birthday with a Teacher only day on Friday 3 June and Monday 6 June as Queen's Birthday.

Mantle of the Expert
This enrichment programme for year 3-4 students has been chugging away one day a week for a term under the tutelage of Priya Gain. It has garnered some significant interest in Wellington and across the country. You may like to have view the Mantle blog where Priya explains in detail what they have done each week. It is a very nice record of using drama and inquiry to create a learning process. Click here for the blog.

Matariki
Monday 14th June saw the start of Matariki, the Maori new year. To celebrate this the students who attended kapa haka with Raihania Chadwick on Wednesday participated in a range of 'creating' activities and learned how to play whai (string games). The year 3 and 4's learned whai and the 5/6's learned how to weave putiputi (flowers). The year 7/8 students made tukutuku panels using the traditional materials of raupo and harakeke.

This was yet another fantastic opportunity for the year 7/8 students to be leaders and teachers of the juniors.

Physical Activity Leaders programme.
Another initiative that is very successful is the PALS programme which involves year 7-8 students running lunchtime activities for younger children. I viewed 4 senior children yesterday successfully working with 30 year 3 children in the hall running a game called pirates. Well done seniors!

Year 5-6 Speech finals
Matt Skilton and I had the pleasure of judging the year 5 and 6 speech finals. We were blown away with the quality of the speeches and picking a 'winner' was extremely difficult. The 6 finalists were all winners in our view - so congratulations to Billy Richardson, Harry Crawford, Matthew Sutcliffe, Carlotta Fergert, Louis Sutherland and Olly Evans. The year 5 champion was Billie Richardson and the year 6 champion and winner of the RD Harrison Cup was Olly Evans. Thank you to the teachers and parents for having the children so well prepared.

Year 7-8 Science fair
Thank you to the many parents who have visited the senior school and viewed the science fair. I am sure you will agree that the topics investigated were very interesting and reflect the children's strong interest in science. Twenty projects have been selected to go through to the NIWA science fair next term. The fair is running through to the end of the term for those still wishing to have a look.

Orphans of Nepal
This Friday is Green Day. We are raising money for theorphanage that we have a link with in Nepal. Children can come dressed in green and donate a gold coin to the Orphan of Nepal trust. Money raised will be used to purchase seeds and vegetables for the orphanage garden.

There is a jar of jellybeans in the office. Children can guess how many are in the jar, each guess costs $1 and the winner of the jar will be announced in the final assembly on Friday. Sarah and Alana will be in the office each day to collect guesses.

Trainee Teachers
This Friday we say farewell to Vaishally Ghandi who has been working in room 7 for the last 6 weeks with Richard Dobson. Vaishally has fitted into Muritai superbly and done a tremendous job with the children - she will be sorely missed. We wish her every success in her future endeavours.

Last week we hosted 6 trainee teachers from Malaysia. They were in room 2 - Mikaela Cody; room 15 - Stu Devenport; and room 22 - Kirsten Berry. Tajultatah, Afiq, Qish, Myra, Nadiah and Christina will be teaching English in Malaysia and are in NZ for 2 years as part of their 5 year teacher training. This was wonderful for the school and contributed to our increasing cultural diversity at Muritai. Sarah, Verity and Ryan have put together an interview and this will be up on Muritai TV shortly.

Book Fair
Thank you to Sue Fieldes, Jo Salisbury, and their team of parent helpers who have put together the Annual Book Fair in the library this Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. The school library normally earns over $1,000 worth of extra books as part of this fundraiser.

Artsplash
Our Artsplash Choir made up of 82 students from Year 4-6 will be performing at the Michael Fowler Centre on August 19th at 8.00pm. On Monday they went to a cluster rehearsal at Hutt Intermediate and met with the conductors Ella Hanify and Ruth Armishaw and sang through the repertoire along with a hall full of children from schools in the Hutt Valley. They are practising hard and sounding fantastic!

Room 14 will be performing at one of the Artsplash Dance concerts at the Michael Fowler Centre on Monday 16th August at 8.00pm. They learnt a Bollywood dance with Mr G, who was based in the class for 8 weeks this term and will be performing this dance at the show.

School Holiday Programme
This is your last chance to book into the School Holiday Programme. All applications must be into the school office or with Cath Barker at After School Care by Friday. All payments are to be made through the school office. To view what's on, check out the After School Care Blog.

SPORTS
The Water Polo and Flippa Ball season to date has been very successful. The year 5 and 6 Flippa Ball team have only lost 1 game and that was due to not quite having enough players. The first half of the season is now over and the competition will begin again on Wednesday the 21st of July - the draw is already up on the website for that round. A special thanks to all of the parent support the teams have had.

Wellington Cross Country
The Zone and Inter Zone Cross Country's have both been very successful. The Regional Cross Country took place in Waikanae on the 29th of June and we had 5 runners from Years 4-8 competing. They were: Jack Healy (year 4) Matthew Sutcliffe, Maya Hahn (both year 5), Gus Reece (year 6) and Georgia Crawford. They were placed:-

Mathew Sutcliffe 4th; Gus Reece 5th
Jack Healy 6th; Maya Hahn 6th;

Mathew, Gus and Maya children all qualify for the National Cross Country Champs to be held in Hanmer later in the year. Well done!

For all sport at Muritai, check out the sports blog at http://www.muritaisports.blogspot.com/

COMMUNITY
Experienced Nanny/housekeeper available
11 years experience with all ranges of children including special needs. Please Ring or text Abby 0277396594 anytime.

Piano Lessons with Vanessa Tindle (ATCL, BSc, dipTchg)
Vanessa currently teaches at school on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Next term she will be at school on Thursday mornings also. If you would like your child to learn piano with Vanessa please contact her directly to discuss. Ph 562 7663.

Eastbourne Scouts Quiz Night
Eastbourne Scouts invite you to our Quiz night/auction to be held on Sat 31st July at Muritai school hall starting at 7pm. It will be a fun night out which will also help our scouts to raise money towards the jamboree in December.

$20 per head, tables of 6-10. Cash bar and supper provided. Get a group together or come as you are and we will match you up with a table.

For tickets please phone Julia 576 0577 or Robyn 473 4206.

Capital Coaching Tennis Holiday Camps
Camp 1: Monday 5 July to Thursday 8 July
Camp 2: Monday 12 July to Thursday 15 July
Times: 9am to 12pm or 1pm to 4pm session $125/week
Full day sessions (9am to 5pm) $220/week
Individual half day sessions $35/session
Venues: Muritai Tennis Club or Thorndon Tennis Club or Kilbirnie Tennis Club.

Term 3 Coaching set to start Monday 26 July. Be in quick to book your preferred time. After school session from 2.30pm onwards.
Contact: Andy Wheeler on 027-4599-321 or 499-8190 andywheels@hotmail.com

June 16, 2010

Tena koutou te whānau o te kura Muritai

We welcome Rose Wells, Poppy Neal, Florence Bygraves and Alexandra Irvine to the school in room 1.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT REPORTING

We are just putting the finishing touches to our reporting to parents. Next Friday written reports will be issued. This report rates your child’s achievement using a 5 point scale ranging from well below to well above against the expected year levels of the NZ curriculum. Rather than just focussing on reading, writing and maths we will be covering all areas of schooling, including work and study skills and the key competencies. For many of you this report will look very similar to previous editions. The answer to this is simple – reporting is about identifying children's strengths and next learning steps and our written report uses criteria of key skills for each curriculum area to inform you about how well your child is achieving against the appropriate year level benchmark.

On Tuesday and Wednesday in week 11 we have parent interviews. We will be using the student portfolios to guide the parent interview and relate and explain your child’s achievement against the year level national standards. It is important to note that at this mid year stage this is just an indicator of how students are tracking against the national standard. The key thing is to acknowledge your child's strengths and weaknesses and understand future learning goals for the next period of learning. You will then be able to take the portfolio home, hopefully with greater meaning and allow your child to then share their quality work with you.

So in summary our triangle of reporting is as follows –

• Written report – a visual representation of your child’s achievement against the NZ curriculum objectives at their year level.
• Parent interview – using samples of work, a discussion, with samples, of a student’s strengths and next learning steps. This will involve informing you how your child is tracking against the national standard in reading, writing and maths.
• Student portfolio – a sample of student work put together by the children and their class teacher to reflect their learning journey this year.

Matt Skilton has expanded these brief notes in much greater detail on our national standards/curriculum blog. Click here to read this information which we have provided for parents.

PARENT INTERVIEWS

Don't forget to book your parent / teacher interviews which are being held on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 June from 1.30 to 7pm. If you have not already booked an interview with your child/ren's teacher please either book online (using school code VM7KP) or see Carole and Sue in the office. Interview slots are filling up, so please ensure you book early.

School will be closing early so please pick up your children at 1.20 on both the Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be a movie played in the school hall for any children who are unable to be picked up early on these days.

BOOK FAIR
We are again hosting the annual Scholastic Book Fair. This is a fantastic event that offers a range of books for sale that you can take away on the night they are purchased. The school library and your children directly benefit from this event, as new books for the library are purchased through profits made on sales. The more books sold means the more new books available to our children.

The Book Fair will be open from 2:00 - 7.00 in the library on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 June to coincide with teacher conferences. Every purchase of books gives you the chance to go into a prize draw where you could also win more great Scholastic books.

We will need parents that can help run the book fair over the 2 days. If you have an hour to spare on either the Tuesday or the Wednesday please contact Jo Salisbury at salisburyjo@yahoo.com.au or contact Sue/Carole in the office.

Dates / Upcoming events

Wed 16th June - Senior school science fair and information evening 5.00pm
Thurs 17th June - Year 7 Imunisation information session - 9.30 am

Friday 19th June - Assembly 1.40 (student sharing)

Tues 22nd June - BoT mtg 7.30; ICAS spelling and writing tests

Thurs 24th June - Year 5-6 speech competition

Friday 25th June - Written reports issued

Tues 29th June - Parent interviews (pick up children at 1.20)

Wed 30th June - Parent interviews (pick up children at 1.20)

Thurs 1st July - Green day for Orphans of Nepal

Fri 2nd July - End of term assembly.

ORPHANS OF NEPAL
As a fundraiser for the Orphans of Nepal, the school will be holding a "Dress Up Green" day on the last Friday of school, 2 July. Children can come dressed in green and donate a gold coin to the Orphans of Nepal Trust.

There will also be a jar of jellybeans in the office. Children can guess how many are in the jar. Each guess costs $1 and the winner of the jar will be announced in the final assembly on Friday. Two girls from the senior school will be in the office before school to collect guesses.

On Tuesday 22 June there is a Quiz at the Lifeboat Tavern at 7.30pm. The cost is $15 and anyone interested should contact Lisa at the Lifeboat prior and record your names/team. It will be a great night with a local band playing at half time.

ENVIROSCHOOLS VISIT

“Our students did us proud”

Last Tuesday, a group of 15 Enviroschools facilitators, from all over New Zealand, came to Muritai, to view our journey in becoming a Green / Gold Enviroschool school.

Welcomed by our Kapa Haka group with Mcleod at the helm as Rangatiratanga.chool.

Kenzy and Zoe then spoke about their experiences as Enviroschool leaders and the journey of the school. Then the Enviroschools Year 8 Ambassadors answered questions and shared their thoughts about Muritai as an Enviros

PLANTING ON THE SEA WALL AT ROBINSON BAY

On Friday as part of Matariki and our ongoing commitment to our local environment a select group from the EnviroSchools Team, with the support of Caroline Cowie from Hutt City Council and David McDougal from Eastbourne Dunes Protection group were involved in sea wall planting at Robinson Bay. As well as weeding and a bit of a beach clean up.

It was a very busy and successful afternoon. The little blue penguins will be very happy with their new protection and clean beach.

Check out the photos - http://muritaienviro.blogspot.com/


SENIOR SCHOOL 2010 SCIENCE FAIR
The Senior School Science Fair is on NOW. I am very pleased with the high standards on display. This year I am particularly impressed by the level of scientific knowledge that the students have gained, as well as the student’s ability to investigate and come up with their own thoughts and ideas. They have worked extremely hard and for many the skills that they have brought to this task will set them up really well for high school.

You are more than welcome to view and celebrate the achievements of our Senior School students. They will be on display in room 24 in the Senior School for the next two weeks. (Stephen Eames)

SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMME
Out of School Care will be running a School Holiday Programme during the July holidays. Please ensure you get your enrolment form and payment in to the office as soon as possible to ensure a place for your child/ren. Payment can be made by EFTPOS, internet banking or cheque. Check out the ASC blog to see what they have been doing recently.
JUNGLE BUNGLE

PUKEATUA SCHOOL KAPA HAKA GROUP
A big thank you to the Pukeatua School kapa haka group who performed for our students at last week's assembly. They were truly amazing, not only in their ability to sing so beautifully but the obvious sense of pride they demonstrated in themselves, their whanau and Wainuiomata. Our senior kapa haka boys responded with a haka and the school gave them a standing ovation. We were very fortunate to have a cultural group of this calibre come out to Muritai School to show our children what they too can achieve with dedication and commitment. We hope this is the first of many more visiting school groups to expose our children to new and diverse learning experiences. The performance was also a nice way to lead in to our Matariki unit planned and taught by Raihania Chadwick. Raihania will be working with students on Wednesdays throughout the morning making works of art, teaching games and learning new waiata. Today we welcome some students from Epuni School who are joining with us to celebrate Matariki and working alongside our children.

SPORTS (See our Sports Blog for more information)

Year 4-6 Inter-Zone Cross Country
Wow! We have some very talented runners at Muritai and our year 4-6 Inter-Zone runners proved that on Monday the 14th of June at Richard Prouse Park. It was a chilly morning and the event started a bit later in the day to let the grounds dry out.

Muritai had 6 runners running for Central Zone - here they are with the fantastic results:

Gus - 1st
Matthew - 1st
Grace - 11th
Jack - 5th
Maya - 2nd
Monica (who filled in for Ruby who was injured) - 30th

Well done to the runners, you are all just amazing! A special thanks to the parents who transported the runners and also helped to supervise.


Junior Cross Country
On Monday 14th June, the junior syndicate took advantage of a break in the wet weather, used the fine day and walked down to Bishops Park to have their cross-country race. Mr Skilton and Two Year 8 Boys Harry Heath and Isaac Pajo did a superb job of setting up the course. Harry and Isaac were also each year group’s front-runners guiding the students around the course.

Many junior students displayed skills in pacing themselves around the course with sprint finish, in some cases determining a 4th place getter to a first! The teachers were very proud of all of the Year 0-2 student’s enthusiastic, positive attitudes towards running and participating in a race.

Well done to our place getters who were:

Year 1 Boys - 1st Oliver (Room 2), 2nd Ryan (Room 2), 3rd Kai-Matthew (Room 4)
Year 1 Girls - 1st Chelsea (Room 4), 2nd Evie (Room 4), 3rd Holly (Room 4)
Year 2 Boys - 1st Patrick (Room 6), 2nd Theo J (Room 6), 3rd Chevron (Room 5)
Year 2 Girls - 1st Ruby (Room 6), 2nd Samantha (Room 5), 3rd Leah (Room 6)

Well done to all of the runners - you did amazingly well and on a cold day too!

Also a special thanks to the parents who helped with the recordings of names and came to support the runners! A successful day all round.

Netball
Our netball teams are playing well again this year. Here are the results for last week:-


Muritai 1 (Mini Ferns) Won 8 -7 vs Eastern Hutt
Muritai 2 (Muritai Lightning) Won 11-0 against Koraunui

Muritai 3 (Muritai Thunderbirds) Won 2-0 Maungariki


COMMUNITY
Lost Rain Jackets
Missing from school 2 x identical Kathmandu rain jackets/coat both coloured khaki and green, sizes 10 and 12 (I think) both labeled Giles 562 0264 - not in lost property. Desperately needed in this weather! Please call Phil - 562 0264 if you find either of them.

Midwinter Knack Market
Saturday 26th June, 9.30am-1.30pm - NEW, BIGGER VENUE!!
South Wellington Intermediate School Hall Rintoul Street ( Next to Wakefield Hospital), Newtown. A fantastic range of beautiful, original, NZ made craft, also using recycled, eco-friendly materials. Come and check out South Wellington's lovely craft market!

Hot soup and baked potatoes, fresh coffee, live music, plenty of parking, and we have eftpos!

For information: Justine - mailto:knack.market@gmail.com,%20%2804) 972 4099 or 027 381 3409(04

June 2, 2010

Tena koutou te whānau o te kura Muritai

We welcome William Carian to the school in room 1. We also welcome Vaishally Ghandi to the school in room 7. Vaishally is a teacher trainee and will be here until the end of term. I am sure she will have a successful posting in Richard Dobson's class.

PARENT / TEACHER INTERVIEWS
We will be holding parent / teacher interviews in the last week of term on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 June. The school will be closing early on both these days with interviews starting at 1.30 and last interview at 6.45pm. Appointments are 15 minutes long and we would ask that you please try to keep to your times so that everything runs smoothly. You can book an appointment on-line at School Interviews using the School Code VM7KP. Alternatively, please see Carole and Sue in the office.

Please pick up your children on both these days at 1.20pm. Children who cannot be picked up at 1pm will be looked after in the school hall where a movie will be played for them.

Book Fair
We are again hosting the annual Scholastic Book Fair. This is a fantastic event that offers a range of books for sale that you can take away on the night they are purchased. The school library and your children directly benefit from this event, as new books for the library are purchased through profits made on sales. The more books sold means the more new books available to our children.

The Book Fair will be open from 2:00 - 7.00 in the library on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 June to coincide with teacher conferences. Every purchase of books gives you the chance to go into a prize draw where you could also win more great Scholastic books.

We will need parents that can help run the book fair over the 2 days. If you have an hour to spare on either the Wednesday or the Thursday please contact Jo Salisbury at salisburyjo@yahoo.com.au

Parent to do list -

• Search under beds and in bookcases for missing Muritai School junior readers.
• Book your parent teacher interview.

Dates / Upcoming events

Wed 2nd June - Starting school at 5 mtg - 7.00
Fri 4th June - St Marys School visiting; Visiting performers - Jungle Bungle - year 1-6;
Mon 7th June - Queen's Birthday (school closed)
Tues 8th June - Year 4-6 INTER Zone cross country; Muritai hosting Enviroschools hui
Wed 9th June - ICAS Science exam (Y4-8)
Fri 11th June - Dannevirke School visiting; Pukeatua School kapa haka performance
Wed 16th June - Senior school science fair and information evening 5.00pm
Thurs 17th June - Year 7 Imunisation information session - 9.30 am

HEART JAM

Last Friday saw the junior school taking part in the nationwide 'HeartJam' event. Each class performed their favourite song on stage as well as joining in with all the other junior classes for over half an hour of exercise. The final total of money raised for children with heart problems was $113.80. Special thanks to Mrs Skilton for organising the event and also to the senior children who taught the movements to each of the songs.

FLAT STANLEY
Some of our junior classes are learning about the big wide world through their Flat Stanley projects. If you want to see this innovative programme you can view this by visiting the room 2 and room 4 blogs.

CROSS COUNTRY

Despite the miserable weather of late and the cancellation of the whole school cross country, we managed to use a break in the weather to run a condensed version to select runners for the zone cross country. It was all a bit messy and we are sorry that many parents missed their children 'having a go'. However we were able to select a group to represent the school. Year 4-6 ran in the Zone Cross Country yesterday and performed very well - a good team effort to secure 3rd place overall.

Children in the first 5 today:

Year 5 boys - 1st - Matthew Sutcliffe

Year 5 girls - 2nd - Maya Hahn; 3rd - Ruby Burley-Smith
Year 6 boys - 1st - Gus Reece

Special mention to Grace Allan, Leah Godard, Jack Healy, Monica Sullivan, Harry Crawford and Hannah Moffat who all came in the first 11 runners. Well done to all of the runners - you did amazingly well and on a cold day too! Also a special thanks to the parents who helped with the recordings of names and came to support the runners! A successful day all round.

SENIOR SCHOOL INFORMATION EVENING
There will be an information evening for year 6 parents about the education progamme in our senior school on Wednesday the 16th June at 5.00pm. This presentation will feature a combination of staff and students talking about the day to day operations of the year 7-8 area. It will also coincide with the year 7-8 science fair.

VISITORS
There will be an information evening for year 6 parents about the education programme in our senior school on Wednesday the 16th June at 5.00pm. This presentation will feature a combination of staff and students talking about the day to day operations of the year 7-8 area. It will also coincide with the year 7-8 science fair.

We are hosting 3 sets of visitors from schools over the next 10 days looking at Muritai's learning structures. This Friday we host St Marys School from Palmerston North. Next Tuesday we host a number of schools from around New Zealand who are visiting Muritai to view our Enviroschools green/ gold programme and next Friday we are hosting Dannevirke South School. There will be a powhiri at all occasions.

VISITING PERFORMERS

Year 1-6 will be entertained this Friday by Jungle Bungle at 1.30 in the hall. Jungle Bungle is a musical adventure where a selection of the 2010 finalist books from the NZ Post Book Awards come to life in a show that will inspire our students to see how books can lead the way to answering the questions that everybody asks at some point in their lives. Jungle Bungle is a celebration of life, friendship and the important part books play in helping us find out a little more about who we are.

Next Friday, instead of school assembly, we welcome the Pukeatea School kapa haka roopu to Muritai. This high quality group is well known in the region and is an excellent opportunity for our students to see what an extremely capable kapa haka roopu looks like.

YOUNG LEADERS DAY
On Monday the 24th May, 30 Year 7 and 8 students traveled into Wellington to take part in National Young Leaders Day. The purpose of the opportunity was to:

• Inspire students to make a positive contribution to their school
• Motivate students to be leaders in their area of strength
• Empower students with the practical skills of balancing their studies, school commitments and social life
• Understand the value that positive role models play in a community
• Encourage students to grow in knowledge and practical skills in the area of excellence and leadership
• Enable students to meet other students from other schools

It was a fantastic day and students were buzzing afterwards.

SCHOOLGEN AND SOLAR ENERGY

The Year 5 and 6 Team are currently learning about the benefits of solar energy. Last week we had Maggie Twaddle from Schoolgen visit us to talk about the solar panels that were installed on the roof of Room 24 last year. We learnt about how they work and how much electricity they generate. A few students were chosen to form a new leadership group called the 'Solar Patrollers'. Their job is to educate the rest of the school on solar energy plus closely follow the amount of electricity that is being generated by the panels. You can do this yourself by checking out the Schoolgen website. You can also compare our school with other schools throughout the country and Australia.

DOUBLE PARKING
As winter is now officially upon us so to is the wet and wild weather! Special acknowledgment / recognition needs to go out to our student road patrollers and parent helpers Barbara Griffiths and Rachel Evans for their continued commitment to ensuring the children can cross the busy Muritai Rd each day.

Our road patrol students are well trained in making good judgments on when to call for 'signs to go out' but are often finding their view is obstructed by parents double parking their cars. We acknowledge it is often difficult to find a carpark close to the school gates but by double parking you are significantly increasing the risk of an accident at the crossing.

HUTT VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL OPEN EVENING
There is an Open Evening on Thursday 10 June at 6pm for all year 8 students and their parents/caregivers interested in attending Hutt Valley High School in 2011. Introductions and brief addresses will be followed by guided tours of the school and advice on programmes. Enrolment packs will be available.

MURITAI AFTER SCHOOL CARE
After School Care would like any old nail polishes, wool or CDs that people have lying around at home for art and craft activities. Please bring to the school office or to Cath in the Greenroom after school.Also the next School Holiday Programme will be out soon, so keep an eye out for the brochure and be sure to book your children in. There will be NO 'on the day' enrolments this time. Pre-booked and paid attendance only.Thanks Cath Barker, barker@muritai.school.nz

ORPHANS OF NEPAL
Muritai School has had a bond with the Orphans of Nepal for some years now. Some may remember Kate Donnelly visited the orphanage Brighter Future in Nepal and brought back pictures and a video. Another orphanage that the Orphans of Nepal Trust helps is Shining Star. This orphanage has previously rented its premises but is now building a new site.This gives Muritai School the opportunity to broaden its bond with both orphanages. Along with the construction of the new orphanage housing up to fifty children, gardens have been incorporated into the designs. Muritai School would like to help raise some much needed funds to provide gardening equipment and/or sports equipment for the new site. A fundraising “Green Dress Up Day” will be held on the last Friday of the term . Children can dress up and give a gold coin donation. We are also organising a 'Guess A Thon' during the last week of Term 2 to correctly guess the lollies in a jar at $1 a guess. The winner will be awarded during assembly on the Friday.

SPORTS
FlippaBall
The year 5 and 6 Flippa Ball team are doing very well and have notched up 3 wins from 3 games!The children are really enjoying themselves and playing some great flippa ball Here are the results so far - also check out the sports blog for an update on all things sport at Muritai!

Round 1 - Muritai beat OLR 11-0
Round 2 - Muritai beat Korokoro 6-1
Round 3 - Muritai beat Hutt Central 11-3

Well done to all players and supporters, also a special thanks to Iman who is helping the team out so much!

COMMUNITY
Staglands
Queen’s birthday 7th June , No surcharge at Staglands. Make sure you all make the most of this long weekend as it’s the last one until October would you believe! If you’re keen to get out and about with the family then we would love to see you. There is no public holiday surcharge in our Café or for entry to the park.
Understanding Your Anger - A workshop for Parents7pm-10pm, Tuesday 22nd JuneDo you ever feel like your anger is in control of you? This workshop will help you to understand your anger and develop strategies so you are in control of your anger more of the time. To register e-mail helen@breathingspacenz.comOr visit our website for further information http://www.breathingspacenz.com/