Friday 3 December

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai Tena koutou katoa

Dear Parents / Caregivers

We welcome our new arrivals to Muritai School - George Walker, Pania Rolfe, Kieran Kerr, Barney Cass and Lily Heath (all room 16). I am sure your time here at Muritai will be enjoyable, enriching and full of fun. Lily is our 100th new enrolment this year!

EASTBOURNE VILLAGE CARNIVAL
What a fantastic day on Sunday. The weather was just wonderful and there were some tired and sunburnt faces that rolled into school on Monday morning. It appears that we have raised in excess of $50,000 for our school library, which is a stunning achievement. It was so neat to see the parent and children community out and about working together to make the day such a success.

It is time to regroup and thank our wonderful team for making the day happen – Penny Stock and Julie Parker who along with a wonderful support crew have worked tirelessly through the last 3 terms to make sure everything was in place. Thanks also to our wonderful Sue and Carole at the front desk who continue to manage things in a smooth and efficient way.

Along with the organizing team, many of you put your hands up to go the extra mile on Saturday and Sunday and support the team and school to make it such a success. It was a great day for the school and very productive

CLASS STRUCTURE 2011
We have finalised our class structures for 2011. With a starting roll in 2011 of 401 (375 this year) we essentially will be running an extra class through the year! Muritai will start with 18 classrooms and grow to 20 through the year. However in establishing classes - the year groups do not fit nicely into small groups of even sizes, with a number of 'bulges' in year groups and gender imbalances. We have had to plan for the expected children coming in and also the need to have learning spaces available. Our geography, with a split site, also prohibits even classes. These are real issues that the Board quietly confronts and tries to resolve as best it can for the benefit of student achievement.

Muritai School uses the parent donation to fund additional teaching resources. Most of this donation is used to provide smaller classes. The school also provides a strong learning support programme through Sarah Richardson, a reading recovery programme for 6 year old children through Karen Jones and various extension and remedial programmes provided through additional teachers and teacher aides. At the same time the school is confronted by a shrinking funding source as costs go up (specifically wages) against a relatively static operational funding source.

The Ministry funds the school on the following ratios - 1 teacher to 15 children for new entrants, 1 teacher to 23 in years 1-3 and at 1 teacher to 29 at year 4-8. In addition to this, due to our decile rating and extremely high student achievement performance, the school receives limited funding for learning support, reading recovery and extension programmes – this has to be allocated out of operational funds.

What the school is able to provide in 2011 is class sizes of 18-22 in year 1-4 and 23-24 in year 5-6 and 27-28 in year 7-8. At the same time the Board is committing all parent donation funds to additional teaching resources and not into the general running of the school.

So the 2011 line up looks like this –
3 year 7-8 classes of 28 - Stephen Eames, Kirsten Berry, Raihania Chadwick
2 year 6 classes of 23-24 - Stu Devenport, Peter Hull,
2 year 5 classes of 23-24 - Lisa Allen, Melissa Coton
3 year 4 classes of 20 - Richard Dobson, Karen Chao, Hayden Ray
2 year 3 classes of 23 - Jess Savage, Pippa Grant
3 year 2 classes of 21 - Karen Jones/Morag Roberts, Annabel Capper, Sheena Naik
2 year 1 classes of 21 - Barbara Ryan, Sally Ingram,
3 new entrant classes starting with Maureen Buckley; Margs-Mills Smith (term 2)

Please note that Hayley Skilton will be taking a year’s leave from early in the year for 2011.

CLASS LISTS
These will be coming out next Friday 10th December. We have used our parent information and teacher observation throughout the year to form classes that look as though they will be very successful. There will be some changes for some children as we look to expand their friendship groupings and make sure that the classes are even and have a workable dynamic about them. Generally there are limited surprises and lots of fresh starts and opportunities. If I may ask that you be supportive of the school through this process. What may seem as a disappointment to some children needs to also be seen as an opportunity for them. They have all been placed with lovely children and excellent teachers. Fresh starts are often the best and with a positive attitude nothing should stand in the way of the children having another successful year at Muritai.

On Monday 13th children will have a chance to spend some time in their new class with their new teacher - Pippa Grant and Melissa Coton will be here at Muritai on that day.

EOTC WEEKS
Our children will be out of Eastbourne over the next week or so as part of their EOTC weeks. We wish our year 8 group well for their week at the Abel Tasman next week. Year 7 are off to Matiu/Somes Island next Tuesday and Mt Holdsworth next Thursday/ Friday. Year 5-6 are pottering around Wellington next week with a trip to Masterton next Wednesday and the triathlon next Thursday. Year 3-4 have had their mini carnival to raise money for Orphans of Nepal, are at the zoo today and a walk to Butterfly Creek next Thursday. The year 1 and 2 group have been busy this week with Zebong the storyteller this Monday, Capital E on Tuesday and a trip to Avalon park.

CENTRAL ZONE ATHLETICS MEET
The Central Zone athletics meet was a huge success on Tuesday the 23rd of November. Along with the 7 schools attending the event, a film crew shared the field with us, adding to the excitement. Muritai did very well, having 12 students get through to the Inter-Zone event. A special thanks to the parents who turned out to support the athletes.

Through to Inter-Zone:

Hillary Sheridan – Vortex; Xavier Manson – Vortex; Emeline Gray – Shot Put; Beth Brodie – Long Jump; Milly Griffiths – Long Jump; Ben Grenfell – Long Jump; Frankie Middleton – Long Jump; Caleb Hewson – Long Jump and Sprints; Rupert McRae – Long Jump; Elliott Hawes – Discus; Piri Bradshaw – High Jump; Mathieson Lamb – High Jump

INTER-ZONE ATHLETICS MEET
The Inter-Zone athletics was held on the 30 November at the Petone Rec. Central Zone did very well (results out soon) as well as Muritai having two students coming first place in their event:

• Caleb Hewson came first place in Year 6 sprints
• Ben Grenfell came first place in long jump.

Well done to all athletes, you represented Muritai and Central Zone very well. Again, a special thanks to the support we had from parents who helped with transport and encouraging the athletes.

TERM DATES 2011
Term 1 - Wed 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

END OF YEAR EVENTS
December
3rd - School assembly ; Year 3-4 Zoo
5th – Y8 at Abel Tasman
7th - Y7 to Matiu/Somes Island; Y5-6 to Masterton;
8th – Y7 - Hangdog climbing
9th – Y0-2 Xmas concert; Y5-6 triathlon; 2011 Y5-6 camp meeting; Y7 at Mt Holdsworth;
10th – Y5-6 at Days Bay; Class lists/ Portfolios/ Reports go home
13th - Children visiting new classes (new teachers); Thank you parent morning tea; BOT mtg
15th – Year 8 Formal dinner
16th - Year 3-6 Xmas Concert
17th – Final assembly and last day. School finishes at 1.00.

PARENT MORNING TEA
On Monday staff will be hosting a 'thank you parents' morning tea at 10.30 in the hall - all parents welcome.

EX- MURITAI STUDENTS
It is always nice to see our ex-students doing well at Secondary School. Recently at the Wellington Young sportsperson of the year award Rachel McJorrow was awarded the female underwater hockey player of the year award, while Anita Trudgen was awarded the female yachtsperson of the year award. Emily Stotter was a finalist in the football category. Rachel, Anita and Emily, along with Stella Beck (basketball) and Rory McJorrow (waterpolo) have all represented New Zealand this year at age group level.

Carnival Deli Store
A huge thank you to all of you that helped with the Deli store items, it really was a great day and our produce was exceptionally delicious!If you missed out and wanted to get some chutneys we still have some left to sell, these are great Christmas gifts. Prices: $4.50 for 1 jar, or $16 for 4:Tomato relish, Old Fashioned Tomato Sauce (better than Watties), Lemon and Green Chilli Chutney, Spicy Beetroot Chutney, Ginger and Beetroot Chutney, Lemon Ginger and Chilli Chutney, Pumpkin and Ginger Pickle, Nigella's Xmas Apple Chutney, Spiced Orange Slices, Marmalade, Carrot Cardamom and Orange Jam and Banana and Brandy Jam.Send me an email or call and I will get them to you asap! mgmh@slingshot.co.nz5628102
Regards Mandy

SPEECH LESSONS
Some of our Year 2 children have been taking lessons with Jan Avison on a weekly basis. Recently ten of them took exams with the results as follows:-
Distinction - Evie Richardson and Rachel Vass
Highly Commended - Rufus Rusholme-Cobb, Sophia Cave, Scott Langridge, Hugo Blair, Mika Simnett
Commended - Lea Pummer Ruby Wells Sophie Van Rooyen

COMMUNITY
Piano Lessons with Vanessa Tindle (ATCL, BSc, dipTchg) If you would like your child to have private piano tuition with Vanessa at school next year, now is the time to put your name down on a waiting list. All enquiries are welcome. Please phone Vanessa directly to discuss. Ph 562 7663.

Youth Worker Trust
Karen Sisson, from The Eastbourne Youtb Worker Trust has designed a tea towel and cards (set of 10) to raise money for the Eastbourne Youth Worker Trust. This raises money to provide the Friday Night Youth Group and funds a Youth Worker for Eastbourne young people.
The tea towels and cards are $10 each and available from Karen or at Harcourts, Rimu St.

Helen O'Grady Drama - Holiday Programme January 2011 Wellington
The Helen O'Grady Drama Academy, Wellington, presents Holiday Stage School for 8 - 14 year olds in the theatrical disciplines of singing, movement and drama; Commences Tuesday 25th January to Friday 28th January 2011; Limited spaces available. Explore performance in a fun way. Contact Denise Wakem 04 388 9710 or email phildeese@xtra.co.nz.