Friday September 26 2012

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai 
Tena koutou katoa

As we approach the end of term we should be very proud of our achievements of late. There just seems to be something happening everyday which shows that life at Muritai is certainly not boring…far from it. Term 3 is always exciting and the Olympic Games have given a nice background to all the other things we have been able to do across the term, at every level.

Term 4 and the run through to the end of the year is always very busy. Our term plan looks very manageable but the teaching staff do have a number of  administrative requirements to attend to as we close off 2012 and prepare for 2013. 

One thing remains important however and that is to keep in close contact with your child's class teacher. Our next reporting round is at the end of the year with written reports but you may feel that it is necessary to touch base as the term goes along to get feedback on your child's progress. Our doors are always open for this to happen and it is a regular occurrence.

NATIONAL STANDARDS DATA

Last weekend we saw the first publication of primary and intermediate schools student achievement results based on National Standards data from 2011. These were aggregated and published by Fairfax media and obtained through the Official Information Act. This week the Ministry of Education releases their data on the Education Counts website which you can access here after Friday.

Looking at it in a comparative setting Muritai School results looked excellent and we were one of the very few schools to show strengths in all of the 3 areas of national standards – reading, writing and maths. This year we are tracking to at least match those figures as our children continue to grow as both learners and people. There is much public discussion at present about presenting schools results in this way and how schools achieve the results they do while running vastly different programmes. At Muritai we acknowledge that we draw our students from a local community that are very interested and involved in the well-being of their children and I like to think that the partnership between the children, their parents and the teachers is a strong one. This is a strong indicator of student success and one that we hope to continually nurture. I do think however that central to this partnership also involves high quality teaching and as always I am very pleased with the work the teaching team continues to do to bring out the best in children as they grow from being little people to children that are ready for the next steps in their lives. The variety of experiences at Muritai adds to the big picture of achievement in the basics.

The presented data does not necessarily share the context of which the results are achieved and so I invite you to browse the school  website, view classroom blogs other than your child's or read the Annual Report 2011 to get a better understanding of how things work at Muritai. Click here to read the Annual Report 2011.

MINI OLYMPICS

On Tuesday we had a wonderful day at Muritai. The year 7- 8 children, under the direction of Mr Devenport had organised a Mini Olympics with a variety of fun events in a competitive setting. Children were separated into countries and with the ages from year 1 to year 8 it was a great opportunity to see the spirit of our caring culture in action. For the record China won the gold medal, Kenya the silver and Greece the bronze. You can see photos of the day be clicking here and there will be a movie on Muritai TV shortly.

TERM DATES 2013
The Board of Trustees have set the term dates for 2013.

We are starting the school year on Monday 4th January and our last school day will be Friday 20th December.

Term 1 - Monday 4 February - Friday 19 April – 51 days
Term 2 - Monday 6 May - Friday 12 July      - 48 days
Term 3 - Monday 29 July - Friday 27 September   - 45 days
Term 4 - Monday 14 October - Friday 20 December – 48 days 

As we are required to complete 192 contact days there will be 2 teacher only days and these are at Queen's Birthday and at Labour Weekend.
UNO'S GARDEN

I just wanted to pay a tribute to the teaching team and children for putting together the school production last week. Sadly I was away last week at a principal’s conference, but managed to sneek a preview before I left. I have received many emails of congratulations which is lovely and I know the teaching staff are very proud of what the children were able to achieve. A special mention to Kirsten Berry as the director for pulling the whole thing together for another special Muritai School show.

SANDPIT

We hope to have the new sandpit up and running for next term. The sand has gone in and the fence and shade cloth goes in next week. This project has been funded by the Home and School and we have been lucky to get two trust grants from Pub Charity and Pelorus Trust to help top up the Home and School contribution for this wonderful resource. The kids will love it! Tom, Elliot, Dorian, Gareth AND Jared joined Mark and myself in laying drainage and spreading the sand. 

THE BUMNOTES

Congratulations to our school band 'The Bumnotes' who have won the NZ Bandquest 2012 title. There were 800 musicians entered into this competition and our group has won the big prize. After entering and winning the online section of the Bandquest regional challenge they were judged to be the NZ champions and are awaiting the results of the national finals which we will here shortly. Their success sees them win $2400 of musical equipment via the competition sponsors the Rockshop. You can view their online entry here.

IPADS

A very exciting development for the school is the acquisition of 32 Ipads for our classrooms. This is the first wave of new technology that we are working towards acquiring for the children and their learning with more to come in 2013 after the Carnival fundraising. These 32 Ipads have generously been donated by the Home and School and will be up and running in classrooms next term. A huge thanks to all the Home and School team and their supporters for their hard work raising funds for these valuable resources.

HOT DOGS

Our Home and School Committee organise hot dogs for the two winter terms each year and today was the last day for hot dogs for 2012.  We would like to thank Narelle Ferrier for organising the roster, ordering the hot dogs and buns and ensuring that this fundraiser has worked so smoothly and to all the parents who helped prepare them.  

HATS
Term 4 signals warmer weather (hopefully) and the return of hats at school.  Can you please ensure your child comes to school at the beginning of term 4 with a wide brimmed hat to be worn at all play times.  You may also like to consider putting sunblock on them before they come to school.  

RUGBY
Well done to the year 5-6 rugby team who had a convincing day out at Boulcott School, comfortably running out the winners.

CROSS COUNTRY
Macey Caughley, Gus Reece and Maya Hahn all competed in the lower North , top of the South cross country competition yesterday with the children all finishing in the top 15. Congratulations to these fine runners.


COMMUNITY NOTICES

Yula Kozintsova
Don't rush to change your child's wardrobe if you have items with lots of life.  Sometimes you need to 'save' your child's favourite clothes and sometimes you simply need to adjust a new item.
Jeans are worn out or need repair?  Let's give them new life!
Pants, jeans, dresses, skirt hems - lengthening or shortening. Sleeves - lengthening or shortening.  Knee and elbow patches.  Zipper replacement.
Phone: Yula Kozintsova - 562 8982 or 022 034 9033
4/264 Muritai Road, Eastbourne

East Harbour Kindergarten
Eastbourne Historical Calendars will be on sale at selected village shops and from the school from 15th October. The calendars are $15 each and are a fundraiser for the East Harbour Kindergarten.

Movie Preview:

Dayspring Ministries Trust is screening  the popular French film "The Intouchables", on Wednesday 17 October at the Light House Cinema, 52 Beach Street Petone.  The film is based on a true story of the friendship between a quadriplegic millionaire (Francois Cluzet) and his ex-con caretaker Omar Sy). It is an "irreverent, uplifting comedy about friendship, trust and human possibility".  The Intouchables depicts an unlikely camaraderie rooted in honesty and humor between two individuals who, on the surface, would seem to have nothing in common.”  The film has broken box office records in its native France and across Europe.  Start time is 7.30pm for dessert and 8pm for the screening. Tickets cost $25 per person.  Funds raised go to support the work of Seahawk a 53ft yacht  which delivers scriptures, clothing, children's books and reading glasses  to the remote islands of the Pacific.  Contact Mike Cornish (mikecornish@paradise.net.nz) , or Dianne Thomas Bryan (dianne.thomasbryan@xtra.co.nz.) for tickets."