2 November 2012

Bird's Eye View - November 2, 2012

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai 
Tena koutou katoa

Welcome to our new students - Kai Ellis, Isabelle Buchanan, Conor Culley-Devine, Piper Russell and welcome back to Grace Manson.

The school is very settled at present. At the beginning of term four, as well as children being engaged in learning programmes, teachers have been assessing and testing to gather information about student progress and to inform the next steps for learning. These 'tests' are in reading, writing, spelling and maths and follow the testing completed in March. This information serves a number of purposes:

1. It helps to contribute to the students' achievement against the National Standard.
2. It helps us to prepare for 2013 by identifying strengths and weaknesses in students' achievement, both for individuals and cohort groups.
3. It helps inform the children/parents about how well the children are attaining and contributes to the end of year portfolio and written report.
4. It helps inform the BoT of school-wide student achievement trends.
5. It helps us understand how successful our teaching has been in relation to achievement targets set at the beginning of the year and the learning needs of the children.

The testing programme is coming to an end and staff begin the big job of accumulating and moderating the information to make it all useful. As we go forward through this term it is important to note that our reporting to parents will be in written form at the end of the year (report and portfolio). Many parents prefer face to face contact with the teacher and this is available as well. If you would like to meet with the teacher to discuss your child's progress please feel comfortable to contact them to make a time to meet across this term.

TSUNAMI EVACUATION
Yesterday we were able to have a Tsunami evacuation. We were able to use the siren test from Hutt Council to run an 'unplanned' scenario. Everything went very smoothly and we managed to get the whole school, plus visiting pre-schoolers and parents, up McKenzie track and into the safety zone.

UNION MEETINGS FOR TEACHERS
The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) has announced paid union meetings for teachers.  Teachers will be attending a meeting in the Hutt Valley at 1.30 on Tuesday 13 November.  Muritai School would ask that you please pick up your child/ren at 12.30pm on this day if possible or, alternatively we will be playing a DVD in the hall until 3pm for normal pick up.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Congratulations to our band who have had another success this year beating 24 other local school bands to win the Wellington School Battle of the Bands on Tuesday. Gus, Louis, Rupert, Harry and Jared performed superbly showing high quality musicianship and great stage presence. You can enjoy their performance by clicking here.

ATHLETICS
The Year 3 to 8 Athletics day is on this Monday 5 November.  Events start at 9.15 and run through to 12.45 with the relays after lunch between 1.30 and 2.00. Can you please ensure your children wear appropriate clothing and shoes, have lots of sunblock on and a big drink of water.  If you are free, please come along to cheer on your children. 


CONGRATULATIONS (ICAS MEDAL)
...to Andrew Sutcliffe from year 5. Andrew will be presented with a special medal in recognition of achieving the perfect score in the ICAS Science exam. Well done Andrew.

CARNIVAL
We are in the position of being less than a month away from the carnival and the organising team will be tapping shoulders for people to help on the day. With 280 families in the school we need at least one person from each family to pitch in to do something. Most of the carnival teams are pretty well organised but we still need many more volunteers to help make the day operate smoothly. A Notices was sent out by email today and more will be coming home shortly about how you can be involved.

Plant Stall
The carnival plant stall desperately need pots for plants along with offers of potting mix, plants, old tools, ornaments and anything garden related.  Please drop off at 185 Muritai Road or call David on 562-8558 or 027-556-5981 to arrange pick up.

Clothes Stall
If you have any clothes for the Clothes stall please drop them off either at the school office or at 20 Tuatoru Street.

WORLD VISION LEADERSHIP DAY

Last Friday, 3 students, Monica, Kobe and Mia from Year 7 were selected to be part of the World Vision Leadership Rewards Day, due to their  potential and enthusiasm for leadership opportunities.

Muritai School is one of World Vision’s top fundraising intermediate schools in Wellington.  In recognition of this achievement we were awarded places on the World Vision Rewards Programme taking place on Friday 26^th October.

The programme builds on student leadership potential. There were a variety of expert speakers, interactive activities and competitions that engaged and inspired students. An example was a simulation game that gave them the experience of the inequality between poor and rich countries in the world. We were lucky as we had enough resources while others were not and needed help.

TERM DATES 2013

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

We are starting the school year on Monday 4 February and our last school day will be Friday 20 December 2013.

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 

There are 2 teacher only days in 2013 - these are the Friday of Queen's Birthday and the Friday of labour weekend.

HEALTH ISSUES
With the warmer weather coming, it is important that you keep your children's skin healthy.  There are a couple of nasty skin infections to be aware of:


Slap Cheek (Parvovirus)
This viral illness gets its name from the characteristic `slap like’ rash that appears on children’s faces. It is a relatively mild disease that begins with a rash on the face which spreads to the body and then fades. The virus is spread by sneezing, coughing, kissing or close contact. Children are infectious for the 5 - 6 days before the rash appears.  Incubation time (the period from first being exposed to the illness until symptoms developing) is around 5 – 20 days.

Once the rash appears, the child is no longer infectious. Once your child has recovered from slap cheek they should have lifelong immunity to the illness.
Signs and symptoms of slap cheek are:

• The rash can be preceded by a fever, sore throat and cold symptoms
• A red rash on the face that may appear on one or both cheeks- it actually looks like the cheek has been slapped
• The rash on the body is firstly red and blotchy and then becomes faded and lace-like
• The child is normally well, apart from the rash, but may have stomach upsets, headache and fatigue.
Slap cheek can also affect adults where it may present as joint pains  especially hands, wrists, ankles, knees) and swelling that may last from days to weeks. There will often be no rash in adults.
What is the treatment for parvovirus?
Contact your doctor if your child’s temperature is very high, or you are in the first half of a pregnancy or you are not sure if the rash is slap cheek. There isn't any treatment as such - you just need to keep your child comfortable.

Scabies
Scabies is caused by tiny insects which burrow along in the skin, laying eggs as they go.  Above the eggs, small blisters form, surrounded by red patches which are very itchy.  Scabies spreads easily by close body contact, eg holding hands, hugging, etc and sharing clothing and bedding.  Scabies causes a very itchy rash which is worse at bedtime or when you are warm which you may first notice between the fingers, on the wrist, inside elbows.  If your child/ren develop an itchy rash as described above, please take them to your doctor for treatment.  Scabies will not go away without treatment.  Children are asked to stay away from school for 24 hours after they have been treated.

Impetigo - School Sores
Impetigo or school sores is a common skin infection.  It causes scabby sores on exposed parts of the body, such as the face and is especially common in children.  It often starts at the site of a minor skin injury such as a  graze, an insect bite or scratched ezcema.  Impetigo must be treated and children must stay away from school until they have been treated and the sores are covered.  It is quite contagious and spreads easily by children touching the sores and then touching other objects or people.

Hutt Valley Sport Stacking Club
The Hutt Valley Sport Stacking Club is now up and running and meets at Randwick School Hall (Lower Hutt) on Thursday afternoons. This Thursday the club will meet at 5.00pm. This is a great opportunity for everyone in the Wellington region who is interested in sport stacking to go along and join fellow sport stackers for a fun afternoon. Please let your students know about this fantastic sport stacking club. For more information, visit their facebook page: Hutt Valley Sport Stacking

THANK YOU

The Home and School Committee would like to say a big thank you to GROENZ for donating sauce this year for our hot dogs and also to Claire Allen who organised the roster.  

UPCOMING DATES
Mon 5 Nov- Athletic sports
Tue 6 Nov - BOT mtg
Thur 8 Nov - HVHS testing for Y8
Tues 13 Nov - Life ed visiting (until 21 Nov); Paid Union Mtg (pick up children at 12.30)
Fri 16 Nov - Assembly 1.40
Mon 19 Nov - Swimming starts
Tue 20 Nov - Y4-6 Zone athletic sports
Sun 25 Nov - Eastbourne carnival

SPORT

CRICKET
On Tuesday a handful of students from the year 5 and 6 syndicate competed in the Central Zone Primary Schools cricket tournament.  Muritai School entered a team in the competitive grade (Muritai 1) and a team in the non-competitive grade (Muritai 2).  Muritai 1 played exceptionally well and completed the day with a win, a draw and a loss.  Muritai 2 also played extremely well and successfully won all their games.

Thank you to those parents that supported the students on the day.

TOUCH RUGBY

Each of our 9 touch teams had their first game last Friday at a very windy Hutt Park and the results show a strong start to the season overall.

Year 3/4's
Muritai Blaze lost 1-3 to Korokoro Storm
Muritai Flash won 10-1 to Normandale Dodgers

Year 5/6's
Muritai Sprint won 8-6 to OLR Storm
Muritai Hustle won 8-3 to Hutt Old Boys Marist
Muritai Speed won 3-1 to Korokoro Bulldogs
Muritai Rush lost 2-3 to OLR Manly
Muritai Dash won 4-3 to Eastern Hutt Kiwis

Year 7/8's
Muritai Swift lost 1-2 to St Oran's 3
Muritai Pace lost 0-3 to SH Spartans

COMMUNITY  NOTICES

A Days Bay Children's Choir for 5 - 9 year olds

Days Bay Playcentre is providing the opportunity for 5 - 9 year olds to be part of a choir for the last five weeks of this term, as a lead up to the festive season.  There will be six sessions held on Mondays after school at Playcentre from 3:30 - 4:15pm (starting on the 12th of November).  The choir will be led by Priya Gain and Gina Hopkirk with the support of music educator Helen Willberg.  For more information on enroling your child/ren contact Priya: priyagain@gmail.com

Limelights Littlies

Does yoúr pre-schooler love dance and  dramatic play? Come to Limelights! Combined Dance, Drama and Singing classes for 3-5 year olds held at St Ronan's Church Hall, 2.00-2.30 Wednesday afternoons.  For more information, contact Bea on 3806105.  Individual singing tuition is also available for ages seven and up.

Intro to Zumba Course
Would you like to learn how to do those Zumba moves?  I will be running a 6 week course to show you how.  Commencing Tuesday 6 November, 9.30am to 10.30am at St Albans Church Hall.  Course costs $60.  Pre-register by contacting Melissa Rogers on 021 253 4499 or missy.lee62@yahoo.com  I am also considering running an evening course.  If you are interested, please contact me.