Welcome to our new children and their families who have joined the
Muritai School community recently - Emily and John Daymond-King; Xoya and
Haytham Kureshi-Andrews; Emma and James Littlefair. I am sure you will make the
most of what Muritai School and the Eastbourne community has to offer. Our roll
today stands at 433.
BOARD ELECTIONS
You will have received voting forms for the Board election. We have received seven nominations for the upcoming Board elections. We
are looking to fill five available spaces, so we find ourselves in the exciting
position of requiring an election process to determine who the members will be.
Voting closes tomorrow, Thursday 30 May at 12pm.
You can either post your voting form using the
return envelope or drop your form into the box in the school office. In either
case, your vote needs to be sealed in the official return envelope. You can
vote for as little as one or as many as five of the seven candidates.
The new board is announced on 5 June.
A school Board plays a hugely important role in the
governance of a school and on behalf of our community I would like to sincerely
thank our seven candidates for their willingness to share their time and skills
to ensure that our school continues to be an ever improving, nurturing and
vibrant place for our children to learn.
TEACHER ONLY DAY
A reminder that there is a teacher only day this Friday 31st May. Staff
will be working on moderating student achievement and writing reports. School
will be closed that day. We have another teacher only day in term 4 on
the Friday 25 October (labour weekend) when staff will be
attending a Kath Murdoch Inquiry learning workshop.
SCIENCE WEEK: The Big Bang!
We had a science focus last week at school. Coordinated by Barbara Ryan
and Murray McMillan, the children experienced lots of experiments across the
week finishing off with the geyser tube challenge, which was ‘won’ by year 5-6. You can view what happened here…
CROSS COUNTRY
The year 3-8 cross-country was a successful event at Days Bay last week.
The children ran well and did their best to achieve their goals. Some very
close racing resulted in the following champions –
Year level
|
Girl
|
Boy
|
Year 3
|
Lucy Mirfin-Newman
|
Jack Roche
|
Year 4
|
Chelsea Summers
|
Henry Evans
|
Year 5
|
Charlotte Humphries
|
Theo Jones
|
Year 6
|
Macey Caughley
|
Max Hahn
|
Year 7
|
Mary Heath
|
Jake Murphy
|
Year 8
|
Maya Hahn
|
John Woodnorth
|
VEGETABLE CURRY
Year 7-8 cooked up a sensational vegetable curry last Friday after
harvesting their vegetable garden. Led by ‘Master Chef’ Melissa Coton and her
team of willing assistant chefs, the finished meal was quite delicious, much
better than marmite and cheese sandwiches. See the process from start to finish here…
JACKET DRIVE
Our charity ambassadors – Kirrin and Ella would like to thank you for
helping us with our ‘Jacket Drive’. We have 65 warm jackets and hoodies to take
up to Naenae Primary School later this week. This all fits with our charity
team’s focus of ‘paying it forward’.
40-HOUR FAMINE
This year’s 20-40 hour famine is on next weekend (7-9 June) with funds
raised going to Papua New Guinea. Children will ‘go without’ in a variety of
ways – no technology, no talking, just eating rice. Information about the funds
raised can be read here.
BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK
Following on from science week we are having a Brain Awareness Week.
Devised by Sarah Richardson our children are going to learn about their brain.
We are kicking off with a visit from Pascal Saker, a neuroscientist from The Brain
Clinic, who will talk to the children about how the brain
works. Our focus for the week is to give the children an understanding about
how the brain develops, works and how we can look after it. You can read about Pascal here.
HOUSE KEEPING
- Please ensure your child is dressed for the
colder weather. Our recent building renovations have made the classrooms
much warmer and cosier but we do encourage the children to get out as much
as possible.
- Please make sure that if your children are unwell
that you do not send them to school. Absenteeism is generally very low at
Muritai but bugs spread very quickly in schools. Please don’t forget to
inform the school office if your child will be away.
- Please don't send or drop off your child to
school too early. Realistically after 8.15 is an appropriate time for
children to be arriving at school.
- Please make sure the slippers are at school so
children have dry footwear in class. We have a no shoes inside in terms 2
and 3.
- Please be courteous when parking the car. Our
disabled car park is for children with disabilities. Double-parking around
the school is unacceptable and places our children and pre-schoolers in
danger. The bus stop on Oroua Street should be kept free for the school
bus. We have been informed the Hutt City parking wardens will be visiting
frequently to ensure that parents are parking safely and legally around
the school.
LUCKY BOOKS
Lucky Book Club magazines have been handed out to children. These
are due back to school this week - by Thursday 30 May. Please note
that you can write out a cheque made out to Scholastic Books or pay by credit
card. We cannot take cash as the orders are sent by post.
HOOKED ON BOOKS
Maureen Buckley has had a good response from parents and friends of the
school who are prepared to give up an hour a week or alternate weeks
throughout the term to be part of the Hooked on Books programme. This programme
is amazing and is very valuable as it supports the children's learning and is
also very rewarding for the adults as they see how much progress the
children make with their help. We still need more so if you are
interested in doing this please contact Maureen either in person or by email.
PARENT INFORMATION EVENINGS FOR JUNIORS
Maureen Buckley and the junior team have held a series of evenings over
three weeks to talk to parents of junior school children. She has
explained how we teach children and what parents can do to help support
learning at home in reading, writing and mathematics during the first two years
at school. The final session on Mathematics is this Thursday May 30th. They
will all be in room 3 starting at 7.30 p.m. and should run for approximately an
hour.
UPCOMING DATES
May
Wed 29 BOT meeting 7.30
Thur 30 Year 2 at Carter
Observatory; Year 5-6 Zone soccer
Fri 31 Teacher Only
Day – School Closed
June
Mon3 Queen’s Birthday
– School Closed
Wed 5 ICAS science
Fri 7 Assembly
1.45
Mon 10 Brain awareness
week - Pascal Saker visiting
Tue 11 Year 4-6 Zone
cross country
Thur 13 Visiting show -
'And the winner is'
Mon 17 ICAS writing
Tue 18 ICAS spelling
Fri 21 Assembly 1.45
HUTT VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL OPEN EVENING
The open evening for all students and their parents/caregivers
interested in attending Hutt Valley High School in 2014 will be held on
Thursday 13 June 2013.
Introductions and brief addresses will be followed by guided tours of
the school and advice on programmes. The evening starts at 6:00pm in the school
hall. Enrolment packs will be available.
SPORTS
Waterpolo
Grading games are now under way. It is important that all players attend
practices as well as arrive at the pool 15mins early. The draw and results are
available at http://www.huttwaterpolo.org.nz/.
Raihania
Netball
For up to the minute information on our netball teams, check out the new
netball blog. The teams are doing very
well to date and, looking at the blog, they are all having a great time. If you would like to add anything to the blog, please send through your information to Hayley Skilton who will up-load it for you.
COMMUNITY
Wellington Girls College
Open Day - Friday 21 June. Presentations start in school hall at 9am,
10.30am and 11.30am. Prospectus and Enrolment Forms are available online
at www.wgc.school.nz.
The Destitute Gourmet
San Antonio present an evening with Sophie Gray cooking stylish,
fashionable food that doesn't cost a fortune. Tickets are $30, which includes a
glass of wine, tastes of some dishes and copies of the recipes.
At Petone Rugby Football Club, Udy Street, Petone on Thursday 13th June between 7pm-10pm. Tickets available from San Antonio School or by email sasoffice@xtra.co.nz
Fun French at Muritai School
Is continuing in term 2. Some spaces are available.
Tuesday: les Grands - for year threes and up
Wednesday: les Petits - for years one to three
Lots of games, fun activities, games crafts, music to help
learning. The best way for kids to learn a language is through play. For
more information or to register ring Stefi Plimmer-Blattner on 562 8211 or email
me: stefi@lcfclubs.co.nz
