Wednesday July 3

Kia ora koutou,

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai 

Tena koutou katoa

Welcome to Samara Gethen-Jones in Room 1 and her family who have joined the Muritai School community recently.

Welcome also to new staff Lorna Lane and Liz Alderson who join our learning support staff working in the junior school.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT FEEDBACK 
We are just putting the finishing touches to our reporting to parents and on Friday mid-year written reports will be issued. 

The written report identifies your child’s achievement against 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 aim to cover all areas of the curriculum, including work and study skills and the key competencies.

Next week we have meetings for most groups. Year 1, 2, 3 will be meeting the teacher where teachers will guide the parent interview and relate and explain your child’s progress towards meeting the year level national standards. It is important to note that for most children receiving a progress report, at this mid-year stage that these are a prediction as to how students are currently tracking against the national standard (which is an end of year judgment). 

For year 5 - 8 the children will guide the parents through their learning journeys. Teachers will be on hand for any clarification required. These sessions take place next Wednesday 10th July -  3:00 until 5.30.  Children's day-to-day learning and class work is a very important part of reporting improvements for the children. It gives them a chance to share their achievements with you and it gives them a chance to reflect on their own growth together with the teachers in support.   The language used to put the journeys together helps them self-review their own progress and achievement.

The key thing however is to continue those ongoing conversations about your child's strengths and weaknesses and understand future learning goals for the next phase of learning. 

As always, if at any time you would like to meet your child's teacher to discuss any issue or progress, please feel comfortable to contact them directly to set up a suitable meeting time.

Year 1,2,3 parents please go to School Interviews to book an appointment. The Event Code is LBFZV.  Alternatively, you can contact Sue in the school office who will make an appointment for you.  

NEW LUNCH OPTION

FOOD FOR THOUGHT – a healthy, freshly made, yummy lunch now available next term!

Two local mothers with children at Muritai School, Carmen Mitchell-Arquier and Megan Brugh,  are providing a lunch option on Thursdays next term .

From Term 3 onwards, every Thursday, they will offer a different lunch option for Muritai children (and staff) by providing healthy, seasonal and delicious lunchtime meals, including warm options in winter. They have called this initiative “Food for Thought”.

The menu will be delivered on Thursday next week to every child to take home. You can place your order form with payment in the brightly painted “Food for Thought” box in the kitchen by 10.00 am on Wednesday 31^st July (first week of term 3). 

So don’t forget to check your child’s schoolbag next Thursday!

MAORI LANGUAGE WEEK

Following on from Matariki, this week we have joined in with Maori Language week, a nationwide programme to celebrate te reo in Aotearoa. Our lead teacher Raihania Chadwick works with staff on a weekly basis to create many opportunities for children to grow in their knowledge of te reo. This year the focus is on Place Names. On our webpage you might like to click on our MuritaiSchool Tikanga Maori blog.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Next week we are holding our annual Scholastic Book Fair to coincide with the school interviews.  The Book Fair will be held in the library on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th July from 2.40pm - 3.30pm and then again on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th July from 2.40pm - 7.30pm.

Please contact Carole or Sue in the office if you can help in any way on any of the days.  Thank you so much to Liz Alderson who is co-ordinating the Book Fair this year.

THE WINTER DRIVE

Thank you so much for your continued support for 'The Winter Drive' - our little 'Pay It Forward' project this year.  Wellesley and San Antonio have joined in with the programme and we have been able to deliver a new batch of good quality shoes, jackets and clothing to low decile schools who are not in the KidsCan programme.

So far we have delivered 150 winter coats to Naenae Primary, 200 pairs of shoes and 50 coats to Randwick School, 200 pairs of shoes and 50 coats to Natone Park School, 40 pairs of shoes, 20 warm tops and a bag of spare clothes to Cannons Creek Early Childhood Centre and a big bag of shoes, tops and jackets to Cannons Creek School. These donations have been gratefully accepted and all items have all gone to good homes. This generosity is hugely appreciated by the children of these schools.

INTER-ZONE CROSS COUNTRY

Well done to our Y4-6 cross country team who competed in the inter-zone event in Petone last Tuesday. The following children placed in the top 10 and therefore will compete in the regional cross country event at Rathkeale College, along with Maya Hahn from year 7-8, in Masterton next Tuesday. A tremendous team effort.

Year 4 Girls - Chelsea Summers - 3rd; Gemma Grant 6th

Year 4 Boys - Henry Evans - 7th

Year 5 Girls - Charlotte Humphries - 1st; Samantha Woolley - 10th

Year 5 Boys - Theo Jones - 8th

Year 6 Girls - Macey Caughley - 1st

Year 6 Boys - Andrew Sutcliffe - 5th; Max Hahn - 9th

A big thank you to Jenny Caughley and David Lewis who have been training the squad for these events.

YEAR 7-8 SPEECH FINALS

These are on this Friday in the hall starting at 11.00. Come along and find out who will be the school champion and the winner of the Pointon Cup!

FACEBOOK 

With many parents now on Facebook we are able to share information and school news events via Facebook. Presently we have about 160 'friends'.

You can sign up to Muritai School's Facebook page and therefore get regular updates of events. Just click on our page and 'Like'.

Alternatively, if you are not on Facebook you can also receive these updates straight to your cellphone via Twitter. Simply text 8987 and type in follow MuritaiSchool and you will receive updates, simple messages, reminders, cancellations direct to your cellphone.

DIARY DATES

July

Fri 5 July - Y7-8 Speech finals 11.00 / Assembly 1.45

Mon 8 July - Scholastic book fair 2.40-3.30

Tues 9th July - Scholastic book fair 2.40 - 3.30

Wed 10 July - Year 1-3 parent interviews (3.00-7.30) and year 5-8 learning celebrations (3.00-5.30) / Scholastic book fair 3.00-7.30

Thurs 11 July - Year 1-3 parent interviews (3.00-7.30) / Scholastic book fair 3.00-7.30

Fri 12 July - last day of term

The Book Fair will be held in the library on Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th July from 2.40pm - 3.30pm and then again on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th July from 2.40pm - 7.30pm.

TERM DATES

Term 3 - Monday 29 July - Friday 27 September - 45 days

Term 4 - Monday 14 October - Friday 20 December - 48 days

A reminder we have our second teacher only day on Friday 25 October (Labour Weekend) 

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Family Pantomine

Butterfly Theatre Troupe latest production is Beauty and The Beast. This production opens next Thursday 4 July and runs through to Sunday 14th July with a 2.30 matinee on Sunday 7 July.  Tickets available at Rona Gallery and www.bctt.org.nz

Kids Cross Country Series

The next Kids Cross Country Event is at Grenada North Park in Tawa on Sunday 14 July.  Register at least 7 days prior and receive your own personalised race bib.  Open to year 3s through to year 10s.  Enter as an individual or get a couple of friends together to enter a team of three.  Team and individual awards. The next event is being held in Tawa, Upper Hutt and Wellington.  For more details contact Jo Murray on johanna.murray@xtra.co.nz

or 2329409.