Wednesday 11 June

Welcome to Ben Park and Lexi Hulbert to Muritai School. It is lovely to have you as part of our Muritai family.

We welcome Briana Lee to the Muritai staff as room 7 class teacher. Thank you to Barbara Ryan for teaching the children in room 7 for the last fortnight. Barbara stars her new entrants class next week in room 1.

This week is National Support Staff week and we are pleased to say a huge thank you to our wonderful team who support the school and the children in being the best they can be. Our support staff are much loved by our children and play a critical role in our continued success. They do all sort of jobs at Muritai but they are essential to making the school run smoothly. So a huge thank you to…Jo and Carole, Roger, Sandra, Lorna, Pauline, Carolyn, Narelle, Lesley, Dianne, Fiona, Romy, Hilary, Sue, Felicity, Imogen and Francie, Mel, Chrissie and Dan and the cleaning team from Crest Clean.

REPORTS / END OF YEAR

I am enjoying reading draft copies of the mid year reports. Teachers have worked hard to put these together, they are moderated and a fair reflection of how children are achieving against the NZ Curriculum and they come with next steps and things to focus on.  As always there are nuances with the ‘system’ with some children who move from even years (say Y4) to odd years (Y5) maybe not achieving the same high rating as the previous year. This is because despite being in a chronological age year level they work across two years in a curriculum level. Essentially though performance against the curriculum tends to be stronger in the even years.

Reports will be issued in week 8 on Friday 27^th June. Our Learning Celebrations are on Thursday 3^rd July between 3:00 and 6:00 and this give the children a chance to showcase their learning experiences to the parents for the first half of the year. Teachers will be in class and available to chat about anything. If you would like specific feedback on children’s progress please contact the teacher and make an appointment with them at a time that suits you.

PEER MEDIATORS

Our peer mediators are hard at work dealing with a few little niggles between children in the playground. Mr. McKay has trained the year 6 children and they are enjoying making a difference. Although we want the school to be a peaceful, happy place there are times when children cannot agree, or children feel that someone else’s behaviour is unfair, and so our peer mediators assist children to a resolution or pass on the problem to a teacher for assistance if necessary. It is working really well and the peer mediators are growing on confidence knowing that what they do helps improve our school surroundings. It is just another part of our children’s community.

CELEBRATE SCIENCE WEEK

We had a wonderful science week last fortnight. We culminated in a blast off with the water-powered rockets and the judges needed hard hats to protect them such was the vulnerability of steering. It was great fun and there was a clear winner in room 15 who managed to power a rocket from one playground to the next!  During the week we had a total of 9 scientists visit the school to share their expertise with the children. At present we have the year 7-8 children working hard on their science investigations and these will be completed by the last week of this term and on display in the senior school.

YOUNG LEADERS DAY

Our year 7-8 leaders enjoyed their time in Wellington last week at the Young Leaders Conference. It was an incredible experience, with fun activities and videos, and of course the inspiring speeches made by some amazing people. The focus for the day was "", and each speaker made motivational speeches about the qualities of a leader, or a hero.  The speakers there included Jamie Fitzgerald, Cam Calkoen and of course the Laughing Samoans. The children fed back that these people were from all walks of life and all had encountered obstacles in their way, but they achieved great things because they aimed high and had faith in themselves.  Our leaders all had an amazing time and came back inspired and excited about their own potential as leaders.

40-HOUR FAMINE

Well done to all the children that took part in the 40-hour famine in our support for the World Vision campaign in Malawi. It looks as though the children will raise over $2000 overall. Well-done kids (and sponsors).

FINANCIAL LITERACY

We welcome back Vani to school next week. Vani is our financial literacy tutor who will be working with year 1-2 and year 5-6.

FUN FERNS NETBALL

The year 1-2 team have enjoyed the Fun Ferns netball programme this week.

YEAR 7/8 REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY

On Tuesday the 3rd June 31 Muritai School students, from Year 7 and 8 travelled to Trentham Memorial Park to compete in the annual HRSA 3k cross country run. It was a nerve-racking day but a lot of fun. The year 7 girls ran first followed by the year 7 boys, the year 8 girls and finally the year 8 boys. Many schools within the Hutt Valley competed with approximately ten people from each school in their teams. The top ten students from race on the day then go on to compete in the Wellington Regionals event. Congratulations to Macey Caughley who won the year 7 girls run. Mia Treadwell-Burke came 9th in the year 8 girls’ run and will also be going to the Regionals later in July.

By Mia Treadwell-Burke

SCHOOL NETWORK UPGRADE

At present we have the team upgrading our School Network. They will be here for another fortnight re-cabling and future proofing the school for technology developments.

ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS

As part of our Home & School fundraising plan, we are once again selling the Entertainment Book membership. This year you have a choice of the book or the new digital membership (can be downloaded to your mobile phone). The cost is $60 per membership. For each membership sold we get $12, so this is a great fundraiser for our school. If you do not wish to purchase a book, please return it to the school office as soon as possible.

STRIKE

The multi talented drum and percussion group, Strike came to perform at Muritai last Thursday. It was a great show and full of variety. Teachers and children were invited to go up on stage and play along on cook island drums, snares and high hat. It sure was loud but heaps of fun! It's been two years since we last had Strike here and they commented on how much they enjoyed returning to Muritai to perform for such an enthusiastic audience. We have a lot of children learning drums from Steve Wren here at school and it was fascinating watching them drumming on the floor, picking up the rhythms and being so engaged.

A great show!!!!

KAPA HAKA

The Muritai School Kapa Haka roopu has an upcoming kapa haka performance in Polyfest 2014. Polyfest is a 2-night festival at Walter Nash Stadium celebrating the wide variety of cultures within schools in the wider Hutt Valley. Muritai School will be performing alongside 8 other schools on the second night, Wednesday 2^nd July, 6:30-8:30. Tickets will soon be available to purchase from the office at a cost of $5 each if you wish to see the group perform. Come and support our kids. 

JUNIOR SCHOOL PARENTS EVENINGS

Maureen and her team ran a successful parent evening for children learning to read last week.  Tonight (Wednesday) it is a learning to write workshop and in week 8 (25 June) it is maths.

DATES

Wednesday 11 June           Junior parent writing evening 7pm

Monday 16 June                  ICAS writing test

Tuesday 17 June                 ICAS spelling test

Wednesday 18 June           Starting school at 5 mtg 7pm

Thursday 19 June               Bard of Trustees mtg 7.30pm

Friday 20 June                     School assembly 1.40

Tuesday 24 June                 Y4-6 interzone cross-country; Y7-8 zone football

Wednesday 25 June           Junior parent maths 7pm
Friday 27 June                     Mid year reports go home

Monday 30 June                  Matariki

Tuesday 1 July                     Kapa haka roopu at Lower Hutt primary festival 7pm;

Y4-6 regional cross-country; Y3-4 football in schools

Thursday 3 July                    Y5-6 speech finals; Celebrations of learning 3pm-6pm

Friday 4 July                          Last day of term 2

TERM DATES –

Term 3 = Monday 21 July - Friday 26 September

Term 4 = Monday 13 October - Thursday 18 December

The next teacher only day in 2014 is at Labour Weekend

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Does your child have a learning difficulty?

Arrowsmith is an internationally recognised programme that has proven effective for students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. The focus of Arrowsmith is to address the underlying mental processes that cause the learning disability, rather than aiming to manage the symptoms. The Arrowsmith Programme is founded on neuroscience research and over 30 years of experience demonstrating that it is possible for students to strengthen the weak cognitive capacities underlying their learning dysfunctions through a programme of specific cognitive exercises. 

Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, founder of the Arrowsmith Programme and author of the book “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain” is visiting Wellington in June.  Details: Samuel Marsden Collegiate School hosts An Evening with Barbara Arrowsmith-Young - Tuesday June 24, 2014 7:00 – 8:30 pm at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Auditorium, Marsden Avenue, Karori, Wellington.

For more information about Arrowsmith please see the website: http://www.arrowsmithschool.org/arrowsmithprogram/index.html 

Please register here: http://samuelmarsdencollegiate.eventbrite.ca

Eastbourne Plunket

Clean out your bookshelves and toy boxes for Eastbourne Plunket! We would love any pre-loved, good quality preschool toys and books for our Plunket rooms. We would like to update and freshen our collection so if you have anything your children have grown out of playing with or reading, please donate them to us. Contact Virginia to arrange collection on 04 562 7394 or totsandrew@gmail.com. Anything surplus to our requirements will be donated to a local charity.

Babysitter Available

My name is Hasmine Henwood.  I am available to look after your kids anytime.  I am 33 years old.  Please give me a call on 562 7009 or text me 021 171 6721.  The rate if $10 per hour.

Old School Piano for Removal

We have a Daneman piano spare. If anyone would like it, they are more than welcome to take it. Please come and see Carole or Jo in the office.