Wednesday 2 July

Kia ora koutou,

This is our final newsletter for the term as we reach the halfway point of the year. 2014 is going really well at Muritai School. The children are well settled, the teaching and support staff are totally committed and the school continues to make steady progress as we work through our annual development plan. Apart from a few jack hammers and diggers which have arrived of late things are going very much according to plan. You will have received your child's mid year report on Friday. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each one and seeing the children's progress and their learning goals and next steps going forward. I hope you did too.

As a school Muritai's teaching staff have been looking really closely at how the key competencies from the NZ curriculum influence our children's learning. The competencies are managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing, thinking, and using symbols and texts (the curriculum) and they  all work hand in hand to help children progress, not just academically but as people. The recognition of the key competencies is the key that unlocks modern learning. You will have read elsewhere (newspapers/media) how important each of these competencies are in the modern work place and it is no different in the school today. Jobs are very different than 20-30 years ago and the five competencies have to work closely in harmony together to get quality performance at school to set the children up for life.  For most of our children they are still developing these skills as they mature as people, but by entry to secondary school they will need to be well down the track to succeed in that assessment driven environment. This challenges our teaching staff to not just notice what students are learning, but how they are learning, and their capacity to continue and improve their learning.

Managing self as a competency is a prime example.  Children's ability to understand the task, accept and focus in on, and complete the task, while working within a busy workplace, is critical to the overall success of the task. Some children do this better than others but all children need to show competency in this area to be able to get the job done. It is the same with relating to others, participating and contributing, thinking and using symbols...and while we have strengths and weaknesses, the more strengths we have in the competencies, the more we can take to the big wide world.  It also challenges us as parents to follow through with the competencies at home to develop character in our children as these skills are not just 9am - 5pm 'school' attributes. It is exciting stuff and a really nice challenge that motivates our teaching and support staff. Our children, as individual people, present a moving landscape and we relish the challenge to enable them to be the best they can be.

How key competencies drive the learning process is described nicely here .

Celebration of Learning
Tomorrow after school we welcome you to your child's classroom for the 'Celebration of Learning'. The children will take you through their learning journey so far this year.

Meeting with teachers
If you would like to follow up the celebration of learning sessions with the classroom teacher, or discuss any concerns that you may have, they are always available to meet with you. Just email to contact them to arrange a mutual time.

Science fair
Our year 7-8 students have really excelled in their science fair assignments this year. At present they are in room 21 but will be available to view in the school hall tomorrow afternoon. There are some amazing ideas that have been investigated and the presentation of the studies is quite superb. Fascinating learning.

Open afternoon for the senior school
The year 7-8 team is holding an open afternoon on tomorrow from 1.30 for parents and children of year 6. There is an information session at 3.15 where teachers and children will share their thoughts and experiences about daily life in our senior school.

Inter-school cross country
The team has performed right to the very end with some excellent placings in the regional champs in Waikanae yesterday. We are still waiting official results but we are aware at this time that Macey and Charlotte have managed to qualify through to the inter-regionals which will be held later in the year.

Scholastic Book Fair
Our annual book fair is on in the library this week and finishes tomorrow evening. Thank you so much to our organisers and parent helpers for the supervision and making this event possible.

Kapa haka
Our kapa haka roopu perform tonight at the Walter Nash Stadium as part of 'the Polynesian Festival'. This is the culmination of some hard work by the team and Raihania Chadwick and Ruth Hooke. Congratulations to the roopu and all the best for tonight

Holiday break
With the holiday break on the horizon it is a good chance to have a good rest and for the children to recharge their batteries. They have put in a great effort this term and are very tired. If I may be so bold to insist the children keep up their daily reading, do some live mathletics and spend time with family or friends exploring the great things New Zealand has to offer. A reminder that the Eastbourne or Petone library have a wonderful variety of reading material for the children to access - fill up a box and take it home!

The new library
There will be a lot of action on the library building in the holiday break with trucks and excavation equipment onsite. The area in front of the '2-storey middle block' will be a hive of activity. I suggest that if you come to use the school facilities you stick to the north end of the property (playgrounds north).

Next term
As we look forward to term 3 we have lots ahead of us. The Artsplash choir is already in motion and of course we have our school production to prepare for ready to go by week 9. At the same time we have the Commonwealth games and the general election occurring in this time frame so there will be some interesting inquiry work going on.

Carnival Team
The Eastbourne Village Carnival is always a great event and this year it will be held on Sunday November 23. The carnival preparation is ticking over nicely and the organising team is meeting early next term and we will be starting to gather names to boost the team as we get close to date.

Informing us if children won't be at school.
Just a reminder that if the children are not going to be at school please let us know. If the children are going to be away from school, other than illness, then we need written notification as we keep a file of records ( a one line email is suffice).

It is that time of year when people are starting to plan for 2015. If you know that you will not be returning to Muritai School in 2015 please let us know as soon as possible. It helps immensely for our future planning.

Thank you for your continued support for Muritai School.

Have a lovely holiday break and enjoy your time with the family.

Noku na

Andrew Bird


COMMUNITY NOTICES
Zumba Classes
Get bikini-ready and have fun dancing!  Zumba classes starting term 3, 21 July for 10 weeks $120 or $15 casual.  Monday 7.30-8.30pm;  Wednesday 9.30 - 10.30am.  Please register interest as class is number dependent.  Melissa 021-253-4499