Welcome to our new students -
Brooke Harrington (R1), Svana Clark (R5), George Saunderson (R1).
It is
hard to believe that we are in week 3 of our final term already. We have lots
to get through in the month of November and this includes the Eastbourne
Village Carnival and a visit from the Education Review Office the following day
and through week 7. Please have a look at the diary below and make sure you are
all familiar with the dates and times of events to come.
The
estimated date of completion for our library is next Friday, 7 November and we
are hoping to officially open the building on Friday 14 November. Further
details about an opening ceremony will follow once things are confirmed. The
building team are now moving around to complete stage 2 which is a large deck
off the two-storey block, return the old library into a classroom and complete
the Oroua St frontage. We thank you for your patience while this work
continues.
As we
continue our organisation for 2015 we are receiving some requests from parents
for their children's placement in 2015. While we don't have a policy that
allows parents to choose their child's teacher, or which children they can or
can't be with, we try to be as inclusive as possible as an organisation. We really do appreciate that most parents
just allow the school to place the children into classes in a fair and
equitable way and while we are prepared to listen, we can't guarantee that we can
action what individual parents wish for. School
after all is a bit of a 'metaphor for life' and our children do need to adapt
to the situations they find themselves in and do the best that they can in each
environment.
As teachers, we take a great deal of time in developing classrooms. We work closely as a staff and take into account the needs of individual children and the ways they relate to various teacher styles. We know which children work well together and those who do not. Each class is balanced as much as possible with an equal number of boys and girls, with a range of ability levels, and a range of personalities. These decisions are made very carefully by considering the best learning situation for all of our children. Our efforts are virtually wasted, however, when classes are filled by requests based upon vague reasons such as "her friend is in that class," or "I heard something good about the teacher," and "my son begged me to request this teacher" are not valid reasons for a request, and in fact undermine school attempts to provide the best situation for all the children we have to place.
Remember, you or your child may not necessarily relate to a given teacher the same as another person might. Your child is different and special, however we are very lucky at Muritai to have such an experienced, committed teaching staff to guide our children's learning.
CARNIVAL
With
just a few weeks before our huge fundraiser, it is all go from the Carnival
Committee. It may seem a little quiet
out there but the Committee have it all in hand. Now it’s your turn. They need you all to help out by putting your
name down for jobs, either on the day, or before-hand prepping food, making
goods (deli store, cakes, etc), potting plants and cleaning out your cupboards
to donate your old toys, books and clothes.
Signs
will be going up in the foyer very shortly so please ensure your name is down
for one of the jobs – at least one person from each family. Over the past few Carnivals, approximately
$45,000 to $55,000 has been raised to help the school. We are currently building our new library
with funds from those Carnivals as well as purchasing new IT equipment for our
children.
ATHLETICS
Athletic Sports Day for our
Year 3-8 students was held today and went really smoothly. Thank you to the
teaching staff and children for working so hard to make this such a wonderful
event. Children have been working very hard and set personal goals to achieve
on the Athletics Day. We really appreciate parents and friends joining us
to support the children.
WOW - WORLD OF WASTE
Last week some members of Room
15, part of the School Gen Lead Team, went on a WOW (World of Waste) trip.
This tour is run by Sustainable Hutt City and is designed to enhance
students’ understanding about the nature and volume of waste that households
and schools generate, and to offer alternative ideas to throwing things away
and landfilling them. It uses discussions, site visits and a range of
activities covering several curriculum links including science, technology and
social studies. The students got to visits the Silverstream
Landfill, the Earthlink Recycling Plant, The Dowse Art Gallery and the Waste
Management Recycling Plant.
Room 15 Students - "The
trip was loads of fun and we enjoyed learning where the waste that we create at
home and at school ends up when we put it in the bin or recycle
it. We even got to keep a toy or book for free from the Earthlink
shop!"
RAPunzel
We had
the 'Rapunzel' show today...it was cool!!!
"Rapunzel
is the hot favourite to win ‘A Land Far Far Away’s Got Talent With X Factor
Idol’. She’s a teenage triple threat, with the voice of Lady Gaga, the dance
moves of Beyonce, and the hair of… Rapunzel! But when she refuses to sign
a contract with the 'udderly ruthless moosic' producer Simon Cow, he locks her
in a recording tower high above the enchanted forest to steal her singing voice
with a magic tape machine.
What
can Rapunzel do now she can’t sing? Rap! With the help of a very handsome
Fresh Prince, some very long hair, and a smattering of all your favourite
fairytale characters, it’s time to flip this fairytale upside down, wave your
hair in the air like you just don’t care, and put the RAP back into RAPunzel.
By Room 16
TERM DATES
The Board of Trustees have set the term dates for 2015.
Please note the following -
Term 1 -
Monday 2 February – Thurs 2 April – 43 days
Term 2 -
Monday 20 April - Friday 3 July - 53 days
Term 3 -
Monday 20 July - Friday 25 September - 50 days
Term 4 -
Monday 12 October - Thursday 17 December – 47 days
There are 2 teacher only days in 2015 - these are the
Tuesday of Queen's Birthday and the Tuesday of Labour Weekend.
Please note in 2015 Anzac Day has been ‘Monday-ised’
ABEL TASMAN $100 NOTE RAFFLE
As part of their fundraising
efforts for Abel Tasman, the Year 8 students ran a raffle for a $100 note.
The raffle was drawn in the first week of term 4, with the $100 note
going to Robin Hamlin, a friend of the school. Many thanks to everyone
who bought a ticket and supported the Abel Tasman camp.
DIARY
You can access a full calendar on
our website under 'Noticeboard'
Thursday
30 Y3-8 Athletic Sports
Fri 31
Oct Assembly 1.45
Mon 3
Nov Y5-6 Pedal Ready programme (runs
for a fortnight)
Tues 4
Nov Photos for R1 and our
recent New Entrants
Wed 5
Nov Year 7-8 Touch tournament
Thur 6
Nov Year 8 testing at HVHS / Y1-2
trip to Musical Stars
Friday
14 Nov Assembly 1.45 / Y5-6 Whitireia
Show
Tues 18
Nov Y4-6 Zone athletic sports
Thurs
20 Nov BOT mtg 7.30pm
Mon 24
Nov ERO visit / Swimming starts /
Y1-3 parent conferences /Road patrol training for 2015
Tues 25
Nov Y4-6 Inter-zone sports / Y1-3
parent conferences
Wed 26
Nov Starting School at 5
Fri 28
Nov Assembly 1.45
Mon 1
Dec Y1-2 EOTC week / Y5-6 Road
patrol pool party
Tues 2
Dec Celebration of Learning
Wed 3
Dec Y5-6 EOTC week begins /
Junior school athletic sports
Thurs 4
Dec BOT mtg 7.30pm
Mon 8 Dec EOTC week for years 5/6 and 3/4 and Y8 to
Abel Tasman
Mon 8 Dec Year 7s to Matiu/Somes
Island
Wed 10
Dec Year 7s to Mt Holdsworth camp
Tues 9
Dec Y5-6 2015 camp meeting
Thurs
11 Dec Junior school Xmas concert
Fri 12
Dec Reports go home
Mon 15
Dec 2015 classrooms meet together
Tue 16
Dec Y8 leavers dinner
Wed 17
Dec Y3-6 Xmas concert
Thurs 18 Dec Last day of the school year / Final assembly
11.00
School finishes at 1.00
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Eastbourne Junior Swim Club
Starts Thursday 20 November – Register Now! It’s almost time
for the Eastbourne Pool to open, and that means our community Swim Club for
Term 4 and Term 1 next year is about to start. We want to have as many
Swim Club nights before Xmas as we can, so are only taking PRE-REGISTRATIONS. Please
sign your child up at the Eastbourne Library or at our registration morning at
the Eastbourne Pool 10-midday Saturday 15 November. $30 per child. All
children aged 5 and older catered for.
Available for Babysitting
