Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
Tena koutou katoa
Dear Parents / Caregivers
As we fast approach week 5, the term is ticking by. Things are very busy with lots of opportunities available for the children. The weather remains delightful and we are all enjoying the Golden Summer!
Welcome to Miriam Water (R3), Isabelle Longson (R3) and James Biggins (R22) who have started at Muritai this week.
BOARD ELECTIONS
This year we will be holding Board of Trustee elections. Muritai has been blessed for many years with strong governance from our parents who bring a multitude of skills and talents to the Board table. This leadership has been endorsed regularly by the Education Review Office and Ministry of Education. This year some trustees will be standing down and so Muritai School will be seeking new trustees to guide the school through the next three years. The election will be in May and the new Board will take office in June. If you are interested you are most welcome to make contact with current Board members - Stu Stock, Olivia Paterson, Nick Brownsword, Philip Fisher, Craig Griffiths, Julie Parker, or myself, Andrew Bird in the school office. Contact details are in the Board section of the website.
NZ School Trustees Association have produced a simple video guide on being a trustee… http://resources.nzsta.org.nz/videos/becomeatrustee/html5video.html
BOMB THREATS
As of Thursday a number of schools in NZ had received bomb threats. Thankfully nothing serious happened. While this case remains unsolved Muritai may be threatened. In the advent of anotification we will follow the emergency management procedures for our fire drill and evacuate the school to the other side of the field until clearance has been given by Police and the Fire service.
DRESS UP DAY
Our charity group have quickly swung into action to enable our children to dress up to raise money for the the people of Fiji who have recently suffered the devastation of Cyclone Winston. Muritai families raised $670.20.
YEAR 3-4 SWIM SPORTS
Congratulations to our year 3-4 swimmers who competed today at Eastbourne Pool. What a wonderful event and we were so impressed with the children’s swimming and desire to do their very best.
YEAR 5-6 CRICKET
Our Year 5-6 cricket team have been doing battle with Wellesley in the Year 5-6 cricket competition at The Eastbourne Rec. Thanks to Brett Fastier for taking the team and supervising them.
CONGRATULATIONS LUCY DUNGAN!
Lucy Dungan recently received her Grade 3 Piano Certificate from Trinity College London. Lucy got the top mark in Wellington and the Kapiti region for Grade 3. Well done.
SCHOOL PHOTOS
Sue Allman will be taking class and individual photos from Monday 14 March to Thursday 17 March. Envelopes have been given to all students - search their bags if you have not seen one. Orders are due back to the office by Wednesday 10 March.
READING EGGS
Learning to read is one of the most important skills children can learn. Reading Eggs makes the learning to read journey fun, interactive, and highly rewarding for ages 3-13 – and it’s based on solid scientific research.
Reading Eggs supports your child’s learning to read with carefully designed on-line reading games and activities that are easy to follow, self-paced and highly engaging for learners.
If you would like your child to subscribe to this, please send along an envelope with your child’s name and room number together with $22 to the school office before Friday 26 February. The subscription lasts for a year, ending in February 2017. If you would like further information, please contact Maureen Buckley via e-mail (buckley@muritai.school.nz)
UNIFORMS
All students from year 3 up should have a sports t-shirt and shorts for school sports and school trips. Touch Rugby and Netball will be starting soon and children playing for Muritai will need a school uniform. We will be placing an order on Friday 4 March so please bring your child along to try on a uniform for size and pay at the school office.
T-Shirts $33.00
Shorts $20.00
Netball Skirts $23.00
MOVIE FUNDRAISER - THE LADY IN THE VAN
We have a few movie tickets left for our fundraiser, The Lady in the Van on Monday 29 February, 7.30 for an 8.00pm movie. Tickets are $20 each and are available from the school office. To view the trailer, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlN1b0ok4D0
DIARY DATES (staff will contact you with more details about these events)
Tue 1 Mar Y3 LH Primary schools tabloid sports
Mon 7 Mar Junior school swim sports - Eastbourne Pool
Tue 8 Mar Y7-8 Zone athletics sports
Tue 8 Mar Y3/4 Rippa Rugby Tournament
Thur 10 March Y5-8 swim sports at Huia Pool
Fri 11 Mar School Assembly - 1.45
Mon 14 to Thur 17 Mar School Photos
Wed 16 Mar Starting School at 5 Evening - 7.30pm in Room 3
Tue 22 Mar Weetbix Triathlon
Wed 23 Mar Y4-6 Central Zone swim sports
Thur 24 Mar School Assembly 1-45
Fri 25 Mar tp
Tues 29 Mar School Closed Easter break
Wed 30 Mar to
Fri 1 April Y5-6 on camp to Makahika
Wed 30 Mar Y4-8 IZ Swimming
Mon 11 and
Tue 12 April Children/ Parent / Teacher meetings.
Fri 15 April School assembly 1.45 (Last day of term!)
CARNIVAL 2016 TEAM
We have a few volunteers for our Carnival this year but really do need some more. If you are keen to help, please let Jo or Carole in the office know. Without your help there will be no Carnival this year!
TERM DATES FOR 2016
Term 1 = Monday 1 February - Friday 15 April
Term 2 = Monday 2 May - Friday 8 July
Term 3 = Monday 25 July - Friday 23 September
Term 4 = Monday 10 October - Friday 16 December
Please note Easter is in term one this year and so school will be closed for the Easter Break from Friday 25 March to and including Tuesday 29 March.
We have 2 teacher only days this year at Queen’s Birthday and Labour weekend.
Teacher only day one = Tuesday 7 June
Teacher only day two = Tuesday 25 October
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Message from Eastbourne Plunket Committee:
This year Eastbourne Plunket volunteers will be collecting on Saturday 5th March, between 9am and 4pm, at key spots in the Eastbourne village and Days Bay. If you could collect for an hour at one of these spots that would be much appreciated - please contact Amy Fanning on 027 414 9130 or Amy.fanning@clear.net.nz. Any other support you may be able to provide, including donations, are of course most welcome also.
Funds collected locally are used to maintain our Eastbourne Plunket rooms, provide local PIN (parents in the neighbourhood) networking sessions for new parents, and support initiatives to help achieve Plunket's mission: Together, the best start for every child. In addition this year we are raising funds to create a garden space outside the rooms, with the help of Kate Brownsword from Driftwood Garden Design and Willie Davis Limited.
Nationally Plunket is changing its strategy around door-to-door collections and their annual appeal, and there will be less national media coverage as a result. Whilst our door-to-door campaigns have been very successful in the past, we understand the difficulties many face in helping with these. We are trialling the street collection format this year and hoping this will allow more people to engage with and help out this wonderful organisation. Thanks so much for your continuing support.
ERAT
ERAT stands for Eastbourne Residents All Trapping. There is a foundation evening meeting on the 16th of March at the RSA from 7pm and is for all residents who would like to do their bit to help improve our native surrounds by trapping rats, hedgehogs and possums on their properties. Yes ...even Hedgehogs are an introduced pest!
There will be guest speakers along, Stuart Barr from Goodnature.co.nz and Kelvin Hastie who set up the Crofton Downs residential trapping initiative and who is trying to spread this around the Wellington region. Hopefully there will be some traps on offer as spot prizes!
Bike the Trail 2016 – a family fun day out with an enjoyable scenic bike ride along the Hutt River Trail. Free shuttle for you and your bike back to the start. Entertainment and prizes. Bike hire available. Free Entry. Sunday 28 February 2016. Start at Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt (25km) or Stokes Valley (12km). Finish at Hikoikoi Reserve, Petone. For more information and to register see www.bikethetrail.co.nz
CALLING ALL EASTBOURNE KIDS!
Are you up for a Challenge?
Team up with a friend or go solo and create a wild dish to wow the judges!
The Local Wild Food Challenge is back at the Days Bay Pavilion on Saturday March 5th from 2pm.
Forage, Gather, Fish, Hunt, Dive, Barter....
Create a dish with at least one wild ingredient (more wild ingredients, more points!)
Hot, cold, frozen, raw, marinated, smoked, seared, preserved, fermented, pickled... anything!
Write a story about your dish, what happened on your culinary adventure, ingredients, inspiration?
Prize categories for our Junior Challenge.
Grand Prize
Runner Up
Best Effort
Best Story ( Hemingway Award)
Best Dessert
Wildest Ingredient
Amazing prizes, live music, food tastings, live art installment, food trucks, cooking demo's, artisan stalls.
Check out our website www.localwildfoodchallenge.com
Email us, info@localwildfoodchallenge.com if you would like more info.
H20 EXTREME EASTER AQUA BEATZ
