Bird’s Eye View
Number 11
Friday 15 April 2016
Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
Tena koutou katoa
Welcome to Jack Harrison who started at Muritai yesterday.
Well, that is the end of term 1 - 25% through the year
already! It would be fair to say that the batteries across the school are due
for a recharge, and a couple of weeks rest should see the energy of Muritai
return to full power!
We have achieved a lot this term and as I shared with the
Board last night it seems it have been without the frenetic pace of previous
years first term. Staff and children are to be congratulated for this - packing
so much in but making it possible to get everything done and to complete a good
body of work. There is much to look forward to going forward and next term will
be just as busy.
Last night the Associate Principals shared with the Board the
aggregated student achievement analysis from term one. This extremely thorough
presentation informed the Board where our children are now, and what the
teachers and children will focus in on to make sure they all have made
accelerated progress and are in the right place at the end of 2016.
If I was to quickly simplify it, and summarise into a short
paragraph, we are looking for high levels of competency in the fundamentals of
reading, writing and maths - for children to read and understand what they have
read; to develop and accurately write a variety of pieces of writing genre; and
to understand concepts and work with accuracy in maths. Very easy to write, but
stage wise, a bit difficult for our children to put into practice … so we just
continue to work on, and practice the basics to get those cornerstones of
learning right. This enables the children to extend out across the curriculum
to enhance their general knowledge and develop more sophisticated learning
skills that are needed for high school and the big wide world.
While we have a holiday break the children can still maintain
their skills by accessing the web for maths games or Mathletics, or read
(anything at all) for consistent periods of time. It just helps for the
children to keep their skills current. One thing that was noted and well
received by staff at the interviews was how many parents said they still read
to their children. This is powerful - research is quite clear that active
reading lifestyles in the home is one of the most powerful forces to supporting
student achievement for children.
So thank you to the whole team - children, staff and parents
for your support this term and we look forward to another successful term at
Muritai starting on the 2nd of May!
PARENT INTERVIEWS
Thank you so much for attending the interviews on Monday and
Tuesday. Staff thoroughly enjoyed catching up with you and feeding back the
good progress the children are making. We had an 82% attendance rate for the
Monday/Tuesday, which was down on our usual high percentage, however I
acknowledge that some parents have organised other times for interviews or were
unable to make these times and were catching up later. Good teacher / parent
relations are at the heart of enabling good student achievement so we do
encourage you to stay in touch as the year progresses.
It is important to know that you can meet with your child’s
class teacher to discuss progress at any time. Please arrange contact via
email.
BOARD ELECTIONS
As advertised previously, the current Board of Trustees 3-year
term is coming to an end and we will be holding elections early next term. This
is an opportunity for elected parents of the school to ensure that the
direction of the school is best meeting the needs and aspirations of our
children and their families. This very important role is crucial for our school
to maintain its excellent reputation and long history of success. Muritai has
consistently had stable governance over the years from very capable trustees
and this is always recognised by the ERO office. Please give thought if you
think that you have the skills and the time to make a difference for our school,
our children and staff.
The order of upcoming Board election events goes like this –
o Main
roll closes on Wednesday 4 May
o Call
for nomination on Friday 6 May
o Supplementary
roll close Wednesday 18 May
o Nominations
close Friday 20 May
o Voting
papers issued by Wednesday 25 May
o Closing
poll election at NOON on Friday 3 June
o Votes
counted and results declared on Thursday 9 June
SENIOR SCHOOL WORKING BEE
Kate Brownsword has kindly suggested a working bee to have “a
Senior School garden/playground tidy up"! We would love to rally up as
much support as possible to get this happening so if you are keen please meet
on the Senior School playground on Saturday 7th May between 1pm - 4pm.
Please bring your own gardening gear and tools and we will see if we can
put even more 'Mmmmm...' into Muritai!
SENIOR SCHOOL PASSION PROJECT
We were so impressed with our year 7-8 students sharing of
their Personal Passion Projects today. The children have worked in a
self-directed way on something that they love to study while the teachers have
guided them through the planning process to enable them to reach their intended
outcome. The school and many parents visited and saw topics ranging from dress
design and construction, virtual reality, photography, original music,
animation, science exploration, statistics and the start up plan for a novel
(and many more). There were some extremely innovative and ambitious projects
and the kids are to be congratulated for displaying their level of expertise.
The sharing process, where the children shared their process, ideas and
ambition was extremely impressive.
HOT DOGS VOLUNTEERS
We are still looking for volunteers to help with the hot dogs
the Home and School Committee would like to offer for the children on
Wednesdays during Terms 2 and 3. Being on duty is very simple.
There are detailed instructions, and volunteers with less experience are
partnered with someone who has done it before. The time commitment is
minimal from 11:30am to 1:30pm.
If you would be willing to volunteer during Terms 2 and 3,
please see Jo in the school office.
MURITAI SCHOOL BOOK FAIR
Thank you so much for supporting our annual Book Fair
recently. Your support means that we have raised nearly $1000 in books for our
school library collection. Thank you to Sue and her team of parent helpers
Susan Kirkham, Lesley Lowe and Michelle Fisher for making sure the event went
so smoothly.
WORKING BEE COMING UP
In the next month mums and dads will be able to dust off
their tools as we need to do a couple of maintenance jobs to enhance our
school. We have 3 jobs that need doing…
- The playground
is now 10 years old and some parts and componentry need replacing and
reinstalling.
- The decking on
the fort is over 40 years old. It has been patched up over the years but
overall is overdue to replaced.
- We need to
build a more permanent and aesthetically pleasing fence around our
orchard.
We will alert you to the date once we know when the
playground parts are arriving.
ANZAC DAY
This
year Anzac Day falls in the holidays. Our kapa haka roopu will be leading the
welcome to the parade as well as singing the hymn He Honore. Despite the school
holidays we have a team of 31 which is impressive. Please meet at the
senior school at 9am - boys be in PE gear and girls school shirt and Kapa haka
skirt. We will issue jackets on the day (and have spare equipment to ensure we meet
dress code.)
YEAR 7-8 TRIP TO PARLIAMENT
Our
senior students have been very busy and yesterday went into Wellington to visit
Te Papa to see the Gallipoli, Slice of Heaven and Art exhibitions and then onto
Parliament to visit the Beehive. Our local MP Trevor Mallard talked about how
parliament, the government and MPs work. They even sat in on question time in
the debating chamber.
TERM 2 SLIPPERS AND HATS
Next
term we would like the children to bring slippers for inside wear. As the
weather turns shoes (in particular sneakers) get wet when the children go
outside so it is nice to be able to wear something dry and warm when they come
back to class. Children may like to wear caps/beanies outside in the winter to
help keep their heads warm.
CROSS COUNTRY
Our
Y3-8 cross country is on the Tuesday 24th May between 11am and 1pm. Children
may like to take advantage of the holiday break to get ahead on their aerobic
fitness so that on race day they are able to powerfully last the distance.
DIARY DATES (staff may contact you with more details about
these events)
Mon
2 May Term 2 begins
Tues
17 May Y5-6 Zone football
Tues
24 May Y3-8 Cross country race
Mon
6 June Queen’s Birthday - school
closed
Tues
7 June Teacher only day and Central
Zone cross country
Fri
1 July Mid year reports go out
Wed
6 July Celebration of learning 3pm -
6pm
Fri
8 July Last day of term.
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
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
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COMMUNITY NOTICES
Eastbourne Field Hockey Coaching Clinic
Get
ready for the Hockey Season......or give Hockey a go at the Eastbourne Indoor
Sports Centre – Tuatoru Street.
9.00
am – 11.00 am Wednesday 13 April and Wednesday 20 April
Sticks
provided...but bring your own if you have one. Bring Mouth guard (good idea!),
soft shoes and water bottle.
See
you there!!
Derek
Wilshere (Level 2 Hockey Coach)
Jennian Homes Mother’s Day Fun Run/Walk, Sunday 8
May, Wellington Waterfront.
Run, walk or have a leisurely stroll with your Mum, daughter,
sister or a group of girlfriends this Mother’s Day. Nominate your primary
school and they could win a share of $50,000 Rebel Sport vouchers to purchase
sport equipment. Register at http://www.jennianmothersday.com
