Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
Tena koutou katoa
Welcome to Benji Farndale and Sophie Males who have started at Muritai this week in room 3.
From the Principal -
It has been a bit wetter than normal this week. The children have spent playtime inside for a part of the week but we would all agree that the freedom to run around is something we take for granted when we have to be cooped up inside.
A quick reminder about Queen’s Birthday next weekend. We have teacher only day the following Tuesday the 8th. Staff will be working together on moderation of student performance as they prepare to begin writing the mid-year student reports. The zone cross-country for year 4-8 will be this day and Mr McKay will be on hand to lead our team into battle against the other schools.
This week there was an interesting documentary on television presenting investigative journalist Bryan Bruce’s review and thoughts on the NZ Education system. As with everything education something like this becomes a political football and the documentary has been applauded by the left and scorned by the right. Given it is 28 years since the Picot report instilled the responsibility of governing schools to the local community it is a useful watch to see how our unique culture has coped with the evolution of reforms of the last 20 odd years. If you missed out, it is on TV3 on demand and on our Facebook page.
This leads into our Board of Trustees election of which we have 7 parents nominated for the election and you will have the voting papers and the ‘blurb’ from each candidate. We are so lucky here in Eastbourne with the quality and skills of our people and this cycle is no exception. Thank you so much to our candidates for putting their names forward. Please take the time to vote for the candidates that you think should govern the school for the next 3 years.
The prospective Board members are - Nigel Cass, Paul Littlefair, Mary Longmore, Louise Marsden, Caroline Rennie, Andrew Saunderson, Miki Szikszai.
Budget Day is always keenly observed by principals and Boards. For Muritai School this year there is nothing additional coming our way, in fact Muritai will actually receive slightly less money in the next financial year as our operational grant has been frozen - normally we receive a 1-2% increase to adjust for inflation. Most of the ‘new money’ is heading towards the Early Childhood sector and for the property portfolio to build 480 new classrooms, 9 new schools, two school expansions and a new Kura. It is unlikely that Muritai will be eligible for any of the top up funding for Special Needs learning. Given that we always want more we do need to recognise that there are areas in NZ with bigger needs than us and so we just press on with what we have and continue to keep the children at the heart of the matter.
The Eastbourne Village Carnival team met this week. It was lovely to see the group again after 18 months or so - some experienced faces and some new faces and a few apologies. The team have tentatively booked Sunday November 13 as the date, subject to approval. Jo Dix will be leading the team this year and the team will be recruiting over the next couple of months as we put together the roster for the day. The Carnival is very important to our school - it is a popular day on the Wellington summer timetable, promotes our school and raises significant funds for resources for our children. We consistently raise around $50,000 from the day which goes a very long way!
From the School -
CROSS COUNTRY
Unfortunately we had to postpone the cross country this week due to the wet weather. We are all good to go with our annual cross country next Monday at the Eastbourne Rec.
The Juniors are looking to leave school to head to the Rec at 9am (approx.) and the other times are -
Year 7-8 - 11.00 approx
Year 3-4 - 11.40 approx
Year 5-6 - 12.10 approx
If it is wet on Monday then we will run the event when we can across the week. We will notify you when we are doing so (as parents like to be able to see their child compete) but it will be each team dependent on their availability. We now need to get the race complete to select the Y4-8 team to compete at the zones.
Details are on our Sports Blog - http://muritaisports.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/school-cross-country-event-2016.html
FACEBOOK
We are increasing our Facebook postings to share our learning with the community, as well as posting notifications and communications to keep people up to date of the things we do. Please like the page if you want to receive this stream of highlights. Please encourage the wider family to ‘Like’ Muritai to further widen our global reach. We have 394 likes and it would be good to be up to 400 by Queen’s Birthday so spread the word to help spread our stories.
NETBALL
Good start to the netball season -
Results from this week…
Muritai Magic win 13-11 v Waterloo
Muritai Bullets loss 5-15 v Belmont
Muritai 3 draw 2-2 v Eastern Hutt
Muritai Minions win 11-0 v Gracefield
POLYFEST
A reminder about the Polyfest performance date which is now on Thursday 30th June performing at Walter Nash Stadium.
We will advise when tickets are available and the cost involved. There will be limited supply.
JUNIOR SCHOOL PARENT CURRICULUM MEETINGS
Maureen Buckley and the junior team ran a successful curriculum meeting on Reading this week. This upcoming week the team are presenting on writing. These workshops will give you some ideas on how you can support your child's learning at home and also explain the stages of development in learning to read, write and do mathematics as they go through their first two years at school. They are a repeat of the workshops undertaken last year.
The evenings are in room 3 and the following day the meetings will be repeated in the library at 1.30 p.m. Both sessions will be for approximately an hour. The sessions are -
WRITING - Wednesday June 1st 7 p.m. or Thursday June 2nd 1.30 p.m.
MATHEMATICS - Wednesday June 8th 7 p.m. or Thursday June 9th 1.30 p.m.
HUTT STEMM Festival returns for 2016!
Returning after its debut last year, Hutt STEMM Festival is back and bigger than before. STEMM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Manufacturing and the festival celebrates all of the great work happening in these fields, right here in Lower Hutt.
The festival runs from 4-12 June, and there are heaps of free events including many for families, kids and students. You can see the full listing at huttstemm.nz or the programme we are giving out to take home, but a few highlights include Lego Legends at Eastbourne Library, Pop Up Science and Hutt Science Discovery Day at the Dowse, and The Mind Lab by Unitec in Petone. Each of these are fun and hands-on, mixing creativity and science.
ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
Could you please return your Entertainment Book or payment to the office as soon as possible. There are still 68 books outstanding and we need either payment or the book back. We are offering the book or the digital copy. For further information please contact michelle.fisher@xtra.co.nz or call her on 04 562 8877.
HOT DOGS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We are still looking for helpers to make hog dogs on Wednesdays during Term 2 and 3. It is very simple with detailed instructions. If you would be willing to volunteer helping out at school between 11.30 and 1.30 on Wednesdays, please see Carole or Jo in the school office.
DIARY DATES (staff may contact you with more details about these events)
Tues 31 May ICAS Science Exam
Friday 3 June Board election votes close
Mon 6 June Queen’s Birthday - school closed
Tues 7 June Teacher only day and Central Zone cross country
Wed 8 June Y5-6 Speech finals
Fri 10 June School assembly
Mon 13 June ICAS Writing Exam
Wed 15 June ICAS Spelling Exam
Thurs 16 June Board of trustees meeting
Thurs 30 June PolyFest
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
COMMUNITY NOTICES
OLD TIMERS' & FAMILY FUN DAY SATURDAY 28 MAY | HW SHORTT PARK
Mini Touch Tournament
Kids & Adults | Mixed age teams | 10min games | KO 12pm | Prizes
To enter please email junioreastbournerugby@gmail.com with names and ages of players
Final played during senior match half-time
Junior Matches | From 8:30am
Senior Match u85kg | Eastbourne vs Old Boys University
Supervised games | Community Centre
BBQ | Food & Drink | Throughout the day
Music & Entertainment
All past, present and future players, supporters and families welcome
Clubrooms open from 12pm
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