Tena Koutou katoa
Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
A warm welcome to Hannah Park who has joined her siblings at school.
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
The last Friday of Term 3 was a very special day for Andrew Bird as it was his last day at Muritai School. He spoke to all the students before he left. He gave them some advice while referring to one of Mother Teresa’s famous quotes about doing it anyway. Following this, a small group of staff, student leaders, Kapahaka group members and Board of Trustee members travelled to Kelburn Normal School for his poroporoaki. It was a very moving and respectful ceremony and our Kapahaka students performed strongly and with pride. On behalf of everyone I want to sincerely thank Andrew for all the work he has done over the past fifteen years to ensure that Muritai continues to be a leading school, always striving for excellence. Next term Mr Bird will be back for a farewell in which the students and their families, both past and current, along with members of our community and staff will be invited.
Thank you to the parents and caregivers of the Junior School who attended parent/teacher conferences this week. I hope you have a clear picture of how your child is achieving or progressing and that you know what skills they are learning currently and where their next steps are. I also hope you have some ideas of how to support them at home.
Our Year 7 and 8 students have been learning about the rules of debating over the term which culminated in the debating team finals on Tuesday. Warmest congratulations to all our Year 7 and 8 debaters. Debating is not easy, especially the rebuttals and the teams in the finals were of such high calibre that the job of the judges was extremely difficult.
Congratulations to Mia Lowe for the best overall speaker.
We welcomed two speakers to school this week. On Monday, the last session about Financial Literacy from Vane was held for our Year 5 and 6 students. He spoke about the differences between ‘I want’ and ‘I need’ as well as learning how to save. Families could have a discussion together about this.
On Wednesday David Excell, our local dentist, came and spoke to the students from Years 3 to 8 about dental care and ways to reduce the amount of sugar we have in our diets. Please ask your child what they learnt. Special thanks to them both for giving up their time to work with our students.
Over the past term the Junior School have been learning to skip with a rope and on Tuesday morning they had the Jump Rope for Heart ‘Jump Off.’ Money raised from this will go to the New Zealand Heart Foundation for research purposes.
Thank you so much to our parents and caregivers as you are the most important influence out-of-school on your child’s educational success. I appreciate the support you give the teaching and support staff as we all work together in a partnership to focus on your child’s learning and development.
Congratulations to Greta Woolloff on her outstanding achievement in the Inter-Regional Cross Country Championships being placed 10th in the Year 6 race and her team gaining third place overall. Amazing effort Greta!
Well done also to our teams taking part in the Central Zone hockey and the matches involving Wellesley this week.
Ms Nicolette Fisher has been teaching around our school this year and next term she will be teaching our newest New Entrant class in room 17. She has lots of experience in teaching children in their early years so we are delighted that she will be starting our newest students on their school journey.
Mrs Lisa Allen is currently in Paihia attending the New Zealand Literacy Conference and Mrs Barbara Ryan will be attending a Science course in Wellington later in the holidays so we look forward to finding out about the latest trends and how we can apply them at Muritai.
In an effort to keep our students safer in the world of social media there will be a meeting for all parents and caregivers about setting restrictions on devices. Please email Annette on borgonje@muritai.school.nz if you are attending this evening on Tuesday October 18th from 7p.m. to 8 p.m. in our school library.
Thank you so much to our parents and caregivers as you are the most important influence out-of-school on your child’s educational success. I appreciate the support you give the teaching and support staff as we all work together in a partnership to focus on your child’s learning and development.
Holidays are here and this is the opportunity for your child to have a well deserved rest, recuperate and prepare for the busy next term.
As I look back on what the students have achieved in the past nine weeks it is truly remarkable. There have been incredible achievements in learning in the different curriculum areas, outstanding performances in our school production as well as Artsplash and Dancesplash along with great efforts on the sports fields. Next term there are lots of fantastic learning experiences planned so I look forward to seeing everyone back refreshed ready for the new term on Monday October 10th.
Nga mihi nui
Maureen Buckley
FROM THE SCHOOL
SPORTS
Basketball
We have had several basketball teams playing in the Hutt Valley Primary School League this year including our new Y3 & 4 Muritai Lightning Bolts team. The mix of talented rugby and football players successfully turned their hand to basketball and did the school proud with their attitude and how they improved over the seven weeks. They came 4th place in the competition and aim to better that result in the Term 4 competition. Our Year 1 & 2 team finished 2nd in their grade and the year 5 & 6 boys lost by one basket in their finals for 1st/2nd yesterday in a hard tussle in extra time. They played fairly and showed good sportsmanship. A fabulous team to coach and have really improved over the season. A huge thanks to our coaches Mikaela Cody and Trish Theobald Year 1 & 2 team, Rodger Thompson Year 3 & 4 and Meg Moffa Year 5 & 6. Also a big thank you to the parents who were so supportive.
Inter-Regional Cross Country Rep
Greta Woolloff competed in the Inter-regional Cross Country Championships in Waikanae yesterday. The Inter-regional cross country championships involve competitors from the lower North Island and South Island… the ‘best of the best’.
Greta did an amazing job placing 10th in the Year 6 Girls race. The Year 6 Girls B team placed 3rd overall, of which Greta was a member. Greta was the only student from Muritai School in the Wellington team for this years’ Inter-regional champs … well done Greta!
Hockey
We had a brilliant day on Tuesday 20th September at the Year 5/6 zone hockey tournament. It was held at Fraser Park aka freezer park!! Surprisingly the weather wasn't bad and the kids had a ball. We had 8 girls and 8 boys, who were all full of energy, representing Muritai. I was so impressed with their excellent sportsmanship and ability to pull together as a team, having had only one small practise and only a few who had actually played hockey before.
The girls (Muritai Firebirds) managed to win most of their games and come 2nd over all. They all supported each other and it was great to see them improve each game they played. The boys (Muritai Titans) played with such enthusiasm and worked so well together as a team. Their last game was a highlight with the boys climbing back from being 2-0 down against Waterloo School to scoring 2 goals towards the end to make it a draw.
We were fortunate to have such a lovely group of parents who came along to support and help supervise the children. Everyone had a very enjoyable morning and I'm hoping we now have some new hockey enthusiasts to make up a Muritai/Eastbourne team for next winter!!!
Sports Exchange with Wellesley
We were finally able to hold the Year 6 soccer and Year 5/6 rugby matches against Wellesley yesterday. After a couple of postponements earlier in the term we were able to hold both games at Bishop Park in Eastbourne. It was a bit of a novelty, first watching the soccer game on the soccer pitch and then seeing the field ‘transformed’ into a rugby field.
The Year 6 soccer team lost a closely fought match, 2-4. The Year 5/6 rugby team, however, had an emphatic win, 40-12. Well done boys? You all did us proud!!
Many thanks to Brett Fastier and Aaron Theobald who coached the teams and organised the exchange.
SENIOR SCHOOL DEBATING
A huge congratulations to all our debate finalists who did an amazing job preparing for today's finals, despite such a busy few weeks and it being the last week of term!
We also need to thank our wonderful panel of judges who worked at breakneck speed to give feedback and make fast decisions while our speakers strutted their stuff!
And the winners are....
Year 7 team: Lily Sambrooke, Angus Flynn, Cella Connell, Miles Futter, Halina Smith
Year 8 team: Mia Lowe, Yasmin Kerr, Charlotte Mc Farlane, Lea Pummer, Ethan Hester
Year 7 debater: Cella Connell
Year 8 debater: Mia Lowe
Yr 7/8 overall debate winner and receiver of our Speech Cup : Mia Lowe
Well done everyone!
HOT DOGS
Hot dog sales are finished for the winter and once again we wish to thank our Home and School committee for organising this fundraiser. A special thanks to all our volunteers who have made hot dogs for the children on Wednesdays and to Susanna Anderson who has spent a lot of time organising everyone and buying in the food.
DIARY DATES TERM 4 2016
10 Oct First day of Term 4
17 Oct to
21 Oct HVHS Enrolment interviews
18 Oct “Setting up Restrictions on Devices”. 7pm in the Library
19 Oct Y7/8 HRSA sports meeting
21 Oct New Entrants and Year 8 Funny Photos
24 Oct Labour Day Holiday
25 Oct Teacher Only Day
26 Oct Y7/8 HRSA Touch Rugby
27 Oct PP Date Y1-4 TBall
27 Oct BOT Meeting
1 Nov Y3-8 School Athletics
15 Nov Juniors going to Government House
16 Nov Juniors going to Government House
22 Nov Y4-6 IZ Athletics
25 Nov Y8 Girls Gardasil Immunisation
29 Nov Y4-8 Regional Athletics
1 Dec PP Date for Y4-8 Regional Athletics
5 Dec to
9 Dec Y3-4 EOTC Week; Y7 EOTC Week, Junior EOTC Week
5 Dec to
10 Dec Y8 Abel Tasman Camp
7/9 Dec Y5/6 EOTC Week
9 Dec Y3/4 Beach Day at Days Bay
12/13 Dec Y5/6 EOTC Week
16 Dec Leavers Assembly, Early Finish as LAST DAY OF TERM
TERM DATES FOR 2016
Term 3 = Monday 25 July - Friday 23 September
Term 4 = Monday 10 October - Friday 16 December
We have a teacher only day at Labour weekend.
Teacher only day two = Tuesday 25 October
TERM DATES FOR 2017
Term 1 = Thursday 2 February - Thursday 13 April (Easter)
Term 2 = Monday 1 May - Friday 7 July
Term 3 = Monday 24 July - Friday 29 September
Term 4 = Monday 16 October - Tuesday 19 December
We have a teacher only day at Queen’s Birthday on Tuesday 6 June
COMMUNITY NOTICES
LOST - ONE PUFFER JACKET
Noah Kirkham lost his black MacPac puffer jacket, size 10. Could you please check your children's jacket label in case it's Noah's?
Kula Kids' Yoga in Eastbourne is
ENROLLING FOR SPRING TERM NOW!
Wednesdays or Thursdays
12 October - 8 December
Ages 5-9, 3-4 pm (I can pick up from Muritai School!)
Ages 10-13, 4:15-5:15 pm
9 weeks $110
FAMILY CLASS for kids and their grown-ups
Saturday 5 November, 2-3 pm
Sunday 27 November, 11-12 am
$15/per person or $50 for a 'family' of 4
Email kulakidsyoga@yahoo.com with inquiries or to enroll
and Like us on Facebook!
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