Kia Ora, Talofa Lava, Greetings, Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Bonjour, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Hola, Kon'nichiwa, Namaste, G’day mate
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
What a week! If you have been keeping an eye on our school Facebook page, you’ll have seen so many STEM and Science activities happening across the school during our Science focus week. Please do ask your children to tell you all about what they’ve been up to
STEM Survey
'STEM' stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The purpose of this survey is to identify and understand how parents perceive STEM education at Muritai. We invite you to share your thoughts on the current STEM programme and your suggestions for how we can improve. Your answers will help us to develop the focus of our STEM programme at Muritai School. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Please do take part in this super speedy survey by clicking on the link here: https://goo.gl/forms/UzroHGKGHECyOs353
PINK SHIRT DAY - 26th May
Friday the 26th of May is Pink Shirt Day - where New Zealanders wear pink as a stand against bullying. We invite all students - and adults to be dressed in pink next Friday - whether it be a shirt, pants or accessory - the key is the message. Associate Principal Deane McKay and myself will be travelling around the classes next week spreading our kindness and bullying-free messages.
WHAT NOW?!
Breaking news - pop the 22nd June in your calendars as we are hosting VERY special guests at Muritai. Yes, you may have already heard the rumours, we have been selected as one of 20 schools across New Zealand to be featured on What Now!
What does this involve? A presenter and cameraperson will spend the day with us capturing our school and all of the things that make us so special - do you have a suggestion for what we could share? Please do email me any special ideas.
We are writing the script over the next week and will plan in advance what will be filmed. The final product will be under 10 minutes long, so we will have short bursts of our many excellent taonga or treasures here in Eastbourne.
The afternoon will involve a challenge or wero that will find some of our staff competing against the students in a classic What Now? gauntlet race. We know you’ll be right behind us teachers, so please do come down and cheer us on against these Muritai kids! My priority will be getting behind (- not in front of) the spray foam canon!
National Young Leaders Day - NYLD 2017
This week I consider myself very lucky to have been able to accompany the Year 7/8 students to the Young Leaders Day held at Te Rauparaha Arena. It is the first time I have ever attended a YLD, and I was very impressed - both with the way our senior learners represented Muritai and the content and running of the day. The format of the day is like a conference for young adults with inspiring speakers, reflection time, questions answered, a DJ playing music during the breaks (where ‘oldies’ were not welcome!) and lots of other fun. Speakers such as Shortland Street stars, Masterchef winners, athletes and other current NZ’s were top notch. A surprise appearance by the NZ band Nomad was a highlight for us all! If your children are approaching these year levels, I would encourage you to sign your child up for this incredible opportunity in 2018 and beyond.
Still Collecting Ideas for our Syndicate Names
We currently call our syndicate or whanau teams the Junior, Middle, Senior Middle and Senior syndicates. We would like to explore some unique new names to ‘brand’ these teams of people, and their classroom areas in our school.
We hope these names would be in keeping with our school geographical position e.g. surrounded by bush and sea which is represented in our logo illustration and also may link to our vision statement (as below). It would be nice to be able to see the growth in name representation from our smallest 5 year old learners, right up to our senior learners in Year 7 and 8.
Other schools who have special names for their syndicates have also chosen to link to the whenua (land) by creating names such as
e.g. birds - tui, piwakawaka, pukeko, kahu etc.
Different types of waterways, different parts of a tree, different geographical features...the list is endless, and so is the creativity. If you and your family have a great idea, please do email it through to me at Principal@Muritai.school.nz
Teacher Only Day Reminder:
Please note we are holding a teacher only day the day following Queens Birthday Weekend on Tuesday the 6th of June. Staff will be working on moderation of student performance as they prepare to begin writing the mid-year student reports.
Kind regards
Ngā Mihi
Bec Power
Principal
FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
A huge thanks for your donations - we have so far received 50 percent of the budgeted target for 2017, which will help fund our investment in staff. Please keep them coming, whether by cash, eftpos, direct debit or instalments, as we rely heavily on your support to maintain class sizes at current levels.
Financially and achievement-wise we are tracking well with particular excellence in reading this year so far among our year 3s.
While all schools must track student achievement against national standards in maths and literacy, our focus at Muritai continues to be on growing great citizens with a broad and holistic education for all learners. Much of our current focus is around student wellbeing, great science and future-focused learning as well as the diverse aims of our Towards 2020 strategy.
With digital technology becoming part of the New Zealand curriculum next year, we are exploring our approach to future-focused learning, to ensure we equip our children for a fast-changing future, with many vastly different skills to those required in the industrial era when mainstream schools were created.
Under the leadership of senior teacher Jamie Power, this is already underway at Muritai, and we expect this will become a conversation for our wider community. This clip on future-focused education by New Zealander Mark Osborne is highly recommended:
Finally, the school board would like to congratulate Bec, who is one of only three principals in New Zealand selected to attend the Apple Distinguished Educator Academy in Melbourne in July – this is an incredible opportunity for both Bec and Muritai, funded by Apple and Bec, and we wish her well.
Attachments area
FROM THE SCHOOL
ANZAC Essay Winner
New Zealand’s Involvement in Passchendaele
By Jessica Park, Room 13, Muritai School, Year 6, Age 10
All I could think about was how horrifying this place was. A shattered landscape full of mud, barbed-wire, shell holes and human bodies blasted to pieces with bullets. Just in front of us was the charred remains of what had once been the village of Passchendaele. Almost nothing was left of it. The air reeked of blood and death, and you could hear the tortured screams of others in the first wave being shot down. Shells exploded overhead as we charged towards the German trenches. Mind-numbing panic and terror filled me as the machine guns started firing. It was a waking nightmare……..
That was what it was like for so many New Zealanders when they went to fight at Passchendaele during WW1. The battle is remembered now mainly for the awful amount of New Zealand deaths, but also for the mud. Thick, bloody mud up to the men’s waists. There were so many dead that there were piles of corpses just left lying on the battlefield during the fight, splattered with still more mud.
Passchendaele happened in the year 1917. It was supposed to be a great year for the Allies, with the Germans seeming to crumble from other attacks. Unfortunately, it was not going to be like that at all. Passchendaele began on the 31 July 1917 and went until 10 November in the same year. October the 12th though was the worst day for New Zealanders. On that day, our soldiers were sent to capture Bellevue Spur, near Passchendaele. It was a horrific battle. 846 New Zealand soldiers lost their lives to gain 400 metres of ground. Killed for 400 metres. Over 100 days, however, half a million people (though not all of them from New Zealand) were destroyed for 8 km of land. Slaughtered, for so little.
In WW1 almost all trenches were terrible places, especially the ones at Gallipoli. But the trenches at Passchendaele were, because of all the mud, absolutely vile. The smell was disgusting, as there were open toilets everywhere. No proper beds were available, so the soldiers just lay down in the muck at night. Rats and lice were everywhere; some were said to be as big as cats. Rotten bodies were scattered throughout the trenches. Soldiers were constantly wet and cold, living in awful conditions. For our soldiers, torn from their homes, trench life was miserable.
Passchendaele, so many New Zealanders sailed away to it and never returned home. Sir Douglas Haig’s (Commander of the Allied forces at Passchendaele) aim was to break through German Defences, control Passchendaele Ridge, and from there capture German-controlled ports to destroy their deadly submarines. In the end he did capture Passchendaele. But later on the Allies gave up that ground. All those people died. And it was all pointless.
I’m old now, at least that’s what my mirror tells me whenever I look into it. The war was many long years ago. Sometimes I almost forget atrocities committed – almost. I still see my best friend being torn apart by bullets whenever I close my eyes. I still have trouble falling to sleep at night.
One question still haunts me. One I would ask of the people who started the war “Why? Why did you do that?”
Now more than ever we must remember Passchendaele and honour our soldiers. We must remember so that we never have another Passchendaele again.
SENIOR SCHOOL
The Senior School have had a very busy week this week with a trip to the Documentaries 4 Schools at Roxy Cinemas in Miramar on Tuesday and National Young Leaders' Day at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua on Wednesday!
On Tuesday we watched the documentary 'Bugs' considering insects as a food source and visited Te Papa to look at how various animals are adapted to their environment.
Wednesday's line up was fantastic with a range of inspiring speakers including our favourites Daniel Flynn & Trina Tamati!
SCIENCE WEEK
The whole school has been undertaking experiments as part of Science Week. Here are some of the exciting things they have been looking at:
Harriet Wilson and Elijah Turner experiment with thrust and friction with balloons.
Room 13 experiment with "Rockets" made from a vinegar, baking soda and other pantry powders.
SPORT
Football
The Y4-6 South East Zone Tournament was held this Tuesday 16 May. Muritai entered three teams (two competitive and one development team). The "social" teams, which included our Year 4 Muritai FC team, played 5 games each and the "competitive", which featured the Muritai Hotspurs (Year 6s) and Muritai United (Year 5s), teams played 4 games.
The competitive grade finished with a final between Wellesley Blue vs Muritai Hotspurs which went into overtime and down to "Golden Point" scored by Muritai Hotspurs
A great day had by all!
DENTAL VAN
The Dental van will be visiting Muritai School, arriving to start work on Monday 29 May through to Tuesday 27 June. During this time all children at the school will be assessed by the dental therapists and information sent home where necessary.
TERM 2 2017 DATES
15-19 May Science Week
23 May Y3-8 School Cross Country
24 May Year 1 trip to the Planetarium
26 May Year 2 trip to the Planetarium
26 May Year 7/8 immunisations
26 May PINK Shirt/accessory day
29 May Dental Van van arrives at Muritai
30 May South East Zone Cross Country Champs
5 June QUEENS BIRTHDAY - NO SCHOOL
6 June TEACHER ONLY DAY - NO SCHOOL
9 June Assembly at 1.45pm
15 June BOT Meeting at 7.30pm
20 June InterZone Cross Country
22 June WHAT NOW?
23 June Assembly at 1.45pm
4 July Regional Cross Country
7 July Assembly at 1.45pm
7 July LAST DAY OF TERM 2
24 July FIRST DAY OF TERM 3
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
NZ Sport Stacking Open Championships Registrations - Wellington
A reminder for all stackers: the 2017 NZ Sport Stacking Open Championships are being held on Sunday 04 June (Queen’s Birthday Weekend), in Wellington. Register this week before the Late Registration fee kicks in.
The NZ Sport Stacking Open Championships double as trials for the NZ Black Stacks. Any stacker wishing to be considered for selection for the 2018 NZ Black Stacks team, representing New Zealand overseas, will need to attend this tournament.
All details including registration links are on our website Tournaments page (Wellington). Registrations close on Friday 26 May.
Blended Family Success
Discover how to help children adjust to step family life and create a united, supportive home atmosphere. Overcome common challenges and learn practical strategies that really work from New Zealand’s leading stepfamily presenter. Live happily ever after in your stepfamily! Only ONE Wellington workshop this year. Numbers limited. You must register to secure your place.
When: Saturday 24th June, 9am – 4pm
For more information go to: www.blendedfamilysuccess.nz/events email: adele@stepfamilyhelp.info Or phone/txt: 021 404 742
YOUNG WRITERS WANTED
We are looking for young people (11-15 years) passionate about writing to join a writers group running at hARTspace on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8pm.
The group will be:
- Developing and nurturing writing talent and ability
- Providing opportunities to present and exhibit work
- Introducing its members to the world of writing and writers with modules taken by a variety of authors from different genres
We only have two spaces left in the group so if you are keen to be involved or would like more information, please contact Jo at jofrancesmoore@gmail.com or Clare Leniston on 021 057 4487 or clareleniston@gmail.com
Our starting date is Wednesday 17 May for a 6 week module on plot development and creative writing.
