The Muritai School Newsletter: September 2018

Kia Ora, Talofa Lava, Greetings, Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Bonjour, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Hola, Kon'nichiwa, Namaste, G’day mate

A warm welcome to Grace Davis, Aurelia Neal, Hudson Bodden and Tessa Hayward to Room 4 recently.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Kia ora koutou, welcome to our final newsletter this term which is completely chock-a-block full of celebrations and news from the past few weeks.

Te ora i Te Huringa - Living the Change - 2018 Muritai Production

Last night we celebrated our fourth and final show of our 2018 production season. We have enjoyed a total sell out for every show, and have had excellent reviews from those that were lucky enough to come along.

For the production to be such a success, it takes an enormous team working behind the scenes to create something so special. We had over 420 children on the stage during each show, and other children working behind the scenes creating props, artwork, helping backstage, working the lighting etc, etc. We congratulate all students, as this was a long week of performances and they conducted themselves so very well. You should all feel very proud of our Muritai kids!

A HUGE thank you must go to our teachers - they not only created some masterful items, they transformed children into sharks, birds, rats, farmers, energy, hippies, Men in Black, rubbish collectors, 80’s teenagers and many, many more characters through song and dance. Congratulations and thank you for all of your energy and effort to make the production so slick and enjoyable to watch.

These teachers were ably led by our Producer Deane McKay and our Creative Director Anton Norman. Together Deane and Anton created the production vision and oversaw the whole show including the technical aspects right through to the auditioning and script writing. Congratulations and thank you to you both. We are so proud of how you led Muritai School to create!

Thank you also to the following people who also donated time and resources to make the production such a fantastic one:

Muritai School teachers
Stage Manager - Sally Velvin
Green room - Gabrielle Heath
Art Ambassadors - Poster and ticket design
Kate Salisbury (Christine Webb & Art ambassadors) - Foreground art
Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe (& Kevin McRobbie) - Stage curtains
Jason Gibb - Building the foreground
Placemakers - MDF for foreground artwork
Mel Halford - Foyer ‘living wall’
Talita Archibald - Borrowed costumes
Home and School - Providing food (Pizza & Hot Dogs) - and a special mention to Belinda Tito and team for the students nightly Pizzas, and to Virginia Saunderson and team for cooking the Hotdogs for the audience.
Jo and Carole - Staff dinners
Phil Diamond - Poster in foyer - Printlink
Families who lent pot plants for the foyer
Mike Anderson (Four Square) - Trolley
Metro Staging - Stage
Mark Jones - Starlight lighting
Just Plants - Punga in the foyer
Gail Abel - MIRO's Nursery - Pot plants for the foyer
Ricardo - Photography & Video
Emily Keddell - assistance with auditioning the actors

Outstanding Achievement

A warm congratulations to Sage Pettus for her recent examination success in piano. Sage passed her Grade 5 Practical ABRSM piano exam last month, with an exceptionally high Distinction, gaining 140 marks out of a possible 150. Congratulations Sage, we look forward to your next assembly performance.

Litter By Little

You may have seen some of our students starring in a promotion recently for ‘Litter by Little’ in the Dominon post and on Stuff. Follow the link below to see our students in action! Congratulations to Luka and James who represented us so well in the movie and during filming.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/107236387/litter-by-little-muritai-school-shows-how-easy-it-is-to-pick-up-a-piece-of-litter-a-day

Muritai School pupils, James Allcock and Luca Marshall, 9 collecting litter from Eastbourne Beach.

Mrs Ryan - Retiring from Muritai

Barbara Ryan has been a teacher at Muritai School for the past 26 years. She will be moving to Tauranga early next term to retire in the sun in her newly built house! Barbara has been a wonderful teacher at Muritai School for the past 26 years and will be sorely missed by us all. We will be having a farewell assembly for Barbara at school on Friday October 26th which I do hope you will be able to attend.

“After a 26 year association with Muritai School it is time for me to undertake a new journey.

I will be moving with my husband Mark to Omokoroa, near Tauranga, to retire closer to extended family. We are building a beautiful new home which is now close to completion earlier than expected, so we need to move before the end of the school year. I will miss all of the wonderful children here at Muritai but look forward to what this new adventure will have in store.

The children at Muritai have all touched my heart greatly and I regret that I must move on. I have loved working with each one of them over the years as I strive to give each child the best start possible. I believe that every child needs a positive word of acknowledgement each day and have always done my best to achieve this.

I am appreciative of all the opportunities that Muritai School has given me to further my passion for science teaching and learning, including granting me leave in 2010 to undertake a 6 month Science Teaching Fellowship with the Royal Society of New Zealand.

I also thank you as parents and caregivers for the time, effort and support you have given me so freely over my time at Muritai” From Barbara Ryan.

Building Projects

Tracy Smith Construction will be setting up fencing around the dental clinic during the school holidays, starting work on the old dental clinic and then moving onto the staffroom once this is completed. There will be minimal disruption as all construction workers will access the buildings from the front of the school. Please take extra care around the construction site entrance.

Teacher only Day - Term 4 2018

In Term 4 we have our final Teacher only day of 2018. This will be Friday the 23rd November, and school will be closed. Our final Teacher Only Day this year will be used by teachers for professional development together as a whole staff, and also a portion of the day as administration and report writing preparation time for teaching staff.

TERM DATES FOR 2019

Please note our term dates for next year - 2019

Term dates for 2019 have been confirmed by our Board of Trustees as follows:-

Term 1 Monday 4 February to Friday 12 April

Teacher only day on Friday 15 February

Term 2 Monday 29 April to Friday 5 July

Term 3 Monday 22 July to Friday 27 September

Term 4 Monday 14 October to Thursday 19 December

Have a wonderful holiday break all, we look forward to seeing you back on Monday the 15th October.

Bec Power

Principal

FROM THE SCHOOL

SCIENCE FAIR

In Week 10 of Term 2, Maisie Stock, Sage Pettus, Solomon Tito, George Walker, and Theo Thompson all placed in the school science fair. About 8 weeks later, the group of five travelled to the Ryman Health Centre, or the old Karori Teachers College site, to set up their boards, then the next day, to be judged.

Though all of the contestants from Muritai did very well two of us won some prizes. George Walker came first in Year 8, and second overall, out of Year 7s to Year 13s. Sage Pettus got Highly Commended in Year 7 and a special prize from the Callaghan School of Mathematics. Maisie Stock, Solomon Tito and Theo Thompson also participated in this event but did not get any prizes.

This whole Science Fair has been really fun and a great experience. We have had a great time, and we have all learnt a lot, whether we placed or not.

Written by Sage and Maisie.

ARTSPLASH

Our Artsplash Choir children sang their wee hearts out at The Michael Fowler Centre last week - they were just amazing! This year Muritai had 45 children singing from Years 3-6. Artsplash had a new conductor this year - Katie McFarlane from St Pats and she did a splendid job.

The opening bracket consisted of 4 songs from the musical Turangawaewae which was written by Laughton and Jenny Patrick back in 1990 and it was wonderful to have them in the audience and have it dedicated to them.

We also had stunning Artwork from the children in Morag Roberts and Jamie Power’s rooms and this was exhibited in the Renouf Foyer.

Thank you to Ruth Hooke who single handedly (literally) led the Artsplash Choir and prepared them for this superb event. Congratulations to the students and to Ruth for another wonderful Muritai performance!

SAFE PARKING AROUND THE SCHOOL

Can you please take extra care when parking on the corner of Makaro and Oroua Street. This is a very busy intersection and parents have had to help children across the road due to unsafe parking. Please park well away from the corner so that children are able to see along all four sections of the intersection.

If you cannot find a safe park, please circle the school until a space becomes available. Your children will be safe inside the school until you can arrive to pick them up. Thank you for helping us to make Muritai and the surrounding roads safe for all our children.

SPORT

Basketball Term 3

WOW, what another great basketball season we have had! Muritai had 8 teams in this terms competition! The Final placings in their respective grades are as follows:

Year 8 Boys Knicks - 6th

Year 1/2 Heat - 5th

Year 3 Hawks - 5th

Year 5/6 mixed Celtics - 7th

Year 1/2 Lakers - 4th

Year 7 boys 76ers - 3rd

Year 4 Mixed Bulls - 4th

Year 4 Boys Magic - 2nd

Year 5 Boys Pistons - 2nd

Year 6 Boys Thunder - 1st!

Thanks so much to all the coaches and managers for all your hard work. Also a huge thanks to Rodger Thompson who has led the Hoop Club for the last two terms.

Three of the Muritai School boys have been selected and are competing in Hutt Valley u13 Basketball teams.

Harrison Allen (Hutt Valley u13 Yellow team) and Bruno Thompson and Lorenzo Caratori-Tontini (Hutt Valley u13 White development team).

Both teams are currently training twice weekly and competing at lower North Island tournaments in preparation for the 10-13 October u13 Central Regional Basketball Championships being held at Walter Nash Stadium, Taita.

Eastbourne Sea Eagles - Taupo Tournament

The Eastbourne u9 Sea Eagles rugby team went to Taupo to play in the New Zealand Rugby Festival. There were 90 teams aged from under 9 to under 13 at the Festival.

The team members were Tom Neilson, Raff Theobald, Izzy Lewis, Hettie Allen, Thomas Keenan, Sebastian Thompson, George Saunderson, Ben Park, Finlaeic Forde, Ollie Evans, Noah Carian, Christian Catchpole, Luke Sherwin, Connor Johnstone, and Gil Hoskin.

We played 5 games, we won 3 and lost 2 .We played against teams from Papatoetoe, Rotorua, Te Awamutu, Auckland and Havelock North. We learnt lots and had to play better than we’d ever played before, as the other teams were really strong.

We also went to de Bretts for a swim and jumped in the lake to celebrate. It was cold! Thank you to Aaron Theobald and Christian Lewis for coaching us, and to everyone for supporting our fundraising.

By Tom and Raff

Athletics Day

All children will be taking part in the school athletics day on Thursday 25 October and have started practicing already with running and throwing events. This will increase in Term 4 and we would ask that you please ensure they are dressed appropriately for athletics on a daily basis. Postponement date is Monday 29 October with Zone Athletics on Monday 5 November.

Swimming

Congratulations to the students who made it through to the Interzone SE swimming team. Competition was strong from across the Hutt Valley and our students presented themselves as capable and confident in their heats.

The swimming team consisted of …..

Alex Irvine, Willa Velvin, Max Bentley, Marina Nadilo, Theo Potter, Abby Miller, Noah Turner, Elizabeth Longhurst, Aubrey Chunga, Flynn Mitchell, Joseph Keenan, Scarlett Tito, Joseph Keenan, Satchel Wilson, Elizabeth Keddell, Thomas Keenan, Estelle Jensen- Marshall, Ori Hoskin, Briar De Punt,Tom Delaney

Special congratulations to….

Alex Irvine: 3rd 100m IM, 3rd 50 Freestyle, 1st 50 Backstroke,

Satchel Wilson: 3rd 25 Freestyle

Aubrey Chunga: 3rd 25 Breaststroke

Marina Nadilo: 2nd 25 Freestyle, 1st 25 Backstroke

Max Bentley, Tom Delaney, Marina Nadilo and Briar De Punt for 1st in the 100m Year 5 Freestyle Relay

It was a great day well supported local communities. Thank you to all parents who assisted on the day.

SPARE CHILDREN’S PANTS

We would love your old children’s tracksuit pants or leggings for our sick room. We seem to have lost a few over the past few months and need to replenish our stocks for children who need to have a change of clothes. Anything up to about a year 10 would be much appreciated. We have plenty of tops!

Abel Tasman fundraising

Our year 8 children are heading off to Abel Tasman at the end of the year for their final Muritai camp and have been fundraising to help with the cost. Available in the office are some Reusable Produce Bags - great for taking to the supermarket and filling with your fresh produce. You will be helping the environment by not using plastic bags for all your fruit and veges, whilst also helping the year 8’s with their fundraising. They cost $22.50 for a pack of 5.

TERM 4 2018 DATES
15 October	First day of Term 4
16 & 17 Oct	Hutt Valley Primary Tennis Champs
23 & 24	Year 6-8 Girls Self Defence Course
26 Oct	Assembly
29 Oct	School Athletics Day
30 & 31 Oct	Y6-8 Girls Self Defence Course
1 Nov	BOT Meeting
5 Nov	SE Zone Athletics
10 Dec	Y8 Gardasil
9 Nov	Assembly
13 & 14 Nov	Y6-8 Girls Self Defence Course
23 Nov	Teacher Only Day
2-7 Dec	Y8 Abel Tasman Camp
6 Dec	BOT Meeting
13 Dec	Year 8 Formal
18 Dec	Last day of the year Leaving Assembly

TERMS DATE FOR 2018

Term 1 - Wednesday 31 January - Friday 13 April

Term 2 - Monday 30 April - Friday 6 July

Term 3 - Monday 23 July - Friday 28 September

Term 4 - Monday 15 October - Tuesday 18th December

COMMUNITY NOTICES

JOIN MARANUI SURF LIFE SAVING CLUB - CLUB OPEN DAY

SUN, SAND & SURF - Maranui Junior Surf season starts on SUNDAY 4th NOVEMBER 2018.

Summer is approaching, so now is the time to register with Maranui Surf Life Saving Club. Junior Surf is a great way for children to make friends, be active and enjoy the beach in a safe environment. Come along to our Registration and Club Open Day on Sunday 23 September, 11am - 1pm. See what’s happening at the club this season, meet coaches, lifeguards and athletes, have a look around the surf clubhouse, register and become a member, information on junior surf, seniors and becoming a lifeguard. We look forward to seeing you all. Or join Maranui SLSC today at www.maranui.co.nz/how-to-join.html

Speak Again's performance development and drama skills lessons will continue in Term 4. If anyone in year 4 - year 8 wishes to explore and improve their theatrical skills in a fun and focused environment, please register at http://speakagain.co.nz/"

LEARN TO PLAY TENNIS

Holiday Programme For Children From 5 years-13 years.

Supported by HVTA

Dates: Monday 8, Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 October, 2018. (wet or fine)

Venue: Mitchell Park (Mitchell Street, Lower Hutt)

If wet the programme will be held in the squash courts.

Timetable:
9.00am-10.00 am - Girls from 5-8 years old

10.00am-11.00 am - Boys from 5-8 years old

11.00am-12.00 noon - Girls from 9 years +

1.00pm-2.00 pm - Boys from 9 years +

Cost: $33-00 for the 3 days. Money to be paid on the first day.

Registration: Contact Gary Nelson –Ph. 5897178 or Email - a.nelson@xtra.co.nz