21 June 2019

Kia Ora, Talofa Lava, Greetings, Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Bonjour, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Hola, Kon'nichiwa, Namaste, As-salāmu ʿalaykum

A warm welcome to Charles Montague and Dylan Holmes to Room 1 as well as Torunn Clarkson (Room 16) and Sibella Clarkson (Room 13).

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Tena koutou Muritai families,

Reporting to Parents

Report writing season is underway with the teachers beginning to create the mid year progress reports for our learners.  This is a large job for teachers and also a satisfying one, as we get to appreciate just how much each child is growing and progressing and what their next steps for the second half of the year will be. These reports will be coming home early next term in week 2.  

Board of Trustees

We welcomed our new Board of Trustees at a social get together last night along with our previous Board.  I want to congratulate our newly elected trustees, and certainly want to acknowledge the 12 unsuccessful candidates who had put themselves forward.  I was very pleased with the amount of engagement our community demonstrated with the many nominees that put themselves forward, and also with the amount of you who voted. Thank you all.

The previous Board and I have written an outgoing letter to you all which you can read below.

Our first Board meeting is next Thursday the 27th of June, where we will elect our new Chair who will be in place for the rest of 2019.  

Generous Donation to Muritai School - from last newsletter...still available!

We have such an amazing community at Muritai school! One of our very generous families won a laptop in a recent competition.  They have decided to anonymously donate the computer to another family who may be in need of a laptop and who possibly don’t have the means to purchase one at this time.  If you would like to nominate a school student, school family who may be in this position (you are welcome to nominate yourself) please email me by the 28th  June (extended for another week) with the details at Principal@Muritai.school.nz

Staffing: 
Next week we are farewelling Anton Norman at our Kororā school assembly on Friday.  Anton is here through to the end of term before his move to Hong Kong. You are welcome to join us at this assembly next Friday, as always.  

Cross Country
This week our fastest runners represented us once again at the Inter Zone Cross Country - we have had some outstanding results and look forward to announcing these once confirmed.
Thank you to our cross country helpers and coaches as well as our teacher supervision and parent supporters who survived the cold and rainy conditions in this mid winter event. 
Thanks of course also go to Trish Theobald our sports coordinator for her endless enthusiasm and organisation of these events. 

Ngā manaakitanga,

Bec Power, Principal

FROM THE BOARD

Farewell from the Board of Trustees and Announcement of new Board

Reflecting on the past three years since the current board was elected, it has been a time of significant change, both in the education sector and at Muritai.  We farewelled long-serving principal Andrew Bird, and welcomed Bec Power to take up the role in 2017. Shortly after, national standards were removed and a review of the education system launched.

Our most important role as a board is to ensure Muritai learners are achieving to their fullest potential. We have been supported by a strong senior leadership team which puts learners at the heart of every decision, tracking and reporting back on the progress of each student. That has seen increasingly targeted support and extension, individualised learning and more technology in classrooms.

We have invested in more professional development for teachers and wellbeing support for staff and students.

In property, we have welcomed a spacious new staff room and renovation of the dental clinic into a multi-purpose space known as the cottage, as well as the demolition of an ageing playground. Plans for a new play space are underway and, up next, is a major redevelopment of the senior school.

We leave the school in a strong financial position, capable of weathering uncertainty.

We have moved to SchoolDocs for our school policies, bringing with it best practice and termly reviews of policies with feedback from staff, board and parents as well as being available on our website.

Alongside ongoing community consultation, we have also responded to Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, creating a whanau group for our Maori and Pasifika families with a regular hui attended by a board member.

More recently, we are focusing on consolidation and settling in after a period of change. While we continue to attract a high calibre of staff in a competitive teaching market, we acknowledge concern over turnover.  To ensure we connect with staff, the leadership team gathers feedback at several points through the year via staff surveys and individual interviews. Furthermore, from this year, all departing staff are offered an exit interview with the board chair.

What’s next? This term you will see our Kapa Haka group representing Muritai in their smart new uniforms at Hutt Fest (formerly Polyfest). We were delighted to fund this as we strongly support our school’s bicultural perspective in our increasingly multicultural Kapa Haka group - and want our students to feel proud on stage representing Muritai.

As we hand over to the incoming board, we would like to thank families and the broader community for the support, both in time and donations. We encourage your continued support to allow Muritai to be ‘the best it can be’.

We welcome the new board of trustees for Muritai School - Jeremy Buckley, Deane McKay (Staff Trustee), Bec Power (Principal), Kurt Renner, Andrew Saunderson, Kaye Sherwin, Marni Stevenson.  The results of voting are published in our foyer and in the Hutt News.

From your out-going Board - Nigel Cass, Miki Szikszai, Mary Longmore, Louise Marsden, Andrew Saunderson, Deane McKay and Bec Power

FROM THE SCHOOL

PINK SHIRT DAY

The children supported Pink Shirt Day this year on Friday 17 May, a day that celebrates diversity and creates environments where all people can feel safe, valued and respected.  Donations of $335 were collected for this very worthy cause. 

YEAR 7/8 BASKETBALL

On Tuesday June 11th Muritai School had one Year 7/8 Basketball team attend a local tournament. They were very excited to represent Muritai and play all the intermediate schools in the area. Quote from Head Coach Brett Fastier "Hard day in the office, but they hung in there". The students enjoyed themselves experienced playing some top talent in the Hutt Valley. Thanks to Brett Fastier for coaching the team!

INTER ZONE CROSS COUNTRY

This week we had 35 students attend and compete at the Inter Zone Cross Country Event. Our students did extremely well with 10 (TBC) going through to the Regional competition on July 2nd. It was pretty wet and a very cold day but all the students had a great time.  I was really proud of them as they supported each other and were so pleased at everyone’s achievements. Thanks to the parents that came and supported on the day.  Many thanks to Jane Lloyd-Evans for helping with training.

ROAD PATROL - ADULT HELPER NEEDED

I am looking for an adult who would be able to do road patrol on Muritai Road on a Thursday afternoon 2.45 - 3.05 p.m. from Term 3. If you are able to do this please contact Maureen Buckley on buckley@muritai.school.nz

LOOKING TOWARDS 2020

If you have a preschool child who will be turning five between now and December 2020 and would like them to attend Muritai School or have any questions regarding this, please contact our school office on 04 562 8409 or Maureen Buckley on buckley@muritai.school.nz to ensure their name is on our list. Please also let your neighbours know especially if their child attends preschool out of the Eastbourne area.

TERM 2 2019 DATES
27 June	BOT meeting at 6.15pm
1 July	Hutt Fest Performance
2 July	Regional Cross Country
2 July	Walk and Talk with Bec Power (9am)
5 July	Last day of Term 2
22 July	First day of Term 3
30 July	After Drop Off - Walk & Talk
15 Aug	BOT meeting at 6.15pm
16 Aug	SE Zone Swimming
30 Aug	School Disco
6 Sept	Inter Zone Swimming
19 Sept	BOT meeting at 6.15pm
27 Sept	Last Day of Term 3
14 Oct	Start of Term 4

TERM DATES FOR 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