The Muritai School Newsletter: 30 September 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 back to Isabella Carroll to Room 22 and Blake Carroll to Room 15

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Tena koutou Muritai families,

We have had a busy week at Muritai school with our external education review taking place. Four reviewers joined our staff for the week for our school’s external review by the Ministry of Education. The ERO team looked deeply into conditions the school provides for equity and excellence, our processes and practices, our provision for international students, our Board assurances on all legal requirements, and checked and evidenced all of the key conditions for learning we offer at Muritai school, - including observing our learners and talking to them during classes. It is safe to say that the review team completed an extremely rigorous and evaluative picture of conditions and outcomes for our students, and provided these initial findings orally to the senior leaders and Board of Trustees yesterday.

The final report is yet to be drafted and, once completed, this will go through a process of internal ERO peer review before we are presented with the final written version which we will share with you all. The initial summary made by the team of reviewers yesterday highlighted many aspects of our school that they complimented us around, and any next steps they may suggest give the impression that they got to know us pretty well even in the short time they spent in our special school! We look forward to hearing from an external review perspective what Muritai School is doing well and any improvements suggested, including ways we can make our school even better in the future!

The staff and I are feeling very proud with the compliments given thus far, especially as the ERO team passed on just how articulate, friendly and knowledgeable they found our students to be when talking about their learning, and also said the way the students interacted with the staff, the review team themselves, and each other in the playground was excellent! WOW - what a wonderful compliment for us all to receive as the Muritai school community!

This week we have also had the Artsplash Choir and the Artsplash dance group perform at the Michael Fowler Centre on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Congratulations to our performers - for putting on a great show for your parents, family, friends and teachers! A great big thank you to all of our staff that helped prepare the groups and also who travelled in and supervised them on stage during rehearsals and performances - thank you Ruth Hooke, Kate McLean, Greer Dalziell, Chantel Lyons and Felicity Lovell for your extra efforts during such a busy week!

After Drop off Walk and Talk with Bec:

Each fortnight I host a chat and a wander around Eastbourne with a coffee to follow at Hive Cafe. Our next walk and talk is on Tuesday 24 September.

Pushchairs welcome, as is skipping the walk and coming straight for a coffee around 9:30!

Ngā manaakitanga,

Bec Power, Principal

FROM THE SCHOOL

Term Dates 2020

Term dates for 2020 have been confirmed by our Board of Trustees as follows:-

Term 1 Wednesday 5 February to Thursday 9 April

Term 2 Tuesday 28 April to Friday 3 July

Term 3 Monday 20 July to Friday 25 September

Term 4 Monday 12 October to Thursday 17 December

Wellington Free Ambulance Onesie Day

Children had a great day with dress up and Onesie Day recently. The school raised $587.80 which will go to Wellington Free Ambulance.

Whacky Hair Day

Muritai is joining up with other schools in the Lower Hutt area to raise funds to purchase a playground for the children to use in the Te Omanga Hospice Grounds. We will be holding a whacky hair day on the last day of school, Friday 27 September. Please send your child/ren with a gold coin donation and dress up their hair ‘whacky’.

Gardening Tools - long handled and short handled pruners, spades and hedge clippers

Taita College and Wainuiomata High School students are clearing blackberry and gorse to restore wetland areas and are looking for old gardening tools. If you have any of the above, please phone Gary on 021 286 6282 or email: mistletoe1957@gmail.com

SPORTS

Girls Futsal Tournament

This week we had 2 teams represent Muritai School at the Futsal Tournament held at Walter Nash Stadium. Both teams did extremely well with 6 wins each. Thanks to Rob, Linda Buchanan, Sinead, Peter and Susan that took transport and organised the teams for the day.

Sport Exchanges

We have recently had sport exchanges with both Waterloo and Eastern Hutt schools. Our rugby games did not go ahead mainly due to illness, although the football team were lucky enough to get their game against Eastern Hutt. Unfortunately they lost but they all enjoyed the competition.

Tennis

This Sunday Muritai junior tennis club has an open morning from 10am-12pm. More information can be found on their facebook page.

Muritai Lakers Basketball

Our Year 3 basketball team, Muritai Lakers have had a wonderful time this year culminating in an amazing final against Waterloo Swoosh and coming 4th in their grade for the season. That’s an awesome achievement. They were a stellar team, overcoming players coming and going over the last two terms. They persevered and were rewarded with growing skills and a very good 4th place.

This week has been finals week for our basketball teams who have all done extremely well. The results are:

Hawks - 2nd overall

Lakers - 4th

Pistons - 1st!

Magic - 1st!

Bulls - 7th

TERM 3 AND 4 2019 DATES
19 Sept	BOT meeting at 6.15pm
19 Sept	Waterloo School Exchange 1pm to 3pm
19 Sept	Artsplash Dance from 7.30pm to 9pm
27 Sept	Whacky Hair Day
27 Sept	Last Day of Term 3 - usual finish time of 2.55pm
27 Sept	Whole school assembly - Kororā led
14 Oct	Start of Term 4
22 Oct	After Drop Off - Walk and Talk with Bec at 9am
1 Nov	Whole school assembly - Tuī led
5 Nov	SE Zone Athletics
7 Nov	Postponement day for SE Zone Athletics
7 Nov	BOT meeting at 6.15pm
15 Nov	Whole school assembly - Kororā led
19 Nov	Inter Zone Athletics
21 Nov	Postponement day Inter Zone Athletics
29 Nov	Whole school assembly - Kererū led
1 Dec	Abel Tasman camp for year 8’s
3 Dec	Regional Athletics
4 Dec	Postponement day Regional Athletics
10 Dec	Y8 Gardasil vaccination
11 Dec	Kererū Triathlon
11 Dec	BOT meeting at 6.15pm
17 Dec	Year 8 Formal
19 Dec	Leavers Assembly at 11am
19 Dec	School closes at 1pm

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Twilight Netball is a fun and social competition played outdoors at the Taita Netball Courts. Teams can be mixed boys and girls.

PLEASE NOTE: You may enter teams yourselves, this is not done through the school.

Please check the link below for full details.

http://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-2473-0-0-0&sID=287857&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=49353670

Brief outline below.

All intermediate and senior grades may have a maximum of 2 males on court at any one time. They must play at opposite ends of the court – ie 1 defence and 1 attack. Games are 4 x 10 minute quarters.

Intermediate: Year 7/8 (7v7) games are at 4 or 5pm. $80 per team. 2019 Year 6 teams may choose to enter in the Year 7/8 grade in Term 4. We will try and play your Year 6 team against other similar teams but this will depend on the number of teams entered.

Term 4 Dates:

· All grades run for 6 weeks on Mondays, with a provision for a rain out day.

· 4, 11, 18, 25 November, 2 & 9 December. Rain Out TUESDAY 10 December

· Any cancellations will be announced on the Netball Hutt Valley facebook page www.facebook.com/NetballHuttValley

WATER POLO ACADEMY

The Water Polo Academy commences next term, with small group trainings for 10-14 year old boys and girls, based at the Chilton St James school pool.

The Academy offers a specialised development programme for players that enjoy the game and want to develop further. The Academy is ideal for those players looking to transition from flippaball to water polo, and those in need of skill work.

Practices will be intensive (30 minute), small group sessions (up to 6 players), that ensure all players get quality 1:1 time with our experienced coaches.

The Academy is not an intensive training centre. However, players can be enrolled for more than one session per week.

The head coaches are Megan Thomson and Matt Claridge, both of whom coach the respective Hutt National League sides and are experienced in player development.

To find out more – follow us on Facebook and to register your interest, complete this form.

Hutt Valley Tennis Association - 2019 Primary & Intermediate Schools Championships

Winter Sports are almost over and we are looking forward to Summer and our schools tennis competition!

To this end, please find below details of the upcoming annual Schools tennis Tournament.

Venue – Mitchell Park – Lower Hutt

Time – report by 8.15am, play commences at 8.30am

We endeavour to have games completed by 3pm, however weather and length of matches may determine finishing time.

There is no restriction on the number of entries each school in the Hutt Valley can make. However, we are restricted to a draw size for each event that can be accommodated within the time period. Should an excess of entries be received – spots will be given in order of Configure Rankings priority until all spots are filled.

Intermediate – All year 7 & 8 Players
Year 6 & Below – Primary Age

(While it is preferred that all players either belong to a club, have regular coaching or play Junior Interclub – novice entries are encouraged! Children should be able to score a game of tennis).

TO ENTER:-

Please advise by email to michelle.fisher@outlook.co.nz by Thursday 26 th September 2019

Names of players entered
Club or ‘configure’ ranking (if applicable)
Event Entered

Regional final at Palmerstone North on Wednesday 6^th November 2019

The top 2 boys and 2 girls, (winner and runner up) in each Primary and Open Grades from this tournament, will be offered the opportunity to go on and represent the Hutt Valley Tennis Association in the Central School Regional Final at the Manawatu Lawn Tennis Club, Palmerstone North on Wednesday 6^th November 2019. Should either of these players be unavailable, spots will be offered to 3^rd/4^th placed payers (a playoff for 3^rd/4^th will be played at the tournament). Any further available spots are at the discretion of the Association and Wildcards will be issued.

Each school is responsible for nominating a parent or teacher to supervise their pupils at this Regional event. Players are responsible for their own transport and accommodation.

Any queries please contact Michelle Fisher on 0210 293 4847 or michelle.fisher@outlook.co.nz

A Whitby Collegiate education for your son or daughter in Year 9, 2020

Open Day

From the beginning of 2020 Marsden Whitby will become Whitby Collegiate. You are invited to the Whitby Collegiate Open Day on Sunday 15 September, any time between 11am and 1pm. This is a great opportunity to see the Whitby Collegiate campus and to find out about our future-focused learning programmes. There will be staff and students to talk to and our students look forward to showing you around.

Enrolments - Whitby Collegiate applications for enrolment for 2020 are now open. We encourage you to come and visit our school and invite students to spend time in class with us. If you have any questions or would like a personal tour, please contact Lorraine Rose on 04 234 1070.

Transport - There are easy transport links to Whitby Collegiate and our school buses bring students from the Hutt Valley, Johnsonville, Churton Park, Tawa and Aotea, and connect with the train for students travelling from the Kapiti Coast.