Kia Ora, Talofa Lava, Greetings, Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Bonjour, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Hola,
Kon'nichiwa, Namaste, As-salāmu ʿalaykum
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Tena koutou Muritai families,
Today is the final day of our first full term at school this year! It has been a wonderful term, full of learning and togetherness. I know 2020 has not been easy for all in our community, however as we reflect on the previous term and as I walk around our school and grounds I see smiles and happy children and parents. We all thank you for your encouraging words and positivity over these last weeks and months.
Masked Parade
Thank you for the wonderful parent and community turn-out to support our Masked Parade yesterday! We were unsure whether we would be able to hold the parade after two postponements, but pandemic Alert Levels and the weather reports were both on our side yesterday for an opportunity to hold our parade!
We were so pleased to finish the term off showing you the fun and learning attached to our ‘Dare to Dream’ unit. It was so nice to have everyone together in the school, it was a special time for the children, who had spent a long time preparing for the event! Thank you to all of our teachers and staff who helped out with the parade organisation and the running of the event.
I was able to take some amateur video footage of the performances during the parade yesterday, which I’ll edit into a highlight reel over the term break, in case you were unable to join us in person to see the parade in action.
Alert Level 1
Now that we are at Alert Level 1, we are pleased to welcome all of you back inside the school grounds - please do remember to use the Covid Tracer App at whichever gate you enter through. Being at Alert Level 1 means we hope to get back to our whole school assemblies in Term 4 - we have been missing celebrations as a whole school in 2020, and love getting all of the children together. I hope you will be able to join us for an assembly or two.
Group (Cohort) Entry
The Board met on Tuesday night and as part of our agenda we looked into the recent community consultation around Group (Cohort) Entry to school. The view of the current parents, future parents, our Kororā staff, and our Early Childhood providers was very positive with an extremely high level of comfort in moving forward with Group (Cohort) Entry to school.
After considering all of the feedback, the Board has agreed to adopt a cohort entry policy, which will be in place from Term 1 2021. Thank you to all who fed back to the school around your thinking of our Group (cohort) entry to school consultation.
Classes 2021
As we are soon approaching our final term of 2020, we begin to look forward to 2021, and the preparation of our classes and teaching team.
Although we are unable to offer a teacher selection option to our parents, we do encourage you if there is something you would like us to know or consider in class placements, to please pop your thoughts into an email to me at Principal@muritai.school.nz. All children have a voice in this process as well, and are able to select some children they would like to learn alongside in their class. As we will begin the class placement drafts early in Term 4, the deadline for any input is 16th October, the first Friday of Term 1.
Thank you
Thank you to all of you who have made our term such a success at Muritai School. Your support enables us and our children to take part in all sorts of wonderful activities and learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. I especially want to acknowledge those parents who gave up their time to attend the recent Kererū camp at Makahika - thank you for taking time out of your own busy schedules to enable the highly successful camp to go ahead. Thank you to our fundraising Home and School team who continue to busily work in the background providing funds and resources for our children and staff - we are forever grateful! Thank you to our sports coaches - your management and coaching of our teams have enabled a fun and successful sporting season for all. Thank you also to our committed Board of Trustees for your ongoing support to our staff, and for the extra time and energy you all give for our Muritai children.
And last but not least to our amazing Muritai staff team - and wow, what a team! You have coached, cleaned tables, camped, danced, marched, signed in, cared for others, welcomed parents, done hours and hours of extra duties, and led our learners so well over this challenging term. We are so very lucky to have such wonderful educators and support staff taking care of our Muritai children.
We finished our term by listening to our school band ‘Caution’, (Matty on drums, Isobel on keyboards, Flynn on guitar, Scott on bass, Maddie and Bella on vocals). They entertained the whole school with a short concert this afternoon - it was so nice to be all together in the hall again! Congratulations to ‘Caution’ and to their tutors Ruth and Charles.
Best wishes for a wonderful term break,
Ngā manaakitanga,
Bec Power, Principal
FROM THE BOARD
Kia ora Muritai Families,
The Muritai School Board of Trustees held our September meeting this week and wish to update you on the outcomes.
Once again we would like to acknowledge the wonderful work of our Muritai Staff in managing the alert level 2 Covid restrictions and moving us back into level 1 with ease. As a Board we have been very impressed by the resilience shown by all parties during this turbulent time, especially our learners.
Student Achievement
We had the pleasure of having Jamie, Elspeth and Brenda come and present to the Board on the various interventions available to our learners and we were very impressed at the range of options available and the commitment and passion shown by our learning coaches, Elspeth and Brenda. Jamie also gave an overview of the overall achievement of all of our learning in reading, writing and maths and as a Board we were impressed by the results, especially considering the lockdown. Overall we are on target to reach our goals by the end of the year which is very reassuring.
Cohort Entry for new entrants.
As you will be aware we recently conducted a consultation over cohort entry and we have had an overwhelmingly positive response from our school community including our local Early Childhood Educations providers. As such we will be moving to Cohort Entry as of Term 1 2021. Further information on this will be shared with you in due course.
Kereru Camp
Last week our Kereru syndicate had their camp at Makahika. It was a great success and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They had a few unexpected situations with power cuts, trees falling down, thunder and lightning and torrential rain but it all just added to the fun of it!
We also received some amazing feedback from the instructors at Makahika who said our kids were respectful, listened well and were a real credit to the teachers and their families.
As a Board we would like to say a huge thanks for Felicity and her team for all the work that they put into an amazing camp. Also a big thanks to all the parents who came along and made it such a fun time for our kids. We were one of only a few schools who have managed to still go on camp this year which is a real testament to our flexibility and resilience as a school community.
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2020 Activity fee and Donations
Statements were sent home recently for our Activity Fee and Donations for 2020 and we would like to thank all the families who have contributed and for your ongoing support of Muritai School. It makes a huge difference to us as a school and is very much appreciated.
Finally, as we head into school holidays we wish you all a safe and happy break and we are already looking forward to an action packed term four.
The Muritai School Board of Trustees
Andrew, Kaye, Jeremy, Kurt, Lisa, Bec and Felicity.
FROM THE SCHOOL
TERM DATES 2021
Our Term dates have been agreed for 2021 as follows:
Term 1 4 February to 16 April
Term 2 3 May to 9 July
Term 3 26 July to 1 October
Term 4 18 October to 16 December
Our 2021 Teacher Only Days are still to be set.
ONESIE, PJ AND DRESS UP DAY FUNDRAISER
Thank you for your support of our Foodbank charity event recently. Thanks to Archie, Alfie & our Charity Ambassadors along with Mrs Buckley who organised the fun and donations.
All of the children (and staff) really enjoyed dressing up in their Onsies/PJ's/DressUp's! We received this lovely note from the foodbank today which I wanted to pass on:
"Please pass on our sincere thanks to everyone who organised the collection for the Foodbank and to all who contributed so generously. It was an amazing contribution of food and toiletries and also the $418 in cash. It is very heart-warming to know that your school has such an awareness of the many who are struggling our community. Your assistance is much appreciated."
NETBALL
Well done all the Muritai Netballers for a great season! You showed some fantastic skills and sporting behaviour on court and made some great new connections with lots of other players from different schools.
A huge thank you to all the parents for adapting to the changes in schedules.
Biggest thanks goes to our amazing coaches and managers. This season we welcomed 7 brilliant new coaches who shared their expertise and worked hard to make it all happen!! : Miss Kelly Williams, Jo Day, Alex Parker, Jenn Gellatley, Sonja Durant, Janet Enge and Vanessa Bennett.
See you next term for some more fun with Twilight Netball.
BASKETBALL
Well, what a season. This term we were able to continue playing in Level 2 which was fantastic. No parents or spectators were allowed to watch but at least the students got on the court. With it being quite a messy season only some teams played a true final. Congratulations to the Year 7/8 team for finishing 1st in their grade without a loss!
Thanks to all the parents that were managers and coaches. See you all next year for another successful season.
The Shoe Clinic has kindly given us a donation of $50 as part of the School Rewards Programme they run. For every pair of children’s shoes sold, the School Clinic donate $10 to the child’s school.
Term Dates 2020
Term 4 Monday 12 October to Thursday 17 December
(Teacher only Day Friday 23rd October - Labour Weekend)
COMMUNITY NOTICES
EASTBOURNE SCOUT GROUP 1ST ANNUAL COMPOST FUNDRAISER
Spring is rapidly approaching, and we know the avid gardeners among you will want good compost to kick start your gardens. Eastbourne Scout Group has arranged for good quality organic compost, which the Cubs and Scouts will be bagging and delivering to the community on Saturday 17th October.
Place your order for compost before Sunday 11th October and we will deliver your compost within Eastbourne and The Bays.
Compost is $9 per 40 litre bag.
Please click this link to place your order: https://forms.gle/WzMSJ4J7vQ1NV9DF6
We thank you in advance for your support with this fundraiser. The money raised will be put to great use, ensuring that Eastbourne's Keas, Cubs and Scouts get to undertake exciting adventures over the coming year.
Please contact us via eastbourne@group.scouts.nz if you have any questions.
Muritai Yacht Club Learn to Sail starts soon!
Muritai Yacht Club will be running a learn to sail course starting labour weekend, with a second course later in the season depending on interest. Boats can be borrowed from the club. The ideal age for sailing is 9+ years old.
For more information, please contact Kyle Adair, email: kylejadair@gmail.com or phone 021 991 784.
Hutt Valley Gymnastic Club is running a 5year and over Open-Day on the second Friday of the School holidays (9 October). All 5yr+ come and give gymnastics a go! Check our their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/1031241810652493/
