FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Tena koutou Muritai families,
What a fantastic week we have had at Muritai School - we’ve had two parent camp meetings for Kererū and Kāhu campers, and the EPRO 8 semi finals in which our ‘Muritai Superstars’ took out first place once again! We’ve had a wonderful Maths parent evening with our successful ‘Pieces of Pizza’ on Wednesday evening, and also our final ‘Starting School at 5’ parent meeting on Wednesday night. Thank you to all parents who have come along to our many events this week, and also to our hardworking teachers and leadership team who have created the opportunities of these evenings for our school.
Today we have just listened to the Kererū speech finals where we were joined by parents and supporters of our talented speakers. I was impressed by the standard of the speakers and their well written speeches. It was a very tightly fought competition, and this year’s winners were for year 5 - Sebastian Grieve, and for year 6 Eloise Bothwell. Eloise wins the Kereru speech cup as the overall winner on the day. Congratulations to all finalists from today, and to the Kererū students who have all worked hard on speeches and delivered these in their classrooms prior to the finals.
Last week Kāhu held their debating competition, with tightly contested moots. In year 7 it was “That we want to reduce transport congestion by having carless days” which was won by a skilled affirmative team. The year 8 moot was “The voting age is too high, and needs to be reduced to 15.” This was won by a savvy affirmative team.
All teams that competed spoke with confidence with well prepared material. Rebuttals were sharp, and to the point.
The overall winning debater for year 7 was a draw between Scott Barlow and Noelle O'Neill, and for year 8 was Emmy McKay, who won this year's Kāhu speech cup. Congratulations to all who took part. The debates were a culmination of the persuasive writing topic of term 3 before it became an oral language focus of debate. Every Kāhu student took part in the class debates before the finals.
Celebrations of Learning
Next week we have our final Celebrations of learning for the year. The staff and I are looking forward to having the classroom doors open after school on Tuesday 1 December, when you and the children can pop in anytime between 3:15 - 6:15 to visit and connect with the learning from 2020. We know children love to share and celebrate their learning with you, and this is such an important part of our home and school partnership. All children have many things to share that they are proud of and we hope to see you on Tuesday.
EPRO 8
This inter-school event is a science and engineering design race. The team is made up of four year 8’s - Liam Eldridge-Fright, Louie Turner, Torin O'Neill, and Luke Barlow.
This talented team told me they have been fortunate enough to progress through into the regional year 7/8 Finals. The boys said they were quite intimidated, however the winning secret was collaborating with each other. The Lower Hutt challenge win was a huge confidence boost, which was a strong start going into the semi finals. They said they started off badly, but they persevered and came away with the win. The first competition was simpler but they knew when they got to the semi finals the challenge would be tougher!
The challenges are wide ranging from creative to mathematical, and the team all work together to use their different strengths. The harder the challenges the higher the potential is for scoring points, high risk and high reward. The team tells me it was really enjoyable and rewarding knowing that they put three hours of effort “sweat and tears” to come away with something special. The boys added they believe they had an advantage as they have an excellent mindset and communicate well in a team as they work through the timed challenges. They also added they all speak up and add to each other's ideas, trusting each other and collaborating well. The last comment from Liam was “At the end of it all every team created all sorts of things that were really impressive, and even without the points it's just great to be a part of it.”
Monday next week is the grand final, we wish our team all the best in their event! Go Muritai Superstars!
Muritai Classes 2021
We have our first drafts of the classes for 2021 and are busy checking them twice with all of the information, including adding our new enrolments. It’s really important that we have a clear picture of who will be here at Muritai next year, so if you have a new entrant in your household who is not yet enrolled, or a child who is moving on from Muritai, please advise us immediately. We work really hard to ensure that every child has at least one friend in their class, and if we aren’t aware of a child moving on, this can unfortunately leave some children without a friend of their choice. Please advise Jo in our office if you have any updates at Bentley@muritai.school.nz
Finally, a special congratulations to Georgia Barrand, a previous Muritai learner who has recently been named as Dux of St Orans 2020. Congratulations to Georgia and her proud family .
I look forward to seeing you at the Celebrations of Learning next Tuesday if not before,
Ngā manaakitanga,
Bec Power, Principal
FROM THE SCHOOL
Calendars
Your child/ren has recently completed their art work (which can be viewed on-line) for the school’s fundraiser. You can purchase calendars, cards, notebooks, etc with their personal artwork which make great gifts for family and friends - great with Christmas just around the corner!
Forms were recently sent home with a personalised code explaining how you can purchase these. Orders are now open and will close this Monday, 30 November at 12pm. If you have any issues, please contact Jo in the office.
TeeBall
Recently we had two Year 1/2 teams represent Muritai School at a Teeball ' have a go' tournament. The children loved it. It was a great day held at Fraser Park. The students had never played Teeball before but by the end of the day they were playing like professionals. Thanks to Marc Paulik and Teuila Sellars for coaching the two teams on the day.
Quote from Murphy "Can you register us to play in Year 3?"
Head Lice
Head Lice is a common problem in schools and it is therefore important to check your child/ren’s hair on a regular basis. If you find a live insect you should treat them with special shampoo or lotion available from pharmacies or with conditioner and a special comb. There are notices in the school office if you would like to learn more or you can talk to the local pharmacist.
Lucky Book Club
Issue eight of the Scholastic Lucky Book Club, for 2020, is now available. This is the last issue for the year. Orders will be closing on Friday the 27th November. Your order can be done on the following website https://my bookclub.scholastic.co.nz/Parent/Login.aspx.
The whole school order is processed on the closing date and it usually takes approximately a week for orders to be delivered.
We greatly appreciate your support as the school is able to gain rewards through purchases you make which enables us to add books to our school library collection.
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.
2020 Activity fee and Donations
Statements were sent out 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.
The Muritai School Board of Trustees
Term 4 2020 Dates
25 November Starting School at 5 meeting - 7pm to 8pm
1 December Celebrations of Learning 3.15 pm to 6.30 pm
1 December BOT Meeting - 6.15pm to 9.15pm
2 December Starting School at 5 meeting - 9.30am to 10.30 am
4 December Tui Pool and Picnic day
4 December Whole School Assembly - Kereru
6 December Abel Tasman Camp for Year 8’s
7 December Tui Wet and Connect
8 December Tui Wet and Connect
9 December Korora Beach afternoon
10 December Korora Christmas Concert at 1.45
10 & 11 December Year 7 Brookfield Camp
11 December Tui Days Bay Walk
15 December Year 8 Formal
16 December Korora Bush Walk
17 December Leavers Assembly at 11am
17 December Last day of Term 4 - School finishes early at 1pm
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Speak Again 2021 Enrolments
Unleash your child's creativity and boost their confidence in 2021 through performance development with Speak Again. Sessions run at school during the day and are available to all Year 4 - 8 students. We have opened a limited number of enrolment spaces for next year's programme and so now is the time to book your child in. We're so excited to meet all the new students, to see them develop their innate talent and unique voices. Call Emily on 0211885106 or email: emily@speakagain.co.nz
Registrations for the Eastbourne Swim Club are now open!
Eastbourne Swim Club runs over the summer each Thursday night, starting at 5pm, at the Eastbourne Summer Pool. Our club nights are Thursday 3rd Dec to 17 Dec 2020 and then following the summer break 28 Jan to 4 Mar 2021 (9 nights).
There are 2 easy steps to signing your child up:
1) Click here to complete the registration form
2) Pay membership fee
Our membership fee is $35 per swimmer for the season, which includes entry to the pool on club nights. To complete your membership please make the payment to:
Internet banking 03 0502 0068566 00 (use child’s name as reference).
As always, classes are allocated on a first in first served basis.
You can email us at eastbourneswimclub@gmail.com or check out our Facebook page
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