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 Term 3, and we wish you all a wonderful break over the next two weeks before we return for our very exciting term 4! We have so many fantastic things planned for our learners to take part in, and we are excited to get underway.  First though, a well deserved rest for all before the summer fun begins! 

Remember bucket hats are needed for outdoor play each day at school for all learners except our senior year 7/8 students who may wear a cap.  All learners must have a hat on to play outdoors, so please remember these for the start of term 4. 

Cross Country Success!

This week Elodie Dent has represented us at the Inter-regional cross country competition in Timaru, where the year 6 team representing Wellington placed 1st, and also won the coveted Phil Costley shield! Elodie herself came in 6th place overall against runners from across New Zealand - what an enormous effort.  Congratulations Elodie,  we are all so proud of you!

Production - the show will go on!

As mentioned in my last news update we are excited to share that we have secured a new date for the 2021 Whole School Production - ‘Alice Returns to Wonderland’. The production will now be in Term 4 Week 4, from Monday 8 November - Wednesday 10 November. If we are in Level 1, we will be able to perform to live audiences.  If we are in Level 2 or above, we will video the performance, and share a ‘Muritai Movie’ with you all to enjoy. 

Thank you to everyone out there who is sourcing costumes and helping with props and support (albeit mostly from afar) for their children’s classes.  I managed to capture a quick snapshot of one of our Kererū classes rehearsing today. I also spotted one of our teaching team taking the stage! 

The stage extension, stereo system and professional lighting will be set up over the holiday break, so it’s all starting to come together.  

Teacher only Day

A reminder that our final Teacher Only Day this year is on Friday the 22nd of October, which is the first week of next term.  We have timed this to neatly add onto Labour Weekend for our school families. 

Alistair Blair Trust:

We are so fortunate at Muritai School to be the holders of the Alistair Blair Trust.  Alistair was a past pupil of Muritai School who sadly passed away in a tragic accident after completing his schooling at Muritai School.  His family keeps his memory alive annually by supporting the children and families of Muritai school who may be facing financial hardship.  If you or someone you know is unable to take part in a school opportunity due to financial constraints, you may like to be considered as a recipient.  Please direct all queries to myself by emailing me at Principal@Muritai.school.nz

We as a school community once again thank the Blair family for their ongoing generosity to the children of Muritai School.   

I look forward to seeing you all next term, 

Kia pai tō wā whakatā - Have a good break

Bec Power, Principal

 

 

Term 3 Policy Review:

We invite parents to assist us in our ongoing review of school policies. This term we invite parent feedback on:

Concerns and Complaints, and Behaviour Management

How to give feedback: 

https://www.muritai.school.nz/copy-of-school-information

Visit the website http://muritai.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm

Enter the username (muritai) and password (muritaischool).

Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

Read the policy.

Click the Policy Review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.

Select the reviewer type "Board".

Enter your name (optional).

Submit your ratings and comments.

TERM 2 and 3 CALENDAR DATES

TERM DATES 2022

Our Term dates have been agreed for 2022 as follows: 

Term 1  2 Feb to 14 April

Term 2  2 May to 8 July

Term 3  25 July to 30 September

Term 4  17 October to 15 December

 

2021 Term Dates:

Term 3 2021 finishes on Friday 1 October with Term 4 starting on Monday 18 October through to Thursday 16 December 2021

We have one remaining teacher only day on Friday 22 October 2021.

This lines up with HVHS teacher only days which may be of help to you as well as being the Friday prior to Queen’s Birthday holiday and Labour Day enabling a long weekend for everyone.  

Kelly Club will very likely have holiday programmes for these Fridays for people who need care for their children. 

  

COMMUNITY NOTICES - Please  Note the following notices have been requested to be published and are not necessarily  endorsed by us as a school.  In the spirit of community we include these digitally for you to peruse. 

Kelly Sports

Get your friends together and enter a team into the Kelly Sports Summer Soccer Series.  Held on Friday's for children 5 years +.  A great way to introduce players to the sport in a fun, social environment.  Prize Givings after each round with "Player of the Day" certificates.  Come along and enjoy a family atmosphere!

Competition starts on 22nd October 2021 at Trentham Memorial Park in Upper Hutt.

Go to www.kellysports.co.nz/soccer2021 to register your team.

FRIDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2021

 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, 

We have loved being back all together at school and our Muritai learners have quickly settled into their classes and into learning on their return to school. Thank you to all parents who have been carefully following the Alert Level 2 guidance with regards to dropping off and picking up at the school gates, or if coming onsite, not entering any indoor spaces. 

This week has been Māori language week  - te wiki o te reo Māori, and although we are always using Te Reo Māori in and around Muritai School, this week we’ve all been making a conscious effort to increase our, and the students' use of Te Reo.  Some of the ways this has happened this week have been an increased focus on waiata (singing), using praise words in the classrooms (Ka mau te wehi = fantastic!), some classroom commands (Instead of saying "Come here" say "Haere Mai"), and starting each day with a karakia / whakataukī and waiata. 

This week we have also begun the creation of a Muritai School karakia, that will be unique and special to our kura.  I am working with our head student team alongside Whaea Hilary to begin our process, and next we will be seeking input and feedback from our learners schoolwide, as well as our parents who identify as Māori, and also our full parent community and local experts. We are excited to have our own karakia representing what is significant to us in our special school. 

Transport to and from school & parking around the school

We care deeply about our learners, and work very hard to eliminate any risks that could cause them to have an accident or an injury during the school day.  The one part of each day that we cannot monitor is the travel to and from school.  It concerns us when we see children and parents biking to school with no helmets on, and biking or scootering in an unsafe manner. Please do encourage your child to wear a helmet and to travel safely to and from school.  

We can all play our part in keeping our children safe - please do take care when parking around our school grounds, some of our children are very small, and can’t see around a car to cross the street safely if you are not parked in a designated area. 

Production - the show will go on!

We are excited to share that we have secured a new date for the 2021 Whole School Production - ‘Alice Returns to Wonderland’. The production will now be in Term 4 Week 4, from Monday 8 November - Wednesday 10 November. If we are in Level 1, we will be able to perform to live audiences.  If we are in Level 2 or above, we will video the performance, and share a ‘Muritai Movie’ with you all to enjoy. 

Teacher only Day

A reminder that our final Teacher Only Day this year is on Friday the 22nd of October, which we have timed to neatly add onto Labour Weekend for our school families. 

Classes for 2022 - intentions of attendance

At this time every year, we are carefully tracking our early enrollment data from our early childhood providers and new people who have moved to our area.  We need this information to ensure we can fully staff our school for the following year and calculate our class numbers. We look to have a large number of 5 year olds starting with us next year, so if you or anyone you know might be starting school in 2022, please do let us know.  

Similarly, if you are moving out of Eastbourne, and/or intend for your child to attend a different school next year, it’s vital that you let us know ASAP - this includes any children finishing with us at the end of year 6.  Please email me at principal@muritai.school.nz with any further enrolment information. 

Lockdown Learning

We have continued to receive such lovely feedback and emails from many parents at Muritai around how the lockdown learning worked in your homes during our recent stint at home in Alert Levels 4 and 3.  I have included a short survey that I invite you to fill in, so that we at Muritai can check we are on track, and continue to refine what is on offer in the learning and the support that is provided should we happen to be providing distance learning once again. 

 

Please complete the survey here: https://forms.gle/GCySuhQWiRLgjoYK9

 

Bec Power, Principal

 

 

FROM THE BOARD

 

The Muritai School Board of Trustees held its regular meeting on Tuesday 14th September. It was a very productive meeting which we were pleased to hold in person, under “level 2 delta” rules. We do have a few updates to share with you.

Student Achievement Data

Firstly, the Board would like to thank the Senior Leadership Team (SLT); Maureen Buckley, Jon Mackie, Jamie Power and Jess Richards for joining the board to present some Student Achievement Data and analysis of the data. The Board were impressed at how our Muritai learners are progressing overall and it was great to see the various strategies each syndicate has in place to support continued progression for all our learners. It was also particularly pleasing to see the mid-year maths Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) assessment analysis which shows all year groups to be achieving above the historic national average.  It is special to see results for our school’s vision for our learners to “Be the best we can be” being presented in an excellent visual way. Keep up the good work    

Please note, the data is always presented to the board in a manner, so as no specific individual child is identifiable.

Lockdown - Online Home Learning (Survey coming via email)

We were pleased to hear there was some initial positive feedback from parents and care-givers about the transition to online learning this lockdown. We also heard, in general, people were more relaxed nation-wide about the amount of online learning children did daily compared to last year’s lockdown.

Bec Power has put together a small survey (the link is above) asking just a few questions, to better understand what parents liked and what Muritai School could do more of in future when we are required to conduct online learning.  We appreciate you taking a moment to fill in the survey.

 

School Hall Project

We know you will all be pleased to hear, the board has received proposals and selected our preferred Architect firm to progress plans for updating our Muritai School Hall, including the kitchen area. We will keep you up to date with this exciting project regularly.

School Donations and Activity Fee – Reminder and Thank You

Thank you to those who have already made donation and activity fee payments for this year. The money does make a real difference and enables the school to operate and offer a wide range of activities that benefit our Muritai learners and help them be the best they can be.  

If you are yet to make your donations and school fee payments, please refer to your invoice for amount and bank details or contact the office if you require a copy of an invoice or further details.

Donations are eligible for a tax rebate, via the Inland Revenue website. We will provide you with a receipt that can be used to claim your rebate.  To make it easy there are a variety of ways to pay; in full or spread out, through cash, cheque or EFTPOS, online or by regular direct debit.

Again, the board thanks the community for making the donation payments to support the school and acknowledges gratefully all extra amounts paid which help to fund our operating costs for 2021.

Warm wishes 

Muritai School Board of Trustees

Kaye, Andrew, Bec, Jeremy, Kurt, Lisa and Felicity.

 

Term 3 Policy Review:

We invite parents to assist us in our ongoing review of school policies. This term we invite parent feedback on:

Concerns and Complaints, and Behaviour Management

How to give feedback: 

https://www.muritai.school.nz/copy-of-school-information

1. Visit the website http://muritai.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm

2. Enter the username (muritai) and password (muritaischool).

3. Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

4. Read the policy.

5. Click the Policy Review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.

6. Select the reviewer type "Board".

7. Enter your name (optional).

8. Submit your ratings and comments.

TERM 2 and 3 CALENDAR DATES

28 Sept	Starting School at 5 meeting - 10am to 11am
1 Oct	Last day of Term 3
18 Oct	First day of Term 4
22 Oct	Teach Only Day
25 Oct	Labour Day
26 Oct	BOT meeting at 6.30pm
9 Nov	Sue Allman Photos for rooms 2 and 3 and year 8 funny photo
26 Nov	Mihi Whakatau
2 to 7 Dec	Abel Tasman Camp
8 Dec	Starting School at 5 meeting - 10 to 11am
16 Dec	Last day of School

TERM DATES 2022

Our Term dates have been agreed for 2022 as follows: 

Term 1  2 Feb to 14 April

Term 2  2 May to 28 July

Term 3  25 July to 30 September

Term 4  17 October to 15 December

 

 

2021 Term Dates:

Term 3 2021 finishes on Friday 1 October with Term 4 starting on Monday 18 October through to Thursday 16 December 2021

 

We have one remaining teacher only day on Friday 22 October 2021.

 

This lines up with HVHS teacher only days which may be of help to you as well as being the Friday prior to Queen’s Birthday holiday and Labour Day enabling a long weekend for everyone.  

 

Kelly Club will very likely have holiday programmes for these Fridays for people who need care for their children. 

 

 

COMMUNITY NOTICES - Please  Note the following notices have been requested to be published and are not necessarily  endorsed by us as a school.  In the spirit of community we include these digitally for you to peruse.