FRIDAY 14 APRIL

Kia Ora Muritai Whānau

FROM THE SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

It is the end of our first term of learning in 2022. It has been one to certainly keep us on our toes, whilst we have been used to moving into lockdowns in the past, starting the year with restrictions has certainly brought a whole new dimension to teaching and learning at Muritai School. We are pleased with the announcement of the move to the Orange setting and are currently looking into the directions from the Ministry of Education that we received last night. We will be reviewing their recommendations carefully before making decisions around changes to our day to day practices and will inform you of these changes in our COVID response plan later in the holidays ready to be implemented on the first day of Term 2.

Our students are to be commended for their ability to be flexible in their learning spaces; home, school or in a different class and/or different teacher over this past term. They have enjoyed a wide range of learning opportunities some of which have been shared with you via Imovies, newsletters, or Google Classroom and Seesaw platforms. We are so very lucky to have such a wonderful community who have put their trust in us to manage their tamariki’s learning whilst under the Red traffic light system. A big thanks also to our teachers and support staff for all the adaptations and changes to the ‘normal’ way of teaching and learning that have occurred to ensure that we have been able to maintain a business as usual approach during these unusual times. We really appreciate everything that they have done for each of the children at Muritai School as well as look after each other. 

Like you and your family, we are all very much looking forward to the Easter break, to enjoy company with our own families and friends, and to recharge for the coming Term 2 start. We are particularly proud of the work that our teachers and students have done over Term 1. We are definitely in a great place to start Term 2 with the essential groundwork having been done to ensure a positive teaching and learning focused programme continues throughout the rest of the year. We are also very aware of the need to balance this with social well being as we truly believe in a holistic approach to education in the primary years. 

We welcome Elena Forlong who will be teaching our newest cohort in Room 3 from next Term.  Elena is looking forward to joining our Korora team.  We also welcome Christiana Indarto and Sydney MacBeath as teacher aides who joined our support team recently.  We thank Susanna Anderson and Pip Wareing for supporting some of our learners and wish them all the best in their new ventures.

ANZAC day once again falls during the holiday break and, whilst there is no scheduled ANZAC parade this year, you may have noticed that we have the poppies on the gates and fences around the War Memorial. These were placed on the gates by our newly appointed head and deputy head students. 

Introducing - Our new Year 8 head students …

Head Students - Mackenzie Reddaway and Tom Neilson

Deputy Head Students - Bodhi Kane and AJ Durant 

Our warmest congratulations to Kenzie, Tom, AJ and Bodhi; we look forward to working with you throughout the year. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our community for the support of the ANZAC poppy donations. 

We wish everyone a fabulous Easter break and holiday and look forward to our students and staff returning with fully charged batteries on Monday May 2nd. We hope that you keep well and safe and enjoy some special family time along with not forgetting the odd Easter treat. Please do not hesitate to contact us, via email if you have any questions with respect to your child’s learning. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Ngā mihi nui

FROM THE SCHOOL

Slippers at School

Please send a pair of slippers to school for your child/ren next term to be worn during Terms 2 and 3.  We ask that they put these on when they come into the school and after break times.  This is to save the cleaners from having to clean up mud throughout the school after they have been out on the field.  It also keeps their toes nice and cosy during the colder months.  Please name them as we will have a lot of slippers on the racks!

New Soccer Goals

Our soccer goals have arrived and are now up on the school field.  Children were enjoying games of football almost before we could get them set up on the field.  Many thanks to Jamie Power, Jon Mackie and Michael for putting them together and also Kurt Renner who instigated this project.  We look forward to seeing lots of children playing football over the holidays.

BasketBall Hoop

You may have noticed that we are missing a basketball hoop as this was damaged at the end of last year.  It has taken us a while to get a new basketball hoop and backboard but they have finally arrived.  We will be putting these up as soon as possible, however, we are having problems with the supports and it is taking us longer than we hoped.  

Home and School Recipe Book

The Home and School Committee will be fundraising to purchase new and improved kitchen appliances for the school hall refurbishment.  The first fundraiser for this year is a Muritai School Recipe Book.  See below for details:

DIARY DATES:

2 May First day of Term 2

19 May Dental Van at Muritai School

25 May BOT Meeting at 6.30

6 June Queen’s Birthday holiday

13 – 17 June School Photos

22 June BOT Meeting at 6.30

24 June Matariki holiday

8 July Last day of Term 2

TERM DATES:

Term 1  2 February to 14 April

Term 2  2 May to 8 July

Term 3  25 July to 30 September

Term 4  17 October to 15 December

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.