FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Kia ora Koutou and welcome to our second newsletter for this term! We warmly welcome Nova Mayhem (Room 14) and her whanau to Muritai School.
What a fabulous week we have had jam packed as usual with lots of wonderful learning opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom for our students. There’s a big buzz around the school as students are finishing their inquiries, cohort 4 students and their whanau are visiting, netball practices on the courts at lunchtimes, visits to the dental van, music played on xylophones, piano and guitars, Kapa Haka for years 4 and above to attendance at the Young Leader’s Day and Cross Country events. We are having our next full school assembly today hosted by the Tūī team - our learners in Years 3 and 4.
We are so delighted to have our parents and caregivers back in and around our school and it was especially pleasing to finally meet with you face to face at the learning conversations. It was great to share some of the learning that your child/children have been involved in during this year so far. We have a great team of teachers who are focused on your child’s learning so I do hope you have a clearer understanding of what your child is working on. If you need to discuss anything further, please do not hesitate to email your child’s teacher to make an appointment.
On Tuesday it was such a pleasure to join 24 students from Kahu and Mr Mackie to attend the Young Leader’s Day. The behaviour of all our students was exemplary! The theme was resilience and at the end of the day I am sure that they all walked away feeling inspired to take on different challenges and think about what they each can do to make the world a better place. They were spellbound as they heard from a wide variety of different speakers who shared their stories on how they have developed resilience in their lives e.g. from the young woman who lost an arm in a car accident, William Pike who was trapped in a volcanic eruption to Sam Johnson who shared the latest venture he has been involved in as part of the Student Volunteer Army to name a few. They particularly enjoyed the team building games and singing and dancing with singer/songwriter Georgia Lines.
Congratulations!
Toitoi is a journal which celebrates the ideas, imaginations and creative spirit of New Zealand’s young writers and artists. They publish material with an original and authentic voice that other young people can connect to and be inspired by. Our warmest congratulations goes to Lars Meyer-Westfeld who was accepted as an illustrator! His artwork involving different shells has been published in their latest edition. Absolutely stunning!
Pink Shirt Day
What a fun and colourful day it was around the school last Friday! Students and staff were dressed in a variety of items of pink from their wardrobes. The message ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind’ was certainly evident during the whole day. It was especially wonderful to see teina/tuakana relationships between our big and little buddies developing as they worked together alongside each other. The final amount of $482 was generously donated to the Mental Health Foundation and will go towards raising bullying prevention.
Team Kororā created a sea of pink at their assembly last week.
The first venture for the Charity Ambassadors in 2022.
I was very impressed with our students from Years 4 and above who chose to take part in our annual competitive Cross Country. They certainly showed tenacity as they battled the strong wind and did a superb job running along the course doing their best and never giving up when it got tough to keep on going to reach the finish line. Special thanks to the Tūī teaching team for organising this annual event.
I was also very proud of the kindness and sportsmanship in our students that shone through at the South East Zone Cross Country this week. A huge thank you to the staff and parents who contributed in a myriad of ways to ensure the success of these events. We are very grateful to you all for giving up your time and for supporting each student!
We want to continue building our home and school partnership and have planned some more activities occurring over the next few weeks for whanāu to be part of.
PARENT INFORMATION - SAVE THE DATES
Mark these in your diaries! More details will follow closer to the time.
Mihi Whakatau - Friday June 10th at 10 a.m. All staff and students who have started at Muritai since June last year will be invited to join us.
Buddy Fun Run - Friday June 10th at 1.30 p.m. on our school field. This was postponed last week.
Cyber Safety -Tuesday June 21st - 7 - 9 p.m. - an evening for parents and caregivers to hear about how to keep your child/children safe with devices and social media - Koha entry - limited seating due to Orange so please register with Jo in the office the number of seats you require.
MATARIKI Celebration - Thursday June 30th - 3.15 p.m. - 6.15 p.m. We are welcoming all students and their whanau to join us in a special celebration where we are showcasing our STEAM learning about Matariki. Our Kapa Haka group will perform. A whanau hui will follow this at 6.30 p.m. in the school library. Bring a picnic or fish and chips, etc to enjoy with your whanau.
Structured Literacy - Parent tip 1.
As part of our Structured Literacy journey all Muritai staff have watched the following video to ensure that everyone across our school pronounces the New Zealand speech sounds correctly. Please watch this short video so that you are familiar with this and can support your child to use the correct sounds in their reading, writing and spelling at home too. The Speech Sounds of New Zealand English
This term we are reviewing some policies and procedures with the focus being on the Healthcare and Behaviour Management sections in Schooldocs. Reviews are open to the school community (parents, caregivers, whanau) staff and Board of Trustees and anyone can review any policy or procedure with a red, review flag.
To get started, go to our school website www.muritai.school.nz and in the Home section drop down menu you will find school docs and once there go to the section entitled ‘Reviews.’
Policies to be reviewed -
Healthcare
Medicines, Managing Minor/Moderate Injury, Managing Serious Injury and illness, Infectious diseases, Reporting and Recording Accidents and Incidents.
Behaviour Management
Bullying and Online Bullying, Surrender and retention of Property searches.
THANK YOU!
Thank you to Miss Williams for organising and supervising the lunch time running club in the Kererū team and to the other teachers who are supporting this venture.
Special thanks also to Kurt Renner and Jimmy Mitchell for supplying and installing window covers for the stand alone classroom nearest the field. These are designed to stop the windows being broken by wayward balls from football games.
We continue to follow health and safety guidelines under Orange in an effort to keep protecting members of our community from COVID particularly those who are more vulnerable. For Kapa Haka and other activities that are held in our hall we remind everyone that mask wearing needs to occur along with all areas being well ventilated. Please send your children (year 4 and above) with masks for these activities. Also a reminder that children 12 and above should wear masks on buses.
Thank you to parents and caregivers who are keeping their children at home if they are unwell especially with the cooler weather and winter around the corner which brings colds, flu and RSV along with COVID. Currently we have a shortage of teachers and teacher aides to work in our classrooms due to illness so if you know of anyone who is available to help us out, even for part of a day, please ask them to contact either Carole in the office or myself or send a CV in to me buckley@muritai.school.nz
Looking ahead to next week - it is WOW week. I am really looking forward to seeing our students engaged in some fun learning activities around the concept of Matariki STEAM. They will be learning about Matariki using all areas of STEAM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) throughout the week. The outcome from each child will be on display at our Matariki celebration mentioned above for you to come in and enjoy. Extra fun activities are also planned around the playground at lunchtimes too.
If you have any questions regarding our school or your child please do not hesitate to contact me.
Have a wonderful weekend with your family and friends.
Ngā mihi kia koutou,
Maureen Buckley
Acting Principal
buckley@muritai.school.nz
FROM THE SCHOOL
SCHOOL PHOTOS
Sue Allman of Sue Allman People will be here taking school photos in the week starting Monday 13 June. To order photos, please use the following link:
Muritai School Photo Order Form
The closing date for orders is 1pm on Friday 10th June.
Please note that there will be a $10 charge for late orders received after this date.
We will send out the timetable for photos shortly.
TEACHER ONLY DAYS - Dates for these are not confirmed as yet but you will be informed in due course.
SPORT
Some of our runners waiting to take part in the South East Zone Cross Country.
Unfortunately we did not go ahead with the Buddy Fun Run due to the weather but we did hold our competitive cross country competition. Children who placed in the top ten then qualified for the Zone competition.
Again, the top 10 from each year group at Zones qualified for the Inter Zones and will now compete at Trentham Memorial Park on 14 June at Trentham Memorial Park. These children are:
Well done to all the children who competed in both the Muritai School competition and the Zones. Good luck to our competitors in the up-coming competition.
Inter School Cross Country - Some writing to enjoy from the children’s perspectives:
“First we went into Room 12 with my teacher and then we had morning tea. I was feeling nervous. We then went on the double decker bus plus London bus. When we got there it was the Year 5 /6 turn then it was my turn. We did a warm up then ran around the rocks and the trees and then through to the finish line. Top 15 go through but sadly I came 28th. Max Young Y4
“First we watched the Year 5 and 6’s then it was our turn. I was nervous and excited at the same time for my turn. I was warming up on the field, I saw some of my friends from rugby, they were excited too. We then had to line up at the orange cones. Then 3, 2, 1, Bam, we were off, I was so focussed. I was jogging at like 75% then I looked if I was still in the top 15, I just had to keep pace. I did this for the first lap, then I got tired and dropped to 50%. I was trying so hard to keep in the top 15. I was running my heart out, it was so tiring, when I got close to the finish I ran 100% and I overtook two people.” Murphy Theobald Y4
When we got to the hall, we were a mix of emotions. We were excited, nervous, scared and happy, all mixed together. When we lined up to get our Muritai jackets, the feelings got stronger. When we got outside to hop on the bus, everyone screamed! We had the English Rose, the old double decker bus. Everyone ran to the top deck. The ride there was amazing. When we got there, we were just in time to watch the Year 8s. We had stronger emotions than ever. We cheered on the Year 8’s with all our might. Sofia Water Y5
That made us a bit tired! Then it was the Year 6s. We, again, cheered with all our might. Then the Year 5 boys… We were coming up, so we took off our jackets. We were called up. We ran over to our warm up. After the warm up, we were on the starting line. Our emotions were the strongest they could be, because it was our time to race. Clap! The wooden blocks of the starter clapped together. We ran. At the end we ran down the stopbank. Georgia Gellatly Y5
We sprinted. We were given laminated numbers, then we showed our numbers to the scorers. We went back to the waiting area and spent the rest of our time there cheering on the Year 4s. Again, that made us pretty tired. Then we lined up to go back. We were sad to leave, but we were happy to go back to school. At the end of all that, Muritai School had done amazingly. Everyone had been commenting on our amazing school spirit. P.S We were definitely the loudest cheerers by far. Lucy Sherwin Y5
On Thursday the 15th the year 4-8s walked down in their syndicates to the rec. Everyone tried their hardest to win and I congratulate everyone who did the race and did their best.The weather was okay. I highly recommend you to join the next cross country as this one was so much fun. Also good luck to everyone going to inter zones, try your best and remember to be the best you can be. Sabine Woolloff Y8
DIARY DATES:
TERM DATES 2022:
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.
French lesson for kids at Muritai - Free Trial Tuesday 31st May lunch time.
Experience French learning the fun way! Children speak French from the first lesson
ages 5 to 10, lessons once a week, lots of interactive activities: active games, drama, music, writing, quiet grounding activities
For more details contact Stefi on stefi@lcfclubs.co.nz or 021 178 2099
see website www.lcfclubs.co.nz
