Birds Eye View

Wednesday 20 August

 Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
Tena koutou katoa,

We welcome our new children Petra Gloag, Benjamin and Thomas Chadwick, Coco Farndale and Christian Catchpole who have joined Muritai School recently. I am sure you will love your time as part of our school community. Our current roll is 446!

We are nearly half way through term 3…time is ticking on quickly. The teams have begun work on their production items and the movement, enthusiasm, energy and soundtrack coming from the hall suggests it will be another amazing Muritai show.

It has been a tough month for many of the children, staff and families as this winter’s flu has hit. It is a particularly nasty strain this year with a noticeable slow recovery. We have noticed this year how sensible families have been ensuring their children have time for a good recovery instead of sending them back to school too early. Thank you for that – it is much appreciated.

Just a reminder to please, please, please contact the school if your children are not going to be at school. I apologise if we double up at times but we cross check the teachers’ roll with the office absentee diary. We are averaging about 10 non-notifications each day which is well above our usual average of 4-5 per day.  Please contact the office, not your child’s teacher, if your child is away.

ICAS WRITING
Our students performed extremely well in the ICAS writing exam. Overall the children scored 2 high distinctions, 3 distinctions and 9 credits / merits
High Distinction (Top 1%) – Olivia Morphew, Jacob Lane
Distinction (Top 10%) – Sally Bird, George Walker, Samantha Woolley, 
Credit and Merit (Top 30%) – Emmeline Gray, Samantha Morphew, Cella Connell, Yasmin Kerr, Evie Richardson, Rachel Vass, Evie Wilson, Ella Szikszai, Florence Lander

STAFFING
Welcome to Mary-Carmel Rohloff who joins the senior school as a teacher trainee working out of room 24 in year 7-8 until the end of this term.
We also welcome Nina Schneider from Germany who is at Muritai for the rest of the year. Nina is between school and university and is really looking forward to her time at our school. Thank you to the Sheriff family for hosting her during this time.

BUILDING PROGRESS
It is great to see the framing up on the library so you can start to see what it will look like and the size of the building. The team are also working around the Oroua St entrance by the old library putting in a new entrance. You can see the library plans by clicking here.

'TALL TALES'
Our production, 'Tall Tales', is beginning to take shape. Routines are developing, kids are heavily involved, the backdrop is nearly finished, and all the work behind the scenes is well underway. The dates:

Matinee (day performance) Tuesday 16th Sep at 1pm
Night performances Tuesday 16, Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th Sep at 7pm

Prior to these performances there will also be a number of whole school walk-throughs and dress rehearsals so please ensure that students are at school on those dates.

Tickets will be on sale in the office from Monday 1 September.

ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
A huge thank you to all families who purchased an Entertainment Book. Over $1,000 has been raised for the School. The winners of the early payment competition were:

The Flynn Family winning a free copy of the Entertainment Book.
The Neilson Family winning a $100 voucher for Carlton Party Hire

CARNIVAL
The carnival team met last night and with 14 weeks to go before Sunday November 23 they are making great progress with their planning, but there is a lot to do.  Notices will be coming out over the next few weeks asking for parent help.  Please put your name down where and as you can.

DISCO
Last Friday saw another hugely successful School Disco. Special thanks must go to the Eastbourne Butchers who kindly donated all the sausages for the sausage sizzle and Petone Countdown who donated $50 towards the purchase of confectionary.

Thank you also to the dedicated home and school committee (led by Narelle Ferrier) and all the parent volunteers on the night. Over $2,000 was raised which will be greatly appreciated by the school.

SUNHATS
This week a letter will be going home with the eldest child offering SUNHATS for purchase in the school house colours.

Hats are compulsory in terms 4 and 1, so it is a great time to organise yourself before the beginning of next term. Hats can be purchased for $14.00 each and maybe viewed at the school office.

STAR JAM
Last week the whole school participated in "JumpJam for StarJam”.  StarJam gives young people with disabilities the chance to experience the buzz and thrill of performing and coming together through the common love of music and dance.

All students performed Jump Jam and donated a gold coin to the StarJam initiative. In total we raised $409.10 for StarJam. Thanks for your support everyone!
 Freya, Anna and Alicia Senior Charity Group

GYMNASTICS
On Sunday Risha Smuts-Kennedy and Sage Pettus competed in a Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competition held at Onslow College. There were competitors from 7 different gyms in the Wellington area, with Risha and Sage representing the Hutt Valley Gym Team in the "Step 1 Over” age group. Both girls placed - Risha at 6th overall and Sage at 1st overall. Well done girls.

TERM DATES
The Board of Trustees have set the term dates for 2015

Term 1 - Monday 2 February – Thurs 2 April – 43 days
Term 2 - Monday 20 April - Friday 3 July - 53 days
Term 3 - Monday 20 July - Friday 25 September   - 50 days
Term 4 - Monday 12 October - Thursday 17 December – 47 days  

There are 2 teacher only days in 2015 - these are the Tuesday of Queen's Birthday and the Tuesday of Labour Weekend.

Please note in 2015 Anzac Day has been ‘Monday-ised’

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thur 28 Au           Board of Trustees mtg
Fri 29 Aug            School assembly 1.45
Tue 2 Sept           Y5-6 Zone hockey
Wed 3 Sept          Starting school at 5
Fri 5 Sept             School assembly
Wed 10 Sept       Artsplash choir - rehearsal at 11.00 and performance at 7.45
Fri 12 Sept           Dancesplash - rehearsal and performance at MFC; Stage goes up in hall.
Mon 15 Sept        School production - dress rehearsal and run through
Tue 16 Sept         School production - performance
Wed 17 Sept       School production - performance
Thurs 18 Sept     School production - performance
Wed 24 Sept       Junior school Jump Rope
Thurs 25 Sept     Board of Trustees mtg
Fri 26 Sept           School Assembly 11.45; Last day of term.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Cake Stall
The Eastbourne U6 Pirates Rugby Team will be holding a cake stall in the village this Saturday 23 August from 10am to 1pm.

Free Curtains for Community Services Card holders
Not enough curtains at home? Sustainability Trust is providing free curtains for Lower Hutt Community Services Card Holders. The Trust will be running its Curtain Bank out of Great Start Taita from August the 18th. Anyone needing free curtains can pick up a form from Great Start at 5 Cooper Street. Forms must be returned by September the1st. 
www.sustaintrust.org.nz/curtainbank or free phone 0508 78 78 24 for more info.

Kids Cross Country Series 
The next Kids Cross Country Series event for year 1 to year 8 students is on Sunday 31 August at Grenada North Park, Tawa.  Get a few friends together and form a team.  Team and individual awards.  Children get their own personalised race bib if they enter 7 days prior to each event.  You don’t need to be a club member to take part.  Everyone is welcome.  For more information or to enter go to www.athleticshub.co.nz or email jo@athleticswellington.org.nz or phone 021 976116.

NEW YOGA CLASSES starting at Muritai Yacht Club.  Begin and end the week with some Energising Sun Salutations by the ocean.  First class FREE.  

Starting Monday 25th August @ 10am and Friday 29th August @ 9.30am.  For more info FB/Sonnysyoga or call Sonny 021 800 512

SHANDON GOLF CLUB
Want to play golf?  Join the Shandon Junior Academy and we will provide you with the perfect pathway for learning how to play the game of golf.  A fantastic opportunity for you to become involved in a game where you can develop your personal skills and form new and lasting friendship.  You will receive top class coaching from NZPGA AA qualified professional, Glenn Naylor, Academy Coaching Director and his assistants.

Runs for 10 weeks starting 14 September.  Open to boys and girls aged 7 - 15.  New golfers and those already playing.  Only $2 a session or $20 a module.

For further information see our website www.shandongolf.co.nz, email shandon@golf.co.nz or Phone 04-939 6305.

Muritai Tennis Club Junior Tennis Registration Days 
Sign up to play junior interclub tennis or for junior tennis coaching this summer. Registration times are 10-midday Sunday 31 August and 11-midday Sunday 7 September at Muritai Tennis Club 365 Muritai Road. More info is on muritaitennisclub.org.nz.




Wednesday 6 August 2014

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai
Tena koutou katoa,

We welcome our Lachlan (R6) and Fraser Bellis (R8) to Muritai School. I am sure you will love you time as part of our school community.

BUILDING PROGRESS
It is great to see the sun on the building site and so the concrete was poured on the floor yesterday. This is very exciting and we should see some upward movement very soon.

MRS RYAN
It was lovely to see Mrs Ryan honoured with her primary science teacher alumni award at Fridays assembly. Richard Meylan from the Royal Society presented her with some goodies as well as $10,000 worth of funding to the school for professional development and science resources.

MAORI WIKI
As part of Maori language week Mr Chadwick and the team in room 13 have extended our Maori wikipage to guide you through learning te reo. It is excellent and you may wish to have have a look…you will learn something new. 

ICAS SCIENCE
Some of our year 5-8 students performed extremely well in the recent ICAS science exam. Overall out of the 30 children that sat the test, 20 came away with awards,  scoring one high distinction, 8 distinctions and 11 credits / merits
High Distinction (Top 1%) – Rachel Vass,
Distinction (Top 10%) – Olivia Morphew, Luke Thompson, Ethan Hester, Joshua Toomath, Samantha Woolley, Samantha Morphew, Kieran Smith, Alexander Cox-Turk
Credit and Merit (Top 30%) – Lucy Harris, Erin O’Shannessy, Dan Walker, Evie Wilson, Georgia Allan, Sophia Cave, Charlotte Humphries, Emma Littlefair, Emma Beevers, Helena Cvitanovich, Lauren Redpath

100 DAYS AT SCHOOL
The junior school had a party last week to celebrate 100 days at school this year. Have a look at room 2 and room 6 celebrations. Great job team!


ART WORKSHOP
On Monday a lucky group of Year 5 and 6 students had the opportunity to work with Anna Dixon for the day.  Anna is an art specialist who works for Office Max.  Anna led the children through a variety of printing techniques and taught the children some new ideas.  The children commented that they loved working as a smaller group and having the chance to try out new things. After school Anna took the staff in some professional development.
Anna complimented the children on their behaviour and talent which was outstanding.  Well done.

CAREERS IN Y7-8
Our year 7-8 have a careers programme in place and have enjoyed hosting some of our parents who have shared with the students what they do for a job and how and why  they got their job. This just provides a background to the students about what is involved become a professional and what opportunities are available in life beyond school. Last week we hosted Ann van der Veen, Anthony Watson and Garth Johnston and it was interesting to listen them describe their work and hearing how different their jobs are but also the  many similarities. For example all three of them needed to have strong communication skills - being able to talk and listen effectively to others. We have our next group of professionals coming next week!

LUCKY BOOK CLUB
The last day for order is Wednesday 27 August. Please pay either by Cheque (made out to Scholastic) or credit card only thanks.  Please no cash as we have to send orders through the post.

PRODUCTION
Our production, 'Tall Tales', is beginning to take shape. Practices have started this week, the speaking and acting role auditions have been completed and all the work behind the scenes is well underway. The dates:

Matinee (day performance) Tuesday 16th Sep
Night performances 16, 17th and 18th Sep

Prior to these performances there will also be a number of whole school walk throughs and dress rehearsals so please ensure that students are at school on those dates.

STAR4JAM
During the week of 11 to 15 August, Muritai School will be fundraising for kids with disabilities through a program called Star Jam!”. Star Jam helps those kids get outside to do sports and participate in performances despite their disabilities.

Muritai School will be fundraising by asking students to bring in gold coin donations in exchange for a blue wristband. The wristband will say  “I Jump Jammed 4 Star Jam!”.  The students will also get to participate in a session of Jump Jam with their friends and fellow students! Each syndicate will have a set date to do their Jump Jam Fundraising, so please bring along a gold coin! This will be a fun way of raising money for a good cause.
Freya and Alicia  / Charity Group Members
DUNE PLANTING 
“Your son or daughter may have told you they have been planting native plants on the beach. Muritai School is helping restore the sand dunes to protect the beach from erosion.  Visit our website – www.naturespace.org.nz and go to Eastbourne Dunes Protection Group.  We are only a small group and would welcome help.  We meet on the first Saturday of the month, 9-11 a.m.  If you would like to help make a difference, contact David or Judith on 562 7757.” 


YEAR 7-8 HOCKEY
On Tuesday the 29th of July the Year 7-8 girls hockey tournament was held at Fraser Park.  Despite losing the first 2 games to St Josephs and St Oran's they finished with 3 wins against Wa Ora, Maungaraki and St Peters and Paul to finish in 5th place overall. A successful day overall.


BOT FARM
Recently the Senior School watched a Play based on Animal Farm by George Orwell. Below are a couple of reviews by the senior students.

B.O.T Farm Review
On the 25th of July the years 7 and 8 watched a show based around the movie and classic book  “Animal Farm” by George Orwell.  In this show I liked how the actors made the serious parts in the show easy to process and follow, as well as the humour that they managed to put into it.

My personal favourite character in the show was “Molly”, this was because of the way that she made me laugh with the way that she over-dramatised everything.  My favourite part in the show was the parody of the song “Blurred Lines” that they made, and the one liners out of Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.
 Mary Heath

B.O.T Farm, a spin off from the novel and movie Animal Farm, was a funny and interesting play which explored the idea of communism.

I thought the play would be the same as Animal Farm, but Bot Farm changed the story into something kids would like. BOT Farm included reality T.V shows and new technology into their play making it an entertaining thing to watch. I enjoyed all the accents the three actors put on for all six main characters because it made it funny to watch. At times it was hard to tell which character was which from the original  novel, making it a little hard to follow the story.

My favourite character was the dumb, pretty girl called Molly. She was so funny to watch and by the end she had a tiny idea about what was going on but then forgot about that after she won the reality show. Overall, BOT Farm was a funny and enjoyable play to watch.
Emeline Gray
TERM DATES
The Board of Trustees have set the term dates for 2015

Term 1 - Monday 2 February – Thursday 2 April – 43 days
Term 2 - Monday 20 April - Friday 3 July - 53 days
Term 3 - Monday 20 July - Friday 25 September   - 50 days
Term 4 - Monday 12 October - Thursday 17 December – 47 days  

There are 2 teacher only days in 2015 - these are the Tuesday of Queen's Birthday and the Tuesday of Labour Weekend.

Please note in 2015 Anzac Day has been ‘Mondayised’.

CARNIVAL COMMITTEE
The team is busy behind the scenes preparing for this year's carnival to be held on Sunday November 23. Soon they will be looking for 'parent labour' to help on the big day so start thinking and preparing for how you can be part of our big bi-annual school fundraiser.

HOME AND SCHOOL
A reminder of our school disco next Friday the 15th of August.

Years 1-3    5.00 - 6.00pm
Years 4-6    6.15 - 7.45pm
Years 7-8    8.00 - 9.30pm

Cost: $5.00 which includes a glow stick and an ice block. Pay on the door. There will be a SAUSAGE SIZZLE ($2) throughout the evening. Kids... get ready to dance the night away to the latest top 40 hits.

ARTSPLASH

Our Artsplash choir have been practising hard for their performance and are sounding fantastic.  They will be performing at the Michael Fowler Centre on Wednesday 10 September.  Tickets are available from the school office at $5 each.  Families are able to purchase 3 and can go on the wait list for extra tickets.



100 YEARS SINCE WW1
George and Lucy along with the  Mirfin Newman family are excited this week to see their great Grandad Melville Mirfin  be commemorated in a series of  stamps that contains images of World War 1. On the 5th August it will have been 100 years since the beginning of  the war. Bank clerk Melville signed up in the first week and managed survive the action from one end of the war to the other. The series of stamps depict the war through the eyes of normal families.




UPCOMING EVENTS

Tue 12 Aug  -   ICAS Maths
Fri 15 Aug  -   Star4Jam; School assembly 1.45; School Disco
Tue 19 Aug  -   Y7-8 Netball 
Thur 28 Aug  -   Board of Trustees mtg
Fri 29 Aug  -   School assembly 1.45
Tue 2 Sept  -   Y5-6 Zone hockey
Wed 3 Sept  -   Starting school at 5
Fri 5 Sept  -   School assembly
Wed 10 Sept  -  Artsplash choir - rehearsal at 11.00 and performance at 7.45
Fri 12 Sept  -   Dancesplash - rehearsal and performance at MFC; Stage goes up in hall.
Mon 15 Sept  -   School production - dress rehearsal and run through
Tue 16 Sept  -   School production - performance
Wed 17 Sept  -   School production - performance
Thurs 18 Sept  -  School production - performance
Wed 24 Sept  -  Junior school Jump Rope
Thurs 25 Sept  -  Board of Trustees mtg
Fri 26 Sept  -  School Assembly 11.45; Last day of term.

Mon 13 October - First day of term 4


COMMUNITY


Wainuomata BMX Club Open Day
Saturday 6th September 2014,
Registration from 1pm, Racing from 2pm

Enjoy riding a bike?  Like riding fast and jumping?  Why not have a go at BMX racing.

BMX racing is a great sport to be part of and maybe one day you too
Could compete at the Olympics. Great sport for the whole family to be involved in. We have members as young as 5, with Mums and Dads racing as well.

Bring any bike & helmet, long sleeve shirt, long pants & gloves (gardening gloves are fine).  Demonstrations from the Capital Model Racers club. Be at the track to be in with a chance to win a brand new remote control race car.

Come along and have some fun!

Hugh Sinclair Park, The Strand, Wainuiomata


www.facebook.com/wainuiomata.bmx


FUN Spanish for kids in Eastbourne
We have a wonderful Spanish-speaking teacher available

Lots of interactive and communicative activities – role play, craft, lively games, songs and drama.

Free trial class as soon we have enough children
Contact Stefi Plimmer-Blattner on stefi@lcfclubs.co.nz, or phone 562 8211. Visit the website www.lcfclubs.co.nz.


Fun German for Kids

Contact Stefi Plimmer-Blattner on stefi@lcfclubs.co.nz, or phone 562 8211. Visit the website www.lcfclubs.co.nz.






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