Bird's Eye View

Wednesday 3 September  

Naumai e te whanau o te kura Muritai

Tena koutou katoa,

Welcome to our new students - Mick Dolk (room 22) and Sofija Perez-Benet (room 1). 

As we enter the last four weeks of term the school is a hive of activity.  We are all looking forward to enjoying a good break at the end of this ten weeks. At present we have Danceplash, our Artsplash choir and our school production 'Tall Tales' on the go. Teachers, children and volunteer parents are all working hard to make these events a huge success whilst at the same time keeping the learning in classrooms ticking over. It is an interesting juggling act but an exciting challenge. I do have to pay tribute to our staff who each year take up the challenge and their creativity, cohesiveness, collaboration and partnership is a joy to be part of. It is a tight knit team and your children are producing stunning results. While many schools are dropping these events from their annual progamme, Muritai continues to provide these experiences for the children and create opportunities for them to shine.

As our winter sports programme draws to a close we thank the huge number of volunteers who have given their time to provide sporting opportunities for the children - not just in coaching and managing the Muritai netball, basketball, cross country, flipperball and water polo teams but also Eastbourne rugby and soccer teams as well. It is a tremendous community to be part of and every year we have people step up and be part of the action to enable the children to be the best that they can be. Thank you so much to our coaches and managers on behalf of the children of Muritai School.

KIDSCAN LUNCHBOX DAY

You may have seen on Campbell Live last night the segment on families struggling to provide lunch for their children at school. You can view this segment by clicking this link: http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/campbelllive/empty-fridges-highlight-kiwi-poverty-2014090119 

The students at Muritai School are really keen to help these families. This Friday, 5 September, we will be hosting a food drive for a school in the Hutt Valley where many students come to school hungry and with no lunch. This makes learning harder and more unpleasant.

Your family can also choose to donate $3 by texting 'lunch' to 2448.

We realise this is rather late notice but we would appreciate if every child could please bring some kind of long lasting and sealed pantry food on this day.  The food will donated to the Kids Can Charity, which started this excellent idea, for their distribution.

From Mia Treadwell Burke & Freya Neal

Muritai Charity Ambassadors

SCIENCE FAIR

We had an excellent return at the NIWA science fair held last week. The children spent the day waiting to explain their investigation to the judges. Their ability to explain their presentation in scientific terms got them across the line in terms of honours. Congratulations to our award winners –

Emeline Gray - NZ Institute of food science and technology award - Do light proof milk bottles have any effect on the taste of milk?

Lily Griffith - Geoscience society of NZ prize - Does the temperature of the air effect the temperature of the sea? 

Emily Daymond- King - Highly Commended - Which kitty-litter absorbs the most liquid?

Alice McFarlane - Highly Commended - Which leather protector protects leather the best?

Alexander Cox-Turk - Highly Commended - What natural kitchen products can slow down the growth of mould?

SCHOOL PRODUCTION – TALL TALES

Our show is fast approaching. Dances and songs are being tuned up and the actors are busy learning their lines for dramatic effect. The performances are Matinee show at 1.00pm on Tuesday 16th and Evening shows at 7.00pm on Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th September (2 weeks’ time). 

Once again Home and School will be selling refreshments at the school production and are looking for volunteers who can either work on one of the nights or provide nibbles.

If you would love to help out please contact Briar Bloomfield at justinandbriar@xtra.co.nz stating which night you would prefer and what you would like to help with.

Tickets are available from the school office.  We have to limit ticket sales to three per family to ensure everyone can see their child perform but we will take names for further tickets.  Prices are $7.50 per adult, $5 per child or senior citizen.

DANCESPLASH

We have a strong group representing us this at the Dancesplash festival on the 12th September at 7.45 at the Michael Fowler Centre. This very large group have worked hard under the guidance of Mr Chadwick and Mrs Hooke and look extremely polished. Get your $5 tickets from the front office.

ARTSPLASH

Our choir this year is just stunning. The performances so far at assembly have been just wonderful and the office staff are enjoying Thursday rehearsal just before lunch when Mrs Hooke and Miss Lee work their magic. They are performing at the Michael Fowler Centre next Wednesday the 10th September at 7.45pm. Please ensure you have your tickets as there are very few left.  They are available from the front office at $5 each.

CARNIVAL

The team are meeting tonight at 7pm in the staffroom.

ASSEMBLY THIS WEEK

We had planned another school assembly this Friday but have now cancelled due to other activities.

SUSTAINABILITY

The Term Rooms 1, 2 and 3 have been taking part in a sustainability programme.  The children have been learning about, for example, bees, trees, rubbish, weather, etc through interactive stories.  These stories involve learning about the environment and making a positive difference.  They also do related science experiments and have the opportunity to take action at home and school.

MOVEMPROVE

Each Monday all children in the Junior School take part in a movement programme.  This programme is run by the coaches from Hutt Valley Gymsports and the children and improving their physical skills.

JUNIOR ASSEMBLY

Room 2 hosted a lovely assembly involving the celebration of Diwali, photos of which can be found on the wall in Room 2.  Room 2 also did Rakau with their buddies and a movie of this can be seen on Room 2’s blog.

ERO BOOKLETS FOR FAMILIES

The Education Review Office (ERO) publishes a series of five booklets for parents and caregivers. They are excellent reads and you can access them by clicking here.

HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

MASC has some exciting things happening these holidays.  They are going on some cool outings to the Island Bay Marine Education Centre, Indoor Roller Skating, TePapa & Frank Kitts Park and Matiu / Somes Island.  Their at-school days will be packed with great activities too.  Look out for them around Eastbourne on their 'Detective Day' where children will be on the hunt for clues to solve a mystery.  You might see some giant bubbles floating around when they make some giant bubble wands!  They'll also be building a mega marble run, having a fun 'Sports & Team Activity Day' and making some funky flowerpot cupcakes.

Forms are available at the school office or can be filled out online at: http://muritaiafterschoolcare.blogspot.co.nz/ (go to the Holiday Programme Book Online tab).

MURITAI AFTER SCHOOL CARE ARE HAVING A BOOK SWAP PARTY AND EVERYONE IS INVITED!

On Friday 3 October we will be having a book swap event from 2:30pm-4pm in the Muritai School Hall as part of our Holiday Programme.  The children on the programme will be organising the event but all children are welcome to attend and swap books.

If your child would like to participate have them choose books from home they no longer need / want and bring them in to After School Care from 3pm, Monday 8th September - Friday 26th November.  We will record each child’s name and the number books they have given.  On the book swap day they will be given tokens which they can swap for an equal amount of books.

There will be a little book cafe set up so children cat sit, browse through books and enjoy some light refreshments.

Please ensure that books bought in to swap are appropriate for children aged 5-12 years old and are in a good readable condition.  We will not be swapping magazines.

Children attending on the day must be accompanied by an adult.

HEALTH – HEAD LICE

It would appear that some classrooms are experiencing problems with head lice.  Can you please check your child/rens hair regularly.  If you do find that your child has head lice, please treat them prior to bringing them to school and continue to treat them until you don’t find any more over several days.  A great and inexpensive way to treat them is to put plenty of conditioner through your child’s hair and then come through with a fine tooth comb.

$100 NOTE RAFFLE

The Year 8's are running a raffle fundraising for their end of year camp in Abel Tasman.  For $2 you choose a number out of 100 with the chance to win a $100 note.  Please come to the office with your $2 if you would like to be in to win the $100.

SPORTS

Basketball

Tom Flynn, Callan Hughes, Lincoln Moffat and Tobias Knight, all boys in Barbara McKenzie's Year 7 Muritai basketball team, have been selected for the U13 Hutt Valley Basketball team.  They will be going to a regional tournament in Dunedin for a week in early October.  It is very impressive to get 4 boys from one team into the reps and is a credit to Barbara's coaching and the boys effort, skill and teamwork.

Barbara is really proud of the boys, they work hard and play a wonderful team game.  Other players in the team are Hannah Moffat, Ben Cass and Matthew Jones.  They play in the Year 7 boys league in Taita where they came 3^rd out of 10 teams in Term 2 and this term they were undefeated!   Every year they have played they have been 2nd overall, so this year Barbara is hoping to get a 1st!

Rugby

Lincoln Moffat has also played lock for the second consecutive year for the Hutt Valley rep rugby team. This year in the under 12 team which was unbeaten in the inter and intra-provisional competitions in both years. He is the only Eastbourne boy to be selected.

Also two Muritai senior school children received club awards at the Eastbourne Junior Rugby Football Club prize-giving - Lincoln Moffat was the most outstanding age grade forward and Jake Murphy was the most outstanding age grade back. Well done boys.  

Tennis

Callan Hughes has also been selected to represent the Hutt Valley in tennis.

Netball

We have come to the end of another successful Netball season for Muritai School.  The players have learned new skills and have played well and fairly.  We managed to get 9 netball teams up and running this year and the children have enjoyed the experience and done extremely well. In particular, our Year 5 team won the first round in their grade being moved up a grade and went on to win their next grade.  Out of 16 games they won 14, lost 1 and defaulted 1.  Well done to all the players this year.

It has been a huge effort for all concerned and we say a huge thank you to our netball coaches, managers and supporters for making this such a successful experience. The quality coaching the children have received augurs well for the future of netball at Muritai.

CALENDAR

Wed 3 Sept         Mathswell Competition Year 7/8

                            Starting School at 5 at 7pm in Room 3

                            Carnival Meeting at 7pm in the Staff Room

Thurs 4 Sept       Netball Shared Lunch

Sat 6 Sept           Tournament of Minds (Year 7/8)

Wed 10 Sept       Artsplash Choir Rehearsal

                            Artsplash Performance at Michael Fowler Centre

Fri 12 Sept          ASB Girl’s Football Festival

                            Dancesplash Rehearsal

                            Dancesplash Performance at Michael Fowler Centre

Tue 16 Sept        School Production Matinee at 1pm

                            School Production Evening Performance at 7pm

Wed 17 Sept       School Production Evening Performance at 7pm

Thur 18 Sept       School Production Evening Performance at 7pm

Fri 26 Sept          Assembly

                            Last Day of Term 3

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Learn to Sail.  The Muritai Yacht Club runs a learn to sail program on Saturday mornings from 8am to 10am. This is suitable for children 9 years and over. If you are interested or require further information please contact Ben Allan on benallan.nz@gmail.com or come down to the Muritai Yacht Club registration day on Saturday the 6th of September from 9am to 12am.

Days Bay Play Art of Mythical Creatures Class

Sign up now for a fun term of dragons, fairies and more fantastic creatures. Class will run after school on Mondays for six weeks in term four, for ages 7-12. Check out the details at http://daysbayplay.blogspot.co.nz/ or email daysbayplay@gmail.com. 

Babysitter Available
Jasmine Henwood.  I am 32 years old and live in the Eastbourne area.  I am available to look after your kids.  Please give me a call on 562 7009 or 021 171 6721.  Hourly rate $10.