Friday 18 December 2020




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, this is our final newsletter for 2020. 

The final term of each year is always one of energy, excitement and events - we have had so many wonderful events over the past two weeks with our varied syndicate EOTC activities, senior camps and outdoor challenges as well as the many activities across every syndicate... It’s no wonder that some of our children (and teachers/parent helpers) are looking a little tired and ready for a well deserved summer break!
 
Our annual farewell to our Year 8 students who are graduating Muritai school and heading on to High School took place over this past week with a Year 8 Formal - which is one of our most special events each year.  The evening has so much joy and celebration - amongst the sniffles of nostalgia and pride (from parents and us teachers alike!) A special mention must go to the staff and parents who made this evening such a phenomenal success - especially our Kahū teachers for the organisation, our volunteer parent ‘formal committee’ who decorated the hall so beautifully, and also our year 7 parent volunteers who continue the ‘pass it on’ tradition running the kitchen for the Formal dinner each year. 
 
This week we farewelled our Year 8 learners, and also some other learners in different year groups who are moving towns, across the country or off to new schooling, and with them many parents and families too.  Many of these families have been a part of  our school community for a long time - some over a decade!
 
We thank you all for your support and for being an important part of our school community.  If your child is the first to graduate from your family we congratulate you, and if the last from your household we sadly farewell our formal association, however as I have said many times over the past week - once you’ve joined us at Muritai, you're forever a part of our Muritai school family. 
 
As part of the evening we presented the following Year 8 awards - these awards were re-awarded as we traditionally do in front of the whole school at our Year 8 Graduation assembly yesterday.  


Cup

2020

Class of 61 Cup

 ~ “Outstanding Contribution to Muritai School”       

Awarded to that pupil who has consistently excelled in a variety of activities and challenges during their time within Muritai School

Sadie Devenport


Kirsty and Isabella Clarke Cup

 ~ “Positive Contribution to Muritai School”

Awarded to the child who has consistently made a positive contribution to the peer group to ensure a positive environment at Muritai School.     

Ori Hoskin


Abel Tasman Cup

~ “Awarded to that pupil who has risen to the challenge of the Abel Tasman Experience and made the most of the opportunity to show teamwork, optimism, enthusiasm, and to be inspired by the challenge

Marieve Wilson- Bray

Newton family Cup

Service to the School

Awarded to the pupil who in their time at Muritai School has continuously served the school to the highest quality – taken on challenges, volunteered their time, helped others, been noticed for their quality conduct and used their initiative.

Devon Reddaway


Beck Family Cup – Leadership and contribution to sport  & Sporting Successes - Acknowledging sporting success throughout the year. 

Girl

Ishbel Cook


The Mills Cup for Contribution to the Arts 

Awarded to the student who has shown commitment and dedication to involvement across all areas of the arts including, visual, music, Kapa haka, movement/dance, singing and throughout their integrated studies.

Macy Warbrick


Swain Family Cup for Leadership and Contribution to Sport- Boy

Inaki Zaballa

Debbie Bertaud Memorial Cup for Commitment to Science and Technology

A cup and book voucher in memory of Debbie Bertaud, pupil, parent, tutor, mentor, awarded to the student who has made the greatest commitment to science and technology during her or his time at Muritai School.

Torin O’Neill

Stotter Family Cup.

An all round student who is committed and dedicated to contribute and perform with excellence to new challenges in the environment, sporting and cultural life of Muritai School with a smile and positive attitude. 

Bella Diamond

Jacobsen Cup for excellence in Mathematics Girls & Boys

Awarded to that pupil who has consistently excelled in the area of Mathematics.

Matthew Cowley


Ishbel Cook

The Broadbent Cup for excellence in Literacy. (New for 2011)

Awarded to that pupil who has consistently excelled in the area of Literacy ~ 

Leo Languette

Kyle Sturgess Cup - Music 

Awarded to that pupil who has consistently excelled in the area of Music, both in exhibition and leadership.

Bella Diamond

Academic Prize

Awarded to those students who worked hard in their academic studies and have consistently shown academic excellence across a wide range of subject areas

BOY & GIRL

Boy 

Ori Hoskin


Girl:

Hollie Ridley-Gibbons


Nicholas Bahler Award Empathy

Given to the student who has shown care, empathy, consideration and kindness to other students who have physical, mental or social challenges. 

Torin O’Neill

The Malama Cup – 

The inspiring Visionary

This award acknowledges someone who is a true asset to Muritai School. A person who strives to be the best person they can be through hard work and determination.

Liam Eldridge-Fright


Kapa haka- for inspirational leadership of  Kapa haka.

Matthew Russell


Pointin Cup - Debating

For speeches or debating

  • Delivered at debate

Emmy McKay


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.  The Trust Account is managed by our Board of Trustees and all recipients are highly confidential.  If you or someone you know are 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
In 2020 the Alistair Blair Trust donated $400 - this money was used to enable a child to attend the Abel Tasman camp, and in support of two children to join the Makahika Camp.  We as a school community once again thank the Blair family for their ongoing generosity to the children of Muritai School.   
 
Thank You
Thank you to all of you - to our parents and whānau who are all so dedicated and supportive of the joint educational relationship for your children.  This support and connection is an important and key factor in what makes Muritai such an outstanding place to learn and to work. 
 
Thank you to our Board of Trustees - to Andrew, Jeremy, Kurt, Lisa, Kaye and Felicity.  2020 asked a lot of you as a group of parent volunteers! Thank you for the time you donated to supporting me, our staff and our students which is much appreciated.  
 
I’d like to acknowledge our Home and School team who drive all of our fundraising.  They are a small yet dynamic and energised group of Super-parents! Thank you to the whole H & S team for all you have done for us and our Muritai children in 2020. 
 
Thank you to all for the generous donations we receive from parents - financially and in time donated to the school.  
 
Thank you for the time parents have spent assisting with class events, fundraising, attending class trips, overnight stays, regular road patrol, returning learning resources and books to shelves, volunteering time in classrooms, EOTC helpers and much much more!
 
Finally to our whole Muritai staff - congratulations on another outstanding year at Muritai school. Thank you for your never ending energy, efforts, and for the dedication you bring as a member of our Muritai School team.
I always feel so proud to work alongside these brilliant educators and thank each of our staff for their commitment to our school, our students and our wider school community - in many and varied ways. I wish you all a very well deserved school holiday break! 
 
I wish each and every one of you all a fantastic holiday break and  look forward to seeing you all back rejuvenated and ready for another amazing year in 2021.  School begins again on Thursday 4th February in 2021. 
 
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all, 
 
Ngā manaakitanga,
 
Bec Power, Principal

TERM DATES 2021 

Our Term dates have been agreed for 2021 as follows: 
Term 1 4 February to 16 April
Term 2 3 May to 9 July
Term 3 26 July to 1 October
Term 4 18 October to 16 December
 
Our 2021 Teacher Only Days are still to be set.


December 11th 2020

 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, 


This week has been a festival of fun with so many differing opportunities for students in every team! What lucky learners we have at Muritai School with our staff organising so many additional activities for our last weeks of the year.  Thank you too for all of our parent support over the past weeks, and for next week too, as the EOTC events continue on.  


We have completed our classroom teachers picture for 2021, and I have it for you below:


Classroom Teachers 2021

Korora

Team Leader - Jess Richards

Room 1 Yr 0/1 Kate McLean

Room 2 Yr 0/1 Jess Richards

Room 3 Yr 0         Felicity Lovell (Begins Term 3)

Room 5 Yr 2 Nadia Henderson

Room 6 Yr 2         Gabrielle Heath


Tui (Upstairs in the 2 story block)

Associate Principal - Jamie Power

Room 13     Yr 3/4 Jamie Power / Chantel Lyons

Room 14     Yr 3/4 Sophie Bence

Room 15     Yr 3/4 Kelly Williams

Room 16     Yr 3/4  Michelle Hollard


Kereru  (Downstairs in the 2 story block)

Associate Principal - Deane McKay

Room 8 Yr 5/6 Greer Dalziell

Room 9 Yr 5/6 Alice Daykin-Pont

Room 10         Yr 5/6 Holli Williams

Room 11         Yr 5/6 Deane McKay


Kahu

Associate Principal - Jon Mackie - teaching across Kāhu & Kererū 

Room 21 Yr 7/8 Amy Newman

Room 22 Yr 7/8 Jo Fox

Room 23 Yr 7/8 Kate Salisbury


You will spot two new names within our classroom teachers, and some moves around the school by a few of our current teachers who have challenged themselves and opted to move teaching levels.  


We farewell Alison Furminger who opened the final new entrant class this year, thank you Alison for giving our year 0 learners a lovely start to Muritai School.  


We welcome Jo Fox and Sophie Bence to the Muritai Team.  Jo is currently the STEAM teacher at Wellesley College and has vast experience in teaching year 7 and 8 and joins the Kāhu team, Sophie is a newly graduated teacher who will join us in the Tūī team.  We welcome Chantel Lyons back after parental leave, and wish Kea Maritz well as she heads into parental leave with her bundle of joy due very early in Term 1.  


You will also see we have aligned our classroom numbers in the main block to a more sensible numbering system - across the bottom story the numbers will read 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (previously 7, 8, 9, 15, 16) and upstarits will be 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 (previously 10, 11, 12, 13, 14).  We will secure some new room numbers and have these displayed to make this numbering transition easy for us all.  


Muritai Classes 2021

We have now completed our student class makeups for 2021 and students will have an opportunity to meet their new classmates and teachers next week. Thank you for all of the information you provided as part of this process at the start of term, it really helps us with timeframes and making each class a success.  We complete this consultation process at the end of term 3 and the start of term 4 every year, so do pop a note in your calendar and look out for the newsletter reminders if you would like to provide information for us to take into account for classes in 2022.  


Syndicate Birds Legacy Project

Each year I work alongside the Head and Deputy Head students to undertake a project which will leave a possible ‘legacy’ or a memory of their time as our student leaders. 

This year Devon, Sadie, Macy, Ori and I have worked on a project around developing icons for our syndicate birds. 

After looking at several graphic designers, we settled on Ellen Giggenbach who is a previous Muritai parent, and many years ago also developed our Muritai School logo.  

Ellen has adapted some of her existing designs for our use, and we have these below for their first reveal - from left to right are our stunning new Kororā, Tūī, Kererū and Kāhu syndicate bird designs. 


In Devon’s eloquent wording “the birds will spread their wings next year”, and he is quite right, the signmakers are currently producing these into large outdoor pieces that will be placed on the walls outside around the syndicate spaces in Term 1. 

 


Ngā manaakitanga,

Bec Power, Principal




Board of Trustees December Update


Hello Muritai Families,


Merry Xmas to you all ! What a year it has been and no doubt you are looking forward to a well deserved break.   


The Board would like to express our gratitude for your continued support of the school including our wonderful staff here at Muritai during what has been a difficult year for many with the unexpected turn of events with COVID. We think our wider school community is pretty amazing and together we have supported our learners very well. 


Senior Leadership Team Review

The Board has just completed a Senior Leadership Team review and we are delighted to inform you that we have now appointed Maureen Buckley to the role of Deputy Principal. Maureen has been dedicated to our school for a significant period and she has a great deal of experience and expertise as an educator and leader. We are very excited about what Maureen can bring to the role and how she can support us with enacting our Strategic Plan. Along with her responsibilities as Deputy Principal Maureen will also continue to be our SENCO at Muritai. 


We also wish to acknowledge our Associate Principals, Jon, Jamie and Deane, who are also part of the Senior Leadership Team at Muritai and the essential role they also play in ensuring our learners can be the best they can be. We are very fortunate at Muritai to have such a talented team of leaders, teachers and support staff and we are sure our school is well set up for the future. 


Hall Update 

We have some exciting news to share, after a long awaited approval process we have had confirmation from the Ministry of Education that we are able to begin a project on refurbishing our Muritai School hall! The funding will come directly from the Ministry’s School Investment Package (SIP) which is a pool of funding that is available to schools for building upgrades. Muritai has been successful in gaining $282,000 for this project.  The refurbishment will upgrade our kitchen, bathrooms and wall linings in the hall as we modernise and improve this important space in our school. Bec and the Board will get this project underway immediately on our return to school in 2021. 


Finally we wish you all a safe and happy festive season. To our school leavers this year we wish you all well for your future and thank you for being part of our Muritai community. 


Warm wishes 


Muritai School Board of Trustees

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





From the School 

 

Future Ferns Netball 

 

The Year 1/2 netball teams have enjoyed another fantastic season of superstar netball.  The Muritai Swifts have been building on their skills learnt from last season and are looking forward to joining the winter competition next year when they move to Year 3.  The Muritai Tactix are loving learning all about netball.  This was the first season for the Year 0 and 1 players and they have progressed tremendously over a few short weeks.  It has been an awesome effort from all the players, giving it their best and having fun each week. Many thanks to super coach Brooke Davis for running the fantastic program for the children.

 

 

 

Another great term of netball for Muritai. Lots of children from different sports trying some new skills in their off season playing alongside our regular netballers. Special mention to the year 4s who stepped up to play in the year 5 and 6 competition. Tino pai !

 

 

 





Head Lice

Head Lice is a common problem in schools and it is therefore important to check your child/ren’s hair on a regular basis.  If you find a live insect you should treat them with special shampoo or lotion available from pharmacies or with conditioner and a special comb.  There are notices in the school office if you would like to learn more or you can talk to the local pharmacist.


TERM DATES 2021 


Our Term dates have been agreed for 2021 as follows: 

Term 1 4 February to 16 April

Term 2 3 May to 9 July

Term 3 26 July to 1 October

Term 4 18 October to 16 December

 

Our 2021 Teacher Only Days are still to be set.

 


Term 4 2020 Dates

14 December

Parent Helper Morning Tea 10.30am 

14 December

Kereru Celebration 11am - 12.30pm

15 December

Kahu Top Team Competition

15 December

Kereru to Days Bay

15 December

Tui Wet & Connect 

15 December

Korora Health Teddy Bears Picnic

15 December

Year 8 Formal

16 December

Kereru to Hutt Indoor Sports

16 December

Korora Bush Walk

17 December

Leavers Assembly at 11am

17 December

Last day of Term 4 - School finishes early at 1pm

 



COMMUNITY NOTICES


SPEAK AGAIN 2021 ENROLMENTS. 

 

Unleash your child's creativity and boost their confidence in 2021 through performance development with Speak Again. Sessions run at school during the day and are available to all Year 4 - 8 students. We have opened a limited number of enrolment spaces for next year's programme and so now is the time to book your child in. We're so excited to meet all the new students, to see them develop their innate talent and unique voices. Call Emily on 0211885106 or email: emily@speakagain.co.nz


St Alban’s Children’s Christmas Celebration for the Community

5pm Sunday 20 December at Wellesley College Hall

All ages welcome. Just turn up on the day!

Children and adults are welcome to come dressed as angels, shepherds, kings, or any other nativity character.  We have some children’s costumes available – please come to Wellesley Hall at 4.40pm to be kitted out.

Further information:

St Albans Office – email:  office@stalbanschurch.nz

Jen: 021 504 332 or Wendy:  027 562 8287


       


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