Newsletter Term 4 20 November 2019

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Families
Kia ora, kia orana, talofa, malo e lelei, fakaalofa atu, hello and greetings

From the Principal

I’m so excited….and I just can’t hide it…( virtual Pointer Sisters boogie happening). The Fireworks Night was a HUGE success. I had never been before, and seeing so many happy people having a great night was fantastic. I can tell you that we have made an amazing profit, but am under the cone of secrecy until the final figure is reached after paying bills. I can assure you our children will greatly benefit from this awesome night. The band were soo good, the food was delicious and the Fireworks display was out of this world. Thank you all for attending. I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to all the businesses that donated prizes for our raffles, and all the parents who assisted us on the night. However my biggest thanks goes to our amazing Helping Hands team led so ably by Anne Richards. Those ladies worked their booties off and delivered a night worth remembering. Tomarata School would be lost without you, and we value all that you do. THANK YOU!!!

Quite a few people have taken advantage of the cheap prices for tee-shirts and are buying them for next year. Remember it will be an expectation to wear a Tomarata tee shirt for outside of school events. $20 for 1 and $30 for 2.

I hope that you are enjoying our new website. We were very lucky to get a Pub Charity Grant organised by Cabu for the upgrade so it did not cost the school. Cabu handled everything which made life easier for us. We have the ability to put quick alerts out now which are in RED on the Home page. You should be receiving an email message for these. On a side note we have yet to hear from Pub Charity re subsidising the Senior camp. I have a feeling that it may be unsuccessful this year.

As you may know Tomarata School is part of a Community of Learning Group involving other schools such as Mangawhai Beach School, Kaiwaka School and the Kura to name a few. Being part of this group enables us to access a number of resources. One of these is”The Hub” which meets at various locations monthly. This is a group of professionals from the Ministry of Education, RTLB, Speech and Language and counselling services that parents can access. I will post when the next meeting time is, and who/what will be available.

2020 will be bringing about more staff changes. Richard Stuart will sadly be leaving us to take on exciting new ventures. Beekeeping is a passion of Richard’s and one he is investigating at the moment. He will be greatly missed. There will be a farewell for Richard as part of the Prize giving on our last day ( 16 December). We are however very lucky to have employed a new teacher for the start of 2020. Ms Janet Ashe will be joining us from Manurewa to teach in the Year 7/8 area of the school. Janet is a highly experienced Intermediate teacher, and brings many skills in Digital Technology and STEAM activities ( Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) to share with the students and staff. 2020 will be a new exciting journey of change.

One of those changes will be the re visioning and revaluing exercise which I hinted at last week. We will be doing this with a company called “Schools That Deliver”. PLEASE PLEASE if you are able to, and wish to be an integral part of this process, put aside Monday 17 February as a day to be at school, to share in a brainstorming and voting process to set the curriculum direction and strategic plan for Tomarata School. It is a 2 day process, but Monday is the most important. I know it is a big ask to take time off, but even if you could spare an hour or two it would be great. We want to hear your voice and your ideas.

Today Sheila Russell ( Board Chair) and I spent time in Auckland with the ERO team. We will be having an ERO visit in approximately Week 5 of Term 1 2020. They will be looking at a variety of processes and procedures over the 3 day visit. Their focus for next year is on how the school is catering for equity and excellence for our students. They will be looking at inclusion practices, acceleration and effective teaching. There are a myriad of other areas they will be investigating, but these are the main areas of interest. I see ERO as a way to move towards being a school of excellence, and welcome their suggestions and input.

We have a request from Storm Barnes-Ryan for rotten bale-age for our vegetable gardens. We are, or rather Storm and an intrepid group of Year 7 students are revitilising our school gardens ready for a new Enviro focus for next year. If you have any to spare can you drop it off by our school gardens please.

Room 4 and 5 had a very successful overnight camp in Auckland last week. I’m told they especially enjoyed Whoa Studios in Henderson. Thank you to Brendda Salt and Robyn Sibtsen for your organisation, and the wonderful parent helpers who went along. I am determined to keep camps happening at Tomarata, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult with costs, and with the expectations and limitations put on us for Health and Safety.

Bake Sale tomorrow Thursday 21st November all items $1.00. Junior families to provide plate please.

Please can all the children bring their own drink bottles filled with water.

Don’t forget our Crazy Hair day on Friday. Be creative and wear your House Colours- gold coin donation! I’m off now to raid my grand daughters supply of hair ties . Wish me luck!