Newsletter No 1 Term 1 2020

From the Principal

Welcome back everyone- students, parents and extended whanau,  to 2020. What an exciting year it is proving to be already. Lots of changes in the wind, and a lot of brand new students and families that have joined our Tomarata School family. We have 6 more joining us next week as well!

Along with our students we welcome new staff as well. Mrs Janet Ashe is teaching our Year 7/8 students in Room 7. She is also in charge of our ICT and Digital Technology so look for exciting advancements in that area. We are currently taking stock of our Chromebooks and iPads in the school, and will be ordering more soon. Mrs Kirsten Forno-Watson is our new Deputy Principal, and teaching Year 4/5 students in Room 5. Kirsten will be leading our new problem solving maths approach that we are introducing school wide this year, and she will be covering behaviour management as well. Kirsten is also developing the new parent information portal SEESAW that every class is now using. You should have received the Q code to access this from home from your child’s teacher. Ms Cara Shields is the teacher for Room 5 when Kirsten is released for DP duties. She is a very experienced teacher and we are lucky to have her as part of our teaching team. Mr Chris Rhodes is our CRT  ( classroom release teacher ) this term. Each teacher is entitled to have 2 days release per term as a Ministry directive. Chris will be running an exciting programme teaching Japanese, Te Reo,  Maoritanga, Enviro studies, and other activities., including using our special bush area gifted to the school . Chris is also a member of our BOT so he is multi talented and can multi task (wow!)

You will have noticed changes to the school environment. The grotty prefabs are gone, and we now have a clear area for our chicken coop, and the cage soccer. The old, revolting toilets have gone, and we have a very special garden planned for that area. More info to come on that later in the term. Rooms 2 and 3 have had a major revamp and are looking fabulous. The last area to get done is the changing sheds and new toilets for the swimming pool. Unfortunately we have had a glitch, and the building has not gone to plan. This has resulted in the pool not being available this term. I am negotiating to have our swimming lessons programme to take place in Term 4 instead.

We have a number of exciting opportunities for interaction with the Tomarata community in the next few weeks. The first & most important is the revisioning and revaluing days next week on Monday and Tuesday.I do apologise that this has meant the school being closed so early after the holidays, however these were the only days available for our overseas facilitator. An information letter will go out to everyone with details tomorrow. Please RSVP online if you haven’t done so please do so you can be placed in a group. We also have our Hui consultation  at 5 pm on the 19th February. This is a time to share your stories and knowledge about Tomarata- what makes it unique and special. I extend a special invitation especially to our Maori families and local iwi to join us. Some extra good news is that our first kapahaka group will be starting up on the 24th February. Then there is the Family Fun Night, the school Triathlon and other great activities coming up-lots of opportunities to meet and greet and make connections.

Thank you to all of you who attended first day interviews. It was a great success with 97% of our school whanau attending. Lots of happy settled kids as a result on Monday.

Lastly I will finish on a more somber note, an event that once again bought a reality check. It was with extreme sadness that I, along with staff members and students, attended the funeral of Michelle Buxton in January. Michelle’s sudden passing came as a huge shock to our school family , and to the close Tomarata community. Although I only knew Michelle for a short time, I valued her input  and support of our school, both as a past member of the Board, as well as the Helping hands. She will be sorely missed, and our love and healing thoughts go out to Chris, Holly and Jacinta. The way you parents have banded together to support Chris and the girls with food, support, encouragement and love has been humbling to see. You are  fantastic people and thank you for what you have done. The House Captains for this year ,and I, will be working on something special in memory of Michelle this term.

Well there is so much more I could talk about but will end my long ramble here.I can’t wait to see what our new Vision and Values will look like next week. Until then slip, slop, slap and wrap….it’s hot out there!

Congratulations

Well done to Ellie, Willow and Arya for competing at the Auckland athletics championships at Mt Smart stadium last weekend. Ellie placed 3rd in her divisional final.

Congratulations to Arya Mitchell on coming 2nd in the 7 girls shotput at the Auckland champs with a massive throw of 5.50m

Reminders

Consultation Hui

Kia ora

You and your whanau are invited to a hui on Wednesday 19 February at 5 pm to share your stories about Tomarata, your knowledge, and your ideas so that we can cater for your tamariki in the best way possible. Wwe want to know the history of the area, and what makes Tomarata special so that our tamariki can become true kaitiaki. Kai will be provided. We look forward to seeing you at our kura.

Waste wise at Tomarata

At Tomarata we are proud to be a Waste Wise School.  Our Care Code, which was developed with the students, is displayed outside the Principal’s Office.  As we have new families starting at school it is a good time to remind everyone what we do to care for our environment.

We have litter free lunches with no plastic wrappers.  Soft plastic is a problem at school as it is easy for it to get caught in the wind and blow into the neighbouring farms.  It also manages to find its way under decks and in gardens.  As almost all plastic wrapped foods are treat foods it may be a good time to check the bar codes and think of alternatives for our every day eating.  If students bring yoghurt to school please put it in a container with a screw lid that can be reused.  Paper is a great alternative to plastic wrap.   Lunchboxes should be named so they can be returned to their owners when found lying around our grounds.

We have a worm farm for food scraps that are collected each day to keep the worms growing.  Food scraps not suitable for the worm farm should be taken home until we get our compost bins re-erected.

It would be great to see everyone contribute to a clean and safe environment at school.

Community Notices

Forest Reserve Hall  AGM Tuesday 25th February at 7.30pm. All welcome friends of the hall past and present and potential committee members, obligation free. forestreservehall@outlook.co.nz or msg on Facebook for more information, Hope to see you there. Shannon Josephs

Junior and Adults Tennis  start Friday 7th February coaching programme. Please see our facebook page for all the details.

We would like to thank Bayleys Wellsford for their sponsorship