Newsletter Term 1 Week 6

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

From the Principal

Hi everyone. Propping my eyelids open after driving to and from Auckland for a day long conference. It confirms my husband’s and my decision to leave the rat race of Auckland and motorway traffic behind, and move to clean air and green (usually!) grass. So glad to live and work where I can breathe in freshness and hear bird song. How lucky we are to live in this environment.

With all the bugs starting to surface with Autumn approaching, and the concerns that most of New Zealand has about the Coronavirus , I would request the following. If your child has been away sick, please keep them home for a 24 hour period, especially if they have been sent home from school , to ensure they are not going to pass bugs around. If your child has had vomiting and/or diahorrea can you please keep them home for 48 hours. We have a narly tummy bug doing the rounds and I would like to nip it in the bud before we all go down with it if possible. I have not attached information regarding the Coronavirus as of yet, but will do so at the end of my newsletter due to the latest developments in New Zealand.

I have what I call a chain of command process in the school. This is for when you have an issue with your child that you wish to talk about. The first person that you talk with is your child’s teacher. They are the person that is with your child for the school day, and it is important that you speak with them in the first instance. If after that you don’t feel the issue was addressed please contact our Deputy Principal Kirsten Forno-Watson. She is more than happy to assist you in any way. The last person to talk to is me if you are still feeling that the issue hasn’t been resolved. Hope that makes the process clear for you.

I am very excited to confirm that our new Values have been set and are now being discussed with your children. They are our GROW values.

GROWTH through learning from our mistakes

RESPECT each other with empathy and understanding

OWNERSHIP of our actions

WORKING together harmoniously

This term we will be looking at our GROWTH value. We will be brainstorming with the children about what learning looks like/feels like and sounds like; how making mistakes is Ok; and how we can treat making mistakes as positive learning opportunities. Have a discussion at home- what does learning look like there? What will you see, feel and hear? We will also be discussing this from a staff perspective, to form our core professional values. If we are expecting our children to live, breathe and follow the values, then we should too, as should you. As a PB4L school ( Positive Behaviour for Learning), the values are the solid foundation for the programme. Every week we have a specific goal or expectation to talk about and model with the children. Last week it was about wearing hats. This week it is looking at the new values- GROWTH in particular. I will let you know our weekly focus every newsletter so you can be on the same wavelength.

School is as busy as ever. Term 1 seems to be full of lots of different activities. This week is testing week, so your children will be doing PAT tests in Reading Comprehension and Maths, (Year 3-8 ), Year 3’s will be doing the STAR reading test, all will do Spelling, some will be doing basic facts and some children will have other assessments for confirming the need for acceleration of progress. So expect your children to be a bit tireder than normal by Friday. I have had some examples of awesome work sent to me so congratulations James Kerrigan, Koen Hare and Cate Richards. I am also pleased to inform you that Miss Brogan Cassidy is again on staff as a teacher aide for student support . Welcome back Brogan!

On Friday we had a fantastic group of children that took part in the Rodney Rural Inter -school Swimming Competition at Rodney College. Many thanks to the parents who went to supervise and support our Tomarata swim stars, and to the teachers who accompanied them. It was a successful day, and a little fish told me that we did very well. Placings still to come.

This past Monday we took the WHOLE school to Mangawhai Beach School to experience a powhiri run by their kapa haka group. The reason behind this was twofold-

For our students to experience what a powhiri looks, sounds and feels like so we can make steps to present a simplified version to welcome ERO next week, and
2. To show our kapa haka group what they can aim for.

It was a great morning and I appreciate the parents that came too. Our students were exemplary in their behaviour and level of attention. They also rose to the challenge of trying new things and learning through making mistakes- a real GROWTH opportunity. Many thanks to Aaron Kemp the Principal of MBS, and Whaia Te Puawai for her skill sharing. I also would like to acknowledge and congratulate Hunter Wood and Leon Richards who displayed GROWTH, RESPECT , OWNERSHIP and WORKING harmoniously by offering to step up and lead the haka. I was so proud of you boys. Ka pai!

Well the toothpicks are failing, and school tomorrow- so that’s it folks !

Key Dates for this Term

Reminders

Our interschool junior tabloids day will be held this Friday 13^th at Tomarata. We will be hosting other schools in our cluster. Room 6 students will set up some fun activities for us to do. Rooms 2, 3 and most of Room 4 will be involved in the activities.

Programme: 9:30    Welcome

                      10.00    2 activities

                      10:30 Interval

                      11:00 4 activities

                      12:00 Lunch

Our Helping Hands will be making food available for purchase. This will be available for any other students at school as well that would like to purchase a sausage or juicie.  Sausages   $2.00,  Juicies $1.00

Reminder for Yr1-8, boys and girls who are keen to play netball for the Tomarata Club this year, please have your registrations in by this Friday, either to the Tomarata School office or to tomaratajuniornetball@gmail.com.

Registration forms are available from school or I can email them out on request. We’re looking forward to a great 2020 season with our returning players and some keen new kids joining as well! Any questions please contact Nicola Murray on the email address above or 027 683 2754.