Term 3 Week 1 2020

From the Principal

Welcome back everyone to our true Winter term. I was very thankful that the school survived the torrential rain we have had, and didn’t float away! This is a term of wet lunch times, muddy puddles and kids who suddenly develop an allergy to rain coats. We will endevour to keep them as warm and dry as we can, but Kiwi kids are Kiwi kids ! It’s hard to believe that we are half way through the year already. The next 10 weeks are going to be full of sports and events, so please keep looking at the calendar.

Our citrus trees are loaded with fruit, especially our magnificent grapefruit tree next to Rooms 6 & 7. We have lots of grapefruit available which would be perfect for juicing. As part of our local curriculum some classes will be designing and building a road stall for people to take what they like. Until then, if you would like to come and take some grapefruit, please do so. There is a blue bin under the tree full of fruit, and I would hate to see it go to waste. Please come and help yourselves.

Kapa haka is beginning again on Mondays. Thanks to Shannon Josephs who is our kaiako for the group. We have made our final list, and children will be bringing home a contract for you to go over with them, sign and return to school. Could we have these back asap please.

We seem to have a lot of reading books and Library books that have grown legs and escaped from book bags and from school. We are declaring a book amnesty, with House points, for students to capture those books & bring them back. So please hunt under beds, behind toy boxes and in cupboards to find as many books as you can. It is very costly to replace them, with even the little readers at $10 each now!

Helping Hands ( our wonderful PTA group) is looking for new members to swell their ranks, after losing some parents who have shifted away. They are a lovely bunch, with the heart of the school in mind. Please contact Robyn Sibtsen ( robyns@tomarata.school.nz) if you are interested in coming to a meeting for a look see. TOMARATA SCHOOL needs you!

Mrs Sibtsen and I are also wanting to start a parent reading group up to help with reading mileage for some of our awesome students. This would entail giving up 10-15 minutes of your time in a morning from 8:30 am to hear a child read. You would receive training on how to do this. If this sounds like something you would like to try or do, please email me by Friday at principal@tomarata.school.nz giving your name and contact details. It is a very rewarding experience, and also helps with reading with your own children.

We are looking at forming a Lego club as another activity for our children to do at lunchtimes, and we also need Lego for the STEAM room we are going to set up in the Rata Room. It is, as you know, VERY expensive to buy new. SOOOO if you have any old sets lurking at home that are no longer used, we would really appreciate them being donated to school.

You will be pleased to know that the fire issue in the heating panel in Room 7 last term has been resolved. The panel was replaced, and all the heating panels in the whole school were checked for safety. They all passed. We will be having regular checks done by the Heating company to ensure compliance of their equipment.

Our Value this term that we are unpacking is Ownership of our actions. This is a biggie- as it is not easy to own up to something that potentially can get you in to trouble. Often children ( and adults) resort to deflecting, denying or defending rather than owning their behaviour or actions. What we are going to instill in the children is that it is OK to make a mistake, but we need to own it, learn from it, fix it and move on. It would be very helpful if you could have discussions on ownership with your children at home, and model it yourself.

So lets have a wonderful term together and continue GROWING as a whanau.

Y8 Student Information re:   Enrolments for 2021

Rodney College Open Evening Thursday 3rd September for prospective students and parents starts 6pm college hall. Sausage sizzle available 5.30pm.

Open Day. Friday 4th September Y8 students

Reminders

Change of clothes Could you please put a change of clothes in your child’s  bag especially with all this wet weather we are having.  If you have any clothes that your children have grown out of  I would love to have them for spares here at school.

Yummy stickers. If you are collecting these could you please send them  to school we are able to redeem stickers for school equipment.

CAR POOL MANGAWHAI:

Mangawhai families wishing to share the driving and join a car pool? Please contact Karen on 021 217 5638 or George 021 269 7577.

Community Notices

Otamatea Martial Arts is happy to be back for Term 3 Kempo classes are recommencing for Term 3 on 21st July. If you would like more information please contact school office.

Otamatea Group  Day on Sunday October 18th 2020.  We will be having calves, lambs and goats . For more information please contact school office for pamphlet.

Aotearoa Surf School  Upcoming Programs 2020: FREE ‘Have A Go’ Surf Day, Ultimate Kids Surf Camp, Outdoor Adventure Program, Surf Sistas & more! Please go to their website for more information.

Tomarata Playcentre

619 School Road, RD 4, Wellsford   tomarata@Playcentre.org.nz   09 423 9074

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday  9.30am – 12pm

We would like to thank Bayleys Wellsford for their sponsorship