Newsletter 1 Term 3

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to Term 3 which already seems to be flying by. Lots of exciting things have been happening around the school. You will notice the swimming pool is being painted and it looks amazing. We will look forward to opening this up in Term 4 once the weather warms up although Edwin thinks cold water swimming could be an option! The current focus on Keeping Ourselves Safe has seen collaboration with Police Education Officers who have been in supporting our teachers and tamariki with their learning. This is always a valuable programme that empowers our tamariki to feel strong and confident and stay safe.

Senior students are preparing for their upcoming camp and attending this year's Youth Summit, a leadership focused day of keynote speakers. The theme this year is "Dare to be Different".

Year 4 and up have been training for Cross Country which is coming up soon. There is nothing like the feeling of mud between the toes and there is certainly no lack of that at present.

Keep your eye out on the usual sources of information so that you are in the know with all school events for your children.

As always thanks for your support of our school and your tamariki.

Ngā Mihinui

AnnMaree MacGregor

Tumuaki/Principal

This is becoming increasingly unsafe. You must not stop across the driveway on the yellow lines. It is essential that the driveway is kept clear for traffic movements to make sure that the area is as safe as possible. Traffic parking wardens will be monitoring this space to support our tamariki.

Grace and I have had the pleasure of having morning tea with the following students over the past 3 weeks:

R15 Charlyse Hamilton, R1 Reece Jennings, R2 Declan De Jongh, R7 Leo Nel, R10 Katie Chapman, R2 Savannah Fulton, R12 Logan Fulton, R7 Zaydia Brittain-Clark, R9 Madelyn Murphy, R16 Brooke Abraham, R2 Nevaeh-Leigh Tana, R3 Jean Bristow, R3 Coral-Rose Te Pania, R10 Rose Christian, R19 Molly Middleton, R12 Brooke Clarke, R17 Tane Heremaia

These tamariki make our school a great place to be.

We are so excited that works have now been completed on the creation of a permanent sensory room at Onerahi Primary School. The space was blessed on Friday 21st by Matua Matt and the Kaupapa Māori class, and officially opened on Tuesday the 25th of July. With a calming, cave-like feel and a number of great resources and spaces for some of our tamariki to spend time when it is needed, we know it will be well utilised. We have chosen the name Whare Mārie - the calm place.

Kia Ora,

Next week is "Aotearoa School Library Week" and we have some exciting things planned.
As always the highlight of library week is book character day which is on Tuesday.
Book Character Day is always a wonderful day with a parade/assembly to show off costumes in the morning. Check out the posters by Lilly in Rm 2 and Zoey in Room 5 to advertise the day. The library will be busy all week with lots of activities including Book Character hunts, puzzles, story times and mini book making. I hope to show off all the exciting activity in the next newsletter.

Ngā mihi

Kirsty Oliver

Librarian/Resource Coordinator

Onerahi School

We have tracked down another ex Onerahi Pupil whose story we thought would be a good one to share. He does an important job in keeping our community safe. Thanks Rhys!

Kia Ora Koutou,

Ko Rhys Wirihana toku ingoa. I transferred to Onerahi Primary School mid-way through my primary years in 1985 through to 1987. I started school in the middle of the year in Miss Price’s class, and upon my arrival was paired with a young boy by the name of Darryl Doidge to show me around the school. I always remember my teachers fondly, but a favourite memory from Kura was a teacher named Mr Tuitubou. He would always bring sugar cane stalks to school and if you were well behaved, he would give you a piece.

After primary school it was off Whangarei Intermediate, then boarding school in Auckland - Hato Petera College on the North Shore. After a few jobs working in the dairy company, and as a contracted courier driver for Courierpost, I settled into a career with the New Zealand Fire Service. My current role as a Senior Station Officer sees me managing a “Watch” of firefighters out of the Whangarei Fire Station. For the last 22 years, my role enables my crew and I to assist the public of Whangarei whenever they need help in dealing with emergencies. Part of my role is engaging with schools and teaching children about the importance of being “firewise” , and what to do in the event of a fire.

My experience at Onerahi Primary was a great start to my journey, and encouraged me to send both of my children, Ella & Logan to Onerahi Primary as well. Some of the friendships that I made on my very first day of school have stood the test of time like my best friend Darryl who showed me around the school all those years ago….

I would like to acknowledge the super Road Patrollers, especially during this cold, miserable weather. These guys and gals get out there and keep our kids and parents safe each and every morning and afternoon. What's more, they still smile even while the rain and sleet is beating down upon them!

Yesterday 2 of our patrollers were away. I approached Joel Mann and Serenity Van Tol to fill in on the front gate. Without hesitation, these two stepped in. This was Joel's second time coming to the rescue this week. When I commented on Joel's happy demeanour I loved his reply. "Ï like stopping traffic, and I like helping people" - Gail Green

We have good stocks of Onerahi Primary School honey available for purchase. Our honey is all organic, and it's great to consume local. The honey can be purchased at the school office, and is on sale now for the bargain price of $5 a pot.

With the increase in winter ills and chills we are seeing a number of students away each day. Just a reminder to all families to please let us know, by 9am, if your tamariki is going to be away on any given day. You can do this via the Skool Loop app, Class Dojo, the school website or you can phone or text us on 021 048 9221. If we do not hear from you, we will contact you asking for an explanation. All students of school age are required to attend school when it is open. Our school has a robust attendance monitoring process and we do appreciate your cooperation.

On Church Street, we have a dedicated pedestrian crossing, patrolled each day before and after school by our responsible road patrollers and their adult support.

We kindly ask all parents bringing their children to school who cross Church St to support us modelling safe behaviour for our tamariki by ensuring they are crossing this road at the dedicated crossing. We appreciate taking the extra steps required at times, to take advantage of safely stopped traffic.

It is also very important that if you are collecting your child from our Church St entrance you do not park on the yellow lines or across driveways. Our staff parking area is also out of bounds.

Lets all work together to keep our tamariki safe on their way to and from our kura.

We are fortunate to have an offer out to whānau of our Onerahi Primary School akonga from a local lady - Maureen Dunphy. She is more than happy to undertake minor uniform repairs, such as button replacements and hem repairs, free of charge. If this is something you would be keen to utilize, uniforms can be dropped in to the school office on a Wednesday. Repairs will be done as soon as possible and uniforms dropped back to the school. They will then be returned to tamariki to bring home.

• Mon 07-Fri 11 August - School library week
• Tuesday 08 August - Book Character Parade
• Tuesday 15 August - Senior school cross country (postponement date is Wed 16 August)
• Monday 21 August - Mid term Break
• Tuesday 22 August - Mid term Cohort Entry
• Wed 13 - Fri 15th - Year 5 & 6 Camp
• Mon 18 and Tues 19 September - School and class photos
• Friday 22 September - End of Term 3
• Monday 09 October - Staff Only Day
• Tuesday 10 October - Start of Term 4

WINTER

As the temperature drops now is the time to haul out those school jumpers each day. Zip through school jackets, school vests and long-sleeve school shirts are also able to be worn. Long pants so long as they are black or navy are also encouraged to keep our tamariki warm and toasty. As it remains likely that rain will happen fairly regularly, we recommend sending a spare change of clothes with your children each day. This is just in case they discover mud or enjoy the extra water play during the day. KidsCan jackets can be worn as an alternative to school jumpers and jackets, and are also helpful on wet days. Although not compulsory in terms 3 and 4, hats are still strongly advised - or perhaps a nice warm beanie. We also recommend footwear.

SCHOOL HOURS

8:15am School gates open to students and whanau

9:00am School begins

11:00-11:30am 1st Play Break

1:30-2:00pm 2nd Play Break

3:00pm School finishes

3:15pm School gates close

There are two eating breaks within the day, taken at times that suit each class. Please ask your child's teacher when their times are. We would like to remind all whanau that during school hours, your child is expected to be present and learning. Where possible, we ask that appointments be scheduled outside of school hours, so as not to impact on your child's learning. We also ask that every effort is made to arrive at school in time for learning at 9am.

Medication: If your child requires medication to be brought or kept at school, please be aware that due to health and safety concerns, this must be kept secure in the school sick bay. It is not to be kept in children’s schoolbags during the day. This is to protect the safety of not only the child requiring the medication but also all other students. All medication requires an accompanying permission/approval form signed by their parent or caregiver. This includes epi-pens for allergy management, inhalers for asthma or any other medication your child requires on a short-term or as needed basis.

Email: office@onerahi.school.nz
Website: https://www.onerahi.school.nz/
Location: Onerahi Primary School Church Street, Onerahi, Whangārei 0110, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 436 0521
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onerahischool