Kōkopu Newsletter

Term two has started well with students back into their learning and catching up with their friends.

It was fantastic to have Active Attitude back again on Thursday for gymnastics coaching. It is positive to see our students supporting each other and challenging themselves. Gymnastics is a great way to build movement and coordination skills that help students across all physical activities.

This term we have our yearly country study happening for the first 5 weeks. This year we are studying the Scandinavian countries. At the end of the study, we will have a celebration cooking day where students will mix into their tuakana teina groups, cook some food and eat together.

In the second half of the term, students will be studying Space. Space is always popular with students and I am sure most parents can remember studying it when they were at school. Sharing your own knowledge at home will help spark interest and enable students to come with some prior knowledge that they can share.

You may have seen on the news that the Government has made some announcements about structured literacy being mandated in schools.
Here at Kokopu School, we have been on the structured literacy path for a number of years now. Structured Literacy is an umbrella term for phonics-based teaching methods that are explicit and systematic. The programs we are using to support this approach are “BSLA” and “Little Learners Love Literacy” for juniors and iDeal for senior students.
Even though we know structured literacy is an excellent method to teach students we also know that students need a variety of ways and contexts to learn. We look forward to increased support and resourcing of our structured literacy programs from the government but are also warry when teaching and learning approaches are narrowed down to single systems.

Regards

Yaron Overeem

Principal

Kokopu School

We have wonderful students here at Kokopu School and they are constantly demonstrating our school values. Over the first week of school, it has been great to see students continue this. We thought it would be nice to highlight just a few.

Respect for Ourselves – Lucy - working on her phonics
Respect for Others – Carter, Nathan, Jamie and Eli – Organising the Gym gear and students sharing the new sandpit toys.
Respect for Our Environment – Xavier - picking up rubbish at lunch time on the first day of school.

Wed 15 May - WPSSA Year 7 & 8 Winter Sports Tournament

Wed 29 May - WPSSA Year 5 & 6 Winter Sports Tournament

A notice from Room 6 and Room 3 will come out regarding these events.

You can give permission for your child to attend via our Skool Loop App.

Please note .. we will require parents to help transport to these events.

House of Bricks - Lego Day – Friday 17th May

Along with other local schools, we are excited for our year 4-8 students to attend the House of Bricks - Lego Day at the Mangakahia Sports Complex. The House of Bricks will provide 4 rotations of Lego challenges that fit very well with our tuakana teina and school values. It will be a huge amount of fun and learning.
We have to be at the complex by 9am so will be leaving school at 8:40 am. We will be taking a bus but will also need a number of cars to get all of us there. There is no cost for this event thanks to Poroti School organising some community funding and Kokopu School will cover the bus expense.
Students will need to bring their lunch and drink bottles.

Please fill out the permission and transport form on the Skool Loop App.

Liz Davies will be here on Thursday 23rd May in the morning to take class, individual and family photos. Order forms were sent home last week. You can order online or send in your form with the money which we will then pass on.

Thank you.

On Tuesday the 4th of June we will be having a Teachers Only Day. This is part of our government's entitlement to support schools in implementing the new curriculum. This term we will be joining other schools from our Community of Learning (COL) to undertake professional development. This will coincide with Kings Birthday which is on Monday 3rd June. We hope that some of you can take an extra long weekend and enjoy some time with your children. Thank you for your cooperation keeping your children home.

We have now closed the school pool to the public.

Can we have all the swimming keys back please?
We would like to do an audit of what keys we have.
When you return your key you will get your bond back.

TERM 2

Mon 29 April - Tech Training for Year 7 & 8 every Monday for Term 2

Thu 2 May - Gymnastics coaching every Thursday

Mon 13 May - Board of Trustees Meeting

Wed 15 May - WPSSA Year 7 & 8 Winter Sports Tournament

Fri 17 May - Lego Day - Sports Complex for Year 4 to 8

Thu 23 May - School Photos

Wed 29 May - WPSSA Year 5 & 6 Winter Sports Tournament

Fri 31 May - Scandinavian Study Country Meal

Mon 3 Jun - Kings Birthday

Tue 4 Jun - Teacher Only Day

Fri 14 Jun - Gymnastics Competition

Thu 27 Jun - Matariki Planting Day

Fri 28 Jun - Matariki

Lost property – Please name all your children's clothing so we can make sure they claim any lost property. Thank you.

Don't forget we are collecting Yummy Stickers. So please collect the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy apple stickers. Yummy apples are available from New World, PAK’nSAVE and participating Four Square stores. The more you collect, the more sports gear you get so get going and start collecting your Yummy cut-out labels and stickers now!

Guitar lessons have started on Wednesday's. If you are interested in getting lessons for your child, phone Lynn Moase on 0212979437.

Term 1 .. Thursday 1st February to Friday 12th April

Term 2 .. Monday 29th April to Friday 5th July

Term 3 .. Monday 22nd July to Friday 27th September

Term 4 .. Monday 14th October to Friday 13th December

OPEN DAY

Wednesday 31st July, 5.30 - 7.30pm approx

Starts in the Manawahine Gym followed by guided tours

with specialist staff on hand to answer any questions. A great

opportunity to see our extensive range of curricular and extra

curricular activities. Come along and get a feel for our

special learning environment.

Lupton House will be open from 4pm for prospective boarders.

Maunu Hockey Club Registrations Now Open for the 2024 hockey season

All ages and abilities welcome. Please click here to fill in the form, or email maunuhockey@gmail.com to register your interest. Games start early May.

Cookbooks are still available, so if you want your copy, then get in quick. You can pick up copies from the school office for $25.00 each.

If paying online please reference your online banking with "Cookbook" and your name.

If parents/caregivers want to visit the website https://kokopu.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm to look over our school policies and procedures, please see the following instructions: Enter the username (kokopu) and password (0179). Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

Email: office@kokopu.school.nz
Website: www.kokopu.school.nz
Location: 921 Kokopu Road, Kokopu, New Zealand
Phone: 094346765
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kokopuschool