ŌRĀTIA DISTRICT SCHOOL - NEWSLETTER

Tēnā koutou katoa. Nau mai ki te whānau o te Ōrātia. Malo e lelei. Zdravo. Talofa lava. Kia orana. Ni hao. Namaste. Kamusta. Greetings Ōrātia whānau.

This week we have hosted Carol Stoney from Te Tari Arotake Mātauranga (the Education Review Office). Carol spent three days with us chatting to various groups from our school community, observing teaching and learning in classes and meeting our students. Over the past few months she has read many of our school documents, reports and analyses, met with our board chair and the senior leadership team, and had the chance this week to connect with and hear from our other school leaders, some of our parents, our students and teachers. She will be writing a report that identifies the strengths she noticed in our kura and agreed actions that we will be carrying into the future. Our final meeting with her was to establish some goals for the school to work on and agree on time frames for them. We really appreciate the collaborative approach that Carol took, and feel that we are in agreement with these outcomes for the future. We are hoping to receive her report by the end of this term. I want to thank all of those who took time to meet with Carol over these past days, and share with her about our kura. She was overwhelmingly impressed with our levels of communication, our inclusive and welcoming environment, and the quality of leadership and agency she saw at all levels across the school.

On Tuesday, in the midst of a torrential downpour, a large group of our students went to Henderson Valley School to participate in the zonal cross country. It was so good to see their positive attitudes and the way they cheered each other on in very slippery and muddy conditions. I was so proud of their efforts, and even more so when our school won first overall place by many points ahead. Well done to all who competed, no matter where you placed. You did us all proud with your determination and stamina. Thank you to all the parents who transported our children there, and stayed to watch. Many thanks to Matua Ben and Miss Hamlin who coached our students over the past term, and helped develop their abilities. We are fortunate to have your expertise and passion in our school.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

Last week our Tuakana students had the opportunity to attend Camp Bentzon. Camp is such a rewarding experience for those students who go. They get to -

• Try new things
• Develop social skills
• Learn to navigate healthy risks and the value of hard work
• Build character
• Foster Independence

The students were able to participate in kayaking, sailing, fishing and archery just a few of the activities on offer. We'd like to give a shout out to Norcross Fishing World in Henderson who have donated some camp fishing gear for next year and say a big Thank You to Steve Cullen and Chris Reading for giving your time to service our fishing equipment before and after school camp. Thank you also to all of the parent helpers that attended camp. We really appreciate your support of our school and we couldn't do this without you!

Congratulations to some of our most recent recipients of Student Librarian Certificates. We have had many gain their Bronze Award and some with Silver already! They should be super proud of all their hard work.

We are full for library applications at present, as there has been a huge interest in being a Student Librarian this year! Students will be allocated a time slot once there is a space available however this may take a while. Thanks for your patience:)

Scholastic Book Club Orders have been processed, so now we await the courier delivery. Once I have received and allocated all orders they will be delivered to class asap.

The Ministry of Education has published new guidelines that clarify expectations for student attendance. As you may be aware, regular attendance for students of more than 90% each week, is an important goal for schools to achieve, based on government expectations. At the moment our school has 61% of our students achieving 90% attendance each week. We would like to lift that to 70% or more. Please follow the link to see what the Ministry of Education has to say to help parents have a better understanding of how they can assist us in making this happen.

Student attendance: A guide for parents and caregivers – Ministry of Education

Also a reminder that if your child is absent for any reason we have two ways to report this. The Report an Absence form on the front page of our school website or you can phone 818-6216 and leave a phone message via our Report an Absence option.

We had great participation last Friday for Pink Shirt day, our annual event against bullying. It's always great to see a good turn out for a good cause. Here's a few photos from around the school.

Do you love listening and guiding young readers? We are looking for whanau/parents/grandparents who have great ears and have some spare time to listen to our tamariki read. Oratia School have several volunteer listeners this year but we would love to have some more. If that sounds like something you or someone you know could be interested in and you are available to attend for an hour block each week (same day and same time). Please contact kathrynm@oratia.school.nz or leave a message at the office.

We have a fantastic reading incentive programme starting this term in conjunction with the 2024 Book Awards and Hell Pizza! Read 7 books and receive a free kids pizza from HELL PIZZA.

"The HELL Reading Challenge is a well-established programme that has been hugely successful in getting tamariki reading and enjoying the pleasures of stories — with the bonus of free pizza rewards! We are very excited to be continuing our partnership with HELL Pizza. Their enthusiasm for children’s reading and generous ongoing commitment is awesome".

Any child interested in participating can come to the Library to see Librarian Jess or go to reception to collect a form. This form is to be filled out at home, then brought into school for Jess to sign once they have read each book.

Each child taking part in the challenge will also have a Pizza Wheel kept in the library for Jess to check off and sign. Once your child has read 7 books they can head into store with their completed Pizza Wheel to grab their FREE PIZZA!

For more details please click on the link below.

As we head into winter, the wet and muddy season, it's a good time to remind parents to pack a change of clothes in your child's bag every day. If a child gets wet and can change into their own clothes it makes things a lot easier. A raincoat is also an essential item for those that walk to school. Please make sure any clothing is named so it can be returned to its owner if it gets lost. We are also looking for donations of girls trousers/leggings and new girls underwear (sizes small to large) to have on hand as a back up. Please drop these in to Deb in the school office.

Next week, construction will start on the final stage of our Accessibility Project. The work will include a new path and ramp at the Shaw Road bus bay entrance to the school and will take approximately 4 weeks to complete.

Part of the bus bay footpath, the grassed area inside the current fence line and the first 2 carparks outside admin will be fenced off while this work is being completed. Below is a drawing showing what the new entrance to the school will look like. Our buses and car drop offs in the bus bay will not be impacted during this time however, we are asking families to please use the junior gate to enter the school if coming from that side of the bus bay when the construction work is being done.

The second part of the project is the installation of an accessible lift beside the hall stage. The lift will allow children in wheelchairs to access the stage which means that our assemblies and productions etc can be more inclusive. This has been a huge project but one that is incredibly important for our current students and any future students who may have a mobility disability.

Thank you everyone for your patience during construction.

Email: principal@oratia.school.nz
Website: https://www.oratia.school.nz
Location: Shaw Road & West Coast Road, Oratia, Auckland 0604, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 818-6216
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OratiaSchool/