ORATIA DISTRICT SCHOOL - NEWSLETTER

Tēnā koutou katoa. Nau mai ki te whānau o te Oratia. Talofa lava. Malo e lelei. Zdravo. Ni hao. Namaste. Kamusta. Greetings Oratia whānau and families.

Welcome back to school and our first days of the year. It was lovely to see so many of you and your children at the gate these past few mornings, to say hello and welcome you back. To our new families and whānau, we welcome you to our kura and hope that you will find us inclusive and warm in our interactions with you all. Thank you for joining us. Thank you to all the parents and whānau who were able to meet the teacher on Monday and spend a bit of time chatting together. Our teachers really valued their time with you all.

Teachers have been here at school for the past couple of weeks setting up their classroom spaces and having meetings etc. Last week on Thursday and Friday we have had staff only days. Thursday was a team building day where we went on a bus trip out to Huia beach and Karamatura. We were fortunate to have a past teacher Olly Morgan, accompany us and share the stories of Mokoroa, the Waitakere kaitiaki and taniwha, and the story of Panuku, his wife Parekura and Nihotupu with us. Olly accompanied this with games and activities that we could use in our classrooms, linking outdoor education and the arts with tikanga and te reo.

On Friday we had a great morning with Phil Gordon from the Maori Achievement Collaborative(MAC). He guided us to review our school values, and how they might be expressed in our school, through the lens of Te Ao Māori. It was a great morning of discussion and sharing. We finished with some administration, and reconnection with our school vision and strategic plan.

We welcomed a number of new teachers and office staff to our team, so if you see someone new please take the time to introduce yourselves and say hello to them. Monica Muir-Bergh is the new Room 5 teacher. Anna Jackson joins Kelly Mills in Kohanga Nui/Rooms 6&7. James Galliford is the new Room 13 teacher, and Jessica Lee is in Room 16 and is the new Arawhata team leader. Casey Grant is joining us for 2 days a week as our specialist robotics and coding release teacher. In the office we have Francine McIlroy and Pania Williamson job sharing to replace Deb Dunn, who resigned through the holidays to return to her former line of work in TV production. We will really miss Deb, and wish her well in her new job. It is lovely to welcome such quality staff to join us this year, and I am sure they will be great additions to our team.

We are all really looking forward to a settled and happy term. The tone throughout the school, in all the classrooms, has reflected this and there was a calm working buzz everywhere we visited.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

With the lovely hot sunny weather of Term 1, it is important for our students to wear a hat when they are outside during sport, play times or doing PE. Please make sure your child has a wide brimmed hat at school. School hats are on sale at the office for $18.00 and can be ordered online at Kindo

One of the things we are continuing to focus on in 2025 is student attendance.

If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.

All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school. You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure.

If you are finding it hard to get your child to school, please talk with us so we can work together. Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school. Our school continues to build a culture that fosters attendance every day by having:

• School staff who have strong relationships with students and family.
• A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who you are, where you come from and what you value.
• A school that is safe and welcoming for everyone in our school community.

If your child is going to be absent or late to school, please phone the office first thing in the morning on 818-6216 and select option 1 to leave a message. Alternatively, you can record an absence via our school website absentee form.

LATE ARRIVALS:

School starts at 8.55am. It is important that students arrive at school on time each day as late arrivals can be stressful for the student arriving late and cause disruption to the class. Children arriving late will need to check in at the school office when they arrive at school.

If you have any attendance queries and issues, please contact us so we can work together.

Scholastic book orders will not be running for Term 1. You can however order online and have your items delivered to your home address.

Our Oratia Library Catalogue is always available, at home, at school, anywhere you have wifi.

Email: principal@oratia.school.nz
Website: https://www.oratia.school.nz
Location: 1 Shaw Road, Oratia, Auckland 0604, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 818-6216
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OratiaSchool/