ORATIA DISTRICT SCHOOL - NEWSLETTER

Week 7 - Thursday 05 September 2024

MESSAGE FROM MS LINDA

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.

It is with deep respect that we mark the passing of the Māori king Kiingi Tuheitia. He was known for his desire for unity, and will be mourned by many. We acknowledge his youngest child and only daughter Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, who has been announced as the new monarch of the Kiingitanga. As only the second woman to have the honour and responsibility of the role of monarch, we extend our respect and best wishes to her.

We are coming to that time of year when the Ministry of Education lets schools know about their staffing entitlement for the new year, and staff make decisions about their intentions moving forward. Class groupings and placement of teachers into possible new year levels, etc are considered at this time too. In Term 4 we will begin to create our class lists for next year, and I know that some parents would like their input taken into account.

I wanted to respectfully remind families that we do not take requests for particular teachers for your child. Your child's teacher knows who they work well with, and who might be a good fit as the next teacher for them. We combine this knowledge with a desire to maintain positive social groupings for our students, and spend a lot of time putting classes together. If you have information for us that you would like us to take into account regarding friendships or other matters, please send the DPs or myself an email about it. We cannot promise anything but we do take such information into serious account when we are making up the new class lists. If you let your child's teacher know this too then they can keep this at the front of their minds during the decision making process.

Thank you very much to all the families who came to our Quiz night last Saturday. We had a great turn out, and the quiz really made us think! Hannah Denton was an excellent quiz master, and the auctions went off well with Rory Denton winning the Principal for the Day prize. The PTA worked so hard to pull that event together for us all, and I am really thankful to this dedicated group of parents and our staff PTA rep Danielle Lauchlan for creating spaces for our community to celebrate together, as well as fundraise for our children. Well done PTA team.

We only have three weeks left of Term 3 and we have a gastro bug going around so please keep an eye out for symptoms in your child and keep them home if it is needed. The board of trustees has given me permission to be away from school to attend my son's wedding in Bali, so if you don't see me around in Week 9 that is where I will be.

Our 3-way/student led conferences are next week and booking details will come to you tomorrow via email. Keep an eye out for them as we really love having you share with your children all their learning and progress this year.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

NEXT WEEK IS THE SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR !!

TUESDAY 10th to FRIDAY 13th September in the ORATIA SCHOOL LIBRARY

The annual Book Fair is always such a good time with loads of books, accessories and posters for sale! We are OPEN for sales daily, please check the poster for times. All children will be creating wish lists with their classes through the week, or you can just pop along and have a look.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Wednesday 11th September - BOOK CHARACTER DRESS UP DAY, come along as your favourite book character and be in to win book prizes! There are prizes for Potiki, Arawhata and Tuakana, so get creative and be in to WIN!!

Thursday 12th September we are open alongside the student led conferences from 1 to 7pm. We also have a Coffee Cart available from 2pm outside the library in a space we are calling THE BOOK NOOK. So come along, have a coffee or hot chocolate in between student conferences and have a look at all the books for sale in the library.

EFTPOS SALES ONLY - All purchases are taken on the day Just like a bookshop!

STUDENT LED CONFERENCES - THURSDAY 12 SEP

Next Thursday 12th September we will hold our Student Led Conferences. Details on how to make a booking will be emailed home tomorrow.

Student-led conferences and three-way conferences are a conversation between the student, their parents/whānau, and their teacher. Students share their learning progress and achievement.

The role of the parents is to listen to their child, ask questions and encourage the student to expand and explain information further.

The role of the teacher is to facilitate and lead the conversation about the student’s learning and prompt the student when needed.

The role of the student is to share their learning with their parents and reflect on the progress they have made so far this year.

School will finish at 1.45pm next Thursday 12th September, so please ensure that you have arranged for your child to be collected from school. Buses will run at the earlier time of 1.45pm on Thursday

INSPIRE AND GROW LEADERSHIP EVENT

On Tuesday, our student leaders hosted our neighbouring Kahui Ako Schools, for our "Inspire & Grow" young leader event. We had approx 90 students, who heard from 6 inspirational speakers, who consisted of past pupils, parents within our school and others from our community. The students heard from Caleb Goldsmith who is currently finishing his University degree in Music and the amazing opportunities he has taken up to get to where he is today. We also heard from Liv Haysom, a competitive surfer and passionate learner currently studying Environmental Engineering. Nathan May also shared his passion for inspiring the next generation. Nathan currently works for VisionWest managing their foodbank and social supermarket. Ede Bird, spoke about her involvement with Sea Cleaner, and her experience as a Youth Ambassador in Hawaii. Ben Henry is one of our parents, and he spoke about his time playing for the Warriors Rugby League team and shared about being resilient and how to aim for your goals. Lastly, we had Jonny Moncur who shared stories and values from the outdoors, a field in which has has trained for. We are very thankful, that these students, and parents could take time to be with us and inspire us all!

Over all, our student leaders did a fabulous job hosting these other schools. I was very proud of how they conducted themselves, and ran the event - Mrs Goldsmith

KAPA HAKA KAITIAKITANGA

These awesome kōtiro are Kapa Haka Kaitiaki. Showing great respect and each taking care of their kapa haka uniforms. Mīharo mahi, and it was so much fun! Ka rawe koutou.

HOUSEKEEPING REMINDERS

A friendly reminder to all our parents and caregivers about a few key processes at our school.

ABSENCE REPORTING

If your child is sick or unable to come to school for any reason we ask that you report their absence on our school website or phone the school to report an absence by 8.30am. Please do not email the classroom teacher directly. If your child's absence has not been reported you will receive an absent alert asking you to contact the office to explain your child's absence.

SIGNING OUT

If you need to take your child out of school early for an appointment you will need to come to the school office first to sign your child out before collecting your child. You will then be given a Blue Apple that needs to be given to the classroom teacher so they know that the student has been signed out from the school office.

SCHOOL START TIME

Lately we have noticed a large number of students arriving late for school. We ask that our pupils arrive at school by 8.45am so they are settled and ready for the start of school at 8.55am. If your child is late, they must come through the school office and let us know they have arrived and the reason for their late arrival.

MESSAGES TO STUDENTS

If you need to leave a message for your child for the end of the day. Please make sure you have phoned the school office before 2.45pm at the latest. We are unable to pass messages on after this time. Thank you.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

A few past pupils of Oratia School are showcasing their talents at the Titirangi Theatre at the end of September. Get your tickets and head along to support Darcie, Etta, Ruby and Blake.