Newsletter 3 Term 2

Kia ora e te Whānau,

This term has been full of fantastic learning experiences for our tamariki. In the past few weeks some highlights for me have been our successful chess champions, the completion and blessing ceremony of our fabulous taonga at the front of the school, our waharoa, that welcomes us all in. It was very timely that it aligned with puanga and it was fabulous to see so many people turn up early in the morning to put their mauri into it. Wasn't last night a fabulous evening too! It was great to see so many of you here celebrating Matariki and all our tamariki and their learning. Tamariki were very proud to share their learning and their artwork and the performances by the Whakapuāwai roopu and the fan dancers was awesome.

I am sure you will agree that we are all ready for the holiday break. There is so much sickness about and our tamariki are tired, as are the staff. However it is a satisfying tired that comes from a successful term. Enjoy the next 2 weeks together as a whānau , stay safe and well, see you next term. You are welcome to attend our pōwhiri on the Monday morning as we welcome new students and their whānau into our kura.

Nga manaakitanga

AnnMaree MacGregor

Over the past several weeks Grace, Danny and I have had the pleasure of having morning tea with the following fabulous students:

Makensie Anderson and Harrison Newby - Rm 7, JJ Walker and Willow Snowden-Rapata - Rm 4, Piper Bennett and Braxton Armstrong - Rm 17, Macca Ngaropo - Rm 19, Koen Moy and Ava Shampain - Rm 13, Taahaa Buksh - Rm 10, Harriet Caston - Rm 7, Phoebe White and Abigail Read - Rm 21, Ayla Guiney and Bailey Pomare - Rm 14, Tyler Da Silva and Ruby Taylor - Rm 6.

These tamariki make our school a great place to be through their manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and manawa reka.

On Wed 29th of May, thanks to enough rays of sun shining down, (and the organisational skills of staff, and support by parents) our senior school were able to participate in the 2024 WPSSA Winter Sports Day. Lots of fun was had, with many new sports experienced. Nikau Marsters from Reorua shares his account of the day below:

On the bus to winter sports we sang waiata. We sang our school song O te kura, along with E Minaka, Toro Mai, Toia Mai, and others. Do you know what made my day? It’s that Miss Grant said that was the best bus ride she ever had, because we sang so beautifully on the bus.

When we got there we got into our groups and then split up. The footballers went to football, hockey went to hockey, and netball went to netball. By the way, I was in netball.

So we walked to the netball courts and for some reason all of the other teams played like straight away, but we had to wait for quite a long time. This was because a team was on the wrong court, so then we switched with them.

The 1st team we played we beat them. I think the score was 7 to 2 but what I liked about that game is that the other team clapped for us when our team got a goal and I think that was just great sportsmanship. After the game we all bunched up into a circle and we said three cheers for Whangarei Primary, “hoop ray, hoop ray, hoop ray and one for the referee, hoop ray and one for Onerahi, hoop ray!” Then we lined up and walked past each other and high fived.

The final boss. Our last game. It was definitely the hardest game we had. When I walked on that court I had one look at that team and I thought "alright, we are going to lose.” Do you know why? Because most every kid on that team was taller than us.

So I started on defense. We were going well. We had 2 goals and they had none but in the second half they were on fire. They got two goals off the bat but we made sure that their points would stay like that. In this last game I made sure that everybody got a turn with the ball because I didn't want anybody to feel left out. Do you know what I learnt on that day? That size doesn't matter, because it’s all about fun in the end.

On Saturday the 22nd of June, Hannah He, Matua Parag and our Mandarin Language Assistant Liying Wang (Ling) took a small group of students to perform a traditional chinese dance at the "Chinese Bridge ICBC Auckland Regional Speech Competition Prize Giving Ceremony" held at the University of Auckland. Our ākonga did a great job of the performance, after many practice sessions over the past few weeks and represented Onerahi School very well. Thank you to our parents who were able to support this trip, both transporting our students and staying for the performance. We could not do this without you.

Isobel and Cressida (Yr 3, & 4, Rm 16) share their words of the experience below:

On Tuesday the 2nd of July, 2 keen teams of chess players from our kura joined other schools for a day of strategy and critical thinking - aka a chess championship. After weeks of honing their skill during break times and at home, our teams pulled off some stunning victories to place 1st and 2nd overall. We are so proud of them. A huge big congratulations to the team (Knight Moves) of Jayden Ferris, Billy Morgan, Patrick Dearn and Quentin Junge who placed first. And a round of applause also to the team (Silent Knights) of Jaziah Pou, Jarryd Lomas, Louie Lovelace and Samuel Wang who were hot on their tails with second place.

You may have all noticed a big change out at our main entrance on Church St, in the form of our new waharoa (entranceway). It was designed by Mike Tupaea and his diverse team of artists, designers, and engineers. We would like to acknowledge our kaumatua Fred Tito for

sharing his time and energy with us on the morning of puanga when this was officially opened, ensuring correct tikanga was followed.

Our waharoa is full of imagery and meaning. Firstly, the image of four fish scales, each

representing different elements of our environment. Three scales for the moana, whenua,

and creatures that live within those environments. The fourth scale is us. A line connects

each element and highlights our important role as kaitiaki (guardians). The imagery of scales

also calls to the idea of protection.

Flanking each side as you walk through the archway are mangōpare (hammerhead sharks).

They represent resilience, perseverance, and overcoming

The kape pattern (curved like an eyebrow) represents maramataka and the phases of the

moon. The idea that life is made up of seasons and cycles. This element ensures that no

matter the season you are connected and strengthened as you walk through. An image of

kukupa (New Zealand pigeon) is facing to the school. It symbolises the rangatira of Te

Parawhau watching over us.

Thanks to all for your patience in entering our school while this was under construction.

Kia ora e te whānau,

It has been a wonderful term in the library with lots of activity before school and at break times.

Some very clever ākonga at our school have learnt how to solve Rubik's cubes. Our keenest Rubik's cuber's (Kleo and Alia) have been sharing their love of the popular puzzle by teaching students and staff how to solve them during breaktime. The girls held a Rubik's cube competition in the library at breaktime with Kleo getting a super fast solve time of 1 minute and 5 seconds.

Our wonderful reliever Geoff Macdonald moonlights as an author. This term he donated some of his delightful picture books to the school library so we now have a complete set of his books. If your child brings home a book about Bobo the cat then you will have a chance to read some of Mr Macdonald's work. Thank you Geoff.

We have had a massive top up of Lego for breaktime Lego club which is always a big hit amongst our tamariki.

There are currently over 200 overdue library books out in the community. If you can have a good hunt during the holidays for any that may be at your place. School library books like to hide in the backs of closets, under beds and in amongst your own books. If you can find any around your house I would love to have them back.

Next term in week four: 12th-16th August, we will be celebrating Aotearoa NZ School Library week. There will be lots of activities running through the week with our annual book character parade happening on the morning of Thursday the 15th of August.

I look forward to seeing everyone next term.

Ka kite āno

Kirsty

Hello everyone!

My name is Liying, but you can call me Ling. I am excited to be a Chinese teacher at Onerahi Primary School.

I come from Yunnan, the province in south China with 25 ethnic minorities and a climate very similar to New Zealand's. I studied TCSOL (Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages) in Chengdu, which is famous for its delicious hot pot and adorable pandas. So naturally I developed a love for spicy food, and hot pot is my favourite dish.

In our Chinese classes, we will have an interesting journey to explore the Chinese language and its rich culture. Students will learn to speak, read, and write in Chinese through fun and interactive games. We will also dive into Chinese traditions, festivals, music, and art, giving students a well-rounded understanding of Chinese culture, especially Chinese dance. We will have three dance groups to learn the fan dance, peacock dance and drum dance this year.

I believe learning a new language is an amazing journey, and I look forward to sharing this adventure with you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thank you!

Best regards,

Liying Wang

Chinese Teacher

Onerahi Primary School

liying.w@onerahi.school.nz

Whānau , please help us work together to support our wonderful road patrollers. We remind you all that the speed limit outside our kura is reduced to 40km/hr and when our signs are out, you must stop. We are still seeing a number of dangerous driving behaviours outside our school, including exceeding the speed limit, turning into and/or blocking the staff driveway and obscuring the view of our patrollers by parking on yellow lines. We also respectfully ask that when crossing yourself or your tamariki on Church St or Raumati Ave, you do so at our pedestrian crossing and patrolled area. This sets a good example for our tamariki, on safe road crossings.

Senior leadership and the Board are currently working with the council to establish a safe travel plan. More information will come out in due course.

Whānau, a recent advertisement letting you know we had heaps of second hand uniform worked a little toooo well, and our stocks of all tops and jumpers are now getting very depleted. Whilst we still have a reasonable number of school jumpers in the smaller sizes, the rest of the shelves are looking a bit bare! If your child has outgrown their uniform and you have no further need of it, please feel free to drop it in to the school office. The sales of these help the school purchase additional items that our former PTA used to supply, such as sunscreen etc.

We have a great stock of honey available for purchase at the school office. Honey has been kindly donated by our partner beekeepers - Tahi honey, and we have further been gifted larger sized jars of Honeyeater honey - also from local Pataua hives. The honey is priced amazingly from $5 per jar to $20 (the big 1 kg jars) so why not pop in and pick some up. Not just yummy, its great to have on hand when winter bugs hit!

• Friday 05 July - Last day of Term 2
• Monday 22 July - First day of Term 3
• Wed 7 Aug - Tue 20 Aug - Life Ed Caravan visit
• Thursday 08 August - Inter-School Mathex
• 12-16 August - School Library Week
• Thursday 15th August - Book Character Parade
• Monday 26 August - Mid Term Break
• Tuesday 27 August - Mid Term Cohort Entry
• Wednesday 4 September - WPSSA Cross Country
• Friday 27 September - Last day of Term 3

AUTUMN

Winter is here! In terms 2 and 3 it's a great idea for students to bring a change of clothes each day, just in case they find their way into muddy puddles or get caught in a downpour. The KidsCan raincoats may be worn as part of their uniform and we recommend covered shoes and socks. As always, please make sure all personal items are named.

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 whānau 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

7 am till 8.30 am

Monday to Friday

Contact

Sandy on

0211585226