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.

Last Thursday I was fortunate enough, along with a group of teachers, to attend the Literacy Symposium put on by Learning Matters. They had three international speakers who were extremely knowledgeable about structured literacy approaches and teaching techniques. One of the speakers was the associate principal of an Australian school who told the story of their literacy journey from a leadership perspective. I found that really fascinating to listen to. It made me reflect on our journey and made me very thankful for our teaching staff and their willingness to keep learning and growing professionally.

As you will be aware, the Minister of Education has mandated that all NZ schools must use structured literacy approaches by next year. For us, in our third year of exploring this pedagogy, we are well on our way to getting more comfortable with these teaching approaches. It takes a long time for new learning to become natural and embedded, and each year we try new things and expand our kete of teaching tools. We feel in a good place to be able to meet this expectation, because we are already doing it.

Recently, the Minister moved the timeline of implementation of the new Maths curriculum forward to the beginning of next year also. As many of us are still focusing on Literacy it will take time and application to also add in the new learning required for Maths. We feel confident that the new curriculum documents will help us define more clearly what needs to be taught, however, the expectations are much greater than previously and so it will take us some time to get to grips with everything. The Minister has assured us that even though the expectation is that we introduce the new curriculum next year, she is aware that it will take time to become fluent in the new scope and sequence.

Can I encourage you to be supportive of your child's teacher and involved in the home learning that comes your way as we navigate the next steps. My team are working hard as they learn new concepts and expectations, while still planning and teaching in exciting ways every day. We are very fortunate to have teachers and teacher aides of such quality for our students, and I am really proud of them all.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

Ruma waru were out in the sun last week taking part in rakau games. It was the perfect day to continue their learning outside of the classroom while utilising their listening and coordination skills, and their te reo Māori comprehension.

It's our last fundraiser of the year and it's for a great cause. So get in quick and do your bit to help raise funds to build a new playground in the middle school. Nothing beats the smell of cookies baking in the oven 😄

Aotearoa is at very high risk of a measles outbreak and not enough of us are immune.

The Ministry for Ethnic Communities, with the support of Te Whatu Ora, has released a series of three animated videos to explain what measles is, how to protect yourself from the disease and where you can access reliable health information.

• Chinese (simplified) with voiceover in Mandarin
• Arabic
• Spanish.

Check out the videos at:
Health videos for ethnic communities – Ministry for Ethnic Communities
Feel free to share these resources widely with your communities.

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:)

Photos from last year's Character Dress Up Day below

A friendly reminder to parents that need to leave messages for their children at 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.

As part of last week's celebration of Tongan Language, our Garden To Table students made Sapasui which was a great hit. Easy to make and good to eat, here's the recipe to try at home.

Please bring in a gold coin this Friday 30 August to donate for Daffodil Day. Many small gestures make a large difference. We appreciate your support !!

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.

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/