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.

The highlight of the week was seeing our Kapa Haka rōpū performing at Te Kahu o te Rēhia competition at Rutherford College on Saturday morning. This competition is organised for mainstream schools with Kapa Haka groups to get together and perform for each other. Lots of Te Atatu schools were involved, and we and Prospect School are the only schools included from our Kahui Ako cluster. Our tamariki did such a wonderful job and were noted for their poise and respectful demeanour on and off the stage. Their singing was exceptional and they looked amazing. To make things even more wonderful the rōpū won two prizes, placing third for their poi waiata, and equal third for their whakaeke(entrance choreography) in their singing of Hutia. I know how long and hard the students have worked to practise and develop unity. My congratulations to them all for their success.

I would like to praise Kōkā Teena Cains, Matua Matt Moncur and Matua Ben for their leading of the rōpū under the guidance of our esteemed tutor Papa Lance Wilson, from Hoani Waititi marae. These three have formed the nucleus of leadership for our rōpū, and I thank them sincerely for their continued effort for our students. Thank you too to the parents of our tamariki for the priority you have given to your children's involvement in these performance opportuntiies. They have represented our kura well and we are very proud of them all.

This Sunday the annual Christmas service is happening at Oratia Church at 6.30pm and our Kapa haka have been asked to open the event. Our choir will also be performing along with the rock band and Isla Dalziel. Bring a picnic and a rug and enjoy the festivity. In the busyness of the end of the year it is worthwhile taking the chance to slow down and focus on these sorts of opportuntiies for celebration of this season.

Finally, at this time of year we sadly have a few staff that we are farewelling. Ben Coenradi is leaving us for a promotion at a new school and will be team leader and Across School Lead Teacher for their Kahui Ako. Debbie Donaghy is moving to Southland to pick up the farming life, and be closer to her daughters. Jessica Kestle, our librarian is stepping back to take time for personal reasons. They will leave a large hole in the fabric of our school life and we will miss them very much. We wish them every success for their new ventures. We will also be farewelling Kirsty Lonsdale who has worked with us to cover Laura Rust's maternity leave, and Emma Shaw who has stepped in to support Kohanga Iti in the last few weeks of this term. Sharon Walker is going to take some leave next year also. While we hate to lose good staff we are very thankful that we have been able to attract quality teachers to replace them. We welcome Jessica Lee as the new team leader of Arawhata, James Galliford as a new Y3/4 teacher, Monica Muir-Bergh to Potiki and Anna Jackson to work with Kelly Mills in Kohanga Iti. We also welcome Casey Grant who will be covering Sharon's role.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

Our end-of-year prizegiving and performance will be on Thursday 12th December. The prizegiving will run from 1.50pm - 3 pm. We warmly welcome whānau to this end-of-year celebration. Whānau are invited to bring a cushion and or picnic mat and sit on the grass banks in the valley.

Ngā mihi nui,

Potiki syndicate made the most of the beautiful weather last Friday by holding their assembly outside on the tiger turf.

Unusual clues with messages on have been popping up in Room 3 that we didn't know how to decipher. For some reason, they always popped up around water. Finally on Friday it all came crashing down (literally), and an alien craft crashed on the water tank behind our classroom! Inside the craft was a message and a CODE BREAKER!! oh and some very nice alien cookies. We all worked on cracking the code and managed to decipher the message from the aliens.

On Wednesday, we held our Service Awards assembly. This is an assembly to recognise all of the students who have provided a service to our school. The services included Garden to Table helpers, The Oratia Bites team, Bike Mechanics, Student Leaders, Librarians, Peer Mediators, Wellbeing Warriors, Travel Wise Leaders, Bus Wardens, Sound System Monitors, Sport Shed Monitors, PB4L Monitors and the Office Helpers. Congratulations to all of our Service Award recipients and a big thank you for your service to our school.

Kia ora koutou,

A big tino pai to mahi to the Kapa Haka ropu for their performance at Te Kahu o te Rēhia Kapa Haka Festival on the weekend.

The tamariki looked stunning, performed beautifully and were up against a high calibre of competition. To their credit they earned a 3rd place in the category of Whakaeke (singing Hutia) and have made us very proud. Ngā mihi nui Kōka Teena, Papa Lance, Matt Moncur and Matua Ben for your ongoing hard mahi and leadership with this group - and for the awesome kaiako who came along to help.

We are on the hunt for unwanted housepaints, including test pots for an exciting art project around the sandpit. Any donation would be appreciated. Please bring them into the office.

Thank you to The Portage Licensing Trusts and The Trusts for your kind donation towards our Senior Prizegiving. We appreciate your support.

ATTENDANCE WEST - We’re excited to share our Christmas Supports and Services Directory for West Auckland, a resource that can connect your families with the support and services they need these up-coming holidays. Whether it’s help with food, christmas gifts for children, free wifi, or counseling, you’ll find a variety of services listed in one place to link families to the help they need.

Please click here to view support services for West Auckland these Christmas Holidays

Thanks to the support of Visionwest's partners your donation will be DOUBLED

Please help if you can by donating now. You'll help transform tough moments to cherished ones this Christmas.
Ngā mihi
Sarah and all the team at Visionwest
To donate directly into Visionwest's bank account use the details below:

Account Number: 12-3252-0048346-52 Reference: 4331 Code: Xmas

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/