Monday 18th February, 2019

Kia ora whanau

We have had a wonderful first few weeks at school. Our new children and staff are settling in very well. We also welcome Shannon Heath who is our teaching assistant and Thalia Pugh who is our new cleaner/gardener. A big thank you to Megan who stepped in for the interim.

Our new bus is nearly here, but unfortunately we don’t have a bus driver. This is quite a concern for us, so we ask you to please go out to your contacts and see if there is anyone interested. We could split the job if necessary where someone does the morning run and someone does the afternoon run. You do need a passenger licence and a class 2, and we are happy to help anyone to get these.

Ngā mihi

Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Pita Pit/Sushi
As part of our ‘Healthy Lifestyles’ focus we are now offering Pita Pit and Sushi every Wednesday through Lunches Online. Pita Pit starts this Wednesday and Sushi is next week. I have sent an email out on how to register, so let me know if you have any issues.

Enviroschool
We have had two very productive and inspiring meetings with Matt Stanford from Enviroschools. We are doing a lot of talking and thinking around our vision and how we see Enviroschools working in our school. Our next step is to get a student group together, where Matt will train them up so they can work with the whole school and gather student voice. This is a community initiative, so if you have any ideas we would love to hear them, or if you would like to be involved in anyway, please let me know.

Year 6-8 Walk - Wednesday 20th February
We had planned to do the Tiromoana Walk, but it is closed due to the fire risk. So we are going to walk the Waipara Trail instead.

Football - 5-8 year olds
The Hurunui Rangers are trying to put together a local football tournament for 5-8 year olds. They will play on Saturdays in winter. If your son or daughter would like to be part of this, please let me know.

Pumpkins
The Glenmark Lions have donated 150 pumpkins to the school which we are very grateful for. We are selling these for $4 each, so let us know if you would like to buy any. Nick Hamilton has them at his place, so you are welcome to contact him directly.

Year 5-8 Assembly
A reminder that our senior assembly is this Friday at 2pm. The whole community is invited. Please keep an eye on our calendar for future assembly dates.

Year 0-4 Triathlon
This is on Monday 25th February at 9.30am at Omihi School. Children will be practising this week, so please send their bikes along to school. They are welcome to leave them here all week. We would love to see you at the event.

Year 5-8 Triathlon
This is on Wednesday 27th February at Amberley. All children are encouraged to participate. We ask that you please transport your own child and bike there on the day. If you are able to help on the day, please let me know.

Swimming Sports
Year 4-8 Small School Swimming sports is on Wednesday 6th March at Amberley Swimming Pool, children need to be there by 9.15am. We are still looking for transport. If you can help, please let me know. I also need a couple of parents to help on the day.

Volunteers for Omihi School Farm Race
Our two fundraisers for the year are the Raffle in term 4 where we ask families to sell tickets and our Farm Race where we ask families to give up half a day to volunteer. I know there are some of you entering, which is great! If you aren’t doing the race we would love to have your help on the day. The grey shaded boxes are where we need help, so please add your name to the document or email me.

3 Way Learning Conferences
These are on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th March. It is an opportunity for yourself, your child and your child’s teacher to sit down and work out their goals for the year. Please add your name to this document.

Year 8 2019 School Based Vaccination Programme
The Canterbury DHB will continue to offer a School Based Vaccination Programme to Year 8 boys and girls, who have not completed their eleven year old vaccinations in General Practice.

The School Based Vaccination programme will offer the two dose HPV vaccinations to protect against genital warts, cervical cancer, throat and mouth cancers, and other types of cancers later in life. In 2018 the programme has been extended to include a one dose Boostrix vaccination to provide protection against Tetanus, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough.

To enable students to receive the vaccinations at school, a vaccination pack will be sent home in Term 1. The Parent/Caregiver will need to complete and return the consent form to school.

Omihi BOT
We are delighted to announce that Ingrid Davis has been co-opted onto the BOT to be our Chairperson. We will be sending out information later this term regarding the BOT elections in term 2. We are looking for new people to join the BOT as there are members stepping down after a long service. Here is a message from Ingrid:

David and I have two boys, Griffin at Boys High and Ace in year 8 at Omihi. We live on a small farm (100 acres), just north of Amberley. We have our own aerial topdressing business which covers a lot of the South Island. I also work part time at Arthur Burke in Amberley. I like to play tennis and netball and love to get away road tripping in our bus whenever time allows.

It is a privilege and I am excited about taking on a role with the Board as I see an exciting future for Omihi School. I look forward to helping the school community continue to grow and offer our children the amazing opportunities that they currently enjoy.

Community Notices

Glenmark Netball
Registration Day for all primary aged players & trials for the Primary Teams to be held at the Glenmark Netball Courts in Omihi on Sunday 3rd March at 10am. All Senior & High School players please register with Milly Croft at milly_croft@yahoo.co.nz. Any queries please visit & like the Glenmark Netball Club facebook page or contact Jayne Sidey at c.j.sidey@amuri.net.

Omihi School Farm Race - Sunday 24th March, 2019
The entries are coming in fast for our race, please help us to continue to spread the word. If you would like to volunteer on the day, please let me know. I will send a google doc out to parents with all the jobs we need help with.

M Factor Fashion Show for Ronald McDonald House - Thursday 4th April, 2019
This year the show is at The Tannery. We have local stores Bax and Berg and Ruby six involved again and some of our students will be modelling. We would love to see you there to help us support Ronald McDonald House. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster. More details below.