Monday 19th February, 2024
Kia ora koutou,
The whole school enjoyed our farm walk last week.
We would like to welcome Trudy Sutherland, who is working every Wednesday in the office with Bryleigh until Bryleigh goes on maternity leave after Easter. Then she will be 3 days a week after that. Welcome Rachel Lockwood, who is going to be a student teacher with us this year, and will be in Paemoana on Monday and Tuesdays. Another welcome to Sharryn who has started as our Teacher Aide in Tūpari and Amelia who is turning 5 and starting in Paemoana.
I would like to acknowledge our Year 8 leaders this year - Lily, Jonty, Jack, Delia and Cadence. We look forward to helping these students grow their own leadership skills, demonstrate our Omihi values, and be wonderful role models to their peers.
Last year Georgie completed the Te Ahu o te reo Māori course. This is a 14 week course that is one evening a week. Kelly and I have started it for this year. We are looking forward to sharing our learning with our tamariki.
Congratulations to everyone who competed in our school triathlon last week - it was extremely hot! Results are listed below. The top 3 in each year group from Year 5-8 go through to the Kowai Triathlon this Wednesday.
We hope to see you at our Food Truck Friday event next week.
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz
School Notices
Strategic plan
Please see our strategic plan with our main initiatives for the year ahead. Please also see below our info regarding the Government’s new policies in their 100 day plan.
School triathlon results, congratulations to the following students:
Year 1: 1st - Arly 2nd - Eddie
Year 2: 1st - Freddie 2nd - Jack 3rd - Arty
Year 3: 1st - Hugh 2nd - Mackenzie 3rd - Stanley
Year 4: 1st - Harry 2nd - Theo 3rd - Alex
Year 5: 1st - Fergus 2nd - Andy 3rd - Noah
Year 6: 1st - Hugo 2nd - Thomas 3rd - Michael
Year 7: 1st - Taylor 2nd - Zac
Year 8: 1st - Jack 2nd - Jonty 3rd - Lily
Small School Swimming Sports
The small school swimming sports will be held at the Amberley pool on the 27th of February, starting at 9.30am. All of the details, including the timetable, are here. We need two parent helpers, please let me know if you are available. Thanks Aimee for being our lifeguard again! If your child needs transport on the bus, please let Kelly know, otherwise we will meet you there.
Sabbatical
I have split my sabbatical into 2 blocks. The first one starts in the last week of this term, and I will be back week 3 in term 2. Adrienne Simpson will be Acting Principal while I am away, and she will be at school 3 days a week. The focus of my sabbatical is ‘Growing leaders in rural schools’. I will attend the ‘Dare to Lead’ course that is based on Brene Brown’s work, visit other rural schools, and have refreshment time with my family during my 10 weeks. I look forward to sharing my findings with you.
Food Truck Friday
We look forward to seeing you on the 1st March at the Omihi Community Hall. The following vendors are coming along to serve up delicious dinners. There will be non-alcoholic drinks for sale, BYO alcoholic drinks.
Sabaya - Israeli Cuisine (cash/bank transfer)
Pam's Coffee Cart (eftpos/credit card/cash)
Woodfired Pizza (eftpos/credit card/cash)
Bloom Catering (cash/bank transfer)
Big B’s Tucka (eftpos/credit card/cash)
2024 Precision Yamaha Trailride
The date for this years’ trailride fundraiser is Saturday 9 November, with a postponement date of Sunday 10 November. Mark the date in your calendars! Registrations will open in September.
Requirements from the new Government
Phones away for the day - All state schools | kura are required to implement a phone rule that has student phones ‘away for the day’ as soon as possible in Term 1 2024 and no later than the start of Term 2 2024.
This is not applicable to us, as we don’t have any children bringing phones to school.
‘One hour a day’ teaching requirement - From Term 1 2024 schools | kura with students | ākonga in Years 0 to 8 will spend an average of at least an hour a day teaching reading, writing and maths, or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau.
This is already happening in our school. The timetable is different on a Friday, but we are confident we still fit in an hour of maths, and two hours of literacy on Friday and spread across the afternoons during inquiry time. So much of our learning is integrated.
Ministerial Advisory Group - The Minister has established a Ministerial Advisory Group to provide advice on the refreshed English and mathematics learning areas, the common practice model and phase-by-phase guidance. Initial findings from this independent group of experts are expected in the coming months and will inform future decisions. The target is to deliver the refresh of the New Zealand Curriculum to the same timeframe. You will have an opportunity to review changes before they are finalised in 2024 and you are still required to use the refreshed mathematics and statistics and English learning areas from the start of 2025. More information will be available on our website. Ministerial Advisory Group – Ministry of Education
We will continue our PLD on the Curriculum Refresh as required, and will take guidance from the MOE as it comes in.
Attendance and engagement - New attendance resources, including for parents, are available to use from Term 1. Student attendance: Guide for parents and caregivers – Ministry of Education. Parents and caregivers are required to have their children attend school, and to develop habits of regular attendance. Schools and kura support that effort with a strong attendance ethic along with an engaging curriculum and a safe environment. The resources include guidance for you to review attendance processes, an e-learning module to build staff knowledge, content for newsletters and presentations to provide clear and consistent messaging to parents.
We have a process to follow up with our students who are absent. Letters go out each term for any children with attendance that is lower than 90%.
