Monday 8th September, 2025
Kia ora koutou,
Playing four square at lunchtime.
We would like to welcome Freya and Amelia who have joined our Paemoana class. It’s lovely to have them and their families as part of our Omihi whānau.
Congratulations to all of our students who performed speeches and poems last week, they did an outstanding job. Well done to Noah, who came 2nd and Ava, who came 3rd in our senior speech competition. Thanks to Mr Green and Mrs Pugh, who were our judges. Also a big congratulations to those students who participated in the kapahaka festival last week. We were so proud of you all. For some, it was out of their comfort zone, but they gave it a go, and put in 100%. It was a real team effort.
A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate to attend a Principal Conference. As I am on the Canterbury Primary Principal’s executive committee, it meant they funded this professional learning for me. It is one of our priorities at Omihi, to ensure we have professional learning opportunities for all of our staff, and I’m grateful to have staff that want to continue to learn and grow. There is so much happening in the education space at the moment, and it is moving at a rapid rate, so it is crucial for us to keep up with that pace for our students. I’m proud to say we have a board and staff that also value this.
One of the stand out speakers of the conference for me was Justin Coulson. He is a psychologist, a parent of 6 daughters, a parenting expert, a keynote speaker and he talks to thousands of Principals and teachers about emotional intelligence, amongst other things. Three little statements that stuck with me were:
High emotions = low intelligence
Emotions are contagious
Definition of Connection - feeling seen, heard, valued
To me, these are very powerful statements, and great reminders for us as parents, and as educators, thinking of our students and children every day. We know they can have heightened emotions at times, but they are not adults, and they are not able to regulate these emotions like we can as adults. I attended Justin’s keynote and his workshop, and I think he’s worth looking into more. If you are interested, his website is https://happyfamilies.com.au/about .
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz
School Notices
Prize giving cups
Could those who received cups at prize giving last year please return these to the office by the end of term.
Cultural Day
On Thursday 11th September, Year 5-8 will be attending our Tipu Māia Cultural Day with Miss Fletcher and Mrs Vincent, which is organised by the kāhui. This is at Rangiora New Life. They will be travelling in the school bus, leaving at 9am and returning by 3pm.
Omihi School 125th Jubilee - Friday 12th September
We invite you to our 125th Jubilee. There will be a school tour, decade photos, and an afternoon tea between 12.30pm - 2.30pm. The event will start promptly at 12.30pm at the Omihi Hall. We welcome our parent community to this as well, please email Bryleigh if you would like to come. Join us at the Greta Valley Tavern for a casual drink and a catch up from 3pm. Please call them in advance if you would like to stay for dinner - 03 975 3924.
Scargill Flower Show
Our students have entered artwork into the Scarfill flower show this Saturday 13th September at Tipapa Estate. If you have some time, it’s a lovely event to attend, and Kelly will also be performing there.
Canterbury Country Cricket
On Tuesday 16th September, all classes will have cricket sessions with Canterbury Country Cricket.
Awaawa visit to Lucas farm
On Wednesday 17th September, Awaawa will be visiting the Lucas farm. Maree, Penny and Rachel will be attending this with them. They will have a literacy focus, and will use this trip for their writing once they are back in the classroom.
Assembly
We welcome you to our whole school assembly on Thursday 18th September at 2pm.
School Photos
We have school photos on Thursday 19th September at 9am. There will be an opportunity for individual and sibling photos as well.
Raffle
Each year we have our trail ride as our major fundraiser, and a raffle to supplement that. We ask that every family please donate an item or voucher worth at least $10, and we will put these together as hampers for the raffle. Can you please send these into the office by the end of Term 3. We will then send 20 raffle tickets home in Term 4 for each child to sell, and we will also have them for sale at the trail ride.
Trail ride
Online entries for the trail ride are now available at www.iticket.co.nz. Thanks to all of the helpers who are volunteering on the day.
Term 4 sports team opportunities
Touch - Please contact Bryleigh by 6 October if your child is interested in playing touch at Amberley Domain in Term 4. Games will be on Thursday nights, and the cost is $400 per team which would be split evenly between players.
Miniball - Please contact Bryleigh by 15 September if your Year 3-4 student is interested in playing miniball in Term 4. Games are Monday nights at Mainpower Stadium, and the cost is $49 per student for 7 games.
Hockey - Please contact Bryleigh by 15 September if your Year 3-8 student is interested in playing hockey in Term 4. Year 3-4 have a skills based programme on Fridays at Dudley Park, and Years 5-8 play at Mainpower Hockey Turf in Rangiora on Tuesdays. The cost is $42 per player for 6 weeks.
If we don’t have quite enough players keen to make a full team, we can contact other schools to see if they would like to enter a combined team.
