Monday 6th October, 2025
Excited to be back learning on the first day of term!
Kia ora koutou
We hope you had a lovely holiday, and some quality family time. We are excited to have all of our students back today and ready to learn for our final term of the year.
During the holidays, I was elected onto the New Zealand Principal Federation. There are 11 Principals from around the country who are a part of this, and I’m proud to say that I am the only small school Principal on the executive, and one of four Principals from Canterbury. It’s a real privilege to have been voted on, to work at a national level, and be a voice for small and rural schools across New Zealand, as well as learn and grow as a leader at the same time. I have been on the Canterbury Primary Principals Association for the last 5 years, so it’s exciting to be able to work on this kaupapa at a national level. We will meet twice a term in Wellington, starting in January 2026. I look forward to updating you on what we are working on.
We are excited for our year 2 students to be moving through to Awaawa today, and our year 5 students who are moving through to Tūpari. It is a great transition for next year, and also allows for smaller class sizes in our junior class. We will be welcoming two new entrants this term - Eddie and Estelle.
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz
School Notices
Principal awards
Congratulations to our Principal award winners from term 3 - Fergus, Ava and Noah.
Sunsmart School
A reminder for students to wear their school hats each day this term. Please can you put sunscreen on your child before they come to school, and they are able to top up at lunchtime as well.
Events this term
We have quite a lot going on this term, please keep an eye on the calendar. We are looking for help with transport for some of the events, so please let Maree know if you are able to help:
Science Roadshow - whole school trip to Amuri Area School, Monday 13th October, leaving at 11.30am - parent help needed.
Agri sports/Pet day - Tuesday 21st October
Athletics - Wednesday 29th October
Year 0-3 at Waikari School - parent help needed.
Year 4-8 at Waipara School - we will take the school bus, and parent drop offs.Preschooler morning - Thursday 6th November
Teacher only day - Thursday 13th November
Whole school trip to the Antarctic Centre - Monday 17th November - parent help needed.
Year 0-3 Sports Spectacular - Wednesday 19th November at the Sefton Domain - parent help needed
Rakahuri Blast Mountain Bike race - (optional) year 5/6, year 7/8 - Monday 24th November
Tūpari farm walk - Friday 5th December
Whole school Beach Ed - Tuesday 9th December, Waikuku Beach - parent help needed.
Year 8 day out - Thursday 11th December
Tūpari library/rest home visit - Friday 12th December
Please let Maree know if you can help with transport to any of these events.
Prize Giving Cups
Can students please return all cups that were received at prize giving and pet day last year.
Agri Sports/Pet Day
This will be on Tuesday 21st October. We will send home a Google Form today for you to enter your pet. Preschoolers are welcome to join us. Agri Sports is in the morning. We ask that parents bring pets along at 12pm, ready for the pet day event to start at 12.30pm. Thanks to George who is organising Agri Sports for us this year.
Inquiry
This term's inquiry is all about investigating and exploring the continent that is Antarctica, looking at Antarctic exploration, ecosystems, food webs and environmental conservation. We are excited to be heading to the Antarctic Centre in week 7 to learn all about life in Antarctica and have some hands-on experiences.
AI Parent Session
AI is new to us, and we have spent a lot of time this year learning about AI in Education. We would love to bring you on this journey with us, share what we have learnt so far, what’s happening in the classrooms, and what our draft policy looks like. We have an afternoon parent session from 3.15pm - 4pm on Wednesday 22nd October in Kahiwi. Please email Maree to register.
Prize giving
Our final day of school is Tuesday 16th December. We have our prize giving at 9.30am, and we welcome all of our community along to this. It is your choice if you would like to take your children home straight away afterwards, or some families have a play at school before they go. If it’s a nice day and you have a pool key, you might like to stay for a swim.
Attendance Letters
Attendance continues to be a focus for our current government, and they have targets that the Ministry of Education is working with schools on, ours included. Parents and caregivers are required to have their children attend school, and to develop habits of regular attendance. It is the school’s responsibility to follow this up. We will be sending out attendance letters this week for any children that had less than 90% attendance in term 3. We know there was a lot of sickness in term 3. It’s the unjustified days off that the MOE are really interested in.
International Week of Happiness: 6th - 10th October
This week we are celebrating "International Week of Happiness" . This is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the dialogue around wellbeing education within our community. The children will each pull a name out of a hat within our kura, and throughout the week they try to fill that person's bucket by doing random acts of kindness towards that person. They are not to buy anything for this person, but make them feel loved. This could be by holding the door open for them, writing a positive note and leaving it in their bag, or asking them to do an activity at lunchtime. It is a fantastic way to remind children that small things can make a big difference in someones lives.
Pool key
If you would like to purchase a pool key for the summer, please email Bryleigh on office@omihi.school.nz. It is $50 for school families, and $70 for our wider community. There is a $20 refund when you return the key.
Teacher only day
We have a teacher only day on Thursday 13th November.
2026
Our dates are in the calendar for term 1. Our first day of school will be on Monday 2nd February. Our whānau swim and picnic will be on Tuesday 3rd February from 3.30-5.30pm. It is a 9 week term, and school holidays start at Easter weekend.
Tipu Māia Kāhui Ako newsletter
You are welcome to read our kāhui newsletter for Term 3 here.
