Kia ora whanau

I love this time of year. It is so busy with wonderful experiences for our tamariki and lots of fun learning going on. I want to acknowledge the hard work that our teachers are putting in right now. As well as teaching everyday and planning for camp, they are all busy assessing and writing reports on your children. This is such an important and valued process, but also time consuming, so I want to thank them for all of their hard work.

Miss Mickleson relieved in the juniors today.

We are looking forward to our camp next week, especially having the whole school join us on day one!

Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas, Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Principal’s Award
Congratulations to Lucy Macefield who received the latest Principal Award.

Athletics
Congratulations to George Steel, India Wilkie, Sylvia Brown, Tom Hazeldine, Billy Esler, Christian Esler, Alice Pennell, Alice Barnes and Georgie Macefield who represented Omihi at the Kowai Athletics.

Congratulations to George Steel, Alice Barnes and Billy Esler who will be representing Kowai in the Canterbury Athletics.

Camp Payments
A reminder that these need to be sorted out before we go on camp. Please get in touch with myself or Ruth if there are any problems.

New Playhouse
We have our new playhouse that has been built and it looks fantastic. Before the children can use it the inside needs to have boards on it as it is currently building paper. Is there any of our building/handy parents that could do this for us?

Raffle Ticket Money
Please send this back to school by the 3rd December - preferably before camp if possible. There are still tickets available on www.givealittle.co.nz/org/omihischool. The draw is Monday 3rd December.

Enviroschool
We are very excited to announce that in 2019 we are committing to becoming an Enviroschool. More info can be found here - www.enviroschools.org.nz. We will keep you informed of our journey along the way.

Library Books
Please send all library books back by the 3rd December.

Pool Keys
We have pool keys available to purchase. Please contact Ruth if you would like to have one for the summer.

Community Notices

Pegasus Dental
Your year 8 child, transitioning to secondary school in 2019, is eligible of free dental care until they reach the age of 18.  You have a choice where they can be seen.

PAG Pegasus Dental is conveniently located in Pegasus town and offers a comprehensive range of professional dental service to North Canterbury including; Dentists, Oral Therapists, Hygienists, Oral Medicine Specialist. Phone 03 9204003  www.pagpegasusdental@gmail.com.

Amberley Swimming Club
We welcome back previous club members and new ones for an Open Night on Tuesday 27th November, 6pm. This will be an opportunity to find out more about how the club operates.

Session times will be, Juniors: 6:30 – 7 pm and Seniors swim 6:30 – 7:30 pm. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Tena Koutou Whanau

What an amazing day we had last Wednesday at pet day! We did get the pick of the week for weather. A huge thank you to Leighton for organising the Agri Sports, Nicholas for adding in the vineyard category and Julie for organising pet day. We really are lucky that our tamariki get to be a part of these rich experiences. It is lovely watching them work in their mixed age groups and how they work so well as a team and help each other out. We feel lucky to be teaching such a wonderful group of children. The other thing I love about events such as pet day is how many parents and grandparents come down to watch. I say in all seriousness that we really are #onebigwhanau.

Nga mihi
Maree Lucas, principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Welcome to new students
We welcome Xsara who has joined our senior class and also Thomas and Michael who have started their preschool visits in the juniors.

Teacher Strike
As you have probably seen in the media, there is going to be another teacher strike on Wednesday 14th November. The BOT have made the decision to close the school on that day. We really appreciate your support on this. The teachers and principals are working hard to negotiate with the government to make improvements for your children. Not only to increase pay and try to bring more teachers into the sector, but also to gain funding for extra staff in schools, which is a huge benefit to small schools such as Omihi.

Mana Ake
Mana Ake, Stronger for Tomorrow, is a new initiative to promote wellbeing and positive mental health for children in primary schools across Canterbury. We have been allocated two Mana Ake workers for our Community of Learning. I met with them both last week.

The initiative aims to provide early intervention and support for teachers and whanau when children are experiencing ongoing issues that are impacting on their wellbeing. Kaimahi can also support individual children and groups of children.

The Mana Ake Kaimahi for your school are Katie Thomas and Rachael Meese. Katie has a background in counselling and Rachael, a background in social work.

Please talk to your child’s teacher or myself if you feel that your child could benefit from their support. This is a free service.

Mana ake kaimahi - Katie and Rachael.

School Photos
Please get your photo order into Ruth by Friday 9th November.

Mufti Day
There is a mufti day this Friday to raise money for SPCA. Please send along a gold coin donation.

Waikuku Bus
The parents who have a contract with Go-Bus to run a school route from Waikuku are getting plans in place for next year – if you’re interested in a potential seat(s), please contact Amy Kay on 021 169 7377 or amy.kay@nttourism.co.nz.  The bus route starts at Waikuku and travels down the highway to school; there are various pick-up/drop-off points currently but it’s really easy to add new spots, or a bigger bus, if needed.  It’s operated using a standard weekly fee per family (not by child or location) and the higher the number of families, the lower the cost.

Camp fees
These need to be paid by the week before camp. Please come and see me if you would like to pay these off in instalments. Please note there will be no school bus run during camp.

Omihi Raffle
The draw for the raffle is on December 3rd. Tickets are still available from our students, our office or on the Givealittle page (https://givealittle.co.nz/org/omihischool). They are $10 each. Check out our website to see all the wonderful prizes. Please send all the tickets and money back to the office by Friday 30th November.

Omihi School Farm Race
This is happening again on Sunday 24th March, 2019. Entries open December 1st at 9am. All details on the poster and on our website. We would love your support and your entries! :)

A couple of important dates:
Wed 12th Dec - Whanau day @ Motonau Beach. All families are invited for a day of fun at the beach and a picnic lunch.
Fri 14th Dec - Prize giving will be at 1pm for the whole school. We welcome our whole community. We will also be farewelling our Year 8’s and staff/students who won’t be at Omihi in 2019.

Community Notices

Omihi Community and Sports Hall
Omihi Community and Sports Hall will be holding a Special General Meeting on Monday 19 November at 7:30pm at the hall to elect a new committee now that the building is complete.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. For any more information please contact Nick Hamilton on 0275466434.