Newsletter Monday 7th August, 2017

Tena Koutou

It's been a busy and exciting two weeks at Omihi. We have seen a number of new initiatives, such as our new website, Instagram and the children have loved their new online programmes - RAZ Reading and Banqer.co. We have also visiting the Hurunui library, watched 'The Hungry Caterpillar' and picked up some delights from the Community Chest in Amberley, as well as fit in a bunch of learning in the classroom!

I have truly loved my first two weeks at Omihi and have had a great time getting to know the gorgeous children we have here. The parents I have met so far have been very supportive and I look forward to meeting more of you as time goes on.

Please remember my door is always open if you want to pop in and have a chat.

Ngā mihi

Maree Lucas
Principal
P: 0 3 314 5857 E: principal@omihi.school.nz

Reading to dogs programme

I'm sure your children have all told you about Sam. Sam is our gorgeous Omihi dog from 9-3pm each week day. He comes to school with Isobel and Eva and is a real treat for the children to read to throughout the day. Reading to dogs is something the Canterbury public libraries started. It's a great opportunity for children to read to someone who is a good listener, doesn't answer back and loves a good cuddle. I've loved seeing the excitement on the children's face to read this week.

Parent Help - Fridays

On Fridays we have the whole school together. This is a great opportunity for the children to work collaboratively and encourage each other, which they are very good at. We would love to have some parent support on these mornings to help with groups. It could be listening to a reading group, playing maths games, helping the juniors put together a puzzle, etc. If you have any Fridays this term that you are available to come in for the morning, please add your name to this document. If you have trouble opening it, feel free to email me the dates you are available.

Lunchtime Clubs

We are going to start having a range of lunchtime clubs. This is a chance for children to try new things and develop new skills. My Mum is kicking it off by coming in during the next couple of weeks to teach knitting. If you have a skill or something that you think the children would be interested in, please let me know. We would love to have you come in and teach a group of students.

Friday Lunches

Fossil Point have offered to provide Friday lunches for us. This is an optional lunch that you can order and they will deliver every Friday. Here is an order form if you would like to print it at home, or children can get an order form off their teacher. Orders need to be into the office by Thursday at 3pm in an envelope with the correct money. They have a range of options - pizza, smoked chicken sandwich, fish and chips, sausage rolls, etc.

School of Rock

School of Rock are available to come into school to teach private music lessons. They have a range of instruments - vocal, drums, guitar, bass, clarinet, piano, ukulele, flute, saxophone, trumpet. They offer individual and group lessons ranging from $18 - $32 per 30mins. This is to be paid directly to School of Rock. Your child needs to have an instrument at home so they can practise. If you would be interested in this, please email me this week and if we have enough interest I will coordinate with them.

School House

If you know of a lovely family that might like to rent our school house and come to our wonderful school, please let me know. If we can't find anyone we know, then we will be advertising it this week.

Website

I'm sure by now you have all seen this. But a huge thank you to Logan and Sade from Snorkel who have created our awesome, new website - www.omihi.school.nz. It's a great reflection of our school and a real asset when new families are looking up Omihi.

Daffodil Day

On Friday 25th August Omihi School are supporting Daffodil Day. Children can come to school to yellow and green and we ask that everyone brings a gold coin donation for the Cancer Society.

Permission for trips

We will be sending home a blanket permission form this week for all local trips. This will be for any local class trips and any low risk trips. For any class trips that are higher risk or we travel further to, we will send home a permission form each time. We will do this at the start of each year. I apologise if you have done this already this year, but I would like to have the documentation myself.

Community Notices

Maree LucasAugust 6, 2017

Term 3 Welcome

Kia ora Koutou,

I am thrilled to have been appointed as Principal at your school. It’s so special for me to be able to work with amazing children in my own community and to work alongside such dedicated teachers, parents and support staff.

I grew up in Rangiora with three brothers and studied at Canterbury University. My first six years of teaching was in North Canterbury at Leithfield School, Broomfield School and Rangiora Borough, teaching from Years 1-8. I then taught in London for three and a half years, whilst spending all my holidays travelling around Europe. After that, I headed to Auckland for three years and was the Year 5/6 Syndicate Leader at Victoria Ave School in Remuera. In 2015 I decided I wanted to move home to be closer to my family. After all going travelling, my brothers now all live in Waikuku and my parents in Rangiora. So I became the Assistant Principal at Oxford Area School, then Deputy Principal at Elmwood Normal School. When I saw this job come up, I knew it was an exciting school to be a part of. I'm looking forward to the opportunities that arise and being able to share my knowledge and experiences with my own community. George and I got married this year and live just up the road in Greta Valley, so I am also very excited about the fact I will be able to bike to work in the summer!

For me, variety is the spice of life. During my teaching career, I have also run my own dancing school, been a TV presenter on Small Blacks TV and Crowd Goes Wild, run my own events company, created fashion shows for Ronald McDonald House, been a Big Sister mentor and travelled the world. I believe that the opportunities in our lives are endless. I love inspiring and encouraging students and teachers to take on new challenges and to think outside the square. I truly believe that the academic side of school is very important, but it is also about the experiences the children have and the values they learn along the way. It’s important to cater for individual learning needs and offer a diverse range of opportunities to engage, inspire and prepare our students to engage in a 21st century world.

My main focus over the next few weeks is to build relationships. I will be chatting to each student and staff member individually and finding out what they love about Omihi School and what their dreams are for themselves and Omihi. I would also love to talk to parents and our community. Feel free to email, call or pop in and see me. My door is always open.

We are very excited to welcome three new children to Omihi today. My nieces Isobel and Eva Harris and Zariah Bartlett have joined our junior class. I am thrilled to be teaching in the junior class every Thursday and teaching the whole school every second Friday. I will also be covering release on other days throughout the term as well. I have the best of both worlds!

I know that working together we can continue the wonderful learning that happens at Omihi, inspire our students and grow our roll so more children get to experience and be a part of our Omihi whanau.