Kia ora whanau

We have had a wonderful week back at school. It’s been a hot one, but the children have loved being back with their friends and making new friends! We welcome Miss Mickleson, Michael, Thomas, North and Acacia to our Omihi whanau. It’s also lovely to have Xsara back again.

We have started off the year with a school wide inquiry on ‘Healthy Lifestyles’. We are looking forward to looking into how we can look after our bodies and our minds. Last week the teachers and I joined all of our local schools for a teacher only day with Lucy Hone. If you haven’t heard her speak, I would definitely recommend her. Lucy focuses on wellbeing and resilience, how we can ensure this for ourselves and how we can teach our children. Last year every child found out what their character strengths are. We are revisiting these and will be displaying all of our character strengths on the wall, so please come in and see them. Strengths don’t only align with sports and academic ability. Not all children have these. But every single child and adult has character strengths. We want to acknowledge and celebrate these. We agree with Lucy and believe that these strengths matter. They help with relationships, engagement, positive emotion and social climate.

One of the quotes that Lucy shared was this: ‘Unwanted and unexpected change is often forced upon us, while we cannot control our life circumstances, we can control our responses’. In partnership with our parents, we want to help your children learn how to cope in these situations.

Another quote she shared from Einsten really hit home with me as well - ‘If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its entire life believing it is stupid’.

I’ll leave you to ponder that one.

Enjoy Wednesday off for Waitangi Day. We look forward to seeing you at our whanau picnic on Wednesday 13th February.

Ngā mihi

Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Enrolment Scheme
We have been instructed by the Ministry of Education to enforce an enrolment scheme due to potential overcrowding at Omihi School.  We are aiming to have this in place by Term 2, 2019. We are still able to take any enrolments in term one.

Under this scheme, students will be enrolled if they live within the home zone.  The enrolment of out-of-zone students is governed by the provisions of the Education Act 1989.

The Act states that first priority must be given to students who meet the criteria for enrolment in an approved special programme run by the school - our school has no such programme.  Second priority must be given to siblings of current students. Third priority must be given to siblings of former students. Fourth priority must be given to children of former students. Fifth priority must be given to children of board employees or board members.  Sixth priority must be given to all other students.

The Omihi school zone is the area both sides of SH 1 from the Omihi Creek at the south end of the Omihi Valley, to the northern railway crossing beside Burrows Road at the north end of the valley.   It includes all properties with residential addresses on SH1 (Omihi Road) between the points outlined above and all side roads between these points. Those side roads being Baxters Rd, Station Rd, Reeces Rd, Crofts Road, Jurys Rd, Sloss Rd and Burrows Rd.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about this. We will also have an opportunity for questions at our whanau picnic.

Whanau Picnic
This is a time for all of our families to come together for an informal picnic and swim. It is on Wednesday 13th February from 5-7pm at school. Please bring along your own picnic and the BBQ will be available for you to use as well.

Beach Ed and Swimming Sports
Beach Ed is at Waikuku Beach on Thursday 14th February. Waikuku children can meet Whaea Jennie there at 9.15am. Year 4-8 Small School Swimming sports is on Wednesday 6th March at Amberley Swimming Pool, children need to be there by 9.15am. Please let me know if you are able to help with transport to either of these events.

3 Way Learning Conferences
These are on Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th March. I will send out a document for you to sign up for a time with your child and their teacher.

School Uniform
We have just ordered some bigger bucket hats, so there are now youth size and adult size. A reminder that uniform bottoms need to be navy please, not black. We also have jackets and beanies in stock for winter.

Omihi Library
Every Monday the whole school will be visiting our library, so please remind your children to bring back any library books each Monday. Please remember that it is a community library so you are very welcome to come and get books out as well. Yo Turnball is our librarian and she is in the library from 12.30-2.30pm on Mondays. But you are welcome to come in anytime. We will also be visiting the Amberley Library once a term. Check the calendar for dates.

Birthdays
Please remember that we discourage cakes/lollies/sweets being sent along to school for birthdays.

Linc ed
This year we have started using a new student management system called Linc ed. It is a system that was designed by a Christchurch Principal. We will be reporting to parents through Linc ed. All children will receive a mid year report and an end of year report. New entrants will also receive a report after 6 weeks at school. These will be sent to you digitally via Linc ed, with the option to print them off if you want to. In term 2 we will send home login details for you so you can access these. It has the ability for interaction between parents, students and teachers and also for us to add in rich content to the reporting, such as photos and videos. Here is a 1min clip to show you what the reporting will look like.

Tennis Coaching
A very talented young tennis coach from the US is working at Black Estate and is available to give lessons on Thursday afternoons, after 3pm for term 1.  Please let me know if you would be interested in your child attending these lessons. There would be one hour for juniors and one hour for seniors. Price will depend on numbers. Penelope - 027 777 0631.

School of Rock
School of Rock is going to be running on Tuesdays again this term. They need 2-3 more children to make it worthwhile coming out to school. If your child is interested please fill in this google form or contact Nolan - 0212466526, nolanhnz@gmail.com.

School Calendar
Keep an eye on the school calendar on our website for events coming up. Here are some trips for your diary:
Year 0-4 visit the Rangiora community garden - Tuesday 19th February
Year 6-8 Teremoana Walk - Wednesday 20th February
Year 5-8 Food for thought visit to Amberley Four Square - Wednesday 20th March
Preschooler morning - Wednesday 27th March

Lunchtime Clubs
This year we are aiming to have clubs each term. This term there will be a running club and a gardening club during lunchtime. Miss Hanna and I are also going to take a mountain biking club on two afternoons. The dates are in the calendar. One will be at the Waipara bike trails and the other one at Rakahuri Rage track in Rangiora. Children will need to be dropped there after school, so we will be in touch nearer the time with those that are interested. if you would like to help with the gardening club or any other clubs, please let me know. We would love to have some indoor clubs during the winter - possibly knitting, coding, sewing, baking, chess, etc.

Community Notices

Omihi School Farm Race - Sunday 24th March, 2019
The entries are coming in fast for our race, please help us to continue to spread the word. If you would like to volunteer on the day, please let me know. I will send a google doc out to parents with all the jobs we need help with.

M Factor Fashion Show for Ronald McDonald House - Thursday 4th April, 2019
This year the show is at The Tannery. We have local stores Bax and Berg and Ruby six involved again and some of our students will be modelling. We would love to see you there to help us support Ronald McDonald House. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster. More details below.

Kia Ora whanau

We had a fantastic time in Kaikoura last week. Sadly the juniors weren’t able to join us, but the weather definitely improved as the days went on. Even though there were quite a few children and adults feeling quite unwell, the whale watching was definitely a highlight. We were so lucky to see so many gorgeous animals out there. The kayaking was also a lot of fun and great to see children putting themselves out of their comfort zone and giving a go. Thanks to Miss Hanna for the organisation of the camp, we loved it.

As this is our last newsletter of the year I would also like to acknowledge the children and staff leaving at the end of this year. Our year eight students - George Steel, Max Croft, India Wilkie and Angus Barnes, along with Year 6 Alice Barnes. We will miss you all so much and wish you well for your next schools. Kathy Menzies, Jane Croft, Treen Nicholls and Sue Parish, thank you for your dedication, hard work and support for our school.

Hopefully we will see some of you at our whanau day or at the prize giving. But if I don’t, thank you for all of your support throughout the year and have a lovely Christmas.

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

School Notices

School Pool
The pool is now open. Please encourage your children to bring their togs to school everyday. We have Swim NZ coming out this Wednesday to take the classes for lessons and to work with our teachers.

Year 8 Day Out
The Year 8 students will be going to Hanmer Springs on Tuesday 11th December. They will leave school at 9am and arrive back by 3pm for the bus.

Raffle Tickets
Thank you for your support with selling raffle tickets. I can confirm we have made over $5300 for the school! The raffle will be drawn tonight at the BOT meeting and winners will be announced on Facebook and notified personally.

Stationery lists for 2019
The link to order your stationery from Office Max will be sent out to parents this week. Please make sure all stationery is purchased before the start of 2019. The books won’t be on the list this year. We will give those out at the start of the year and will invoice you directly.

Lucas Farm Walk
On Monday 10th December the Year 5-8 students will be walking around our farm in the afternoon. We will be back for the bus at 3pm.

Play house
We are still looking for someone to line the inside of the playhouse for us. Please let me know if you are available.

Whanau Day at Motunau Beach
This is on Wednesday 12th December. We are meeting at the park at Motunau at 10am and will leave at approximately 2pm. Children don’t need to come to school beforehand. Please let us know if your child needs a ride, otherwise we will meet you there. 

Preschooler Morning
This is on Wednesday 5th December from 9am - 10.30am. Please share this with your friends, all preschoolers are welcome.

Omihi School Farm Race - Sunday 24th March
The early bird entries are now open. Please help us promote this by sharing the link on Facebook, or if you have anywhere that you can put posters, please let me know and I will send some posters home. We are also looking for prizes. If you have any contacts for prizes, please let me know.

Reminders:
* Prize giving is on Friday 14th December at 1pm. Everyone is welcome.
* The last day of school is Monday 17th December. School will finish at 12.30pm.
* School starts back on Tuesday 29th January, 2019.

Message from BOT Chairperson - Sarah Barnes
As the school year comes to an end, I wanted to sum the year up and provide families with an update of what is happening with the Board. This is the end of my term on the school Board of Trustees now that we have moved away from Omihi. I first joined the Board in 2013 while Peter Mitchell was still Principal. Being on the Board has been a really valuable experience and I think the school is in the best position it has been in for some time due mainly to the work of Maree and the teaching team.

I’d like to thank all the staff for the work they have put in over the year to teach our children and provide them with such amazing opportunities. I’d also like to thank the rest of the Board: Ruth, Nick, Leighton, Bridget, Jennie and Pen. Everyone has made a great contribution and made my life as Chair a lot easier – whether its by providing support and information in the background, maintaining the pool or looking after the school house. I’d also like to acknowledge the contribution of the families of the staff and Board members who support them and tolerate meetings and other school activities outside of normal hours.

At the start of the new year the Board will meet to appoint a new Chair until the Board Elections next June. We had appointed both Pen and Genevieve to the Board as additional members to provide for succession planning so the existing Board will not be short of members at the beginning of 2019. It is likely that some of the existing board members will resign so we are looking for new members from the middle of next year. The Board works best when it reflects the diversity of our community. Everyone has something to contribute and I would encourage all of you to consider joining the Board. Please feel free to talk to any of the Board members if you have any questions.

Community Notices

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.