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.
