Kia ora whānau

This has been a full term of learning inside and outside of the classroom. I would like to thank Sally, Georgie, Penny, Ruth, Sharryn, Fi and Tracy for all of their hard work this term. Our children are so lucky to have such dedicated staff.

We are loving watching the progress of our new multipurpose space. The good news is it’s running on time and under budget…that never seems to happen, so we are thrilled! We look forward to being able to start using it at some stage in term 3. The new slide also goes in over the holidays, and the children are meeting with Emma from Woodlands Escape this week to start designing our ‘stage 2’ of the playground, which will include - shaded areas, space to eat lunch, vegetable gardens and hopefully a concrete table tennis table!

The Paddock to Plate inquiry has been so interesting this term and I enjoyed my two days with Year 5-8 last week working on their iMovie’s to finish off the inquiry. I can see there has been substantial learning going on and I love the conversations around what they have learnt and how they relate it to their own lives. You will be able to see these at the end of next week when reports go out via Hero. If you aren’t able to log on to Hero, please let me know.

This is my last newsletter for the term, so enjoy time with your family over the holidays. We are heading to Queenstown to hopefully get a bit of skiing in. Delilah went up to Coronet Peak last year, but this year she might make it down some slopes in her Dad’s backpack!

Ngā mihi

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

School Notices

Ski Trips
We have two ski trips booked in for Tuesday 10th and 17th August. Children need to have a parent with them that has responsibility for them for the day. If you are not able to go, it is up to you to organise another parent to take your child and they will have responsibility for them for the day. A ski trip information form is being sent home with each child today. Please send these back by Monday 5th July and let me know if you have any questions.

Pies/Pizza
These are being sent home tomorrow. Please arrange to pick them up if you have ordered a lot of them.

Awaawa trip to Motunau
Awaawa will be going to Motunau on Wednesday for an afternoon walk to explore the area. We will be travelling by school bus and will be back by 3pm. Please send any booster seats if needed.

Literacy Week
We are looking forward to focusing on literacy next week. As well as our special guests we have asked the children to bring along one of their favourite books to share with their buddy. Plus a reminder that we have dress up as a book character on Friday 9th July. This is not a mufti day so they don’t need to bring any money.

Life Education
We have Harold and the Life Education van at school tomorrow. Year 0-4 are focusing on Healthy Eating and Year 5-8 will be focusing on Cybersafety.

Spring Ball - Saturday 11th September
Tickets go on sale this week! Thursday 1st July at www.iticket.co.nz. Please spread the word and help us to make it a sell out. If you can put some posters up for us, please let me know and I will send them home.

School Docs Policies
Each term staff and our BOT review our School Docs Policies. There are some policies that are to be reviewed by parents as well. This term we have:

• Reporting to parents on student progress and achievement

  Please review the following by clicking on this link: http://omihi.schooldocs.co.nz

Username: omihi Password: glenmark

Community Notices

RESILIENT HURUNUI Brad Lake and Jamie Engelbrecht of the Amuri based "The Brothers Green"will be speaking about The Economic Opportunities for Hemp, at Amberley School, Rewi Alley room on July, 15th at 7.30 p.m. All welcome. $5 donation appreciated.

Kia ora whānau

It was great to see our students run at the Small Schools Cross Country. It was a fantastic event run by Broomfield School and a ‘true country’ cross country…..with kids running through mud, up hills and across hay bales! We were so proud of the determination and perseverance of our students. Congratulations to Stan, Zac, Lily, Rowan, Kurtis, Monty and Daisy who qualified to race at the Kowai Cross Country last week. They did us proud.

Further congratulations to Daisy, Monty, Kurtis, Rowan and Lily, who have qualified for the Canterbury Cross Country.

This week we welcome Mackenzie, Annie and Scarlett, who are having their first visits to Paemoana. The three girls will be starting full time in term 3.

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

School Notices

Sloss Farm Walk - Paemoana
Penny will keep in touch with you regarding this trip on Wednesday. Fingers crossed the weather is ok!

Black Estate
The whole school are visiting Black Estate Restaurant and their Netherwood Vineyard this Friday morning. If you are able to help with transport, please let Sally know. If you drop your child at school, can we ask that you drop them directly to Black Estate please. We will meet you there by 9.10am.

Winter Bugs
We’re coming into the winter months and there seems to be a few bugs around. Please keep your children at home if they are unwell.

Year 5-8 Assembly
We welcome our community to our Year 5-8 assembly this Friday at 2pm.

Spring Ball Helpers
Thank you to those who have signed up for a job for the Spring Ball. Feel free to add your name if you haven’t already. I will send posters home next week to be spread around the community. If you have anywhere you could put some, please let us know.

Spring Ball - Saturday 11th September
We can’t wait for our big fundraiser of the year on Saturday 11th September at the Omihi Hall. With the band Assembly Required and DJ Boogie Beats, it’s going to be a fantastic night! Tickets are $79 or $750 for a table of 10 and they go on sale at www.iticket.co.nz on the 1st July. There will be buses from a number of destinations. These are limited, so make sure you get in quick.

Literacy Week
In week 10 we are celebrating Literacy at Omihi School. It is a week of inspiring our students to read and write, as well as look at different pathways through literacy. We have some special guests coming in to read their favourite books to our students - Robyn Hamilton, Mayor Marie Black and Simon Green from Amberley School. We also have Claire Inkson and Lucinda Diack from Latitude Magazine coming in to share how a magazine is put together, plus we finish it on a ‘Dress up as your favourite book character day’.

Pies and Pizza
The pies and pizza’s are going to be delivered on Tuesday 29th June. We need one more parent to help organise these to go home with children. Please let me know if you are able to come in for a couple of hours on that day. Also please note we are not able to store pies or pizza at school, so they will all be sent home on the 29th.

Community Notices

Black Estate is looking to employ a part time person who can manage their small B & B in Omihi (just one studio under the Black Estate restaurant building - check it out online).  

 The role would involve, managing bookings, communicating with guests about arrival times and meals, cleaning the B & B and setting up for new arrivals. The work is approximately 12 - 16 hours a week and varies over winter and summer.  You would be part of our restaurant team so the role is quite social and you have support if you are away on holiday etc.  You would work on your own for bookings/communications.  Must be available for a couple of hours on weekends (usually Saturdays) so we are keen to hire a local person.  Please contact Pen at penelope@blackestate.co.nz if interested.

Tickets on sale from 1st July, 2021

A great day on Mt Grey!

Kia Ora whānau

I hope you are all managing to stay dry out there. There has certainly been a lot of rain, and a lot more in North Canterbury last night. Please let us know if you need any further support from the school.

It was wonderful to see such a great turn out to the Drought Shout on Friday. A great initiative and so important to get our farmers off their farms and communicating with each other. Quite a turn of events after it with this weather!

Stay safe, and keep in touch if we can support your whānau in any way.

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

School Notices

Welcome
Welcome to Niko Plaskett who is starting with us this week in Paemoana.

Principal Awards
Congratulations to the latest Principal Award winners....Zariah Bartlett and Emma Waldron.

Important dates
Tuesday 1st June - Year 8 going to National Young Leaders Day (no Omihi bus run)
Wednesday 2nd June - Year 1-8 cross country. All info here. Children to be picked up from school by 12.30pm.
Thursday 3rd June - Pie/pizza orders due in
Friday 4th June - Teacher only day
Monday 7th June - Queens bday - School closed
Tuesday 8th June - Preschooler morning, 9am - 10.30am
Friday 11th June - whole school watching Playhouse Theatre show Rumplestiltskin at Omihi Hall with Greta Valley School and Waipara School

Professional Leadership and Strategic Planning
This year I am part of a year long professional opportunity called Springboard Trust. It is a free resource for Principals and it has honestly been some of the best professional learning I have been a part of.

There are two focuses - professional leadership and strategic planning. I have a mentor from outside the education sector who has been amazing at challenging me, helping me to reflect deeper and to look at things with a different perspective. I had a 360 degree survey where our staff, BOT, some parents, my appraiser, leadership advisor and Principal mentor all filled out questions around my leadership. It was great to be able to reflect on my strengths and how I can further enhance those and also to look at areas where I can continue to grow.

The strategic planning module has been very timely for our kura. We were due to review our school vision and strategic plan ready for 2022, so the learning has really helped with the process of this. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in our vision review. It has come through strongly that our vision is still very relevant for us - Ako/Learn, Tipu/Grow, Puawai/Thrive. We have loved unpacking this with our tamariki, whānau and BOT.

Further info for Year 1-8 Cross Country from the organisers - Broomfield School
* No dogs are permitted to be on the farm
* There will be a coffee cart (We encourage the use of reusable cups and only buying drinks for your own child)
* A portaloo will be on site
* The weather for Wednesday is looking pretty good, and the farmer believes that the surface flooding from the rain will quickly dry up, so we are good to go on Wednesday.
* If postponed, we will notify you the night before the event.
* Because of the wet, cars will have to park on the outside of the paddock. Signs will indicate where to park.

Virtual Mission
We are tracking well with our mission and are nearly in Bali! It hasn’t been great weather to get out and about, but hopefully over the next few days that will improve and we can keep adding on those kms. If you would like to join, please go to https://www.omihi.school.nz/virtual-mission. As the days get colder we might need more people on board to keep us tracking well!

Paid Union Meetings
There are paid union meetings coming up on the 29th June for Principals and 1st July for teachers. At this stage we don’t need to ask you to pick your children up early as we are managing it in house. If this changes, we will let you know.

Outside Learning Area
Stage two of our outside learning area and playground is creating shade over the sandpit, shade outside Tūpari and a new lunch area with shade. We will also be creating vegetable boxes and gardens around the new building, and on our wish list is a concrete table tennis table! We are starting to plan these now, and are hoping for them to be ready for term 4.

New sliding door
We have a new sliding door to be installed in the school house. We are looking for a contractor to employ to do this. Please let me know if you could help us out.

Community Notices

Compass FM Open Day
You’re invited to come along to your local radio station. It’s our Tenth Anniversary!! Local radio is as important today as it has ever been, so come along and see Compass FM in action.

Saturday 12th June 2021 10am – 12pm.
Gold coin BBQ on the day with funds raised going to charity.

Share a bite to eat and chat with Compass FM staff who have influenced our local radio station over the last decade. Compass FM is based in High Street Rangiora, between ANZ and the Lotto shop."

Resilient Hurunui
Resilient Hurunui Presents Dr Merf Merfield, on Thursday June 17th at 7.30p.m, at Amberley School, Douglas Road, Amberley.

Merf is the head of the BHU Future Farming Centre, which is dedicated to the extension of permanent and whole-system agricultures and horticultures. This presentation will give an overview of Regenerative Agriculture.

We took our friends from Tuahiwi for a walk up the hill to see our beautiful environment. Thank you to the Dormers for letting us walk on your lovely property.

Kia ora whānau

We have announced our major fundraiser of the year, the Spring Ball! This is on Saturday 11th September at the Omihi Hall. We are so thrilled to have the band ‘Assembly Required’ on board and DJ Boogie Beats. It’s going to be a fantastic night! Tickets go on sale on the 1st July and will be at www.iticket.co.nz. More details to come.

As a small school it is really important for us to ensure that our staff have opportunities of Professional Development. It is wonderful to work alongside teachers that embrace learning and are always looking for ways to learn and grow. Sally has done a lot of work around Digital Technology, Penny and Georgie are part of the Incredible Years Teacher programme and we have whole school professional learning around Maths, Digital Technology and Literacy this year. Plus we are really excited to have joined up to an 8 week course around Positive Education with Geelong Grammar in Melbourne. We will all be part of online learning focusing on Mindfulness, Character Strengths, Positive mindset and growth, and Positive Relationships.

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

School Notices

Omihi School Vision
Over the last couple of weeks our staff, students and parents have been part of a review of our Omihi School vision. We would also love to get feedback from our wider community. Have a read of our feedback so far on our vision - Ako/Learn, Tipu/Grow, Puawai/Thrive. If you have any further info of what you think it means for our school, then please either email me on principal@omihi.school.nz or fill it out on the form attached and drop it in our school letterbox by Monday 24 May.

Omihi Community Trust
The Omihi Community Trust was recently closed down and the remaining money has been given to Omihi School. We would like to thank the current and past trustees for this donation to the school.

Reports
Your child’s reading comment will be sent home via Hero at the end of this week.

Road Safety Week
This week is Road Safety week. We will be talking about safety at the school gates at the beginning and the end of the day and when we cross over to use the field. It would be great if you can talk to your children about this as well. The school gate is really busy with cars and buses at 3pm and a number of cars driving past don’t always slow down to 20km.

Omihi’s Virtual Mission
It’s been really exciting seeing new people join our Virtual Mission! We are heading through Australia at the moment and are on track to make it to London by term 3. It’s not too late to join, just head to www.omihi.school.nz/virtual-mission. Our students are running every day to add to this….great cross country practice!

Mufti Day
It is Pink Shirt Day this Friday. Children are to bring a gold coin donation and wear a pink shirt or brightly coloured shirt.

Black Estate visit: Year 1-8
Our Black Estate visit has been changed to Friday 18th June. We need 2 parent helpers. Please let Sally know if you are available.

Year 0-4 Assembly
We welcome you to our Year 0-4 assembly this Friday at 2pm

Small School’s Cross Country: Year 1-8
This is on Wednesday 2nd June (postponement 3rd June). The course is on Baxters Road. Briefing is at 12.45pm and the first race is at 1pm. All details are here. Parents are asked to please pick children up from school to take them there. They will not need to come back to school afterwards. Let me know if your child needs a ride.

Mt Grey walk
Tūpari are walking up Mt Grey on Tuesday 25th May. We need one parent to come with us. Please let Sally or I know if you are available.

Gumboot Day
On Friday 28th May children are invited to wear gumboots with their uniform and to bring a gold coin donation for the I am Hope campaign. Please note there will be no mufti day in term three, as we have two this term.

Principal visit
The North Canterbury Principals are going on a bus trip to visit three schools across North Canterbury on Friday 28th May. We are excited to be one of those schools hosting them. Our tamariki will give them a tour of our school and we will be sharing all of the things we love about our kura.

Pre Schooler Morning
We welcome all pre schoolers on Tuesday 8th June from 9am-10.30am.

Attendance Letters
Attendance letters will be sent home in the next week for term 1 attendance. As a school we send letters home for any children that have an attendance rating of less than 80%. We realise that the majority of these are for reasons such as sickness, which is completely understandable, but it is a requirement for us and important to keep track of the amount of school days your children are missing.

Community Notices

North Canterbury Basketball - Hoops and Stars programme. This is run by Harry Skirrow and coached by 3 others. If children want to better their skills and basketball knowledge and have fun while doing it, then Hoops and Stars is the best programme . Hoops and Stars has 4 leveled groups which depends on age and/or skill level. The groups are as follows:

Jr Jammers, Year 1-3. Time 5pm-6pm
Jammers, Year 4-6. Time 6pm-7pm
Slammers, Year 6-8. Time 6pm-7pm
Stars, Year 7-9. Time 7pm-8pm

The programme is on a Wednesday night at New Life School. Term 2 starts on the 12th of May and finishes on the 30th of June. Cost per term: $90

Registration link: https://membership.sportstg.com/regoform.cgi?formID=91883

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Hurunui Biodiversity Trust invites you to a native shrublands field day on Tuesday 25th of May at Murray and Earl farms Woods Road, Scargill starting at 1:30 pm at the top end of Woods Road. We will be discussing the importance of shrubland, pros & cons, Biodiversity and Government policies/regulations.  The aim of the field day is to help landowners understand their shrub lands and the different management options  See our Facebook page for more details. 

RSVP via HurunuiBiodiversity@gmail.com