Kia ora koutou
Omihi debating team - Lily, Macy and Rowan.
I was so proud last week when our debating team won their second debate, this time against Ōhoka School. Rowan, Macy and Lily showed our school values, confidence, determination and wonderful perseverance in order to continue to grow, learn and improve their debating skills. Congratulations to Lily who was speaker of the day in our first debate, and Macy in our second debate. We look forward to the next one against Woodend School next week.
As part of our 3 year Strategic Plan we are constantly working on our initiatives. Each teacher has taken a leadership role around one of the initiatives and we would like to share regular updates with you through our newsletter. We are always happy to talk further about these if you have any questions or want to find out more about our annual plan. I’ve attached our strategic plan to remind you of our goals and initiatives. See below an update from Penny who is leading our initiative around Structured Literacy.
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz
School Notices
Strategic initiative: Expand teacher capability in Structured Literacy and embed whole school approach
Penny: We run a strong structured literacy approach across all classrooms in our kura. We have been growing and developing this for the last three years. All staff have completed training and are very knowledgeable about their practise. The children have structured and sequential spelling lessons based on individual target areas and are taught decoding skills that improve reading ability, comprehension and fluency. A major focus area for us this year is writing. We are working through the Writing Revolution approach as a staff. This is a structured model that aims to equip students with the essential skills to become competent writers. We will share more detail about the skills involved in this in upcoming newsletters.
Principal’s Award
Congratulations to our latest Principal Award winners….Christian and Rowan.
Character Strengths
Kurtis (Year 8) - My top character strengths are bravery, fairness and love. Bravery helps me not to be scared of trying new things. Fairness is good to help me understand that everyone has equal opportunities. If one brother gets something, the sibling should get the same. Love is something that you need to have in everyday life and it helps you accept people that you might not like, or you think are different, but you still have them as friends.
Omihi Uniform
We have seen a lot of non Omihi uniform lately. Please try and keep to the uniform as much as possible, and let us know if you would like to purchase any second hand uniform. We have new jackets that have just arrived. They are a lot thicker than our last jackets and are $75 each. We have samples in the school office if you would like to try them on. We still have our old jackets and are selling these at $50 for all remaining stock. These are good windbreakers. We also have new Omihi trackpants and shorts. These will be in the office soon if you would like to have a look at them. Plain navy shorts and trackpants are still fine to wear as well.
Omihi Raffle
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this, we raised over $3,400 for our school! The raffle will be drawn this week and winners will be notified and announced on our Facebook page.
Naked Baker Pie fundraiser
In term 3 we have two ski trips to Mt Lyford that the whole school go on. Year 5-8 also have their school camp to Hanmer Springs. If you would like to fundraise to help pay for these, we have the option of selling Naked Baker pies (pizzas are not available). The forms went home with each family last week. It is totally optional, all money raised comes directly off your own bill. You will make $2.60 from each pie you sell.
Meeting with teachers
A reminder we welcome parents into school before and after school. Please wear a mask if you are going into the classrooms. Teachers are available before and after school to chat. If you would like to discuss something specific or your child’s learning in detail, please ensure you book a time with them.
Small Schools Cross Country
This will be held tomorrow (Tuesday, 31st of May) at the same venue as last year, 186 Baxters Road Waipara. The top place getters in each year level (Year 5 to 8) will be running at the Kowai Cross Country. Children need to be picked up and at the course by 12pm for a briefing and the first race.
It is up to parents to arrange transport to cross country. If your child needs a ride to the cross country, please let us know. All children need to be picked up from cross country venue as there will be no teachers at school - we will all be there until the end. Please let a teacher know when you are taking your child.
Omihi Bus
On Thursday 2nd June there will be no Omihi bus as it is being used to take a group of children to Christchurch for National Young Leaders Day.
Preschooler Morning
We are looking forward to being able to hold a preschooler morning this term on Wednesday 22nd June. The morning will run from 9-10.30 am. If you have a preschooler, we would love to see you there.
Reading Comments
Reading progress comments will be coming out at the end of next week on Hero. Please let your child’s teacher know if you can’t get access to Hero.
Teacher Only Day
A reminder that we have a Teacher Only Day this Friday 3rd June.
