Monday 20th November, 2023

Our wonderful students focused on their literacy.

Kia ora koutou,

I’m really proud to share with you that Penny recently completed the ‘Associate intensive training in the MSL approach to teaching phonology’ through the Institute for Multisensory Structured Language Education. This has been a work in progress over 2 years for Penny, some of it in school time, and some in her own time. It is a huge commitment, and shows her absolute passion for literacy, and helping our young people to read and write. We feel lucky to have Penny on our staff so that all of us can continue to learn in this area. It’s wonderful to work in a team of staff that all have a growth mindset, and are enthusiastic about continuing their own learning.

We would like to announce that Trudy Sutherland will be joining our Omihi whānau next year to cover Bryleigh’s parental leave. She will work one day a week with Bryleigh in term 1, then take over the three days after Easter. Please see the message from Trudy below.

Last great news for the day, now all of the funds have been deposited from the trail ride, we actually raised nearly $25,000!

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


School Notices

A message from Trudy
Kia ora Omihi School families, My name is Trudy, mum of 3 boys and I live in Waipara. I grew up in North Canterbury and absolutely love it here, we are very lucky to have such beautiful little communities.

I lived in Western Australia for 8 years and was so happy to move back home with our kids. I enjoy spending time with my family, exploring new places and just relaxing with a good book. I am looking forward to meeting you all and being a part of the Omihi School Community.

Christmas writing
The students are writing a Christmas narrative that they are going to turn into a picture book. This is the descriptive setting that they are focusing on, as written by Ze’ev:

“The snow, as bright as the moon, shimmered in the starlight. I smelt an aroma of roast boar as it wafted through the air. I heard the cheerful laughter as children unwrapped presents. I tasted sweet sugary cake as I popped it into my mouth. I felt smooth velvet blankets as I snuggled into them.”

Principal Award Winners
Congratulations to our latest Principal Award winners….Macy and Cadence.

Attendance on Hero
In case you haven’t seen it, when you scroll to the bottom of the Hero report you can check on your child’s attendance for each term. This is often used when applying for schools, so feel free to ask us if you have any questions about it.

Small School Athletics
Well done to all of our children who participated in Small School Athletics. Congratulations to the following students who made it through to Kowai athletics - Jack S, Jonty, Lily, Andy, Arlo, Taylor, Leo, Ze’ev, Macy, Fergus, Zac, Thomas, Hugo and Michael.

Congratulations also goes to Hugo and Taylor who will be going to the Canterbury athletics next Wednesday.

Staffing for 2024
Congratulations to Penny who has been reappointed as ‘Across School Lead’ for our Tipu Maiā kāhui ako. She is working across all 13 schools. Also congratulations to Georgie who has been reappointed as our ‘Within School Lead’ for our kāhui ako. Feel free to chat with Georgie and Penny to find out more about their roles.

Kowai Sports Spectacular
This is on Wednesday at the Omihi Domain. See here for the timetable. We would appreciate some more helpers at the stations. Please let Maree know if you are able to help.

John Parsons - Cyber Safety
John Parsons will be coming to work with our students and staff on Tuesday 28th November. He is also going to do a parent session for us in the evening at 6.30pm. We will have a movie playing in the classrooms if you want to bring your children, and the parent session will be in Kahiwi. He has a lot of great information on how you can keep your children safe online. This is a free session, and please feel free to invite anyone else that may be interested. Please sign up here if you are coming, so we can ensure we have enough staff to supervise students, or email Maree - principal@omihi.school.nz.

Gathering Community knowledge/talent/skills/places of interest
We would love to find out more about our local and wider community. We want to see if there are any skills or places of interest out there that our students could learn from. Please fill in this short survey for us, email us, or fill out the form below and drop in our school letterbox.

Hurunui District Library Summer Reading
Please see details below about the Hurunui District Libraries Summer Reading Program. Yo will be handing out the books and activity books to our students who wish to participate on the 7th of December.

Community Notices

Omihi School Office
Monday 6th November, 2023

Kia ora koutou,

Riders enjoying the stunning sights and weather during the trailride on the weekend.

It was a huge weekend for Omihi School with our major fundraiser of the year. We purposefully don’t have a lot of small fundraisers, as we know how busy our families are. So it was so lovely to be a part of this and see our community come together to make it happen.

A big thank you to Todd McBreen and James Blanchard from Precision Yamaha for creating the tracks, all of their work behind the scenes leading up to this, and making it happen on the day. And to Precision Yamaha for sponsoring this event. They ensured we had all of our costs covered before the event even happened! Thank you to the Evans and Littles for allowing us to use your stunning farms. Thank you to Sofia Sloss who organised the BBQ, Julie Wells who organised the registration, and to all of our volunteers who came out to support us on the day, including those that picked up stuff for us the day before. We are excited to let you know that we raised $18,000 for our school!

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

School Notices

Food Truck Friday @ Omihi Community Hall
We have collaborated with Rural Support North Canterbury to create an event for our wider community. It will be held at the Omihi Community Hall from 5-9pm on Friday 1st March, 2024. This will be a chance for our community to come together to connect, chat and eat some yummy kai. It is not a fundraiser, just an opportunity to connect. We will have live music, and are now in the process of finding food trucks to be a part of it. If you have a food truck, or know of someone that does, please contact Maree - principal@omihi.school.nz.

Small School Athletics
We will be joining Broomfield and Waipara Schools for athletics tomorrow at Waipara School. Here is the timetable. Please make sure you have let Kelly know if your child is coming on the bus or if you are meeting us there.

Year 0-3 Kowai Sports Spectacular
Our year 0-3 children will be participating in this across the road at the Omihi Domain on Wednesday 22nd November from 10am - 2pm. You are very welcome to come and watch. If there is anyone that could help with an activity, please let Georgie know.

John Parsons - Cyber Safety
John Parsons will be coming to work with our students and staff on Tuesday 28th November. He is also going to do a parent session for us in the evening at 6.30pm. We will have a movie playing in the classrooms if you want to bring your children, and the parent session will be in Kahiwi. He has a lot of great information on how you can keep your children safe online. This is a free session, and please feel free to invite anyone else that may be interested. Please sign up here if you are coming, so we can ensure we have enough staff to supervise students, or email Maree - principal@omihi.school.nz.

Transition Days for 2024
Our teachers are staying in their current classrooms in 2024, and the year groups will be staying the same. Year 0-2 in Paemoana, Year 3-5 in Awaawa and Year 6-8 in Tūpari. During the rest of the term we will be having some transition days where the current Year 2’s spend the day in Awaawa with Mrs Vincent, and the current Year 5’s spend the day in Tūpari with Miss Fletcher. The first one is next Monday.

School Pool Key
If you would like to purchase a pool key, please email Bryleigh - office@omihi.school.nz.  It is $50 for school families and $70 for community members. This includes a $20 refundable bond when you return the key.

Assembly
This term we are having a whole school assembly in Kahiwi on Friday 10th November. We welcome you to come along from 2pm. 

Report Comments
This Friday you will be receiving your child’s writing and reading comments through Hero. Please let us know if you don’t receive these.

Community Notices

Omihi School Office
Tuesday 24th October, 2023

Some of our Best Dressed entries on Pet Day, Fergus and Lily.

Kia ora koutou,

After a windy start to the week, and no power, it was lovely to have our annual pet day on Wednesday. We loved seeing such a variety of animals come along - spiders, chickens, dogs, lambs, a horse and a teddy bear! Thanks to Georgie for the organisation on the day, Julie for organising the lamb drinking competition, and Kurt for setting up our pens. Plus a big thanks to our judges. It was lovely to have Neil and Margaret Evans, Alison Sloss and Leon Parish to judge on the day. They all have strong links to our school.

I want to acknowledge ‘World Teachers Day’ this Friday. I feel so grateful to have such wonderful, dedicated teachers to work alongside. It really is special to be in a school where everyone is so passionate about our students and their learning. Thank you to Kelly, Penny, Georgie, Chantelle, and our relievers Liz and Elizabeth. Also thank you to Rachael who is our Learning Support Coordinator. Rachael works across 5 schools, and we are lucky enough to have her at Omihi each Wednesday afternoon. We will be having a special morning tea this week to celebrate them.

Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal

School Notices

Fixed term part time Office Manager Position (covering maternity leave)
We are looking for someone to join our Omihi whānau while Bryleigh is on maternity leave. It would be one day a week in term 1 working with Bryleigh, then 3 days a week in terms 2 and 3. All details are on our website. Please email Maree for more information or if you would like to apply.

Subway
Thanks to Dave Elphinstone who has collected our Subway orders over the last couple of years. Dave is no longer able to do this. Is there anyone else that is able to pick them up every second Wednesday from Rangiora? Please let me know by this Friday, otherwise we will need to cancel the Subway orders.

Preschooler morning
We welcome you in for our preschooler morning on Wednesday 25th October from 9.00am - 10.30am. Please bring morning tea and a drink bottle for your child.

John Parsons - Cyber Safety
John Parsons will be coming to work with our students and staff on Tuesday 28th November. He is also going to do a parent session for us in the evening at 6.30pm. We will have a movie playing in the classrooms if you want to bring your children, and the parent session will be in Kahiwi. He has a lot of great information on how you can keep your children safe online. This is a free session, and please feel free to invite anyone else that may be interested.

Gumboot Friday
We are taking part in Gumboot Friday this year, but will be doing this on Thursday 2nd November, as we are at river safety on Friday 3rd. So please can children bring a gold coin donation, and wear their gumboots on the 2nd. This is to help raise money for free counselling for kids of NZ.

Precision Yamaha Omihi School Trail Ride
This is not far away! If you have volunteered for the event, we will be in touch with more details next week. If you are available to help, please let Maree know, we still need a couple more volunteers. It would be great to see every family there if possible. The funds from this race help us to fund our third classroom and ensure we have smaller class sizes. You can also enter the trail ride at www.iticket.co.nz.

Second Hand Uniform
We have a lot of second hand uniform for sale. Hats are only $15, and we have a range of sizes of polos, merinos, jackets and sports tops. Please contact Bryleigh if you would like to purchase any - office@omihi.school.nz.

Schools Docs policies to review
We work on a 3 year cycle, and each term we review a number of our policies. These are open for review from our community as well. Please review the following by clicking on this link: http://omihi.schooldocs.co.nz. Username: omihi Password: glenmark

  • Curriculum and Student Achievement Policy

  • Student Achievement Information

  • Home Learning

  • Distance Learning

  • Health Education

Community Notices

Omihi School Office
Monday 9th October, 2023

Celebrating the fundraising efforts of our online auction.

Kia ora koutou

I hope you had a lovely two weeks with your whānau. We went away in our caravan for the second week, and it was great to get in the outdoors and explore around Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura.

Some exciting news to share with you to start the term. Bryleigh is expecting her second baby in term 1 next year. We are thrilled for Bryleigh, Ryan and Maia. We will be advertising for an Acting Office Manager to work with Bryleigh one day a week in term 1, then for three days for term 2 and 3, whilst Bryleigh is on maternity leave. If you are interested please feel free to get in touch with me to find out more. The ad will be in the next newsletter.

You will see below that we have a number of things on this term. We hope to see you at some of the events, and feel free to pop in and see us any time.

Ngā mihi

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

School Notices

Principal Award Winners
Congratulations to our latest Principal award winners….Lavi and Alex!

Dates for 2024
Our start date for 2024 is Tuesday 30th January. To make it less mucky, we have decided to close the school on Monday 5th February, as it is Waitangi Day on Tuesday 6th February. We were originally going to start school on Wednesday 31st, but brought it back a day to make it possible to close on the 5th.

Agri Sports/Pet Day
This is on Wednesday 18th October. Please fill out this google form to let us know what animal your child will be bringing. Thanks to Kurt for organising the Agri Sports, and to Julie for organising the lamb drinking competition. We need some parent helpers for Agri Sports. Please email Maree to let us know if you are available. Timetable of the day is:

9.30am Agri Sports
11.30am Early lunch
12.00pm Pets arrive
12.30pm Judging begins
1.30pm Lamb drinking race
1.45pm Fancy dress competition
2.30pm Prize giving

River Safety/Beach Safety
Each year we go to Waikuku Beach for beach safety. We have decided to alternate this with River Safety. So this term we will be visiting the Waipara Boys Brigade for river safety run by the Waipara Adventure Centre on Friday 3rd November. Thanks to Penny for organising this. We will need parent help, so please let Penny know if you can come along.

Preschooler morning
We welcome you in for our preschooler morning on Wednesday 25th October from 9.00am - 10.30am. Please bring morning tea and a drink bottle for your child.

John Parsons - Cyber Safety
John Parsons will be coming to work with our students and staff on Tuesday 28th November. He is also going to do a parent session for us in the evening at 6.30pm. We will have a movie playing in the classrooms if you want to bring your children, and the parent session will be in Kahiwi. He has a lot of great information on how you can keep your children safe online. This is a free session, and please feel free to invite anyone else that may be interested.

Precision Yamaha Omihi School Trail Ride
This is not far away! If you have volunteered for the event, we will be in touch with more details nearer the time. If you are available to help, please let Maree know, we still need a couple more volunteers. It would be great to see every family there if possible. The funds from this race help us to fund our third classroom and ensure we have smaller class sizes. You can also enter the trail ride at www.iticket.co.nz.

Congratulations….
A big congratulations to Macy who was awarded Amberley Netball Club’s most promising junior player for 2023. Also to Delia, who won her ‘Time to ride endurance race’ in the weekend. She beat all of the adults in her race, and her pony had the lowest heart rate.

Dates this term
* Agri sports/Pet day - Wednesday 18th October
* Preschooler morning - Wednesday 25th October
* Enviro leaders to visit Woodend Beach - Friday 27th October
* Year 1-3 athletics at Waikari School - Tuesday 31st October
* Precision Yamaha Omihi School Trail ride - Saturday 4th November (pp Sunday 5th November)
* Year 4-8 Athletics at Waipara School - Tuesday 7th November
* Kowai Athletics - Monday 13th November
* Canterbury Anniversary Day - Friday 17th November (please note there is no teacher only day on the Thursday this year)
* Kowai Sports Spectacular - Wednesday 22nd November
* Whole school assembly - Friday 24th November
* Parent session with John Parsons - Tuesday 28th November
* Science Roadshow at Omihi Hall - Thursday 7th December
* St John training - Friday 8th December
* Prize giving, whānau picnic and last day of school - Wednesday 13th December

Online auction
Thanks for helping us raise $2,720 for our school with our online auction! A huge thanks to the following sponsors of the auction:
* Tyre General
* Southern White Water
* Kaiapoi Golf Club
* Amberley Golf Club
* Air Force Museum of New Zealand
* Learn to Surf
* Hanmer Springs Ski Area
* Hall & Co Funeral Directors
* Supa Karts
* Adrenaline Forest
* Coffee Culture
* Ferrymead Heritage Park
* Hynds, Amberley
* Cloud 9 Float Club
* Beauty & You, Amberley
* MoveX
* North Canterbury Veterinary Clinics Ltd
* Black Estate
* Activity Hanmer
* Juniper Distillery
* Canterbury Honda
* Balcairn Stock Food
* Pegasus Pharmacy
* Karikaas
* Waipara Gardens Country Store
* Farmlands
* Goughs Nurseries
* Launchpad
* FMG
* Amberley Seedling Trees
* Kings Truffles
* Alice Strange

Community Notices

We’re grateful for McBreen Contracting Ltd’s support of our Precision Yamaha Omihi School Trailride, coming up on Saturday 4 November 2023. See details below to register.

Omihi School Office