Kia ora koutou,

Ferg and Michael trying on the police uniform.

We are looking forward to seeing you at our Food Truck Friday this weekend. It’s on Friday 14th March from 5-9pm, across the road at the Omihi Hall. It is a community event, and a chance for us to collaborate with Rural Support North Canterbury. Bring a picnic rug or some deck chairs and come down with your families or friends. Food Trucks take cash and card.

Next week we welcome Holly to Paemoana. It’s lovely to have Holly and her family joining our Omihi whānau.

Today I took a team of 4 to the PCT Challenge (Police Competence Test). It was such a great morning, and it reminded me of the amount of opportunities that our students are able to be a part of. They competed against a number of schools from North Canterbury and Christchurch, and participated in a variety of team building exercises with other schools. We’re looking forward to sending a team with Miss Fletcher to Agri kids in a couple of weeks.

Congratulations to all of the children who participated in the Small School Swimming Sports last week, and good luck to Harry, Ze’ev and Ruby-Grace who are competing in the Kowai Swimming Sports this Thursday. See all of our results below.

This week we have our whole school assembly on Thursday at 2pm. We welcome you to join us.

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

School Notices

3 Way Learning Conferences
On Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th March, we welcome you in for our 3 Way Learning Conferences.  This is a chance to sit down with your child and their teacher and look at their learning, and their goals moving forward.  Please book your time in here.

Strategic Planning Community Afternoon - Wednesday 7th May
Every three years we review our strategic direction and look ahead to the future to where we are heading as a school. This year all schools in NZ are reviewing and resetting, ready to have a new strategic plan ready for 2026. All stakeholders will be invited to be a part of this throughout the year - staff, students, BOT and our community. We would like to invite you to a community afternoon on Wednesday 7th May, from 3.30 - 5.30pm. There will be a movie on for the kids, and we will provide food for everyone. It’s important we hear everyone’s voice. You may have ideas that are different, and that’s great, as we can draw on diverse perspectives to create a collective vision. If you are not able to make it, there will be an opportunity to fill out an online survey, or make a time to come and meet with Maree. We will send out a sign up form nearer the time.

Positive Education (update from Georgie)
This term we are focusing our Positive Education through "Wellness Wednesdays." On Wednesday afternoons, we are spending time working through our Pos Ed lessons, with a big focus on Character Strengths. The children have all completed a character strength survey, which we do every few years as the childrens top strengths may change as they continue to grow and develop as young individuals. It is important to note that everyone has every strength, but for each person particular strengths shine stronger than others. As a staff we have all completed this survey too, as we will use it not only during lessons, but as a staff. If you would like to know more about the 24 character strengths or even take the free survey yourself so you can talk to your child/ren about it, here is the link. 

Teacher only day
A reminder of our teacher only day on Monday 17th March. The school will be closed on this day.

Small Schools Swimming results
Congratulations to the following students:

Year 4 novice freestyle: 2nd - Lavi
Year 5 novice freestyle: 1st - Alex 3rd - Theo
Year 6 novice freestyle: 2nd - Ze’ev 3rd - Noah
Year 7 novice freestyle: 3rd - Hugo
Year 8 novice freestyle: 2nd - Ava

Year 6 novice backstroke: 1st - Ruby-Grace

Year 5 novice breaststroke: 1st - Alex 2nd - Theo
Year 6 novice breaststroke: 1st - Fergus 2nd - Ze’ev
Year 7 novice breaststroke: 1st - Michael

Year 5 boys swimmers freestyle: 1st - Harry
Year 6 girls swimmers freestyle: 1st - Ruby-Grace
Year 6 boys swimmers freestyle: 3rd - Fergus
Year 7 boys swimmers freestyle: 3rd - Michael

Year 5 swimmers backstroke: 1st - Harry
Year 6 swimmers backstroke: 2nd - Ze’ev
Year 7 swimmers backstroke: 3rd - Michael

Year 5 swimmers breaststroke: 1st - Harry

Community Notices

Kia ora koutou

Walter, Amelia and Eddie focusing on their artwork.

We have a number of new families that have joined our whānau and some that will be joining us throughout this year, plus lots of lovely preschoolers around the community. We look forward to welcoming our preschoolers to our preschooler morning this Wednesday at 9am. Please bring morning tea for your child and their hat.

I was so proud of our students at our school triathlon, and the 5 that then went on to the Kowai triathlon. We are really excited that Harry is heading to the Canterbury triathlon this week to represent Kowai and Omihi School! What a great achievement.

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

School Notices

Food Truck Friday - Friday 14th March, 5-9pm
We are looking forward to our Food Truck Friday again with North Canterbury Rural Support Trust! We have the following food trucks confirmed:

• Sabaya (Israeli Cuisine)

• Big B’s Tucka

• Woodfired Pizza

• Mythos Greek Souvlaki

• One scoop or two (ice cream truck)

Year 4-8 Swimming Sports
This is on Wednesday 5th March at Amberley pool. Here are all the details. If you are meeting us there, please be at the pool by 9.15am. If your child is coming on the bus, or needs a ride back to school on the bus, please add their name to this doc. If they are not on the doc, we assume they will meet us there. Thanks to Aimee who is our lifeguard on the day. We need one more parent helper to be a back up timer. Please let Maree know if you are available.

School triathlon results
Congratulations to the following students:
Year 1: 1st - Walter and Alice 2nd - Hope and Ned
Year 2: 1st - Amelia and Arly 2nd - Eddie
Year 3: 1st - Emma and Freddy 2nd - Maddy and Jack 3rd - Arty
Year 4: 1st - Charlotte and Hugh 2nd - Mackenzie and Stanley
Year 5: 1st - Harry 2nd - Theo 3rd - Alex
Year 6: 1st - Arlo 2nd - Noah 3rd - Ze’ev
Year 7: 1st - Hugo 2nd - Michael
Year 8: 1st - Jessica 2nd - Ava

The following students also qualified for the Kowai triathlon, and had the following results:
Year 5 boys: 1st - Harry 7th - Theo
Year 6 boys: 5th - Noah
Year 7 boys: 3rd - Hugo 5th - Michael

Congratulations to Harry for qualifying for the Canterbury triathlon, taking place tomorrow!

School 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 going to http://omihi.schooldocs.co.nz. Username: omihi Password: glenmark

• Health, Safety, and Welfare Policy

• Safety Management System

• Risk Management

• Worker Engagement, Participation, and Representation

• Healthcare

• Recording and Reporting Accidents, Injuries, and Illness

HPV vaccinations for Year 8 students
A public health nurse will be at school on 8th May for the Year 8 immunisation programme. Please see information about this programme in the community notices section below. In the coming weeks we will receive consent packs for those due immunisations. These need to be filled in regardless of whether parents are or are not consenting to the immunisations being administered. We will be in touch with parents once these are received from the nurse.

Community Notices

Omihi Hall cleaner
We’re in need of a new cleaner for the Omihi Community Hall from March. If you are interested, please email principal@omihi.school.nz.

Kia ora koutou

It was a short first week, but so nice to see everyone again, and lovely to see our families at our whānau picnic last week. I would like to welcome Skylah, who has joined Tūpari class.

Ava, Skylah and Jessica

I’m excited to introduce our Year 8 leaders for 2025 - Ava, Zariah, Skylah and Jessica. We look forward to helping these girls to thrive in their final year of primary school, and take on some new leadership roles.

This year we are looking forward to offering a variety of lunchtime clubs each term. We will have a running club, frisbee golf, knitting, singing, guitar and biking. If you have a skill or interest and would like to run a club, please let me know.

Bryleigh is away this week, so please feel free to send any urgent inquiries that would usually go to Bryleigh, to me.

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

School Notices

Food Truck Friday - Friday 14th March, 5-9pm
We are looking forward to our Food Truck Friday again with North Canterbury Rural Support Trust! We have the following food trucks confirmed:
- Sabaya - Israeli Cuisine
- Big B’s Tucka
- Woodfired Pizza
- Mythos Greek Souvlaki
- One scoop or two - ice cream truck

Basketball
Please contact Bryleigh by 17 February if any Year 5-8 students are interested in playing basketball in Term 1. The competition runs on Friday nights across 6 weeks in March-April. Games are held at schools in Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Woodend and Ohoka. Total team costs would be shared evenly between players and are $228 for the 3x3 competition or $420 for the 5x5 competition.

Miniball
If you have a Year 3-4 student interested in playing Miniball this term, please contact Bryleigh by Monday 17th February. Games are held at Mainpower Stadium on Mondays after school. It is $49 per student for a 7 week competition.

Lunch Online
We have Sushi and Subway available to order online on alternate Wednesdays again this term, starting with Subway on 12 February. To order, please go to www.lunchonline.co.nz and it will be collected and delivered to school by the wonderful Allan family.

Year 4-8 Swimming Sports
This is on Wednesday 5th March at Amberley pool. Here are all the details. If you are meeting us there, please be at the pool by 9.15am. If your child is coming on the bus, or needs a ride back to school on the bus, please add their name to this doc. If they are not on the doc, we assume they will meet us there. Thanks to Aimee who is our lifeguard on the day. We need one more parent helper to be a back up timer. Please let Maree know if you are available.

Contact Details
If you have changed address or phone number, please make sure you let us know. You can email Bryleigh on office@omihi.school.nz.

Bus Safety
Constable Ken will be taking the whole school for bus safety on Friday 14th February, and he will also be training our bus wardens - Ferg and Hugo.

Preschooler Morning
We welcome all of our preschoolers on Wednesday 26th February from 9.00am - 10.30am. Please bring your child’s morning tea and water bottle.

Kowai Triathlon
The Year 5-8 students who place 1st or 2nd in our school triathlon will be going to the Kowai Triathlon, which is this Wednesday (12th) at Amberley. Parents need to take their child, and be there by 12.15pm. Kelly and Maree will be there, but will be assigned to a role. Here is all of the information. We will email parents if their child has qualified.

Community Notices

Omihi Hall cleaner
We’re in need of a new cleaner for the Omihi Community Hall from March. If you are interested, please email principal@omihi.school.nz.

Kia ora koutou

Happy new year. I hope you had some lovely family time over the holidays. After a wet January, we had some lovely sunshine in Momorangi Bay in the last week. Although it’s great for the farmers….not very often we are this green in January!

The teachers and I are meeting this week for our first teacher only days to get ready for the year. We are excited to have everyone back next week.

I am sending my newsletter out this week, as there are a few things happening in the first couple of weeks, so hopefully this helps with your planning.

Next week we welcome Ned, who is joining Paemoana, and Penny who is joining in week 3, and will be starting her visits on Monday.

Bryleigh is in the office today, Wednesday and Thursday if you need to organise any new uniform.

Enjoy your last few days, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

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

School Notices

Omihi Bus
This term the bus will do Reeces Rd pick up first, then South/North. The Ministry has recommended schools remind caregivers of the following points:

• Caregivers are responsible for getting children to school, which may involve getting them to and from their nearest bus pick-up and drop-off location.

• Please either stay with your children while they are waiting for their school transport in the morning or keep in contact with them to make sure that they are picked up safely.

• It is recommended students and caregivers be at the bus pick-up/drop-off locations 5 to 10 minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.

  If you wish to discuss any school transport related issues, please contact Maree.

Stationery
Please can you hand in your child’s stationery to their teacher, and they will give it out as needed. The lists can be ordered through www.myschool.co.nz/omihi. We will give students their books and invoice you for these.

Invoices and Donation Scheme
Families will receive an invoice for your child’s books, and also a contribution to the bus. This is to help cover the costs of using the bus for school trips, so we can minimise the amount of parents we require each time. We are still part of the Donations Scheme from the Ministry, so we do not need to ask for the annual school donation from parents.

Whānau Picnic
We welcome you to our whānau picnic on Tuesday 4th February at 5pm. Please bring along dinner for your family, the BBQ will be available if you would like to use it. The swimming pool will also be open. This is a good chance to meet new families and catch up after the holidays.

Triathlon
Our school triathlon for Year 1-8 is on Monday 10th February. We will confirm the time next week. We welcome parents to come and watch. The top 3 children in each year level from Year 5-8 will go to the Kowai triathlon on Wednesday 12th February at the Amberley Domain. Children can bring their bikes to school each day in week 1 to practise.

Contact Details
If you have changed address or phone number, please make sure you let us know. You can email Bryleigh on office@omihi.school.nz.

Sunsmart Policy
A reminder that as part of our Sunsmart policy, sun hats need to be worn every day in term 1. Please put sunscreen on your child before school. If your child has a rash vest, please send that along for swimming. We will be swimming every day if possible.

Teacher Only Day
A reminder that we have a teacher only day on Friday 7th February and Monday 17th March. On these days we will be meeting up with the other 12 schools in our Tipu Māia Kāhui Ako to look at the new Maths curriculum, and also visiting the Tuahiwi Marae.

Bus Safety
Constable Ken will be taking the whole school for bus safety on Friday 14th February, and he will also be training our bus wardens.

Preschooler Morning
We welcome all of our preschoolers on Wednesday 26th February from 9.00am - 10.30am. Please bring your child’s morning tea and water bottle.

Year 4-8 Small School Swimming Sports
On Wednesday 5th March, we will be joining Waipara and Broomfield School at the Amberley Pool for our small school swimming sports. These will be in the morning, and we will send out more details nearer the time.

Food Truck Friday
We are collaborating with Rural Support North Canterbury for the second year to bring Food Truck Friday to Omihi. This will be across the road at the Omihi Hall on Friday 14th March, from 5pm - 9pm. It is not a fundraiser, just a chance to bring the wider community together. Kelly will be singing and there will be a number of food trucks available to purchase dinner. Bring a picnic rug, and we would love to see you there.

Agri Kids/PCT Competition
We are taking a team of senior students to the Agri kids competition on Saturday 22nd March, and the PCT (Police Competence Test) Competition on Monday 10th March. We will be in touch with the parents to give further details.

Year 5-8 Camp
We are excited about our Year 5-8 camp to Living Springs on Monday 31st March for 2 nights. Kelly and Penny are leading the camp, and they will be sending further details home in the next couple of weeks.

Year 7/8 Technology
Technology starts at Hurunui College on Monday 3rd March. The bus will pick the children up at 9.00am each day. If your child is going to be late, please let Kelly know, and you will need to drop them straight to Hurunui.

Whole School Assembly
We welcome you to our whole school assembly on Thursday 13th March at 2pm.

School Calendar
Please keep an eye on our school calendar on the website for upcoming events. If you would like me to share the calendar with you, please let me know.