Oratia District School Newsletter
Week 6 - 24 November 2022
Message from Ms Linda
Tēnā koutou katoa. Nau mai ki te whānau o te Orātia. Zdravo. Talofa lava. Ni hao. Kia orana. Namaste. Greetings Orātia whānau.
This week began with the disappointing news that our Zonal Athletics event had to be cancelled due to problems with the venue at the Trust Stadium. Everyone was really looking forward to it, so to have to call it off was a real shame. The decision was not made lightly, and I have great sympathy for the disappointed students who were looking forward to the event.
Many of our Year 6 students have participated in Intermediate School transition days this week or recently. These important days give our students the chance to look around their new schools they will be heading to next year, to have a taster of some of the activities on offer there, and to get a feel for the new place. Students seemed happy with what they experienced when I spoke to some of them.
It is Family Friendly week although our teachers are all busily writing school reports for your children. We halt our usual before and after school meetings this week to allow teachers some time and space with their own families. If you would like to meet with your child's teacher please email them to set up a time for next week that works for you both.
Finally important news about the first day of school in 2023. This is going to be Thursday 2nd February but will look different than usual. Next year we would like to trial something new. The first day of school will be 'Meet the Whānau Day', and you will be invited to make a booking of 10 minutes to come in to school with your child to meet the teacher one to one. This will mean that your child will only attend school for the ten minute meeting with yourself and their teacher. We hope this will be a great time to connect with each other, share any news of importance with one another, and for parents to share the great things about their child they would like the teacher to know. This time of connection is to grow our sense of whakawhanaungatanga and partnership with each other. More details about how to book your timeslot will be coming later, but I wanted to give everyone prior notice about the first day arrangements so you can have childcare in place for the rest of this day for your child. Friday February 3rd will be the day for everyone to come to school as usual.
Keep an eye on the calendar on our school website for dates for upcoming events and activities. We hope to see many of you here in school between now and the end of the term.
Take care and stay safe.
Kia kaha, kia atawhai.
Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda
Friday Lunch Schedule
Friday 25 November - Pita Pit (order by Friday morning)
Friday 2 December - Subway (order by Thursday night)
Friday 9 December - Jesters Pie Day (order by Thursday lunchtime)
Friday lunches can be ordered on Kindo and will be delivered to your child's classroom at the beginning of lunchtime. Please contact the office to make arrangements to collect lunch orders if your child is absent on the day
Cushion Concert Info for Potiki and Arawhata students
On Thursday 1 December we will have a combined end of year concert for Potiki and Arawhata students. It is a time to celebrate the end of the year with our families. Each class will be presenting an item. Students can arrive between 5pm and 5:20pm, to be ready for a 5:30pm start. As we will be performing on the field, in front of the hall, families are welcome to bring a picnic if they wish. As it has been really wet, you may like to bring a tarp or picnic mat. Your child’s teacher will let you know if they are asking the children to dress up in a particular way. Unfortunately, if it rains we will have to cancel the event. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Room 20 made clay dragon eyes for their class "Eyes of Fire" display
Garden to Table
Update from Librarian Jess
Congratulations to four of our librarians Taylor, Annabelle, Keeva and Mahli who have attained their bronze/silver certificates!
As the end of term gets closer so does the time for all library books to start coming back to the school library. The library will be officially closing for all issuing from the 5th December, so we ask that any outstanding books please be returned to school before the end of year stocktake starts.
Library books currently issued to be returned by 2nd December 2022
5th - 16th December 2022
Library Open - 2nd February 2023
All emails are suspended over the Christmas period and any books issued between now and Friday the 2nd of December have a new return date of 3rd February 2023.
I would like to take a moment to let caregivers know that ALL children at Orātia School can renew books once, if they need more time to finish a book or would like to hold onto it for a bit longer. This means that a title can be issued to them for a maximum of 4 weeks before being returned, this is especially useful for the fiction and senior fiction collections.
All our overdue notices are sent out on an automated basis, so please let me know if you have any concerns by email jessicak@oratia.school.nz, as this system ticks away in the background on my behalf.
Learnings in Tīma Kākahi
REMINDERS
Visitors to our school
If you are visiting the school during school hours, please remember that you are required to sign in at the office and get a visitor’s badge. This is a Health and Safety requirement and in the case of an emergency, we do need to know who is on school grounds and it also ensures the security of our classes.
Change of clothes
Lost Property
COMMUNITY NOTICES
PARENT CORNER
Contact Us
Email: principal@oratia.school.nz
Website: https://www.oratia.school.nz
Location: Shaw Road & West Coast Road, Oratia, Auckland 0604, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 818-6216
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OratiaSchool/