Matapu School Newsletter
Term 4, Week 1 , 21st October 2021
Calendar - Please note some new dates added & further information for events will be sent home closer to the date if required.
- Friday 22nd October - Teachers Only Day
- Monday 25th October - Labour Day
- Monday 8th November - BOT meeting @ 6pm
- Wednesday 17th November - Sports Prizegiving
- Friday 19th November - Junior Prizegiving
- Wednesday 24th November - Senior Prizegiving
- Friday 26th November - Teachers Only Day
- Wednesday 1st December - Year 8 Dinner
- Tuesday 14th December - Last day of Term 4
Principal's Weekly Update
Term 4 Week 1
RAISE Goal: to wear your potae at break times
Te reo phrase of the week: whakamaua tō potae (put on your hat)
Kia ora,
We have had a great start back to the term. The students are full of energy and like us, they are looking forward to a hot summer ahead. Now that might be wishful thinking, but please do remember that all of our students need to wear a Matapu School hat and sunscreen at break times. Sunscreen is readily available from their class teacher. Please see the school office if you need to order your child a new hat.
In these uncertain times it was incredibly pleasing to still hold our annual Pet Day today, albeit in a somewhat different format. The lambs and calves were out in force! You could see the hard work that our students had put into rearing their animal and how proud they were to lead them around the ring. A massive thanks to Amanda Sherman and the whole SPA Committee. From making the certificates to organising the prizes, Amanda put in a tonne of hard work behind the scenes to ensure the event ran smoothly. With events being cancelled left, right, and centre it is fantastic to see our rural background still being able to be celebrated. A big thank you to all of the volunteers and helpers who made the day such a success.
Alert Level 2 Requirements
We have now been in Alert Level 2 for a number of weeks and with no sign of a change in alert levels any time soon, I just want to remind everyone of the requirements that we must follow to keep our tamariki safe. Please:
Only come on to the school site if you have to
If you do enter the school site, please wear a mask and sign in at the school office. Parents/caregivers of students in Room 6 can use the sign in book in the Room 6 foyer.
Most students should be able to walk into school by themselves and meet their parents/caregivers at the school gates at the end of the day
Wear a mask if you are waiting outside the school gates to pick up your child/ren
We have really appreciated how well you have followed our Alert Level 2 guidelines and value your continued support.
Prizegiving Trophies
If your child won a trophy/cup at last year’s prizegiving, can you please return it to the school office ASAP so we can get them ready for this year’s event.
Ngå mihi nui
James Willson
Values Awards
Room 1 - Nate Budd for writing a beautiful heart felt Year 8 speech.
Room 2 - Izabella-Rose Tito for always being a kind and supportive member of our class.
Room 3 - Kaitlyn Harding-Tito for consistently making the effort to complete her work to a high standard.
Room 4 - Khorus Hunt for being a fantastic helper this week and being a great friend.
Room 5 - Braxton Te Waaka for amazing ambition and trying super hard with all his learning.
Room 6 - Eden Greenway for an amazing effort learning letters and sounds. You are guiding your own learning.
Tennis Lessons
Thursday tennis lessons start Week 2 of Term 4. Students must have their own tennis racket.
Whakatauki
Huriha to aroaro ki te ra tukuna to atarangi kia taka ki muri i a koe.
Turn your face to the sun and let the shadows fall behind you.
Room 1
It has been a great first week back in Room One. We have been learning all about natural disasters and what we can do before, during and after an emergency. On Thursday next week we are taking part in the NZ ShakeOut drill at 9.30 am. The students all have a "What's The Plan, Stan?" family safety plan to fill out for homework this week. Please work on these with your kids to make a plan for your family.
You can also find a PDF of the form here: https://getready.govt.nz/prepared/household/make-a-plan/household-plan/#/e2658
Room 2
It has been great to see all the kids again after a two week break. There is so much happening this term for the kids in Room 2 that we are getting busy with lots of work. We are working on our basic facts for maths, reading our new class novel ‘Dawn Raid’ for reading, and have started looking at persuasive writing and will work on this for our speeches later this term. We also had an interesting Aumangea Tāima activity where students had to build a ledge off the table that would hold a marble, without it falling off or touching the ground. Here is one of the creations.
Room 3
We have had a great first week back in Room 3. The students have been excited about pet day and have been eager to share their pet profiles with us. We have also begun our new unit for writing on persuasive writing. The class are all very good at coming up with points to argue about and we are working on writing a persuasive piece in the correct format.
Room 4
We have had a wonderful first week back! The students have been working hard to get back into our daily routine. They have been amazing at helping each other. We had a little pet sharing session on Thursday where we got to talk about our pets if we were not able to bring a calf or lamb this year. In the afternoons, we have been turning our taniwha drawings from last term into bright works of art this week using crayon and dye. Have a great long weekend!
Room 5
We are so happy to be back at school! Lots of excited faces, eager to learn. This term, fairy tales will be our main theme. We will be writing about them, listening to the pattern of them, writing our own and using them as a basis for team challenges. On Monday and Tuesday, the children were given a challenge to create a beanstalk that would reach the tallest; as you can see - lots of excited children with lots of imagination.
Although this term is short - we will be learning, learning, learning!
Room 6
We have had a busy start as we have a lot of learning to fit in this term! We are working on improving our story writing skills by using finger spaces consistently, listening for sounds, writing words we know and checking that our sentences make sense and have full stops and capital letters- lots to remember!
We will be reading some fairy tales and using these as part of our writing too, and they will also lead our Aumangea taima in the afternoons. We know there is always a ‘villain’ of sorts in these stories so it will be fun to discover who they are. We are starting with Goldilocks and have enjoyed listening to the story and talking about the unusual ‘villain’ in that story- not the usual wolf or fox!
We have started maths talking about ‘position’ words- on, under, below, above, beside, in, out, next to etc- and today we hunted for places on the playground to demonstrate these words. It was lovely to be outside in the fresh air!
Sponsors
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Mark Joblin Concept & Construction Ltd, Sanfords Rural Carriers, Taranaki By-Products, McDonald Real Estate, Eltham Vet Services, ANZCO, Power Farming, Corrigan Electrical, Matapu Bulk Transport, CRV Ambreed, FMG, Mack Transport, Blastways, Nevada, Ballance, Todd Energy, & BCCL (Burgess Crowley Civil Limited) Carrfields Livestock, Rosemount Charolais - Dairy Bull Specialists, PGG Wrightson Livestock, Jack Gray Ltd, Bruce Parry Livestock, Kelsen's Glass & Glazing, Tommo's Tyres Ltd, Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions, Holdem Contracting Ltd, STE (South Taranaki Electrical), Kaponga Four Square, MG Taranaki, JP Refrigeration.
PLEASE SUPPORT THOSE THAT SUPPORT US
