Newsletter 28 October 2022
Mahora School
NAU MAI HAERE MAI, TALOFA LAVA, WELCOME!
This term, we have welcomed a number of new students to Mahora School.
This week we introduce Sophia Genet, Amber Oswald, Travis Khullar, Mila Te Whaiti-Ioane, Khosen Watson and Taralina Ghotra who have all started in our New Entrant class Rangiora. We hope you have all enjoyed your start at Mahora School.
TUMUAKI TALK
Kia ora e te whānau,
It's wonderful to see some sun back and our tamariki out enjoying the dry grounds finally!
Ka nui te mihi (many many thanks) for your support of the Strickland whānau and our kura last week. It's lovely to see communities wrapping around loved ones in the most challenging of times like this. Naturally, Lou is on leave from school. Our thanks to Pip Renton and Denise Pearse who have stepped into Lou’s teaching role in a job share position until further notice.
Term 4 is always a busy one in all schools as we try to finish off the year, at the same time as set up for the start of the next year. There are many activities and events in Term 4 and it is usually the shortest term. We try hard to make sure there is plenty of notice and communicate dates well in advance...please do keep an eye on notices and the school app. In this newsletter there is an overview of main dates to be aware of.
Have you got the school app on your phone? If not ask us...we can help as this is an important communication tool.
As most of you are aware, our staff are part of the Te Toka Turoa programme to support Te Reo revitalisation in kura/schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. Last term there were 2 staff only days for this learning. This term our staff have further days of learning. The first of these is tomorrow (Saturday 29 October) and our staff are involved in a symposium for the day. Piki Haere to our staff and thanks for your commitment to this learning to support all tamariki.
At the end of last term, I was lucky enough to spend 2 days at the Whanake Camp in Rotorua. What stood out for me was -
Our tamariki loved getting involved in all the activities and really pushed themselves when they were feeling nervous. That sense of achieving something you are worried about is fabulous to see and is an important part of camp learning.
Our whānau who attended as camp parents did an outstanding job...ka mau te wehi whānau! Without your support, but also your keenness to get involved in the activities, our tamariki would not get as much out of camp. Thanks so much for giving up your precious time.
To our staff who do amazing mahi prior to and during camp to ensure its success...ngā mihi for ensuring our tamariki get this opportunity each year.
Thank you to everyone who made it possible, those who support fundraising, those who supported tamariki, those who held the fort at home etc etc...it takes a village. There are so many photos..it's impossible to choose just one!
Piki Haere,
Rohan.
AKO IN ACTION
Class Organisation 2023
We are currently working on making decisions on our class organisation for 2023 and how the school teams will be made up. Each year we work really hard to ensure students are placed in classes with peers and teachers that are the best fit. As we are sure you can understand, there are many factors and points of view discussed and examined during these class placements. Many of which rely on teachers' professional judgements.
If you have any specific requests in terms of class placements or other information you would like to share with us in terms of your children as we undertake this process - then please let Tamla Smith know, in writing, by the end of Week 4 (Friday 11 November).
This could be via email, tamlas@mahora.school.nz or a note sent to school.
New Zealand Shake Out Day
At 9:30am on Thursday 27 October we were part of the 700,000 participants across the motu who practised our Earthquake Drill or a Tsunami Hikoi. Our tamariki talked about what they need to do to stay safe when we feel an Earthquake at school and what they would do if they were at the swimming pool, on the playground, in class or on the field. It would be a great opportunity to ensure your whole whānau knows what would need to happen at your own homes in an emergency.
Fabulous Writing Corner - Kawakawa
Our gorgeous Year 1 and 2’s from Kawakawa wrote some stories to go with the Shake Out practice. Check out their wonderful writing and wonderful drop, cover and hold technique.
The earth has a crust and it is made up of tectonic plates. When tectonic plates rub against each other it can form an earthquake.
When tectonic plates separate from each other it is called a rift zone. When an earthquake happens, immediately drop, cover and hold. Always stay away from electricity, glass and anything else that can fall on you.
By Avery-Reign Year 2
The earth has a crust and that’s made up of tectonic plates. We have to drop, cover and hold or go under the table that’s close to you when it’s an earthquake. You have to stay away from power lines and stay away from shelves or glass that can break or fall on you. The edges of plates are called faults. Faults can rub together, push toward each other and pull away from each other.
By Hazel, Year 2
I practised about drop, cover and hold. Stay away from trees. You have to stay away from electricity.
By Arlow, Year 1
CONGRATULATIONS to our Piki Haere certificate recipients who were presented certificates at assembly this morning.
CONGRATULATIONS to our Teddy Bear Certificate recipients. These three tamariki have been working hard to learn all their Teddy Bear words…ka mau te wehi!
Kaitiakitanga
This term Mahuri and Kākano have joined the Little Garden League (LGL)! We are being Kaitiaki to plants all around us, particularly plants that grow our kai. Here we are exploring our LGL clubhouse and checking out all of the tools we will need to use. Mel, our amazing Learning Assistant, is helping us plant and weed our school gardens. She is even teaching us how to propagate our own native plants.
A HUGE thanks to New World
We are such a super lucky school! Katie, from New World Hastings, kindly donated our kura an extra-large VEGE-POD where we can grow our own kai to eat. Some lucky kids in Karaka got to put it all together which took ages, but the tamariki showed determination and grit fitting all the pieces together. The owners of New World even gave us all the soil, seedlings and little gardens so that we can get started quickly. We are very thankful for our beautiful, supportive community. THANKS NEW WORLD!
HĀKINAKINA AND MUSIC
Colour Run Presentations
Nga mihi ki a koutou - Thanks so much for the phenomenal support our Mahora whānau, friends and community gave to this fundraising event last term. In total, our whanake team received $15,625 from this event to reduce camp costs for whānau.
Today we celebrated our top fundraiser - Toby Robinson, the class who raised the most - Rātā and also a group of 11 tamariki and 1 kaiako who also raised an incredible amount - Wilbur Hintz, Hunter Wyley, Natano Amani, Ben King, Cora Hocquard, Olive Amani, Gemma Simons, Victor Shillingford, Jack Scheele, Ruby Singer, Evan Hintz and kaiako Corey Greig.
Summer Sports
It has been a busy week with the start of our Summer Sports season. It is so fantastic to have so many tamariki of all ages, engaging in sport.
This term our three Hockey teams carried on their Summer season and the following teams started their games:
Seven Touch Rugby teams - Year 0 - 6
Six Netball teams - Year 0 - 4
Two Canoe Polo teams - Year 5 & 6
Two Volleyball teams - Year 5 & 6
Four Cricket teams - Year 3 - 6
Six Miniball teams - year 0 - 6
And a Summer soccer team - Year 5 & 6
Thank you so much whānau for giving your child these opportunities. The benefits of sports are so great. Aside from the physical benefits of fitness and health, the sporting field / turf / court provides an amazing opportunity to learn about respect, sportsmanship, responsibility, perseverance, resilience, humility, inclusion, discipline and so many more life values.
I should have information about the Year 0, 1 & 2 Superstar Cricket season in the next week or two and will send this home to our Kākano team.
Denise P
Brain Injury Learning
With so many of our tamariki taking advantage of sporting opportunities this term, it was timely to have Kate Pearse in at Mahora working with each of our classes.
Kate, aside from being Denise and Rohan’s daughter, is an Occupational Therapist who works at Brain Injury Hawke’s Bay. Part of her role is to go into schools to help tamariki learn about how a brain injury can happen, how to recognise it and what steps to follow to have the best recovery. Of course, Mahora is her favourite school and we loved having her!
Kate shared these very important messages in a fun and engaging way, with classes taking part in games to learn how quickly how brain responds. She brought in goggles that gave our tamariki the chance to experience how it might feel to suffer from a concussion.
Hayley from Tōtara (Rm 14) said “It was cool to see what the brain is like, so we know how to detect concussions."
Viggo from Tōtara (Rm 14) said, “Now I know what to do if I have a concussion. The 6 R’s - RECOGNISE, REMOVE, REFER, REST, RECOVER, RETURN.”
Beaudean from Rangiora (Rm 1) said, “ The goggles were so funny to look through."
Cooper from Tītoki said, “I learnt that if you hit your head on one side, it affects the other side."
All tamariki were sent home with a pack to share this important information with whānau. The ‘brain lolly’ may not have made it home, but hopefully you all saw the pamphlets that described the signs and symptoms of a concussion. If not, ask your child to tell you all about it.
PTA UPDATE
Thanks to everyone who has returned a Family Pie fundraising form to support our PTA. Please ensure all payments have been made either online to the PTA bank account of cash is brought in to the school office. The order has been sent to the bakery and pies will be available for collection Friday 4 November. More details to come.
Thank you for supporting our PTA.
OTHER KORERO
Keirunga Train Fundraising Day – Camp 2023
Keirunga Park Railway have kindly offered to donate the proceeds from their Sunday 6 November running day to Mahora School. This will go towards the 2023 Year 5 and 6 camp.
Please share this, even on your social media, get all your friends and family together, head out to the Keirunga Park Railway and enjoy the day riding trains! The more people we get up there on the day the more money we will raise!
Rides are $2 each
or $20 for a 12 ride ticket
Under 2's and Teddy Bears ride FREE
A huge thanks to the committee of Keirunga Park Railway for giving us this amazing opportunity.
Their is a pamphlet coming home with students today with more information, otherwise you can head to their website, www.keirungaparkrailway.org.nz.
Uniform donation
If you have any second hand uniform you would like to donate to the school, it would be greatly appreciated.
Please drop any good condition items into the office.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- PTA Family Pies available for collection - Friday 4 November
- Chess competition - Friday 4 November
- Keirunga Gardens Train Fundraiser (Camp 2023) - Sunday 6 November
- Board Meeting - Thursday 10 November
- Taekwondo Tournament - Wednesday 16 November
- Interschool Athletics Sports - Wednesday 23 November
- Piki Haere Hui - Wednesday 30 November 3:30pm - 6:00pm
- SCHOOL FINISHES 12:00PM - Thursday 1 December
- Piki Haere Hui - Thursday 1 December 1:00PM - 6:00PM
- Year 6 Shop Day - Friday 2 December 9:00am - 10:30am
- Year 5 Pounamu Carving - Tuesday 6 ~ Thursday 8 December
- Board Meeting - Wednesday 7 December
- Prizegiving - Monday 12 December 5:00pm - 7:00pm
- Last Day of School - Thursday 15 December 12:00pm finish
Email: admin@mahora.school.nz
Location: 710 Frederick Street West, Mahora, Hastings
Phone: (06) 878 2622