Rātā Street School Pānui
Newsletter No 9 Term 2
24 June - 7 July 2021
Principal’s Message
Kia ora koutou
I find it hard to believe that we’ve come to the end of another term and that we are now half way through the school year. This term has raced by, but when I think back on all the amazing learning opportunities that have been provided to the students, I can see where the time has gone. My personal highlight was getting to know more about our tamariki, school life at Rātā Street and connecting with whānau.
I’d like to thank the school community for being so adaptable when we moved to Alert Level 2 this term, and for helping our tamariki to feel safe and settled during this period. We are a resilient community and I know that at whatever alert level we find ourselves at, we will work together to ensure the health and wellbeing of our tamariki and whānau.
Looking ahead to Term 3, I’d like to remind whānau about the upcoming Goal Setting Conferences that are being held on Thursday 29 July and Wednesday 4 August. Information on how to make a booking was sent home last week. If you don’t have access to the internet or require support to make a booking, please contact Monica in the office, as she will be able to make an appointment time for you.
Also, next term we will be working with an Evaluation Partner from the Education Review Office. ERO will be making contact with school in the first week of Term 3 to start the evaluation process. ERO began implementing a new approach earlier this year, and although their accountability function has not changed, the focus of the approach is school improvement, to ensure that all learners are successful.
Have a great break everyone. See you next term.
Hamish Regan
New Student
Rahziel
Whānau Hui
Thank you to those whānau who sent their apologies for not being able to make the hui last week. Unfortunately, we only had one parent at the meeting, however, that didn’t stop the group from making progress.
At the hui the whānau aspirations that were identified in Term 1 were reviewed, and it was agreed that an Action Plan will now be created so that the aspirations can start to be achieved.
Tuakana-Teina relationships were discussed, as one of the whānau who couldn’t be at the meeting had identified that there may be opportunities to build relationships between students, particularly in the playground between Junior and Senior students. The school will be looking to take steps to enhance the current opportunities that are in place to build on student relationships.
There is a body of work currently underway regarding developing a draft te reo/tikanga Māori framework. We hope to be in a position to present this to whānau at the hui in Term 3.
New classroom signage is being created and this should also be ready to share with whānau in Term 3.
Farewell to Staff
Amber Kirk will be finishing up at Rātā Street School at the end of this week. Amber will be incredibly hard to replace and will be greatly missed by the staff, students and I’m sure whānau. Amber has been a dedicated team member who has been an incredible asset to the school. We wish Amber well for the future.
Skate Ramp
A big thank you to parent, Sam Dickie, and the Hutt City Council for organising the skate ramp to be at School for the last week of this term and for all of Term 3. The ramp is situated next to the bike track and is available for the students to ride on using their bikes, scooters or skateboards during lunch times. The ramps are fixed in place and will remain out over the weekend for whānau to enjoy.
Matariki
What an amazing day Friday was for our tamariki. The school was a hive of activity as the children worked in cross syndicate groups on some amazing activities that were planned by the teachers. The activities consisted of:
- Kite making
- Rock painting
- 3D stars
- Poi making and waiata
- Weaving stars with harakeke
- Rākau and waiata
- Taniwha puppets
- Waving putiputi with harakeke
- Fried bread
- Star cookies and story telling
- Start hand kites
- Star collage
Mr Forster was very busy and had a very early start to the day, as he was in charge of the hangi! He did an amazing job and the shared lunch was a huge success. A special mention has to go to Room 14, as along with Gemma and Mr Forster they prepared over 200 meals. What a great effort team! A video of the food preparation was posted to our Facebook page, so if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s well worth having a look.
The day finished with a Celebration Assembly. A representative from each group spoke about their activity and then group members paraded what they had made, to the rest of the school.
There was also an opportunity for Matariki wishes to be read out by some students. This was a perfect way to finish off a busy but very fun day.
Rātā Street School Disco
Please note that we have a new date for the Disco.
Friday 13 August
Juniors 5.00pm-6.30pm
Seniors 7.00pm-8.30pm
Entry $2.00
Glow sticks $1.00
Popcorn, chippies, lollies and water available $1.00 each
The disco is for Rātā Street School students only
Please ensure that your child is picked up at the appropriate time
Friday
Please note that this is the last week of the Term and that school will finish at 2pm on Friday.
Important Date
We would like to inform the community that there will be a Teacher Only Day at school next term on Friday 27 August. This means that children will need to stay home from school on this day, as the teachers will be working with a professional development provider on relational practice. We will be sending reminders home early next term but please start making arrangements for this day.