Toko School Newsletter
Thursday 9th August 2018
Kura Tuatahi Toko
Quality learning for all in a caring community.
Kounga ako mo katoa i roto i te taiao e atawhai ana.
PRINCIPALS BLOG
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR LEARNING STARS FOR LAST WEEK
Learning to Learn
William, Kit
Personal Best
All of Room 2, Tessa, Hayley, Leah S, Leigha J, Zack, Charlize, Samara, Declan, Sam, Jamie W
Connected
None
Well Being
Addison, Alise, Shaye, Cooper
Challenging Curriculum
Keighley, Slade, Tess
FROM THE SPORTS DESK
Taranaki Trophy
Taranaki Trophy is a Taranaki wide sports competition for Year 7 & 8 throughout Term 3.
Notices are coming home today to all children involved. We are in need of parents to help with transport to and from competition days. Practice times and dates are on these notices as well as in the Sports section of the school app.
Netball
At this stage all games will be played in a one day tournament. The date for this is Tuesday 21st August and Wednesday 22nd is the postponement date. It will be held at Waiwhakaiho Courts in New Plymouth with an approximate start time of 10am.
Rugby
The competition format has changed this year and all games will be played over 2 days and a finals day. The first competition day is Thursday 16th August at the New Plymouth Racecourse.
Draw: 10am Oakura, 11.30am Opunake and 1pm St Joseph’s Stratford.
We will need to leave school at 8.40am and will return to school by 3pm.
The second competition day is on Thursday 30th August in Hawera, venue to be confirmed.
Finals day is Thursday 20th September at Yarrows Stadium.
A massive thank you must go to Nicky McDonald-Wells and Clint Hutchinson for coaching the teams.
Year 7 & 8 Rugby 7’s Competition
The Taranaki Rugby Union are hosting a Rugby 7’s tournament on Thursday 23rd August at the TET Stadium in Inglewood. We are entering a boys and a girls team into the competition. In the boys team we have players from Toko, Marco, Huiakama and Rawhitora and the girls team includes players from Toko, Ngaere, Makahu and Marco. A notice is coming home today for all players involved and details practice times and dates.
Running Club
This has started and children will be running on Tuesdays and or Thursdays. Thank you to the parents that have offered to assist with this.
Indoor Netball - Mixed Teams - Year 3 & 4, Year 5 & 6
Year 7 & 8 - Starts in September
We have a parent keen to organise some teams for this in the New Plymouth Competition. If you are interested can you please e.mail names to Mrs Waite: principal@toko.school.nz
CHESS
A chess tournament is being held at the Oakura Village on Friday 17th August. There will be two teams - a year 7 & 8 Team, and a year 5 & 6 team. We have chosen the four best players for each team and a note will be going home separately, requesting parent transportation and confirmation.
SCIENCE FAIR
Students in Year 7 and 8 have the opportunity to enter the Science and Technology Fair every year. There are many categories to enter, including scientific journalism, scientific photos, and the main category of a scientific investigation. Well done to the following people who received prizes this year:
Pascoe and Heidi - Scientific Investigation - "Wool You Get Hot Feet?" - Merit
Gus and Libby - Scientific Investigation - "Does Milk + $ = Quality?" - Merit
Xanthe and Isabel - Scientific Investigation - "H2O To Grow" - Special Prize - Independent Petroleum Laboratories prizes for Outstanding Experimental Technique - Merit
Abbie - Scientific Investigation - "Burn Baby Burn" - Special Prize - Lonza prizes for the best entries showing scientific endeavour - Merit
Well done to all who entered.
METHANEX MATHS QUIZ
Next Wednesday night, 15th August, we have a team of 4 Year 7 students and a team of 4 Year 8 students competing in the Methanex Maths Quiz in New Plymouth. This is a tough competition with many schools entering and lots of tricky questions to answer. We wish both teams the best of luck.
FUNDRAISING MEETING
It's Time/Kua Tae Wa
This campaign is focused on increasing government investment in education.
We have a serious shortage of teachers across the country. This has most recently impacted our school with minimal numbers of applicants applying for vacant positions. We are also struggling to find relievers for teachers when they are sick, on leave or involved in professional development. On numerous occasions this year we have had to split classes because we have not been able to find a reliever to come to our school.
There has been a 40% drop in teacher graduates in the past five years, while student numbers are growing rapidly.
Schools are also facing increasing numbers of children with additional learning needs and we are not being resourced appropriately to cater for them in our schools.
We don't want to end up with larger class sizes, more children with learning needs not being met and teachers leaving the profession simply because schools aren't resourced to do the best job they can.
These issues can only be addressed by providing schools with more staffing, and more resourcing and by ensuring we make teaching an attractive profession to join - and stay in.
PRIMARY TEACHERS & PRINCIPALS PROPOSED STRIKE ACTION - WEDNESDAY 15TH AUGUST
The Board of Trustees can’t provide teaching for students during the upcoming strike. The NZEI has advised our Board of Trustees that Mrs Waite and the teaching staff at our school will be taking strike action on Wednesday 15 August 2018. The Board has carefully considered the availability of teaching staff, and unfortunately decided that we can’t provide the normal teaching services during the strike. It’s important that you make alternative arrangements for the care of your child/children on the day of the strike. The school will need to close during this strike. We know that this is inconvenient for parents and students alike, but please be assured that student safety is our main concern. Thank you for your understanding. Toko School Board of Trustees.
PHOTOLIFE SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS
EASTERN DISTRICT NETBALL PHOTOS
These are on Monday 13th August following the class and individual photos. These are for all ED netballers. Please bring your uniform and appropriate footwear for these photos. I have the uniforms for Year 1-4. Year 1 and 2 please bring your black leggings/shorts. If you would like to order a photo, forms are outside the school office. Please write your child's name and their team name on it.
Alison Eagar
SUPPORTING LEARNING AT HOME
Here are some guidelines for listening to children read: GUIDELINES
NETSAFE NEWS
ENVIRO UPDATE
- We are on the lookout for someone to prune our feijoa hedge. If you are able to assist or know of someone else could you please contact the office.
- We lost a whole lot of frozen fruit in the school holidays when a blown fuse stopped our freezer working. The frozen fruit was going to be used to make preserves for this term. Now we have no produce to work with. If you have anything spare in your freezer or have access to surplus fruit/vegetables we would love to hear form you.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Toko School
Email: office@toko.school.nz
Website: www.toko.school.nz
Location: 1057 East Road, Toko, New Zealand
Phone: 06 7622849
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TokoSchool/?ref=bookmarks