Oratia District School Newsletter
Week 5 - 17 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.
Teachers have started being released for Paid Union Meetings this week in order to hear the first offer made to them by the government for the next three years of our collective agreement. Our current agreement finished in August this year, and so negotiations have been underway since then for the next round. There is some concern with the opening offer so teachers are voting on their response to it in these union meetings. We will try to keep you updated with how things progress over time.
Today was the Arawhata Technology Fair - a culmination of two terms of hard mahi and new learning for our students. I was so impressed with the quality of thinking demonstrated in all the projects, and loved talking to the children about what they had learned in the process. "Learning to work together" was one recurring challenge, and "having to come back again and again to do more thinking" was another theme I heard from them. Thank you to all the families who were able to attend and support their children's learning. I felt very proud of our tamariki and their teachers.
We were very fortunate with the weather this week as all three of our syndicates held their athletic days. The children moved through a range of track and field events and finished their time with sprints on the field. I was very impressed with the level of participation, and the attitude of so many of our students. Ka rawe tamariki ma.
Mrs Goldsmith took a group of ten of our young student leaders to the Sport Waitakere Future Leaders Day on Tuesday. They had a fantastic day starting with a weetbix breakfast, a mini triathlon and team building activities, and they got to hear from Richard Patterson who was an NZ Olympic weight lifter. A speaker from 'Attitude' talked to them about leadership styles and got them to think about what theirs was like. Students who attended said they really enjoyed the event.
Next week is our Family Friendly Week, when we stop our meetings and encourage our teachers to head home a bit earlier to spend time with their own families. Therefore, they may not be as available to meet with you for meetings next week as usual.
Take care and stay safe. Kia kaha, kia atawhai.
Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda
Friday Lunch Schedule
Friday 18 November - Jesters Pie Day (order by Thursday lunchtime)
Friday 25 November - Pita Pit (order by Friday morning)
Friday 2 December - Subway (order by Thursday night)
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
Pōtiki Athletics Day
We were lucky to have some lovely weather this week to run our syndicate athletics days. There was a wide variety of activities for the different age groups and lots of smiles as everyone enjoyed the time outside participating and cheering on their friends. Thank you to the whānau who were able to come in and support our tamariki and make the day extra special.
Arawhata Athletics Day
Tuakana Athletics Day
Library chairs
Jess our librarian has recently re-purposed some old, well used chairs by having them recovered and relocated to the library. The brightly covered chairs are a welcome addition, providing a cosy reading nook for students.
We would like to acknowledge our wonderful Parent Network who donated the funds to recover the chairs.
Update from Librarian Jess
We have had a busy Term 4 already, with 2 new training librarians learning the ropes so they have some fundamentals ready for next year. We have 4 librarians advancing to Bronze, lots of new books and new displays making the library bright and vibrant. Our new chairs have arrived as well, and look amazing, the kids are absolutely loving the new seating areas to read and hang out during their class sessions and break times.
Thank you for all the support during this year with the bookfair and lucky book orders, as the school receives a percentage of all sales back, this has enabled me to refresh library displays, replace damaged/lost books, purchase new book series and also begin expanding the Non Fiction collection.
LIBRARY DATES
ALL BOOKS to be returned by Friday the 2nd December ready for stocktake.
THE FIRST CLASS TO RETURN ALL BOOKS WINS A BOX OF ICE BLOCKS FOR THEIR CLASS!!
LIBRARY CLOSED Monday 5th - 16th December for Stocktake.
Arawhata Technology Fair
Today our Arawhata classes were open for whānau to visit and view their child's technology learning from the past 2 terms. Wow these kids have been putting in the mahi!
Future Leaders Day
Mrs Goldsmith and a group of Year 5 students attended Future Leaders Day this week which is an annual event hosted by Sport Waitākere for Primary and Intermediate student leaders. The event aims to develop the leadership capabilities of the students who attend. The day consists of leadership workshops, physical leadership challenges and real-life leadership stories from local community champions.
The group really enjoyed an action packed day together including focussing on:
- New Zealand Olympic Ambassador programme
- Attitude
- Weet-Bix Try Challenge
- Halberg Foundation
- Healthy Active Learning
- Local Secondary School leaders
Calendar Art Orders - Orders Close 21 November
Orders are still open online for calendar art until 21 November.
Calendars $17
Greeting cards $16
Diaries $20
Mouse Mats $20
Sketch pads $18
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: KZ954
3/. Enter your child's room & name when prompted
REMINDERS
Spare clothes?
Often children get wet or dirty and unfortunately they don't have their spare change of clothes in their schoolbag. If you have any unwanted clothes, especially small tshirts/shorts please drop them in to the office. We would really appreciate parents ensuring their child has a spare change of clothes in their schoolbag.
Parking around our school
We know parking can get difficult in the area at peak times but we do ask everyone to please refrain from parking over neighbouring driveways and on yellow lines which often obstructs the view of other drivers. If you would like your child to start catching one of the school buses, please contact the office for more info or check out the bus timetable attachment below.
Zonal Athletics Selection Procedure
All children who are 8, 9, 10 and 11 years old are eligible to be selected for the school’s Zonal Athletics Squad.
Tuakana and Arawhata athletics day double up as the trials for this event.
Children will compete in the various different field events (shot putt, discus, high jump) on these days and from each class, the children with the best distances/heights cleared will have their efforts measured. There is no 8 year old high jump at zonals. These will then be compared to children of the same age across the school and the best two from each age and gender will be selected to compete at the Zonals. Please note, your child may tell you that they 'won' their event in class. When compared to children from other classes, they may not have the furthest throw or jump. Please be prepared to have a conversation with your child if they are disappointed by this.
For sprints, the same applies but the children will compete in heats first, with the top three or four (depending on numbers) progressing to the semis and finals for their age group. The top two sprinters for each age and gender will be selected to compete at the Zonals.
400 and 800 metre trials will happen on a separate day. The children will compete in their age and gender groups and the top two children will be selected for zonals.
They need to be available for the date of the Zonal Championships. Please inform Mr Loten if your child is selected for the squad but cannot make practices or the competition date so that another child is given the opportunity to compete. The Zonals are held on Monday 21st November.
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/