Newsletter - Term 4, Week 8
Friday, 9th December 2022
From the Principal
It is hard to believe we are nearly at the end of the year with only a handful of days left before we break for the summer. When we look back on the year that has been it has certainly been a year with ups and downs. Term 1 had many of us out isolating with Covid and during Term 2 many of us were struck down with a nasty flu bug - which many say was much worse than Covid. This really left us with half a year of settled learning. Whilst we have hit some road bumps in regards to student wellbeing and behaviour I would like to say this only refers to 3% of our school population. We have a great bunch of children at school and considering the changes that have occurred in their lives over the past two years or so they have shown great resilience.
We are in the process of looking at our end of year learning data and it is pleasing to see the big improvements being made in writing. Often writing is an area that has been talked about in education and often talk about boys writing. What has been great to see at this school this year is teachers thinking differently about the way they teach writing and the accommodations that are made to those students with neurodiverse characteristics. We look forward to sharing this information further with you in the coming weeks.
Nga mihi,
Simon Bell
Attendance Patterns (2021 - 2022)
Tier 1 attendance means you have an attendance rate of 90%-100%.
Tier 2 attendance means you have an attendance rate of 80%-89%.
Tier 3 attendance means you have an attendance rate of less than 80%.
This year as we all know our community was hit hard with Covid and then followed closely by the flu. Our aim next year is to get our attendance patterns back on track and similar to or better than it was during 2021.
I have mentioned before that attendance does have a direct impact on student engagement and learning. Our current school picture broken down by the number of students is below.
Tier 1 attendance = 107 students
Tier 2 attendance = 49 students
Tier 3 attendance = 12 students
When you read your child's report next week it will have their attendance rate for the year. If your child has an attendance rate between 80%-89% then they have irregular attendance and at risk.
Any attendance rates below 80% then they are seriously at risk of disengagement and their learning as been affected this year.
Broken down simply; if your child has had an attendance rate of around 80% this year then over the whole year they have only attended school 4 days a week.
If your child has an attendance rate of around 75% this year then they have missed a whole term (10 weeks) of learning.
Completed Tau Cards this week
Maggie Manson
What was extra special was the presentation she made to the school at the end of the assembly. Maggie kindly donated one of her playing singlets to the school. We will proudly display this within our school next year and wish Maggie all the best for her next goal which is making the team again and qualifying for the World Championships.
Reports
Once again the school has signed up to the Ministry Donation Scheme, so all books will be supplied to the children. What your child needs to bring along with them will also be with the report.
School starts Tuesday 7th February 2023
The office will be open from the 31st January from 9 - 1pm
CLASSROOM HAPPENINGS ............
Room 9
This week we made Christmas cookies, cleaned up the class, played games, practised their speeches for the end of year and watched a movie.
On Friday they had a shared lunch around the initial in their name, first or last. They have organised the House Day for Tuesday, can’t wait for their Big Day Out on Wednesday. They have also been coming up with ideas for the colour run.
Room 6 camp - Day out
Junior Castles
Room 3
ROOM 4
Top Kids
School Accounts
School Bank Account Details
Below is the school bank details which is our preferred payment method.
There is also eftpos available at the office.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Password: “otautauschool”
Contact Us
Email: Office@otautau.school.nz
Website: https://www.otautau.school.nz
Location: 11 Elles Road, Otautau 9610, Southland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 2258320
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otautau/