Kia ora e te whānau,

A lot has happened locally, nationally and globally since our last newsletter. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the severe weather events that have hammered the North Island this week and to the people of Turkey who are dealing with the huge aftermath of their recent earthquake. On a local level, our tamariki have been very busy and in this newsletter you will see some photographs of the learning experiences they have participated in over the past fortnight.

Last Thursday Mrs Macfarlane came back to Room 1 for the afternoon. This allowed me the opportunity to drive over to Wainui and see our Room 2 students at their camp. I was very impressed with the camp facilities but more so, with the way our students were engaging with the opportunities available to them. I was fortunate to be able to watch the camp concert. It was great to see children entertain their peers and the camp parents. Mrs Ferguson and her camp parents Anna, Biddy, Clint, Dan and Henry worked as a team to provide a wonderful experience for our students. Thank you to everyone involved.

A warm welcome to school Bradley. It is wonderful to have you at Waiau School, you have made a great start.

Coast to Coast- last weekend saw Annabel and Debby compete in this grueling race, both mums placed in the top 4 in their respective categories. Congratulations and we are looking forward to having you visit to talk about the race. Mia and Billie’s Uncle also placed highly in his event. What an active community we live in, with local people demonstrating determination, resilience and success. Such great role models for our students.

Thank you for supporting your child/ren to transition back to school. Getting back into the swing of routines, organisation for school, buses and swimming can be challenging for all. It has been pleasing to see everyone arrive on time and ready to learn.

Wishing you a great fortnight ahead and looking forward to seeing you all at the Swimming Sports on the 28th February.

Mā te wā

See you soon,

Megan

Swimming lessons have been going well. This week has seen a wee break in lessons due to the weather but I know that our Swimming Instructor Caroline will be ready to continue her amazing work alongside staff and students as soon as there is a break in the weather.

Swimming Sports will be held on Tuesday 28th February starting at 1pm. We would like to invite our school families to a ‘Welcome back to school & meet the teachers’ BBQ to be held at School straight after the Swimming Sports. We will have a few sausages on the BBQ and it will be a great opportunity to mix and mingle.

Summer Reading Challenge winners were drawn at our first Hui.

Room 1 winner was Clara and Room 2 was Evie. Congratulations girls and to everyone who read books and entered the competition.

Room 2 travelled to Wainui for four days last week. Their adventures consisted of a variety of water activities snorkeling, kayaking, coasteering, and swimming plus learning opportunities around search and rescue, using UHF radios, orienteering and shelter building.

Special thanks to our 5 wonderful parent helpers, Anna Armstrong, Henry Pinckney, Dan Pemberton, Clint Thomas and Biddy Lott, without them we wouldn’t have been able to go on camp but more importantly they helped add to the valuable memories that were created for our students.

Enjoy the photos and to hear more come along to our next hui for a detailed report from our students.

Last week we were in charge of the school and we had lots of fun. We have been working on our art for the Amuri A&P show. Mrs Brett came in and took us for special art lessons. We learned how to create a portrait by observational drawing. When you visit the Show make sure you keep an eye out for our portraits of Mayor Black. They are very impressive. Room 2 are busy preparing their art for the show too.

This week we have been working with instruments with Mrs Brett.

We harvested and prepared the apples from our school garden. We are going to make apple crumble next week.

We went and raided Ms Walker’s vegetable garden, looking for beetroot and carrots to snack on.

Our trial of ‘mid morning fruit snacks’ is successful- we have sampled blackberries, carrots, cucumbers, peaches, grapes, plums and apples so far. It is a great opportunity for our students to sample a variety of fruit/vegies in small quantities, it also ensures we are having a quick snack and drink then getting on with the business of learning.

Our fishy friend Jerry had a lovely time with last week’s Star of the Week, Billie. We loved reading about his adventures. He will visit everyone in Room 1 throughout the year as each student has a turn of being our Star of the Week.

We have been learning about statistics and how to carry out an investigation. Working out information about M&M lollies was a winner!

Last week we had Elsie from NC Sports Trust spend Tuesday afternoon with Room 1 students. They enjoyed a lesson learning skills for throwing and catching small balls. Elsie will be coming back for a second lesson when there's a break in the weather!

If you would like to order a polar fleece jersey please let Liv know as we will be putting an order though next week. We also have a new soft shell jacket in the pipeline so watch this space for details!

We are very proud of our wonderful school grounds and recently it was great that the local Fire Brigade used them as part of their celebration weekend. The photos looked brilliant.

We are hoping to squeeze in an Autumn Working Bee before the end of this term. Details in the next newsletter.

• Board Meeting - Wednesday, February 22, 7.30pm

• Assembly - Friday, February 24⋅2:30 – 3:00pm

• Waiau Swimming Sports - Tuesday, February 28 1pm

• 'Welcome back to school & meet the teachers’ BBQ - Tuesday, February 28- After Swimming Sports

• Hurunui Swimming Sports - Hanmer Monday, March 6 (pp March 7)

• Takahanga Marae Visit - March 8 – 9, 2023

• Teachers Only Day - School closed Tipu Māia Hui

  Friday, March 10

• Hurunui Duathlon Hanmer - Tuesday, March 21(pp March 22)

• Assembly - Friday, March 24⋅2:30 – 3:00pm

• Teeball/Softball Tournaments - Monday, April 3 (pp April 5)

• Term 1 Ends - Thursday, April 6, 2023

• Term 2 Begins - Monday, April 24, 2023

• ANZAC Day (School Closed) - Tuesday, April 25, 2023

• Trailride Weekend - April 29 – 30, 2023

There are lots of fun entries that we encourage you to enter. There are lots of great prizes!

Class 511 - The Wearable Arts “War-huh- what is it good for – just say that again”.

Use your imagination and be creative to design a garment. Fantastic prizes for all!

Or maybe try …

Class 504 – Decorative Sand saucer

Class 505 – Animal made of Vegetables

Class 506 – A posy (for your teacher)

Or try …

Junior Cooking or Junior Jam and preserves.

Try…

Class 327 – Scavenger Hunt Creation

Class 326 – Handmade Christmas Decoration

Class 325 – Examples of Origami

Have you grown – a pumpkin for the Heaviest Pumpkin.

Or try… Junior Cooking or Junior Jams and Preserves.

Did you want to try…

Junior Art - clay, pencil drawing, paint or pastel or any other art work.

Class 380 – Lego or other constructions.

There are lots of different classes so try something and look in the schedule for more information.