Matapu School Newsletter
Term 3, Week 8, 17th September 2021
Calendar - Please note some new dates added & further information for events will be sent home closer to the date if required.
- Monday 20th September - Pet Day entries due
- Tuesday 21st September - Hurlstone Trophy Netball Final
- Thursday 23rd September - McLeod Shield Rugby Final
- Friday 1st October - Last day of Term 3
- Monday 18th October - Term 4 starts
- Thursday 21st October - Pet Day
- Friday 22nd October - Teachers Only Day
- Monday 25th October - Labour Day
Principal's Weekly Update
Kia ora,
Wow that cross country will go down as one to remember! All I can say is that they breed them tough at Matapu. While most of the students had to battle with strong winds and some spots of rain, the poor 9 and 10 year olds really copped the worst of it being the last races of the day. However ‘resilience’ and ‘grit’ are very popular words at the moment and I definitely saw all of our students displaying those values as they came across the finish line. A big thanks to Mel and Mark Cleaver for allowing us to use their farm to provide our students with the quintessential kiwi cross country experience.
Uncertainty at Alert Level 2
Given the recent announcements from the government to set weekly reviews on the Covid alert levels, it makes it really tricky for us to plan future events. We currently have a whole host of events lined up in Term 4 that all have question marks hanging over them if we remain in level 2. These include both the year 5/6 and 7/8 camps, as well as the Pet Day. We will be eagerly watching the Covid news briefing on Monday and are hopeful the government will share some information that allows us to either lock in some events or change what they will look like going forward. In the meantime we really appreciate your patience while we are currently in alert level 2.
Māori Language Week
As we come towards the end of Māori Language Week, it is important to celebrate the efforts and achievements that Matapu School is making towards integrating an ever increasing amount of Te reo in our curriculum. From our weekly Te reo phrase of the week, regular waiata sung in assembly, weekly Te Ao Maori lessons in classes, kapa haka lessons with Matua Lewis, and our strong relationship with Ngā Ruahine Rangi, we are in a great space for future learning.
Kia pai to wiki (have a wonderful weekend).
Ngā mihi nui
James Willson
Values Awards
Room 1 - Riley for showing the school value of Effort and giving his best at cross country.
Room 2 - Lachlan for effort in mathematics and working hard with Sharyn!
Room 3 - Sophie for a massive effort with her cross country training and her attitude during the race.
Room 4 - Kenzie for being kind and helpful and always showing respect.
Room 5 - Keely for always giving 100% effort.
Room 6 - Archie for amazing effort and ambition to complete the cross country after your shoes came off!
Touch
We are still in need of coaches for a Year 1/2, and Year 7/8 team.
Please let the office or Miss B know if you are able to help.
Tennis
Tennis lessons start again next term, children who expressed an interest will be bringing a note home today, if your child/ren didn't receive one and you would like them to take lessons please contact the office.
Pet Day Reminders
- Pet Day entries are due back on Monday, 20th September.
- Can we please have all Pet Day trophies returned to the office asap.
Whakatauki
Kaua e mate wheke mate ururoa
Don't die like a octopus, die like a hammerhead shark
Octopus are renown for their lack of resistance when being captured, however a hammerhead shark will fight bitterly to the end, to the point that when you fillet it fresh, its meat quivers. Commonly used to encourage someone not to give up, no matter how hard the struggle is.
Room 1
We are loving being back at school and catching up with each other. Before Lockdown, we started some projects during Aumangea Taima and it has been awesome getting back into them. The kids are having a great time making a maze with the spheros, building an epic marble run and learning to use the sewing machines to make reusable bags. It's going to be a pretty great end to the term.
Bottle Tops: We are still collecting bottle tops. Please collect up and send as many bottle tops as you can find along to school. We would really appreciate all shapes and sizes.
Room 2
It is great to be back at school. Everyone has enjoyed getting back into our normal routines and seeing their friends. This week we got to try out the new robotics equipment. This included the Spheros and Dash bots. Students have been learning how they work and how to use them, then it will be their job to teach our buddy class and younger students how to use them. They have had some great fun programming them around the class. Next week we have our Year 7 students competing in the Hurlstone Cup and McLeod Shield finals for netball and rugby. We look forward to these events and wish them good luck!
Room 3
It has been good getting back into school this week and having a chance to catch up with all of our classmates since lockdown. We have been out practicing for cross country most days this week. We have all set a goal related to how many laps we can run, or running without stopping, and each time we go out we are working on achieving those goals.
Room 4
This week in Room 4, we have concentrated on describing words in our writing, and in maths we have been measuring in cm and m. We have a class height chart so everyone can see how many cm tall they are. We had a very wet, cold and dirty cross country on Thursday and the students were all amazing. Well done team! Our maunga is still going well and we have learned some new skills by creating free standing cardboard Taniwha.
Room 5
It was absolutely lovely to see everyone tumble into the classroom last Thursday. I missed all their lovely smiling faces - children are so resilient - they didn't miss a beat and were back into their routines. We have had a busy week back - reminding ourselves that we need to have inside voices when we are learning. As the weather has been less than lovely - we decided to create some art about that nasty rain!! We did lots of practice making lovely patterns.
Room 6
It is nice to be back face to face! We are really enjoying catching up with our friends and settling back into class routines.
Our big event for the week of course was the cross country. We were excited but a bit daunted by the new location but after a walk through on Wednesday afternoon we knew what to expect...except for the weather! So on the day it was fantastic to see everybody give it the best they could muster and I feel very proud of you all- you have now completed your first cross country, many more ahead!
Sponsors
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Mark Joblin Concept & Construction Ltd, Sanfords Rural Carriers, Taranaki By-Products, McDonald Real Estate, Eltham Vet Services, ANZCO, Power Farming, Corrigan Electrical, Matapu Bulk Transport, CRV Ambreed, FMG, Mack Transport, Blastways, Nevada, Ballance, Todd Energy, & BCCL (Burgess Crowley Civil Limited) Carrfields Livestock, Rosemount Charolais - Dairy Bull Specialists, PGG Wrightson Livestock, Jack Gray Ltd, Bruce Parry Livestock, Kelsen's Glass & Glazing, Tommo's Tyres Ltd, Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions, Holdem Contracting Ltd, STE (South Taranaki Electrical), Kaponga Four Square, MG Taranaki, JP Refrigeration.
PLEASE SUPPORT THOSE THAT SUPPORT US
