Newsletter 1 July 2022

Kia ora whānau,

Many, many thanks to our school community for taking the time to come along and celebrate Matariki at school last week. It was fabulous to see so many of us interested in learning more...ka mau te wehi - you are awesome!

Our staff are about to start a 20 week professional development programme called Te Ahu o te Reo Māori. This Ministry of Education development aims to grow and strengthen an education workforce that can integrate te reo Māori into the learning of all ākonga (learner) in Aotearoa / NZ. The development starts with a 3 day symposium during the upcoming school holidays that all our staff will attend. To follow this, there will be two Fridays in Term 3 that are Staff Only days, to continue the learning. There are two Saturdays, as further days for staff. School will not be open for children on the two Staff Only days, so please ensure you have made suitable arrangements for your children. The dates are - Friday 12 August and Friday 9 September.

Uniform - I need your help please...we try really hard to keep the uniform costs as low as we can, and also, as easy to purchase as we can. We are seeing a few clothing items that are not part of uniform and ask whānau to ensure their children have the right uniform. Please check the following -

• Black shorts, skorts, track pants are fine but they have to be solely black...not with (as an example) Canterbury on them or any other label/brand. We do sell them at school and there are plenty of plain black options from the likes of K-Mart or The Warehouse.

• Skins under shorts - this has become an issue...please don't send children in skins, that go below the shorts.

The school uniform list is below (including prices). If it's not on the list, it's not part of the uniform. Please check your children and adjust as needed.

I'm pleased to report that the Room 14 & 15 building relocation and refurbishment project is progressing well and early next term we hope to move into this space. This will also allow time to refurbish what was the library and we hope to reopen that in the near future...this will be so exciting after all this time!! The PTA is working hard to raise funds to support this library project, so any support of their efforts is REALLY appreciated.

In Week 2 next term, we are due to hold our next round of Piki Haere Hui. The purpose of these hui (interviews) is to reconnect and review progress, share mid-year data, share celebrations and talk about next steps. We would like all families to have a hui please. The details about how to book these will be emailed to all families next week. There will also be a reminder about what we like families to do before coming to the hui.

All children need collecting at 12:00pm on both Hui days to allow time for these 15 minute connections between 1:00pm and 6:00pm. A reminder that all tamariki attend these hui as well please.

The dates are - Wednesday 3 August and Thursday 4 August.

Term 2 comes to an end next week (last day Friday 8 July). Many thanks for everyone's support this term. It has been tricky health wise and everyone has done their part to keep everyone safe. We know this has impacted on school, families, staff and work, but thanks for doing your part! Families are welcome to use the school grounds in the holidays. A few local schools and kindys have received some damage recently, so if you see anything out of the ordinary please let us know. There will be a lot of building and site work over the break, so please be aware of this and stay well away from these areas. Enjoy the time head with your whānau.

Ngā mihi,

Rohan.

Dominic used his imagination to write the most amazingly detailed story about his space station. Mr Stoyanoff and his peers were so impressed with the rich vocabulary that Dominic used and the excitement in his voice when he was explaining to them what he had written.

Charlet was set the challenge of creating a spaceship with rocket boosters, a bedroom within the compartments inside and a heat proof exterior. She designed, cut, pasted, made and re-made things until it looked just like her plan. We love how you enjoy your learning Charlet.

It was fabulous to come together for our first school assembly in a very long time last week. Congratulations to our Piki Haere Certificate recipients. These tamariki were presented with certificates based around our five school values.

Celebrating our young tamariki when they know all their Teddy Bear words is a tradition at Mahora, and it’s one that our students work hard to achieve. Well done to these tamariki!

Mahora Polo - Henry, James, Harriet, Layla, Stewart & Sam.

Mahora Paddlers - Dominic, Lexie, Isabelle, Lucas, Lachie (Ruby absent)

COVID-19 - this seems to be on the slight increase at Mahora, so just a reminder that if your child is displaying any symptoms (i.e. sore throat, headache, coughing etc) please get them tested and keep them at home, so that we can stop the spread.

Please contact the school office if your child is positive or a household contact and they will give you the test dates and day of return.

Recent information from the Ministry of Education:

Free flu jabs for tamariki aged 3 to 12

Children aged 3 to 12 years old can get a free flu vaccination from their GP, healthcare provider or at most pharmacies from this Friday 1 July.

Free flu jabs for tamariki – Ministry of Health

Most tamariki aged 9 years and over need one vaccination each year to get good protection against flu.

If you have a child under 9 years old, talk to your healthcare provider as they may need one or two vaccinations depending on whether they’ve had a flu vaccine before.

If tamariki have recently had COVID-19 they can have a flu jab as soon as they’ve recovered.

What an amazing effort with this PTA fundraiser! The PTA made a phenomenal $4766.40 We thank everyone who made this fundraiser such a success. Well done to Room 9 - Kowhai who won the top sales class and will enjoy a morning tea provided by the PTA on Monday. Congratulations also to Sawyer Varcoe - Room 19 and her whānau and to Renata, Ronin and Beaudean King and their whānau for both selling over $1000.00 of cookies each.

Unfortunately, Yarrows have a large number of staff absent due to the various illnesses circulating the community at present. This has had a severe impact on the packing lines at their factory and is causing delays with dispatching cookie orders. Sadly, this means our cookies will not be delivered next week as planned. We appreciate your support and understanding.

Cookie collection will be now be THURSDAY 28 JULY from the school hall.

Time to be advised.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our first disco for 2022.

• PTA Disco - Friday 1 July
• Board Meeting - Wednesday 6 July
• PTA 'Cookie Dough' collection date - Thursday 28 July
• PTA 'Cake n Shake' Fundraiser - Friday 8 July
• LAST DAY OF TERM 2 - Friday 8 July

• Term 3 Begins - Monday 25 July
• Piki Haere Hui - SCHOOL FINISHES AT 12:00PM - Wednesday 3 & Thursday 4 August
• Staff Only Day - NO SCHOOL - Friday 12 August
• Staff Only Day - NO SCHOOL - Friday 9 September