Newsletter 3 Term 2

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a fantastic and successful term we have had. The dedicated mahi from staff and tamariki has seen awesome achievements - Mathex, Showquest, Road Safety Week and yesterday's Kapa Haka performance at Morningside School. The passion and commitment has really paid off.

Also of note is the success of our Jumping June event despite the weather. What an incredible amount of money raised to support such a worthy cause.

We are all looking forward to a break over the next two weeks to refresh, connect with whānau and friends, and prepare for Term 3. There is plenty more in store for our tamariki to get involved in. Enjoy the break, stay safe everyone.

Nga manaakitanga

AnnMaree MacGregor

Tumuaki/Principal

Grace and myself have had the pleasure of having morning tea with the following students over the past 3 weeks:

R17 Elaina Hartley, R10 Koen Moy, R18 Ihaia Hotere, R1 Jake Cabrol, R5 Indiana Wells, R3 Joel Mann, R3 Mason Johnson, R13 Caasi Wihongi, R15 Tessa Scheele, Room 8 - Dustyn Guiney,R8 Tupono Rapata, R12 Thomas Potter, R15 Abigail Kehoe, R2 Abbie Harris,R3 Delilah Rapata, R9 Ryan Slavich, R22 Leah Robinson, R22 Eramiha Kareko, R15 Charlyse Hamilton, R12 Elise Baldwin, R18 Theo King, R19 Kayleigh Da Silva

These tamariki make our school a great place to be.

Who out there remembers Jump Rope for Heart? The modern day fundraiser equivalent to this is Jumping June, which our whole school participated in this year. Funds were raised for the Heart Foundation NZ. PE times and break times were filled with the sounds of ropes hitting the ground as our tamariki eagerly put in the practice ahead of our whole school jump-a-thon on Tuesday 27 June. On the morning of the 27th one of our younger students was overheard telling our kaiako "I'm really happy to be at school today!" "Why is that?" "Because it's Jumping June today!!!". Fundraising was done entirely online and we are so proud to have raised, as of this morning, $18,793.47 for the New Zealand Heart Foundation. Ka mau te wehi!

Each year, Matariki offers us an opportunity for rich learning, and gathering together in celebration. Students learn about the traditions of Matariki, and reflect on their learning through writing and art. This year, we held our main celebration on Wednesday 14 June and were delighted to welcome whānau onsite to share this with us. It was an early start on one of our chilliest mornings but warm hearts and hot drinks helped stave off the cold. Our tamariki had many opportunities for learning throughout the day, with a rotation of activities supported by the Kaupapa Māori class and we were all excited to open our classrooms to those who were able to pop in and spend time with us. Thank you all for your support.

Kia Ora,

A favourite event for our tamariki is coming in Term 3. I have been asked when this will be taking place since the start of the year so I am excited to announce our Book Character Parade will be held on the 8th of August during school library week. I know there are some very excited students out there that have been planning their costumes all year. They now have 5 weeks to finalise and execute their plans. As usual prizes will be awarded to recognise the thought and mahi that have gone in to the costumes. We love to see many of our favourite characters brought to life.

We will also have other fun library and book related activities throughout the week and so much more to look forward to during the term. Watch this space!

Have a wonderful holidays.

Ngā mihi

Kirsty Oliver

Librarian/Resource Coordinator

Onerahi School

This time, it is students from Rm 2 who are sharing artwork they have created based on knowing their pepeha. They created visual representations of their story. They have also worked on creating self-portraits.

The hours of mahi put in by both the tamariki and kaiako ahead of Showquest has paid off. On Saturday 10 June at Boys’ High, not only did the groups performance based on the history of Matakohe/Limestone Island wow the audience, it also wowed the judges. Onerahi School received awards for:

Best Live Music

Highly Commended Theme

Highly Commended Costume & Dance

And the big one:

1st Place!

Let’s join together and celebrate Shari and the team of kaiako and whānau that supported this happening. Most of all let us celebrate our fantastic tamariki who continue to share their talents with the world. We are hoping to share a video of the performance with you soon.

Two of Onerahi Primary Schools clever students - Mia MacFarlane in Rm 16 and Teagan Tissink in Rm 22 recently entered in, and won prizes in the Design a Helmet competition run by Sport Northland. Mia won the competition for her age group and Teagan earned a special mention. Well done girls! Ka rawe!

It's back! We have tracked down another past student of Onerahi Primary School, who now has the role of showing students just how much fun, and how cool, science can be! We thought that the amazing Esther's story was a great one to share.

Kia Ora Koutou

Ko Esther-Corina toku ingoa, but people just call me Esther. I started at Onerahi

Primary School 19 years ago in 2004. I went through primary school from year 1 to

year 6 and a wild ride it was for little Esther. This is the time in life where we grow the

most. Like little sponges soaking up every ounce of information thrown our way. I can

recall a few moments from primary school that have grown me into the person I am

today.

My favourite thing to do at school was jump jam! I loved getting my boogie on and

went on to become a jump jam leader helping the younger kids with learning moves

and then doing them at the front. I also really loved athletics day, I’ve always been a

keen athlete.

After primary school I went on to attend Pompallier Catholic College. Here I made

lifelong friends and discovered my talent for the arts. Music, Drama and Media were

strengths of mine. Hip Hop Dance was also a huge part of my life which I did at

Hardcore Dance Company. I danced with them for 8 years as part of Kani Krew and

moving on to choreograph after high school.

After high school I took a gap year to work and travel and ended up over in the

United States of America teaching dance to small American children at a summer

camp in West Virginia, an experience that made 18 year old me grow up.

On my return to New Zealand, it was time for me to decide what I wanted to do with

my life, what a jarring question to answer. I just wanted to have fun and so

TOURISM was the best idea I could come up with. I packed my bags and headed

down to Queenstown to start a Diploma in Adventure Tourism Management which I

have now graduated from and you could say I’m still in the industry based on the fact

that I travel so much for my current job.

I moved to Rotorua and worked for an Adventure Tourism company, Riding horses,

Clay Bird shooting and 4wd Buggy Tour Guiding. 3 years went by and I decided I

needed a change. I moved to Auckland and started a Job with the Science

Roadshow. Now I travel the country educating kids in schools about basic science.

Its been a journey and a half already for 24 year old Esther and it’s only the

beginning. There’s so much life out there and so many opportunities that will come

your way. Anything is possible when you believe. Give it a go and see where it takes

you.

All the best

Esther

Just so you know, Esther is the one in the background of the photo below.

This week at Onerahi Primary School we celebrated Support Staff Week for all of our fabulous Support Staff. They work tirelessly to support all aspects of school life, and are a key element to the smooth running of Onerahi Primary School. Thanks for all your hard mahi.

With the increase in winter ills and chills we are seeing a number of students away each day. Just a reminder to all families to please let us know, by 9am, if your tamariki is going to be away on any given day. You can do this via the Skool Loop app, Class Dojo, the school website or you can phone or text us on 021 048 9221. If we do not hear from you, we will contact you asking for an explanation. All students of school age are required to attend school when it is open. Our school has a robust attendance monitoring process and we do appreciate your cooperation.

Great news whānau. We have new stocks of Onerahi Primary School honey available once more. The honey can be purchased at the school office, for the bargain price of $8 a pot.

On Church Street, we have a dedicated pedestrian crossing, patrolled each day before and after school by our responsible road patrollers and their adult support.

We kindly ask all parents bringing their children to school who cross Church St to support us modelling safe behaviour for our tamariki by ensuring they are crossing this road at the dedicated crossing. We appreciate taking the extra steps required at times, to take advantage of safely stopped traffic.

It is also very important that if you are collecting your child from our Church St entrance you do not park on the yellow lines or across driveways. Our staff parking area is also out of bounds.

Lets all work together to keep our tamariki safe on their way to and from our kura.

We are fortunate to have an offer out to whānau of our Onerahi Primary School akonga from a local lady - Maureen Dunphy. She is more than happy to undertake minor uniform repairs, such as button replacements and hem repairs, free of charge. If this is something you would be keen to utilize, uniforms can be dropped in to the school office on a Wednesday. Repairs will be done as soon as possible and uniforms dropped back to the school. They will then be returned to tamariki to bring home.

• Friday 30 June - Last day of Term 2
• Monday 07-Friday 11 August - School Library week (Book Character day on Tuesday the 8th)
• Monday 17 July - First day of Term 3
• Mon 24 July- Friday 4 Aug - Keeping Ourselves Safe program
• Monday 21 August - Mid term Break
• Tuesday 22 August - Mid term Cohort Entry
• Mon 18 and Tues 19 September - School and class photos
• Friday 22 September - End of Term 2

WINTER

As the temperature drops now is the time to haul out those school jumpers each day. Zip through school jackets, school vests and long-sleeve school shirts are also able to be worn. Long pants so long as they are black or navy are also encouraged to keep our tamariki warm and toasty. As it remains likely that rain will happen fairly regularly, we recommend sending a spare change of clothes with your children each day. This is just in case they discover mud or enjoy the extra water play during the day. KidsCan jackets can be worn as an alternative to school jumpers and jackets, and are also helpful on wet days. Although not compulsory in terms 3 and 4, hats are still strongly advised - or perhaps a nice warm beanie. We also recommend footwear.

SCHOOL HOURS

8:15am School gates open to students and whanau

9:00am School begins

11:00-11:30am 1st Play Break

1:30-2:00pm 2nd Play Break

3:00pm School finishes

3:15pm School gates close

There are two eating breaks within the day, taken at times that suit each class. Please ask your child's teacher when their times are. We would like to remind all whanau that during school hours, your child is expected to be present and learning. Where possible, we ask that appointments be scheduled outside of school hours, so as not to impact on your child's learning. We also ask that every effort is made to arrive at school in time for learning at 9am.

Medication: If your child requires medication to be brought or kept at school, please be aware that due to health and safety concerns, this must be kept secure in the school sick bay. It is not to be kept in children’s schoolbags during the day. This is to protect the safety of not only the child requiring the medication but also all other students. All medication requires an accompanying permission/approval form signed by their parent or caregiver. This includes epi-pens for allergy management, inhalers for asthma or any other medication your child requires on a short-term or as needed basis.

Email: office@onerahi.school.nz
Website: https://www.onerahi.school.nz/
Location: Onerahi Primary School Church Street, Onerahi, Whangārei 0110, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 436 0521
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onerahischool