Newsletter 2 Term 3

Kia ora e te whānau,

It's been an exciting and very busy first half of the term. Despite the weather tamariki have been able to spend plenty of time enjoying outside learning in the environment. No doubt some of you will have heard your children talking about Garden to Table. We had fun in the mud at Senior Cross Country and the bikes and scooters have been getting lots of use.

This week a survey has gone out and we would love your thoughts and ideas about what you value and what you consider would help our school grow from strength to strength. Keep an eye out on Class Dojo, our school Facebook page and the Skool Loop app.

Our year 5 & 6 students are excited for their upcoming camp in the Bay of Islands and the opportunities to learn more about the history of our corner of Aotearoa.

As always I extend my gratitude to you all for the support you give your tamariki and the school. Our partnership is a valued and valuable one.

Ngā Mihinui

AnnMaree MacGregor

Tumuaki/Principal

This is becoming increasingly unsafe. You must not stop across the driveway on the yellow lines. It is essential that the driveway is kept clear for traffic movements to make sure that the area is as safe as possible. Traffic parking wardens will continue to monitor this space to support our tamariki.

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

R5 Phoebe O'Gorman, R5 Dylan Douglas, R7 Abigail Read, R8 Levi Neho, R12 Teesha Gavin-Heta , Rm 3 Elizabeth Read, R6 Jarryd Lomas, R6 Clare Morgan, R9 Charlie Williamson, R10 Ivy Dyas, R16 Joel McArthur, R15 Astrid Morgado, R1 Serenity Van Tol, R1 Steven Gillatt, R15 Joaquin Roberto-Retamal, R15 Astrid Morgado, R22 Lucy Kirk

These tamariki make our school a great place to be.

Onerahi Primary School Airfix Club

The school has just started a breaktime Airfix Model Club for Rooms 5 & 6 under the direction of Danny Hamilton and our library volunteer Mark Peacock. Sessions are currently running at second breaktime on a Wednesday in Room 23. Mark used to run junior after school clubs at his local primary school and in retail premises in the UK before moving to New Zealand last March. Mark has been building models from plastic kitsets for the past sixty years.

Airfix run a scheme called ‘Challenge Airfix’ aimed at schools and cadet/scout groups, supplying a box set of fifteen kitsets, glue, paint and participant wristbands. Normally only available in the UK, Mark has used his hobby trade connections to obtain these Challenge Airfix sets for the school. Thanks to the generosity of Mark’s old UK model club a full set of tools and materials has also been provided for each participant. Mark has added his own build guides and leaflets aimed at novice modellers.

The group is building World War One tanks. In addition to the kitsets a styrofoam base has been provided so that each participant can construct their own diorama setting. The group has also been introduced to different types of World War One tank from models built by Mark as well as a demonstration model of what they are building, a YouTube video of tanks in action from over 100 years ago and a leaflet outlining the brief history of the tank.

Construction has started and at the end of the process each participant gets to take their model home. We are looking forward to seeing what colour schemes they end up in - early World War One Tanks could be quite colourful.

Kia Ora,

What a wonderful school library week we had.

The library was full every break with excited students searching for hidden characters from "Hairy Maclary", "Dog Man" and "Where's Wally". There were crosswords to complete, mini books to make and drawing activities.

Captain Underpants came out on top in battle of the books. I put the series success down to some strong campaigning from some very active fans. It was great to see students getting so excited!

The highlight of School Library week was of course the book character parade on Tuesday. I was, as always impressed with the thought and effort that students had put into their costumes. We had Twoflower from the Discworld series, Cinderella, Tintin, Dogman and so many more.

I look forward to next years Library week :-)

Ngā mihi

Kirsty Oliver

Librarian/Resource Coordinator

Onerahi School

We have good stocks of Onerahi Primary School honey available for purchase. Our honey is all organic, and it's great to consume local. The honey can be purchased at the school office, and is on sale now for the bargain price of $5 a pot.

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.

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.

• Wed 30 August - WPSSA Cross Country @ Barge Park
• Wed 13 - Fri 15th - Year 5 & 6 Camp
• Mon 18 and Tues 19 September - School and class photos
• Friday 22 September - End of Term 3
• Monday 09 October - Staff Only Day
• Tuesday 10 October - Start of Term 4

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