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TE PĀNUI O TE KURA O PUKETAPU
Week 9, Term 1 - Friday 31 March 2023
Kia Manawanui - Have a Heart
Kia Māia - Be Courageous
Kia Kaha - Do Your Best
Kia Ora - Be Well
Out of School Care - A message from Puketapu School Board of Trustees
As a Board, we have reflected on and investigated several leads to see if there was a viable option to provide an Out-of-School Care service.
While previous services have always been an outside and separate business to the running of the school, it has been an important part of the big picture to many of our whānau.
While we are not able to provide onsite childcare at school, Good Seed Trust is investigating whether having Out-of-School Care here in our community is viable. Although not at school, it would be held at Northpoint Church so would be easily accessible for our students.
Please read more about Good Seed Trust below and complete the survey link.
Good Seed Trust Out of School Care Survey
Good Seed Trust is an organisation with a vision to see families succeed regardless of background and circumstance, fueled by our heart for people and our own life experiences. At Good Seed Trust we firmly believe that to ensure the futures of our children and generations to come, we need to invest time and partnership with local families in the community. It is our hope that through the services we offer, the family environment is grown and cultivated to be strong enough to deliver positive social outcomes for the future.
Good Seed Trust has been part of the Bell Block, New Plymouth community for over three years. This survey is to help us gauge whether Out-of-School care is needed in our community. Please answer the following survey in full if possible.
Survey: https://forms.office.com/r/w7KmTk2uh0
Ngā mihi
Puketapu School Board
puketapu museum
You may have heard your tamariki talk about our Puketapu Museum.
Our learning has been around artefacts - reflecting on the society that has made us and thinking about the people who came before us.
We are very excited to share our Puketapu Museum with you next week.
Please come to see our exhibition and taonga on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
Please note: The Museum will be locked during assembly on Wednesday 5 April but open as soon as assembly finishes.
The Science of Reading
From time to time in the newsletter we hope to update you about the way teaching and learning is happening at Puketapu School. This will help everyone in our community jump on the same page and further help our tamariki.
This week we want to think about Reading.
Over the past year our school has moved to a Structured Literacy approach, which comes from the Science of Reading.
Five key points of the Science of Reading
1. Reading does not come naturally, it is an acquired skill.
Words are first learned in spoken language. In the past, a popular thought was that kids could also pick up the skill of reading on their own if they had access to books or were read to in their home and there's no denying that early shared reading is important.
Shared reading experiences are essential to the enjoyment of reading and give your child a great model of what fluent and expressive reading is, however this is not the most effective way of teaching children to read.
2. Instruction Needs to be Explicit and Systematic
A highly structured, carefully sequenced manner is an essential part of the teaching of reading. Phonics (the concept that words are made up of letters, and letters represent sounds) instruction plays a major role, but researchers insist it should not be taught in isolation.
Another recommendation is that kids need plenty of time to practice new skills they've been taught, before moving on. You can help with this by re-reading books your child brings home from school and getting them to point out the sounds they know and have been learning. This model moves away from ‘guessing’ words by reading in context or looking at the picture, but insists that students keep their eyes on the word and use the sounds they have been learning to work through the word.
3. The Simple View of Reading
The Simple View formula shows that reading has two basic components, word recognition (decoding) and language comprehension (understanding).
The two main skill sets, Word Recognition and Language Comprehension have sub skills that learners need to combine and master with repetition and practice. The end goal is Skilled Reading, meaning that the child has become a more accurate, fluent, and increasingly automatic reader.
4. Phonemic and Phonological Awareness
Phonemic awareness is a pre‑reading skill, which focuses on understanding how sounds work in spoken language, that is, rhyme, first sounds, and syllable segmentation. Building phonemic awareness helps kids with their fluency when it comes to learning to read.
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognise and manipulate the spoken parts of sentences and words. Examples include being able to identify words that rhyme, recognizing alliteration, segmenting a sentence into words, identifying the syllables in a word, and blending and segmenting parts of words.
5. Orthographic Mapping
Orthographic Mapping is the process we use to permanently store words into long‑term memory.” – David A Kilpatrick
To become good orthographic mappers, children need to master the skills discussed above – phonemic awareness and knowing their letter sounds.
Orthographic mapping is supported by phonics, as it's designed to build and strengthen relationships between sounds and letters and sequences of letters.
What can parents do?
Phonemic awareness (understanding how sounds work when spoken) is a precursor to reading which means it's something parents can help their kids with at home.
Something else parents can do to help with enhancing their child's vocabulary is to read books together. Cuddle up and watch your little one pay attention to your tone, pronunciation and the way you emphasise particular words.
It's a great way to show kids how enjoyable books and reading can be!
Kids are always more engaged when they feel an activity is fun so why not help them develop a love of reading as early as possible. If you yourself find reading tricky, you might like to try listening to an audiobook together while following along with the book in front of you.
The time you give your child reading at home is incredibly valuable to their success.
concerns pathway
There may be times when you have a query or concern about your child.
Open communication is a priority.
The Concerns Pathway is important to follow as you will generally be speaking to the person who has the most information and knowledge about your child and others in their environments.
We will do our best to work together for manageable solutions.
Making an Appointment
Classroom teachers are busy and working hard to give all children quality learning time.
Should you need to discuss an issue, please make a time to meet, either before 8.30am or after 3pm, so they can give you the attention you need and deserve.
school values
Kia Manawanui - Have a Heart
Kia Māia - Be Courageous
Kia Kaha - Do Your Best
Kia Ora - Be Well
On Tuesday we celebrated last weeks Te Mako Matawhero Award winners in the staffroom with a special treat.
Top: Harvey Thomson & Melody Hanscombe
Bottom: Harry Perkinson, Cairo Mcleod, Charlotte Mangin, Whaea Micaela, Emilia-Rose Macioce, Romie Marlow, Erin Sowman, Whaea Corinne & Kiah-Jayne Wylde-Prestney
These tamariki have been spotted showing our school values around school in Week 9.
TOP: Arlo Macbeth, Addison Leathley and Darcy Walthew,
BOTTOM: Zoe Jones, Pippa Perkinson, Mason Cadman and Aki Ekeroma
We are lucky to be a Duffy School. This week ALL of our tamariki received TWO Duffy books each to take home. These were picked by tamariki earlier in the term.
This week we have also had some Duffy Award recipients who were able to select another Duffy book of the Duffy shelf.
Ka pai Romie Marlow, Rosalie Rodgers, Oscar Jacobsen, Mila Hyland, Olivia Pryce,
Piia Simpson and Jaytee Tangiia
KA ORA, KA AKO-Healthy LUNCHES IN SCHOOL
We are so grateful for our wonderful kai team and the meals they make with aroha for us every day.
On the menu for next week...
Monday: Wholemeal Pizza
Tuesday: Meatball Subs
Wednesday: Butter Chicken
Thursday: Toasted Sandwiches
Mmm delicious Butter Chicken!
Paper 4 Trees
Last year our school recycled 36,000 litres of paper and cardboard!
By doing this we earned 18 trees and means our school saved:
- 4.5 tonnes of paper and cardboard from landfill
- 36 cubic metres of landfill space
- 24.84 tonnes of carbon emissions reduced from landfill
Well done everyone for taking the time to flatten, fold and recycle!
Sport
Touch has now finished for Term 1. Well done to all our teams and a BIG THANK YOU to all our Coaches and helpers.
COACHES: please return your touch bags to the school office asap so we can distribute them out for winter sports.
TAMARIKI: please return your borrowed Sports T's to the office, washed and ready for the next player.
NETBALL:
Good luck to our Year 7 & 8s who play their first game on Saturday! Year 1-6 more information for netball next week. First game is the first week back of Term 2.
MINIBALL & BASKETBALL:
Registrations are closed and more info will come out next week.
HOCKEY:
Registrations are closed and more info will come out next week.
Well done to Puketapu Matawhero, Puketapu Mako and Puketapu Steelers
design tech
BRING BACK TE REO - By Erin & Ella
For our tech project at school, we have been learning about Te Tiriti O Waitangi and had to design something that relates to it. We have created a board to help bring back the Maori language by ordering your coffee in Maori. We are gifting this board to the White Pear Cafe.
Te Reo Māori used to be the only language spoken in New Zealand and then after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, this was lost and not encouraged to speak.
To make this project on the laser cutter it was a very long process and we didn't get it on our first try. We used lots of different types and sizes of coffee cups to find the one we liked. We could only print one cup at a time which made this process very slow. By week 6 we had all the cups printed and all the names on them (English and Maori) . All we needed was to print the board, we made a mini prototype to see all the sizing and placements then we made our final board and lined up all the cups on it. We had to line them all up straight then glue them on.
We are very proud on what we have created.
Erin Sowman and Ella Rauputu with their te reo coffee sign.
Tino Pai!
home & School
BINGO NIGHT NEXT WEEK -
Don't miss the Home & School BINGO night next week - Wednesday 5 April.
Register Here: Register by clicking here now!
From around school
This week has been full of fun - Swimming sports last Friday, Year 6's off to camp, Year 5 FUN WEEK, Weet-bix Kids TRYathlon, Touch finals on the school field and lots more!
Prime location for the Weetbix Tryathlon on Thursday. Thanks Katie MacRae and Natalie Mabin for setting up our School Gazebo!
Well done to all our tamariki who entered the Weetbix TRYathlon on Thursday!
Senior Swimming sports on Friday at Bell Block Pools.
Year 6's leaving for Camp! So much excitement and lots of high-fives on their way to the bus.
Year 6 campers and whānau settling in for the week.
TIME TO GET MUDDY! The Year 6's & the parent helpers having fun in the mud run.
Learning about RIPS in Kauri
Year 5 activity week! Sock Puppets and Photo Booths.
On Monday two of our Under 12 Touch teams played off in the U12 final (instead of Wednesday as some of the players would be at Year 6 camp).
Ka Pai Whaea Kennedy's class - they all have their hats!
Yummy stickers
breakfast club
It's free, it's delicious and it's a great way to start the day!
from home
If you have anything you would like to share or celebrate from home please email it to office@puketapu.school.nz
Birthdays
- Likhitha Medasetti
- Iziah Flavell
- Aaliyah Gunn
- Marlia Cooper
- Darcy Walthew
- Cohen Robinson
- Kobe Liddicoat
- Daetin Taylor
- Dwayne Michefski
Upcoming dates
Please check the Hero App for more dates specific to your child's class.
Friday 31 March
- Year 6 return from Camp
Tuesday 4 April
- Puketapu Museum (Open Day #1: 9.30-11.00 & 2.00-3.30)
Wednesday 5 April
- End of Term Assembly @ Northpoint Church 9.15am
- Puketapu Museum (Open Day #2 after assembly & 2.00-3.30))
- Home & School Bingo Night @ The Good Home
Thursday 6 April
- Last Day of Term 1
TERM 2
Monday 24 April
- First Day of Term 2
- Starting with a special show for the whole school at 9.30am!
Tuesday 25 April
- ANZAC Day / School Closed
Monday 1 May
- Staff Only Day / School Closed
Community notices
junior volleyball
wai warrior splash day
kiwi hoops workshop
Puketapu School
Email: office@puketapu.school.nz
Website: www.puketapu.school.nz
Location: Dillon Drive, Bell Block, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: 06 755 0973