Newsletter 3 Term 3

Avast me Hearties!

What a fun way to end the term, pirates galore! We have all appreciated the increase in sunshine hours and noticed how much happier that makes people feel. As you will have seen in our weekly Facebook updates there has been a lot of fun and exciting learning happening for our tamariki. We have very much appreciated your support and contribution that enables activities outside of school to happen.

During the holidays the lonely prefab closest to the dental clinic is being demolished. It will be fenced off to allow the grass to grow.

Thank you for all of your contributions to our recent survey around PB4L and Strategic direction. We really appreciate your thoughts and will get back to you next term with the outcome.

We hope you have all got some much needed relaxation planned through the holiday break and some quality family time ahead. Rememer, students start school next term on Tuesday 10 October. It will be staff only at school on Monday the 9th as we undertake professional learning. Take care.

See ye on the high seas!

AnnMaree MacGregor

Tumuaki/Principal

This is remaining an unsafe place. You must not stop across the driveway on the yellow lines. We also ask that you do not turn in to this driveway but rather use Pine Park Road for performing u-turns. 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:

Shiloh Yukich, Madelyn White, Temwrint Hohepa-Heke, Kier Faltado, Jade Abraham, Kenzy Gardiner, Dominic Sutcliffe, Zack Lester, Lexis Wihongi, Elaina Hartley, Nathan Harris, Alizae March, Skyler Willemen, Skylar Ripo, Mason Beardsell, Christine Hoffman, Aurora Nicholson, Emily Fisher, Lauryn Le Noel, Hugo Mephan, Siobhan Boyd

These tamariki make our school a great place to be.

In week 9 (Wed 13th - Fri 15th of September) our senior school headed off on the much anticipated senior school camp in the Bay of Islands. It was no small feat indeed taking some 130 odd students off to learn about the local history of Russell, and indeed early settlement of New Zealand along with histories of our local iwi and whenua. There was a lot of walking, a lot of exploring, a lot of tired but happy students each evening and tired but happy staff and parent helpers. Our tamariki did us proud with the way they represented Onerahi Primary and we would love to share some of their highlights of the experience below:

"If all the people hadn't helped out with the home baking, we would not have made it up to the Flagstaff" - Rico

"Thank you to the parents for your amazing splendid cooking skills and thank you for helping pitch the tents like a pro. Thank you for helping us hold the camp, we could not have had one without you" - Swayed

"It was really cool seeing a bunch of dead rats in Pompallier House" - Maria W

"I loved looking at the exhibits in the museum. The shark jaws were cool" - Serenity V

"It was cool and fun, a great 3 days to have" - Lucas B

"I really liked the learning at Pompallier House, and it was interesting to know they used animal wee in making leather for books" - Noah M

"It was really fun and we liked all the help from the parents in putting up tents, making our food" "If the parents didn't come we couldn't go on camp". " The food was yummy" "Being in tents was cool" - Indie, Brynja, Bruce and Ryker from Rm 5

A big big thanks to all those who gave up their time to organise the camp and support our students while there, and to the Russell Top 10 Holiday park who did an excellent job of hosting us all.

On Wednesday the 30th of August a group of 48 runners aged 8 and up represented OPS at the the WPSSA Cross Country event at Barge Park. Two of our girls - Carley Clarke (Yr 6) and Chloe Abraham (Yr 5) placed 4th - a mammoth effort in a huge field of runners. Ka mau te wehi! Every student represented OPS beautifully, thank you all.

Please find below a note from the Returning Officer regarding the upcoming Board elections in 2023.

ONERAHI PRIMARY SCHOOL MID-TERM ELECTION 2023 - MILESTONES

Close Main Roll: Wednesday, 4th October 2023

Call for Nominations by: Friday 6th October 2023

Close Supplementary Roll: Monday, 23rd October 2023

Nominations Close (at 12pm): Wednesday, 25th October 2023

Voting Papers Issued by: Wednesday, 1st November 2023

Election day: Wednesday, 29th November 2023

Close Poll: 4pm on election day

Accept Postal Votes: Monday, 4th December 2023

Count Votes: Tuesday, 5th December 2023

Board Takes Office: Wednesday, 6th December 2023

NOTE: A copy of the Main Roll is available at the school's office during normal working hours

We have good stocks of Onerahi Primary School honey available for purchase. Our honey is 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. It's selling fast!

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 make contact to seek 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.

The Onerahi School Board have approved a new uniform top option for our tamariki. This is a cotton, crew neck T-Shirt. It is available in the usual school colours, with logo, and currently in stock at Bethells Whangārei. Once again, this is priced well, a budget-friendly option for our whanau to choose. The two other styles - Polo Shirt and Crew Neck Dri-fit T are still able to be purchased and worn also.

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 utilise, 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 22 September - End of Term 3
• Monday 09 October - Staff Only Day
• Tuesday 10 October - Start of Term 4
• Friday 13 October - NEST fun run
• Monday 23 October - Labor Day
• Monday 13 November - Mid-Term Cohort Entry
• Tuesday 14 November - Senior School Athletics day
• Tuesday 19 December - Last day of Term 4

SPRING

A reminder to you all as we head into Term 4 that in terms 1 & 4 hats are compulsory for all outdoor activities at Onerahi Primary. This is in keeping with our efforts to be sun safe. As spring can mean weather that's a wee bit fickle, we do still recommend having rain jackets in bags and a change of clothes, just in case. We are all looking forward to enjoying the warm sun in the weeks to come.

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