Newsletter 1 Term 1

Kia Ora e te Whānau

Welcome back to 2024. I trust you had wonderful whānau time and enjoyed the lovely summer weather we had at last. It has been a fantastic start to the year. The children have settled very quickly into their classes and were excited to be back amongst their friends, old and new.

Last night's picnic was a very pleasant evening. Thanks to all those who made the effort to come along and reconnect. Building ongoing meaningful relationships with staff, whānau and tamariki creates a strong foundation for the year.

A big thank you to those who stepped up to support Road Patrol and the safe environment for our whānau as they arrive at and depart from our school. We appreciate you.

We are all excited for the term ahead, and indeed the year ahead and what it has in store for us.

Ngā Manaakitanga

AnnMaree MacGregor

Every single day counts towards your child’s learning at school and gives them the best chance to do well in life. Parents play a big role in helping their child do well in school by making sure they attend every day and letting the school know if they're sick. Regularly attending school helps students to get the most out of their education.

Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities are not acceptable reasons for being absent.

The current government has indicated a strong focus on attendance and this is supported by the local Attendance Services who help schools to support whānau. We appreciate your co-operation in ensuring that your tamariki are at school for the whole day. School starts at 9:00 and finishes at 3:00 and all parts of the day are important for your child to feel that sense of belonging and connection as well as fully understand what is going on in their classroom.

We are delighted to welcome all the new students who have joined us in 2024, not only in our New Entrants class, but also across other year levels. We hope you enjoy your time at Onerahi Primary.

We are also pleased to welcome a new teacher in Rm 17 - Matua Parag (Parag Aryravrat). Matua Parag comes to us from Wellsford School, and has a number of years of teaching experience behind him. We all look forward to working with you, Parag.

Below is our list of staff and classes for 2024. (Team Leaders in bold)

Principal: Annmaree MacGregor

Deputy Principals: Danny Hamilton, Grace Williams

Room 1 and 2 (Reo Rua) - Elizabeth Thompson, Matt Te Maro, Chloe Peters

Room 3 - Gareth Blithe Year 5/6

Room 4 - Jade Grant Year 5/6

Room 5 - Gail Green Year 5/6

Room 6 - Jake Baldwin Year 5/6

Room 7 - Caitlin Adams Yr 1

Room 9 - Lorelei Dela Cruz Yr 1/2

Room 10 - Philippa Todd New Entrants (T2)

Room 18 - Tessa Herbert Tech space

Room 19 - Alysha Mitchell Year 2

Room 20 - LSAs

Room 21 - Susan Orton Year 2

Room 22 - Belinda Dierick Year 2

Room 11 - Chloe Peters GTT

Room 12 - Music space

Room 13 - Bev Haigh Year 3

Room 14 - Sue Hewett Year 3/4

Room 15 - Meredith McInnes Year 4

Room 16 - Elly Houston Year 3/4

Room 17 - Parag Aryavrat Year 3/4

Garden to Table Programme: - Chloe Peters, Mary Tingey

Release: - Tessa Herbert, Richard Bell, Matt te Maro

Reading Recovery: - Debbie Sayer, Bev Maconaghie

Better Start Literacy facilitator: - Philippa Todd

Language Learning Assistant and Maths extension: - Hannah He

Learning Support Coordinator: - Karen Johnsen

Learning Support Assistants: - Wendy Jeffery, Anna Duval-Peterson, Viv Watkins, Heather Francis, Daina Carter, Sarah Hall, Cherie Kewene-Edmonds, Loren Pederson, Renee Haag, Kaela Matthews, Ilona Harris, Monique Oudshoorn

Administration team: - Anne-Marie Wilson, Sara Ujdur, Lana Jennings, Kirsty Oliver

Property team Edwin Dela-Cruz, Bill Tebbutt

Following our recent election the board received a resignation from a current member resulting in a casual vacancy.

The board has decided to fill the vacancy by selection.

As there were no requests to hold a by-election to fill this vacancy by the due date of 12 January we hereby welcome Sam Moselen to the Onerahi School Board. We look forward to working with you, Sam.

For those who are new, or for those who are unfamiliar with it, we have included a copy of our schools complaints and concerns procedure below.

There are copies of all school policies available on request at the office.

Congratulations to our new road patrollers who have passed their recent refresher training with flying colours. Constable Ian Anderson was full of praise towards the students and mentioned how 'on to it' OPS tamariki are. A huge thank you to the whānau who are giving up their time to supervise the patrollers while on duty. We have strong-voiced patrollers who are building their confidence daily!

We currently have very good stock levels of Onerahi School jumpers and some of the zip through jackets. Although the sun shines brightly at the moment and it's still pretty warm, why not stock up for winter? Our supply of school shirts looks great some weeks, and less so others as stock levels fluctuate, but there are some in most sizes currently available. These are amazing for spares at the bargain price of $5 per shirt and $10 per jumper/jacket.

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.

• Monday 11 March - Mid Term Cohort Entry
• Wednesday 13 March - WPSSA Interschool Swimming Sports
• Friday 15 March - Otangarei School Kapa Haka Festival
• Thursday 28 March - Vision and Hearing Screening (Te Whatu Ora)
• Friday 29 March - Good Friday
• Monday 01 April - Easter Monday
• Tuesday 02 April - Easter holiday
• Friday 12 April - Last day of Term 1
• Monday 29 April - First day of Term 2

SUMMER

A reminder to you all that in Term 1 hats are compulsory for all outdoor activities at Onerahi Primary. This includes outdoor PE activities during lesson time. This is in keeping with our efforts to be sun safe. As we also swim in this term can you please ensure your child has brought their togs and towels on their rostered swim days. These should be named. Thank you.

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 whānau 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

Manaia Mako’s Under 8’s Rugby league

We are looking to field a under 8’s Rugby League team this season.

If you’re interested, please email Manaiamakos@gmail.com

or Phone Cait :0272183699