Newsletter 2 Term 2

Kia ora e te whānau,

I want to thank you all for your support and understanding for the short day on Wednesday when the teachers had to meet regarding their latest offer from the Ministry of Education, especially at such short notice. Like you, we were very disappointed that the senior students' Winter Sports had to be cancelled and we will arrange a sports day for them at school as soon as we can. We will let you know when this is and you are welcome to join us on the day.

Winter ills and chills are making themselves felt at the moment. Thank you for keeping your tamariki at home when they are sick. For the first time in a long time we are also having an outbreak of headlice in some classes. Regular checking and brushing of hair helps to keep this under control. We have solution available at the office if you need some to treat your whānau.

We are looking forward to our Matariki celebration on the 14th of June. Some more information about this will come out shortly. It would be great if you could join us on that day.

And finally just a reminder that school is closed Monday and Tuesday to give us a nice long weekend. Enjoy!

Nga mihinui

AnnMaree MacGregor

Tumuaki/Principal

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

R17 Tareesha Pesandu Dissanayaka, R15 Te Rina Lemon, R1 Kymani Pepene, R2 Abigael Wilson, R22 Teagan Tissink, R18 Raiden Kaka-Holtz, R12 Kleo Gardiner, R13 Naia Beeston, R6 Kahne Lillywhite, R1 Irie Webb, R9 Henri Rowsell, R19 Ava Shampain, R13 Ella Payne, R16 Mia McFarlane, R6 Kaydon Te Wake, R5 Skylah Platts, R19 Layla Gardiner

These tamariki make our school a great place to be.

We love to see evidence of our tamariki practising mahi tahi. The sand sculpture pictured was started by a senior student. These 4 tamariki arrived at school the following morning to find this amazing creation. They decided it was too awesome for it to be ruined by others so they worked together to protect it and carefully added features such as teeth and claws.

Many of our year five and six students at Onerahi Primary are learning to be active, engaged and motivated writers using digital programmes. Dr Ian Hunters' Writers' Toolbox is one programme being used in our school and others across our Community of Learning as a tool to grow writers this year. Writers' Toolbox provides students with daily writing challenges and gives them instant feedback on how they can make their writing even better! We are excited to celebrate some of our writing success with you. Check out the author's work below!

Won't Chew on That Again!

What's happening? One minute Shadow and I were chewing on a stick and now I can't move my teeth! " What's happening Spike? I think my teeth are frozen!" Shadow hissed out of the side of her mouth. " Bite harder and see what it is" Spike hissed back.

"Shouldn't you be smarter Spike? I will crack my teeth stupid!"

" Okay okay don't need to fuss. I will do it" said Spike as he bit down hard. " What is it?" Shadow asked. " Its a... stick".

" Now what should we do?" Shadow asked desperately. "Maybe we should pull, like really hard!"

"Oh fine " Shadow said.

They pulled so hard that Shadow screamed and Spike howled. " What if we dunk it in water ".....

By Clare Morgan, Rm 5 Yr 5

In addition to being clever writers, we have some talented young artists in our kura. Check out the paintings below created by Rm 5 students, completed after their class trip to Smugglers Cove last term.

Kia Ora,

We were privileged this week to have two authors visit our school as part of the Storylines tour; Ben Brown who is the NZ Reading Ambassador for Children – Te Awhi Rito and Eirlys Hunter who has written some amazing kids chapter books including The Mapmakers Race.

Our year 6 students were in the Library with Ben Brown - poet, and inspirational author of both fiction and non-fiction books. Ben shared his love of words, language and writing, and spun anecdotes of growing up in rural New Zealand keeping everyone engaged. He had everyone laughing at the hijinks he pulled as a child, including the time he accidently broke the school flagpole. He had lots of interesting facts and tidbits to share like how long finned Tuna swim all the way from Aotearoa to the Tongan trench to lay their eggs and their hatchling swim all the way back to the creek where their mother's journey had started. We could have listened to Ben for hours! - Kirsty Oliver.

The year 5's thoroughly enjoyed hearing Eirlys' backstory about how she became an author. We love how she introduced herself by acknowledging the foggy morning and asking did anyone see something move in the fog? Was it a tree? Or was it something made up from fantasy? She hooked us in by talking about her dreams of flying like a drone and being able to see the world from that view. A lot of the kids agreed they had similar wishes/dreams. We were impressed with the characters in her story and how some of them actually represented her own children. She inspired us by telling us that we could make a career from being an author, especially in this digital world we live in. - Jade Grant, Kaiako, Rm 5.

Enjoy the long weekend all, and hopefully you all find time to snuggle up with a book!

Ngā mihi

Kirsty Oliver

Librarian/Resource Coordinator

Onerahi School

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.

The speed limit in this area is 40km/hr. Cars should not exceed this speed and also be prepared to stop when approaching the crossing. When at a pedestrian crossing controlled by signs, it is not mandatory to stop unless the sign is out. Our students are trained to put the sign out when there is a gap in traffic or when people choose to stop.

https://education.nzta.govt.nz/teacher-resources/school-policy-and-practices/school-traffic-safety-teams/legislation-school-patrols-school-wardens-and-school-crossing-points/

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 road patrollers are unlikely to be able to see past your vehicle to check if the road is clear if you have parked over these.

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.

We have been advised that due to staff shortages, the Dental Clinic in Onerahi will be closed until further notice. All appointments for dental treatment should be booked via 0800 MYTEETH.

• Monday 06 and Tuesday 07 June - Kings Birthday and Onerahi School Term Break
• Thursday 08 June - Inter School Mathex
• Saturday 10 June - Showquest 2023
• Wednesday 14 June - School Matariki Celebration
• Tuesday 20 June - Jumping June
• Friday 30 June - Last day of Term 2
• Monday 17 July - First day of Term 3

WINTER

As the temperature drops now is the time to haul out those school jumpers each day. We have a large stock still available in our 2nd hand uniform space for the bargain price of just $10 each. Zip through school jackets, school vests and long-sleeve school shirts are also able to be worn. 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

Playball @ Onerahi Community Hall

We promise to provide your child with a fun, positive, and confidence-building environment to learn a broad range of sports skills. Our innovative, energetic, and structured classes are designed to help your child develop a well-rounded sports skill set while also teaching practical social skills that will be invaluable throughout their schooling. With Playball, your child will experience a sense of fulfillment and positive self-image through achieving success in a fun and engaging environment.

When: Thursdays 3:15 - 3:55 (starting 27th April)

Who: 5-9 year olds (boys and girls)

Where: Onerahi Community Hall

Cost: $109 per child (10 week term) - FREE trial available - email dean@playball.co.nz

Register at www.playballkids.com/franchise/northland or email dean@playball.co.nz