Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa – warm greetings to everyone

Welcome to our new students!

A very big welcome to all of our new students in term 2! We hope you are having a great start to your time at Reporoa Primary School.

Drop off at the gate:

We have found (as have most other schools in New Zealand, indicated by principals across the country) that over the last three weeks, our students have developed great self-management skills and independence through our drop off and pick up procedures. Surprisingly, reduced anxiety has been evident with parents not dropping learners directly at the classroom. Teachers are valuing the 1-1 connection time with their learners from 8.30am. As we move towards Level 1, we would like to continue these practices to maintain the growth we have seen. The expectation has always been that visitors need to sign in at the office (this is not new to level 2 COVID-19) and we will continue to expect you to do this if you come onsite please. It has always been a health and safety requirement.

BENEFITS THAT WE HAVE OBSERVED:

• Student independence is high
• Student organisation and self management have improved
• There is virtually no separation anxiety
• Relationships with teacher and student have strengthened
• Less traffic congestion around the gates
• Less/no noise outside the classrooms during learning time (particularly at the end of the day where it is very distracting)
• Less interruption in the classroom during class time from parents and/or toddlers
• Mrs McDonald is enjoying greeting children in the morning and afternoon, making connections with our many new students.

Hilary Outdoors:

Congratulations to…Abby Leslie, Lacey Davis, Liam Guyton & Brandon Pearce. These students applied in writing to go on the Hillary Outdoors leadership camp and were chosen for the evidence they provided on why they showed leadership skills in the school. See below for some fundraising activities they will be doing to contribute to the cost of the camp.

Mufti Day and Sausage Sizzle!

This Friday, 5th June we are having a mufti day (gold coin donation) and sausage sizzle $2 each to raise funds for our Hillary Outdoors team to go to leadership camp. All orders must be in to the office by this Thursday, 4th June. 

Car Wash!

Book in a car wash for $10 by ringing the office. Available Wednesdays and Thursdays 1pm.  

AMAZING DEAL…SILENT AUCTION!!!

Polaris Generator P1000

Playground:

Please note that our large playground is still out of bounds. We are waiting on a Health & Safety inspection before conducting a working bee to fix a number of issues such as old boards and unsafe fixtures. This is not a quick fix and we would appreciate it if you kept your preschool children off it while waiting at the gate.

Arts Electives:

This Friday we will be starting art electives between 11 and 12. Children will select an elective to attend for the next 5 weeks. The electives on offer are Dance (Hip Hop), Drama (theatre Sports), Visual Arts (Recycled art or Collage or Soft Materials/Sewing), Music (Garage band etc), Maori Art (Matariki).

This is our new initiative to inject more of the arts curriculum into our school week and promote increased creativity with our students.

We hope to have a presentation at the end of the term to show you our creations!

Te Reo with Tenia:

We are thrilled to have Tenia Mita back working with us next week. He will be teaching Te Reo and Tikanaga in classes every Tuesday. This is a CoL (Community of Learning) Kahui Ako initiative. Tenia will be employed by the College, Reporoa Primary, Broadlands, Mihi and Central Kids. The Ngati Tahu/Ngati Whaoa runanga will be funding a large portion of this project with funds from the Tauhara No.2 trust. We thank them for their support in providing us with a wonderful resource to increase our tamariki’s  knowledge and understanding of Te Reo/Tikanga in the Ngati Tahu/Ngati Whaoa rohe.

Collaboration:

Rooms 1, 2 and 3 have started their collaborative learning programme and are enjoying working across all 3 classes for their guided teaching and must do/ can do follow up activities. Children from all 3 classes may have any of the teachers during this time. Tino Pai senior team!

Stars of the week:

Ka Rawe te mahi (awesome work) to Brodie and Charlotte who are our Newcomers Club leaders. They are responsible for welcoming our new students and showing them around the school. They also host the morning tea after the powhiri and introduce our new students to staff, classes and our REPS. Great job girls!

Thank You!

A very big thank you to and thumbs up to Linda McDonald – the most amazing caretaker/cleaner a school could wish for. Linda has dealt with countless leaves over the last month to keep our school looking sharp. She works late and comes in on weekends to ensure we have a clean and safe space. Thanks also to Linda’s whanau who came along to help with the leaves!

Sports:

FUN RUN…

We will be having our FUN RUN (Cross Country) on the 30th June. This will be held at the rugby club and on the Marshall’s farm. We are out there training hard already and we have a number of very talented runners. It will be a great race to watch!

Children will be bringing home their sponsorship information today. Please read it carefully and help us raise some extra money for additional PE gear. We would like to match our equipment to the Go4It programme we have coming in to the school so that teachers can continue the PE lessons that are demonstrated during the week.

Basketball…

Jazmine and Jolene

Calendar:

Other Notices:

School Account Details:

Account payments can be made directly to our school ASB account using online banking.  The account number is: 123155 0134517 00

Remember if you get a new cell phone number  to notify the school so we have up to date records, also the office needs your up to date email address so the newsletter can be emailed out – thanks.

FRIDAY LUNCHES: 

Friday Lunches – no lunches until further notice

Absences:

Reminder – if your child is absent either text, phone and leave a message, or fill in an on-line absent form. We also are required to fill in the reason they are away, so remember to include this in your message – thanks.

Car Parks:

Please use the car parks provided at the front or back of the school. No vehicles are permitted on the school grounds except for staff or service vehicles.

Bus Changes:

ALL changes to bus arrangements MUST be made through the office please. We will not make changes based on children’s requests.

Nãku i runga i aku mihi ki a koe – Yours with thanks

Richelle McDonald

and our team –Cherie, Jazz, Debs, Susannah, Rachel, Julie, Tina, Maureen, Heather,  Karla & Linda.