Week 1, Term 1

Term One Week One

3^rd February 2015

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends,

Welcome back to school! I hope that you will enjoy the return to routine after your holidays!

Welcome to new staff and children
We warmly welcome the following new families to our school, and their children. Morgan and Michelle Pokorny, Glenn and Michelle Cooper, Victoria Smith, Frances Roach and Richard and Chrissy Baker.

Room 1
Farah Cooper
Jamie Baker
Sophie Pokorny

Room 2
Ashton Baker

Room 3
Olivia Pokorny
Tyler Taffard-Baker

Room 4
Caitlyn Pokorny
Jayden Smith
Jack James

We also welcome
Alice Lund - our new school office manager
Tilda Rabey - who will teach more hours this year with years 6-8 learners
June Port -our Reading Recovery teacher, and teacher of Feuerstein programme to Room 2
Annette Pahl - our Literacy and Numeracy teacher for small groups of children
Christine Copeland who is so excited about the Feuerstein programme that she is driving up from Greenhithe and volunteering to teach Feuerstein to Room 3-4 learners and teachers three mornings a week after camp.

Curriculum overview
We begin this year with a focus on Taking Time. We will do this in two main areas of focus.

Firstly, we are learning that God is Calling Us to Walk with Him. We will be developing an understanding of ways that people heard God’s call and walked with God through biblical times, and developing simple practices of Taking Time with God during our day.

Secondly, we are beginning a new programme to specifically develop thinking skills, with a priority on Taking Time to Think, particularly before rushing into a new task. The Feuerstein programme isolates the specific area of weakness in the brain that is underlying learning difficulties and strengthens these weak capacities. Through practice of these specific cognitive exercises many children (and adults) return to mainstream teaching, never to need learning support again.  It is a pivotal programme for the normative and gifted children - and while it is delivered as a curriculum subject in Europe, five days per week, it is newly being introduced to NZ. We will be one of the first NZ schools to use the programme schoolwide, and research tells us that we should expect to see significant improvement in children who have ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, organisational challenges, giftedness as we use the Feuerstein programme - in fact, we are expecting all our children, and staff to benefit.

It is a privilege to work with such a flexible and committed staff. Three of us (Mary Allen, June Port, and I) and our board chair (Andrew Allen) attended an intensive week-long course on Feuerstein in the holidays, and the remaining staff have enthusiastically embraced this opportunity to upskill our learners. More on that in coming weeks, but we are excited about this great opportunity.

Helen Pearson


Answers to Your Questions: Parent handbook
Please see the Parent handbook for details on our school, personnel, values, rules, administration etc

Camp 17 - 20 February
Camp is nearly here and we are all excited about it. It will be a highlight of the year.

Our theme this camp is going to be based on the great outdoor man Bear Grylls. We are going to spend nights under the stars (yr 4-8), cook on an open fire and many more exciting things.  On the first night we will be sleeping in tents. We are in need of 15 2-3 man tents.

All camp forms and payment needs to be in by Monday 9th February. If you need to discuss payment please see Alice or Helen.

Yesterday a gear list was issued to the year 4-8 students. Please ensure that all items that come are clearly named.

We would love as many parents as possible to come.  For those parents coming on camp we will be having a short parent meeting on Thursday 12 February at 5:30 - 6pm.

Tents

We need 15 2-3 man tents for camp. Please email Louise louisepr@mahu.school.nz if you can help out.

Swimming and Sport

As from Thursday 12 February, the school will have swimming/sports down at Snells Beach.

We need parent help for the ratio of children to adults. Please let your teacher know if you can walk down with
us at lunch time and return by 2.40. Swimming lessons will be conducted by a teacher with a small group of children while others are playing sport.

Your child will need sun hat, sunscreen, lunch, drink bottle every Thursday. On Swimming days they will also need togs, towel, and a bag for wet clothes.

Thursday 12 Feb - Swimming and Sports
Thursday 19 Feb - camp
Thursday 26 Feb - Swimming and Sports
Thursday 5 March - Sports only
Thursday 12 March - Swimming and Sports
Thursday 19 March - Sports only
Thursday 26 March - Swimming and Sports

Targeted Education Fund
This is the same as the School Donation paid by parents in all state schools, and contributes to learning resources. Please plan to pay this as soon as possible if you can. While it is a donation, we do rely on parent support through this as attendance dues go for land and buildings only.

The costs are as follows:
$80 for the first child, $60 for the second child, $40 for the third child in each family .

Tech for Years 7-8
We have just been notified that the Year 7-8 learners will have tech as follows:

Term 1 - Hard Materials - Thursdays, leaving school 11.45 and returning by 1.30
Term 2 - Food technology
Term 3 - Wood technology
Term 4 - Electronics or fabric

Thanks
Thanks to Garry and Max Morning for volunteering for 6 hours during the weekend to tidy our school grounds.
Thanks to Gary and Robyn Rowley for weeding our garden during the holidays.
Thanks to Deborah-Jane Michels for volunteering as a teacher aide for 8 hours aweek.
Thanks to Christine Copeland for volunteering as a Feuerstein teacher for 5 hours a week.
Thanks to June Port for volunteering over this transition period in the office.
We are blessed!

Uniforms
A number of families are missing uniform items from last year.  Could you please check your child’s uniform to make sure that they have the correct items.

Prayer for our school
If you are interested in praying for our school, please come along to a prayer meeting being held each Thursday morning during term time. The meeting starts at 9am and finishes by 9.45am and is in the creche room, in the chapel.  Any queries please contact Angela Barker on (09) 425 4911 / 02102261564, or email gandabarker@hotmail.com.  

Angela will be stepping down from this role at the end of February and would love to hear from anyone who has a heart for this ministry.

Board Meetings
The Board of Trustee Meetings for this term are:

Tuesday 9th February 7pm - 9pm
Tuesday 10th March 7pm - 9pm

Friday Assembly

Whole school assemblies will be held at 9.10 in the church on Fridays.  Parents are welcome to attend. The first assembly will be after camp on Friday 27 March.

Community Notices

Reading Comprehension – Parental Help

Do you want to help your child be more successful with their reading comprehension?  Are you unsure how to do that, as you're not a teacher?  If you would like to learn how to understand how different texts work, and how to create great questions to ask your child as they are reading, then this course may be just what you're looking for.  "Help your child excel: Comprehension strategies that work!"  is aimed at parents and caregivers, to allow them to work alongside their child's teachers in enabling a better understanding of reading comprehension for their child.  It is an online course, that you take at your own pace, and you can ask questions of and have discussions with the tutor and other people who are learning the strategies for their own children.  It covers texts aimed at children from three years old and up through their school years.  Why not take a look and see if it would help your family?  https://www.udemy.com/help-your-child-excel-1/