It
has been an amazing year. Such a lot has happened.
We
started the year with our school camp, which was a wonderful
community building time in which our learners developed self confidence through
climbing the high ropes, kayaking, archery, swimming, team games
requiring leadership and problem solving, cooking their own dinner
over a fire, camping outside, caving, and being part of a talent quest. What a great start
to the year, with most of the school families attending for some or all of the
time.
In
terms of developing strong thinking skills, we have seen
considerable progress. In the first half of the year we did a lot of science investigations,
developing questioning skills, observational skills, labeling skills and
helping the children to think like scientists and to say why they think
something happens rather than only to regurgitate facts.
We
have also done a lot of work with Feuerstein this year. This
has given the children specific activities to work on together or as
individuals which have developed increasing confidence in strategies to
solve problems, and the ability to control impulsivity, create mental pictures,
develop spatial awareness, and a whole host of other skills. These
cognitive skills set the children up well to be lifelong learners.
Thinking
skills have been further developed by our Author Think process which
all senior children use to help them reflect on their own and others'
work, provide and receive constructive feedback and revise their work in
response. The junior classes are developing a beginning understanding of
this approach.
We have had Gifted education for a day each week, and Japanese lessons, courtesy of Lynn Williams.
We have had Gifted education for a day each week, and Japanese lessons, courtesy of Lynn Williams.
We
have had a focus on developing self management skills, helping
children to set and understand their own learning goals and to achieve
goals within an expected time period.
In
those first six months, we started our MCSTV and had our
learners understand the various roles in a TV production and
participate in making news clips about our school, we had a
wonderful study on ANZAC, with each child in Years 4-8 researching
a real life soldier who died in the war, and recording the information
to share with others. This study was culminated in a moving service in
which we showed respect for those who died for our people and country.
Younger children did research projects and created e-books on animals of
their choice.
The
second six months has included work on understanding the various components of
a musical production, and working hard so that all children in the
school were participating to a very high standard in a dance and in group
singing, and many children also had singing and acting parts. The senior
class designed (and made most of) our costumes, designed and made the
sets, tickets and programme.
Children
have been sailing, surfing, visiting Chipmunks, skateboarding, swimming lessons at
the beach and at the Mahurangi College pool, done metal work and
cooking, and in several cases had specialist leadership training.
We
have participated in almost all interschool sports, coming second
in interschool hockey. On Saturdays our junior team won the
Illingworth Family Trophy for the entire junior division and our seniors won
the second division competition. Volaki has been selected for the North
Harbour Hockey Representative Development Team and Tiraha has been selected for
the 2016 Under-13 squad for Maori Netball.
We participated in the Interschool Speech competitions, and Sam Lund got first in his Year 3-4 age group and Volaki came third in the Year 5-6 group.
All
of our learners have had one to one and small group teaching in areas of
weakness.
To
conclude, we are delighted to see that we have had significant progress in
Reading, Writing and Maths.
In all cases, we have National Standards results that are well above the National Average (which is in all cases between 71-78% At or Above National Standards).
Our
results are
Reading:
86% At and Above
Writing:
83% At and Above
Maths:
91% At and Above
Considering the fact that half of our learners new to the school were achieving Below National Standards when they arrived, this is a great testament to our teachers' diligence and student-focused teaching, and to the way they work to help the children own and celebrate their own learning results.
All of these things are testament to the extremely committed and hard work of your children's teachers and the commitment of the Board to fund additional staffing, and the help of volunteers like Amy Rabey who taught dance several times per week for four months, and Lynn Williams who donates a day each week to share her wealth of experience in gifted education, each as a volunteer. The Ministry of Education only funds our school for 2.8 teachers plus me. In actual fact, we have 4 classes each with their own teacher, 1 fulltime teacher aide, 1 nearly-full-time teacher aide, a Reading Recovery teacher who works five mornings a week with children who are struggling, and a host of volunteers who come in to listen to reading, teach in areas of specialty like cricket, dance, basketball, health and first aid education and financial literacy.
Our
children have lacked for nothing this year in terms of variety and excellence
of opportunity,
and this is because our teachers and friends go above and beyond the call of
duty to invest in what is best for each child.
I
am both grateful and proud of the way our school is growing from strength to
strength. Size is not a weakness here, but a strength we embrace.
Thanks
for sharing with us in the journey. Next year promises to be even better!
Helen
Pearson
School News
Prize giving
This
Friday morning at 9.15am we will be having our end of year prize giving for all of the
students. Parents, caregivers and
friends are all welcome to attend and celebrate the achievements the children
have made this year.
Last Day
School
finishes next Wednesday 16th December at 1.30pm.
NZCPT
The NZCPT will be the new Proprietors from January 2016. Information packs have been sent out to all
current families, with new Automatic Payment Forms. It is important that those forms are returned
ASAP, so that the payments can be set up for next year. Please contact the office if you need another
form emailed to you.
Lost Property
We have a large amount of lost property at school at the
moment. Could you please check the lost
property in the office before the end of term.
All unclaimed items will be taken to the hospice shop at the end of
term.
$4 School Lunch this Friday
Friday lunches have now finished for the year.
Bracelet
A
bracelet was found after the Snoops Production last week. If you are missing a bracelet please contact
the office.
Praying for the school
Every Monday morning from 8.45 – 9.15 we have prayer time for
the school. All parents, caregivers and friends of the school are welcome to
attend.
Baby Bunnies for Christmas
We
have four baby bunnies that will be ready to go to new homes by 15 December.
They
are extremely cute
If
you are interested please call Isabelle on 021 985508
Community Notices
Ray
White – A little Ray of Giving
Ray White is partnering with the
Rotary Club of Warworth to collect gifts in December to distribute to less
fortunate families in the region through the Home Builders Family Centre in
Warkworth. If you would like to support
this initiative, please drop off wrapped gifts at the Ray White offices in
Warkworth and Snells Beach.
Learn
to Surf
Get the kids off the X-box and down to the beach this summer with
our Learn to Surf week at Tawharanui&Orewa Beach
·
Open to Kids aged between 7 – 17
years old
·
Surf sessions 9.30am-12.30pm or
1.30pm-4.30pm
·
Orewa16-18 Dec/4-8 Jan/11-15
Jan/18-20 Jan
·
Tawharanui4-8 Jan/11-15 Jan
·
Cost $99 for 3 day $150for 5 days
ONEILL SURF ACADEMY
Please
emailsurf@oneillsurfacademy.co.nz
Hooked on Hockey
Holiday Programme
Our popular
Hooked on Hockey Holiday programme is back in the New Year on January 26th & 27th catering for children aged 5 – 12
(school years 1 – 8).
Open to new or
existing players. Groups streamed by age.
Tuesday
26th & Wednesday
27th January, 9.00am - 3.00pm,
North Harbour Hockey Stadium (Attend
one day or both)
Drop off from 8.30am. 9.00am start. 3.00pm pick up.
Cost:
$50 per child/day -
normal rate
$45 per child/day-
family rate (when registering 2 or more children from same family).
$80 per child - both
days
Register via www.harbourhockey.org.nz
Aquakidz Swimming Programme
Monday 18th to 22nd January 2016
$75 - 5 days
Ages 4 years and up!
Mahurangi College Pool
Contact Cindy 4259924 / 0211635050
Kip
McGrath
Kip McGrath Warkworth - English and maths
tuition aligned to the NZ curriculum. Programmes designed to suit individual
learning styles for Years 1- 12.
Phone Ann Cook on 422 2305 for a free assessment.
Great write up Helen, and wonderful to reflect on the year and all the amazing opportunities our children have had throughout the year. Looking forward to even greater growth and opportunities in 2016.
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