Junior Jottings - June

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As usual the term is flying by fast! I do hope you are having an opportunity to be outside in this lovely sunshine with your children over this long weekend.

Thank you to everyone who came to the parent and teacher conferences earlier in the term. I hope you got a clearer picture of your child's learning and their next steps and some ideas on how you can support them at home. If you have any queries about your child's learning please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher. 

Science Week 
All the children loved the amazing array of Science experiments that were held over the week culminating in the exciting school-wide big rocket launch. Special thanks to Mrs Ryan for her organisation of this. It is pleasing to hear that the children were explaining the experiments to their families and also re-creating some of them at home. Our inquiry into energy is going well with the children taking part in activities involving magnetism, sound and electricity.

Gymnastics 
Each week the children have been involved in a variety of balance activities in their gymnastics classes and are thoroughly enjoying using the equipment to display their skills. On the day your child has their turn, please make sure that they wear clothing that doesn't impede their movement. 

Parent Information Sessions
This week is the first of the information sessions and is about Reading. The evening involves a power point presentation about the processes of learning to read in the first two years at school and how you can support your child at home and is also an opportunity to have your questions about reading answered. It will be in room 3 at 7 p.m. on Wednesday June 4th and will take about an hour. 

The next evening will be the following week at the same time and in room 3 on Wednesday June 11th and will cover the topics of writing, spelling and handwriting in the first two years at school.

The final evening will be on Wednesday June 25th at 7 p.m. in room 3 and will be about Mathematics in the first two years at school. 

'Starting School at Five' Information evening 
This evening is particularly for parents of preschoolers and discusses the transition to school process for your child. It will be held in room 3 at 7 p.m. on Wednesday June 18th.  If you have preschoolers in your neighbourhood that attend preschool out of our area could you please let them know about the meeting?

'Strike' Percussion 
On Thursday June 5th during the afternoon the whole school will be audience to visiting performers from 'Strike' percussion group. The admission fee for this will be taken from your child's activity fee. 

Fun Ferns Netball 
Each day from June 9 to 12 (weather permitting) all the children in the Junior School will be taking part in the 'Fun Ferns' netball sessions. Parents and caregivers are very welcome to come along and help with the sessions.  The sessions go for forty five minutes each with room 4 at 9 a.m., room 2 at 9.45 a.m., room 6 at 11 a.m., room 5 at 11.45 a.m., and room 3 at 1.30 p.m.  Please make sure that your child wears suitable footwear on these days. 

Full School Assemblies
This term we have two more full school assemblies that families are very welcome to attend. They will be held in the hall from 1.35 p.m on Friday June 6th and Friday June 27th. Please sit on the chairs along the back of the hall in front of the kitchen. 

'Celebration of Learning'
This will be held on Thursday July 3rd from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. It is an opportunity for your child to explain what they have been learning about to their parents and family. Each classroom will be open so please feel free to visit other rooms around the school. This gives you a picture of where your child is headed once they leave our Junior School. 
There will be the Scholastic Bookfair in the library which means you can purchase books for your child and money raised from this will allow us to purchase more books for our school library. Take the time also to go across the road to the Senior School and see the amazing Science Fair exhibits our Year 7 and 8 children have made. 

Reports and 'Collections'
Each child in rooms 2, 4, 5 and 6 (if they started at Muritai at the beginning of the year) will receive a written report near the end of this term. The reports will outline how your child is progressing in their learning steps in reading, writing and mathematics as discussed during the recent parent and teacher conferences. They will also state how your child has met or is progressing towards the National Standards in these areas. Only some of the children in room 3 will get a written report at this time as some of them have only recently started school and have just had or are about to have a comprehensive 'after six weeks at school' conference instead. There will also be no children from room 1 getting a written report at this time. 
In conjunction with the report and celebration of learning afternoon, every child will be bringing home their 'Collections' folder near the end of the term. This folder replaces the previous learning journey and portfolio and is instead a collection of work that your child has done over the past two terms. It is a chance for you to discuss with them the learning that each piece of work involved and is also a good way for you to see how much they have progressed.

Blogs 
The teachers put up an array of items on their classroom blogs and it is a good chance for families and friends to have a peek at some of the learning that is going on in each classroom. The children love to read the comments that other people have written about their learning so please feel free to leave a comment. Room 4 do have a blog but we are currently waiting for the website people to make it live and Room 1 have some Science work on theirs until their class officially starts in week 7. 

End of the school day routines
For safety reasons, our youngest children in rooms 1, 2 and 3 are handed over to their parent or caregiver at the classroom doors while our older children in rooms 4, 5 and 6 are dismissed into the area under the sunshade, where they can be seen by their teachers, to meet their awaiting parents and caregivers. Once your child has been collected, parents and caregivers are very welcome to return to the classroom with their child to see their child's work. School finishes at 2.55 p.m. so that children can catch the bus so if you are going to be late to collect your child from school could you please contact the school office and let us know so that we can reassure your child. If we have to attend a staff meeting after school, your child will be sent to the office for supervision by our office staff, otherwise they will stay in their own classroom until you collect them.

Pre School Visits 
These are held on Thursday mornings from 8.40 to 11 a.m. and give visiting preschoolers an opportunity to take part in the usual school programme and parents and caregivers a chance to ask any questions. If you have a child who is turning five this year could you please phone our school office with details of their name and your contact numbers so that I can discuss the visits with you? We have had a group of children and their teacher and a parent visit from East Harbour Kindergarten on Tuesday and we will have another group in two weeks time. 

If you have any comments or queries about the Junior School, please do not hesitate to contact me on buckley@muritai.school.nz or phone the school office to make an appointment. 

Yours in partnership, 

Maureen Buckley
Deputy Principal