Junior Jottings - September

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It's amazing that already another term is quickly drawing to a close. The Production was fantastic - well done and thank you to everyone who took part or helped in any way. It was truly spectacular and especially wonderful to see our youngest students shine on stage. They loved it and did not want the week to finish. It was also great to read the stories around the hall and in the foyer that some of our Juniors had written. 

moveMprove

This great programme finished today. All the children took part in this each week over the last eight weeks. Melanie, Jessica and Anthony were the coaches, who ran the programme and were very impressed with the progress that each of the children has made. 

'Hooked on Books' Programme

This fantastic programme has been running for the past two terms and will finish this week. I wish to acknowledge and sincerely thank the parents and grandparents who have given up their time each week to listen and give support to the children as they read. The progress that the students have made has been fantastic due to this extra reading mileage. They have enjoyed working with you all and I hope that you have loved working with them too and wish to do so again in the future. 

"Skipping September - Jump Rope for Heart Jump Off' Taura Peke mo te Manawa Ora

We are looking forward to this Wednesday morning, September 24th, and hope that the weather will be fine and warm enough for us to do our big 'Jump off - Skip-a-thon." The 'Jump off' will be from 9 to 10.30 a.m. around the court area and parents and family members are very welcome to come along and watch the children take part in the rotation of activities involving skipping. They have been practicing each week this term and are very keen to show how much they have learnt and improved. If the weather is not suitable we have a postponement date for the next day - Thursday September 25th at the same time. 
A few weeks ago your child brought home an envelope for donations towards the New Zealand Heart Foundation. Please can you return it with any donation to your child's teacher on Wednesday? If you have misplaced your envelope, don't worry just pop it into a plain envelope. 
The 'Jump Rope for Heart' programme will be celebrating it's 30th birthday next year. Many of our parents may have also taken part when they were at school. If so, we would love to hear of your experiences too. 

Invitations
We know that it is very exciting when a child is about to have a birthday but I would ask that you please deliver invitations to any party or function that they may be having either by post or given to the parent of the children concerned. Please do not give out the invitations to children at school as we have to deal with the disappointment of any child who is not invited. If you have any questions regarding this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Slippers and Sunhats
Your child will be bringing their slippers home this Friday and can keep them at home from now on. They will need to bring and wear a wide brimmed sunhat (named) from the first day of next term. We operate a 'no hat no play' rule which means that any child without a hat will have to sit in the shade area at morning tea and lunchtimes while their friends will be able to play anywhere. If you are sending along sunblock please make sure that it is named too. It will not be shared with any other child. Children wearing sunblock on their faces still need to wear a hat too. 

Lost Property 
We have a lot of clothing that has not been claimed so could you please send your child to have a look at the clothing in the baskets under the room 10 stairs and also please pop in and have a look yourself as children often do not recognise their own clothes. We can easily return named clothing but there is a lot there that is not named. Any left at the end of the term will be given to charity.

Full School Assembly 
This Friday we will be having a full school assembly but it will be in the morning at the earlier time of 9.45 a.m. instead. You are very welcome to join us for this. 

Kindergarten and Barnardos visits
We have been very pleased that the visits between some of our local preschools to school have continued throughout this term and we look forward to this again in term 4. 

Blogs
Please have a look at the classroom blogs from time to time to get a snapshot of what the children have been up to. Feel free to leave a comment as well as the children love to read these.

Children turning 5 next year
If you have a child or know of a child in our area that will be turning five next year and is intending to come to Muritai School, could you please telephone our school office on 
562 8409 with their details of name, date of birth and telephone, to make sure that they are on our list? 

Term 4
We have planned another term of wonderful learning experiences for your child and I will give you more details of these in my next newsletter at the start of next term. Some of the events to look forward to are our Education outside the Classroom week, Christmas concert, parent conferences, reports, class lists for 2015, class photos for rooms 1 and 3, athletics and swimming and a celebration of learning. 

Thank you so much for all the support you do with your child's learning. Over the holidays, they can keep up their reading practice - just five minutes a day makes a huge difference to their progress and parents and family members can also continue to read aloud to them. They can do Mathletics and of course practice their spelling, story writing, drawing and handwriting too. 

If you have any questions about your child's learning or anything to do with school please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher. 

Best wishes for a lovely relaxing holiday break and we look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday October 13th at 8.40 a.m. ready to do Jumpjam.

Kind regards

Maureen Buckley 
Deputy Principal