Tena koutou katoa - Warm greetings to you all.
Welcome to another term of learning! It's hard to believe that one week has already whizzed by. The children came back from their holiday refreshed and eager to learn.
At the very end of last term, Mrs Ruth Holmes and Mrs Margaret Mills were appointed to our Junior School for term 4. We warmly welcome them to our team. Mrs Holmes is working alongside Mrs Sullivan, Mrs Roberts and myself to support the learning of our youngest students in rooms 2 and 3. She will either be working in these classrooms or withdrawing small groups of students to work with her e.g. during circle news, reading, writing, spelling, mathematics etc in the Rainbow Room (the room adjoining both classrooms.) The students start the day in their classroom and then may move to different areas. e.g. Some students from room 2 may be working in room 3 and vice versa also at these times. Mrs Mills will be working in room 4 one day a week on Wednesdays for most of the term.
Thank you :)
A huge thank you to those of you who came along to support our Art Exhibition at the end of last term. The students were delighted with their wonderful works on display. Last term the theme was 'mixed media' and the hall display showed a wide variety of works and was just a snippet of what they have produced.
The students were also proud showcasing their first attempts at photography using the iPads. Warmest congratulations to Ruby Fenwick in room 3 for winning the Year 0 - 2 section. The photos were outstanding and it was a very difficult job for the judges.
Thank you also to those of you who joined us for the learning conferences in the last week, so that we could share what your child has achieved and the learning goals that they are currently working on.
At the last school assembly we were presented with an 'Enviroschool' sign to be displayed in our school. We have been at the Green Gold stage since 2009 and our students throughout the school are involved in a wide range of activities. e.g. dune planting, traps, sensory garden, litter clean ups of our local area etc to name but a few. If you have any suggestions or ideas you would like to share regarding sustainability or about our Enviroschool planning please do not hesitate to contact me.
What's on this term -
Values
Each term we focus on our school values and school-wide they will be Integrity and Resilience this term. We discuss what these mean and how they apply to learning.
Literacy
There is always a strong emphasis on all areas of Literacy in our Junior School. We focus on the development of oral language in all that we do. Daily Circle time news is just one of these areas in which this occurs. Your child has guided reading with their teacher as well as opportunities for shared reading and independent reading daily. Every child brings home a reading book to practice their skills in reading fluently from Mondays to Thursdays with a poem on Fridays relating to the alphabet sounds and/or blends that have been worked upon during the preceding week. This term in writing the students will continue with personal narrative but will also take part in poetry and letter writing.
Numeracy
Most of the learning time is spent on the areas of Number where the students develop their knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and also learn to use a variety of strategies. This term they will also be learning about capacity, volume, mass and weight as part of the Measurement strand.
Inquiry
Our overall Inquiry focus is about 'Safety' whether this be personal, sun, fire, water or road safety and the skills needed for your child to know what to do in different situations.
We have started with the 'Keeping Ourselves Safe' programme. This is being taught by our teachers along with the Police Education officer - Constable Julie. There will be a parent session this Wednesday morning, October 25th with Constable Julie from 8.40 a.m. to 9 a.m., in room 3, while the students are at Jumpjam, to answer any questions you may have. Please email me if you have not already done so if you will be attending this meeting. If you can't attend but have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
We will also be taking part in the 'Firewise' programme. This will also be taught by our teachers along with the Fire Service Education officer - Jamie.
Physical Education and Health
Athletics and Aquatic skills are the focus for this term in Physical Education. Each Thursday afternoon your child will be learning a variety of skills involving shotput, discus, sprints, baton change, long jump and high jump. They will then take part in our Junior School Athletics Sports on Monday December 11th from 9 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. This is an opportunity for parents and family members to come along and support them and see what they have been learning. They will be learning water safety skills from mid November when the Eastbourne pool is open and it is warm enough. For fitness the students will continue to do Jumpjam in the hall on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 8.40 a.m. and outside activities involving equipment on Thursdays and Fridays. The health focus is our inquiry as mentioned earlier.
The Arts
All students will be taking part in some sessions of Performing arts with Mrs Ruth Hooke during this term on a Thursday morning. Our Visual Art focus is 3D working firstly with plasticine and then clay.
Education Outside the Classroom (E.O.T.C.) programme
This will be held from Monday December 11th where we start with the Athletics sports through to Friday December 15th. On the afternoon of Thursday December 14th we will be having our annual Christmas Concert and party so please book your diary for this. We will be doing the rest of the E.O.T. C. programme around our school. I will send out further details closer to the time.
Assemblies
The full school assemblies are held on the even weeks this term. The first one will be this Friday October 27th from 1.45 p.m. in the school hall. Please come along and see what is happening across the school. Come around 1.30 p.m. and sit on the chairs in front of the kitchen. On the alternate weeks we have singing where the juniors learn and practice new songs together. We also have a junior school assembly hosted by one class and the families of students in that class are invited to join us in the library.
Pre school visits
We will be having pre school visits in room 3 on Thursdays this term for our students who will be starting school this year and early next year. We will also be having visits from some of the preschoolers currently at Day's Bay Playcentre and East Harbour Kindergarten.
The information evening for parents of preschoolers starting school will be held in room 3 at 7 p.m. on Wednesday November 29th.
Photos for Rooms 2 and 3
Sue Allman will be coming on Friday November 3rd to take a class photo of room 2 and individual photos of these students. Children in room 3 who have started since March will also be able to have individual photos taken but not a class one. Envelopes for these will come home this week and orders must be returned to Jo in the school office by next Wednesday November 1st.
Reporting to Parents
Later this term your child from rooms 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, (if they are not new this term) will be bringing home a written report. The older students from room 2 will be getting a report but the other students who are new to rooms 2 and 3 will have six week parent conferences. There will be a Learning Celebration afternoon from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for everyone so that the students can discuss their learning with you. The date is yet to be confirmed for this.
Clothing, footwear and drink bottles
Please make sure that your child wears suitable clothing and footwear (not boots or jandals) on a Thursday when we have athletics practices. Every day your child needs to wear a sunhat (named) to ensure that they are protected from the sun's rays. Please no caps. Your child can also bring along sunblock (named) to be put on during the day. They will not be sharing this with other students. All students also need a water bottle every day so please check that your child has one with them.
Health and absences
From time to time, students get head lice, worms and other nasties. Please be vigilant and check your child on a regular basis and treat if necessary. Please let your child's teacher know so that reminder notices can be sent out to other parents. If your child is going to be absent from school please phone Jo in our school office and leave her a message before 8 a.m. You can also email her. We need to account for all absenteeism.
Diary dates
October 23 - Labour Day holiday
October 24 - Day's Bay Playcentre visit
October 25 - Parent/caregiver meeting about Keeping Ourselves Safe
November 3 - photos for rooms 2 and 3
November 29 - Starting school at five parent information evening
December 11 - 15 - Education outside the classroom week
December 11 - Junior School Athletics
December 14th - Junior School Christmas concert and party
December 19th - Last day of term - School closes at 1 p.m.
If you have any questions about your child's learning or any feedback of our Junior School please do not hesitate to contact me or your child's teacher.
Nga mihi nui
Kind regards
Maureen Buckley (Associate Principal) buckley@muritai.school.nz
On behalf of the Junior School team
Barbara Ryan ryan@muritai.school.nz
Liz Sullivan sullivan@muritai.school.nz
Ruth Holmes holmes@muritai.school.nz
Raewyn Roberts rroberts@muritai.school.nz
Nicolette Fisher fisher@muritai.school.nz
Margs Mills mills@muritai.school.nz
Janelle McKay jmackay@muritai.school.nz
Morag Roberts roberts@muritai.school.nz
Jo Salisbury salisburyjo@gmail.com
Gabrielle Heath heath@muritai.school.nz
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