ORATIA SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

MESSAGE FROM MS LINDA

Welcome back to school and our first days of the year. It was lovely to see so many of you and your children at the gate these past few mornings, to say hello and welcome you back. To our new families and whānau, we welcome you to our kura and hope that you will find us inclusive and warm in our interactions with you all. Thank you for joining us. Thank you to all the parents and whānau who were able to meet the teacher on Tuesday, and spend a bit of time chatting together. Our teachers really valued their time with you all.

Teachers have been here at school for the past couple of weeks setting up their classroom spaces and having meetings etc. Last week on Thursday and Friday we have had staff only days. Thursday gave us the chance to regather together as a team, and remind each other of our school vision statement (Develop confident, connected learners who make a positive difference), and our school values(Respect/Whakaute, Responsibility/Haepapa, Risk Taking/Tūwhitia te hopo, Resilience/Aumangea, Reflection/Whakaaroaro) and how these are outworked in our school for the students and for ourselves as staff. Then we had a lovely artisitc time working with the Pasifika Mamas from Corban's Art Estate, as they taught us how to create Ei katu(Cook Island floral headbands). We had a great time of laughter, learning and creativity with the four experts who helped us.

On Friday we had a great morning with Dr Craig Hansen, who introduced us to the world of generative AI, and its possible uses in education. We played with a few platforms and tools and were amazed at what could be achieved using these new ideas. We finished with some administration, and some structured literacy assessment protocols.

We welcomed a number of new teachers to our team, so if you see someone new please take the time to introduce yourselves and say hello to them. In Room 24 we have Lee Bartlett. Lee is a returning teacher and we are so happy to have her back on staff. The same is true for Olly Morgan, who is going to be teaching Te Reo across the school. Finally, in Room 8 we have Christy Spemann. Christy is a very talented beginning teacher with teacher aide experience from a previous school. It is lovely to welcome such quality staff to join us this year, and I am sure they will be great additions to our team.

We have had some property work done over the break. There is a new concrete pathway coming into school past the hall. Hopefully, this will make the entry into school a less hazardous journey now the lumpy pathway has been replaced. Rooms 6 and 7 have a new sliding door between them to enable a bit more flexibility for the teachers as they are teaching in that space.

We are all really looking forward to a settled and happy term. The tone throughout the school, in all the classrooms, has reflected this and there was a calm working buzz everywhere we visited. Please remember to have your child wear their sunhat during this term (only 9 weeks till the Easter break), as we keep sun safety a priority for our kura.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

BACK 2 SCHOOL PROJECT

A big shout out to the team at Back 2 School Project who have provided school bags, lunch boxes and stationery for some of our students so they are ready to start the new school year. Ka rawe koe! You are awesome!

School Nurse Marlies Tuika's Weekly Visits

We are fortunate to have a school nurse available at Oratia School. Marlies Tukia visits weekly to support the health and well-being of our students.

Her role includes various responsibilities, such as:

Providing health education and resources to students, staff, and families.
Collaborating with school staff to address health-related concerns.
Conducting health screenings and assessments, especially for those who find it difficult to attend GP visits.
Supporting students with additional health needs.
Absenteeism (health related)
Access to Health / Social Services
Allergy / Anaphylaxis
Child Health Assessment
Dental services
Eczema, Skin Sores, Headlice
Gowth and Development
Hearing / Vision
Rheumatic Fever Management
Sore throats
Supporting health needs in schools
Wetting / Soiling
Youth health

If your child requires her support or if you have concerns about their health and well-being, please contact our admin staff or our SENCo, Kathryn Mansell (kathrynm@oratia.school.nz), with verbal consent for a referral.

POLICY TO REVIEW!

This term, the scheduled review focuses on behaviour management, staff wellbeing and safety. For more information about the review, go to the Current Review tab at the top of your SchoolDocs site. A summary is provided below.

Key policies