ORATIA SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

MESSAGE FROM MS LINDA

Tēnā koutou katoa. Nau mai ki te whānau o te Oratia. Talofa lava. Malo e lelei. Zdravo. Ni hao. Namaste. Kamusta. Greetings Oratia whānau and families.

With only one week left to go till the Country Fair we are all busy finalising details for our stalls. Thank you to everyone who has agreed to come and serve on their class's stall at some stage through next Saturday. This fair is a community event that is put on by the entire community for each other - and there is no way just our staff could make it all happen without your support.Thanks for volunteering your time and thank you too for all the donations you are sending in. We are eager for bigger items for the White Elephant stall in the hall such as furniture and kitchen or garden tools or larger kids toys and play equipment. If you have anything then you can drop it off to us through the week, or bring it on Saturday morning from 10.00 and the PTA will be here to collect it. The jolly jars are overflowing, and anticipation amongst the children is building.

One more thing we will be collecting from you, if you can spare anything from your cupboard, is fresh fruit or vegetables. We will be asking for these next week on Thursday, so if you can send in a piece of fruit or vegetable that day we will be collecting them for the fruit and vege stall.

Teachers are looking forward to meeting with you all today for our goal setting meetings, and are working hard in classtime to try and meet the new curriculum expectations in literacy and mathematics. If you were unable to make the session today, and would like to talk to your child's teacher about their learning, then please email them to try and sort out an alternative arrangement.

We only have two weeks or so left of this term as it is a shorter one due to Easter Friday falling on April 3. Time is flying past and we have had a busy term.

Take care and stay safe.

Kia kaha, kia atawhai.

Ngā mihi nui, Ms Linda

Health Statement Consultation

We are inviting feedback on our health statement, which details how health is taught at Oratia District School as part of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum. This comes as part of our two yearly review process, guided by the Education and Training Act 2020. Please follow this link to find out more and have your say. You will have also received the link via email last week. The survey will close on Friday 27th March. Thank you in advance for your contribution to tailoring this statement for our school's future teaching and learning. We very much appreciate those of you who have already given feedback.

"Neurodiversity week was so cool! I loved looking at the speech bubbles in the library. What I wrote on my speech bubbles was I have ADHD, I have APD, and I have dyslexia. I love Neurodiversity week because everybody can celebrate their brains. It is so cool how many people have the same thing as me and it's not just for Neurodiverse people, it's for everybody because everybody has different brains".

By Florence Futter - Room 17

WoW Week – Walk or Wheel to School (23–27 March)

Our school is taking part in WoW Week, a fun Travelwise event encouraging tamariki to walk, wheel, bike or scoot to school daily. Each student will receive a WoW Passport on Monday March 23rd to track their active trips, with daily fun activities, run by our Travelwise Leaders, to participate in. Passports are collected on Friday and spot prizes awarded. Families can help by choosing active travel where possible, parking further away and walking together, and joining the WoW Week Facebook event to share photos and win spot prizes.

An event of note, on Wednesday 25th March we have a Walk and Wheel to school event where we invite as many students and their parents to join us on routes from Parrs Park and Oratia Community Church, walking or on bikes and scooters. Please keep an eye out for an email with further information, closer to the time.

Kainoa from Rm8 is a member of the Piha deep sea fishing club. Last weekend he caught this 7.71kg snapper. What a whopper !!

On Saturday 14 March, many of our Oratia students who play for Waitemata Rugby, played the curtain raiser for the Blues vs Moana Pacifica Super Rugby match.

Thank you Esha Wade for sharing this photo and what an amazing opportunity for these young tamariki.

Kiwi English, Mathematics and Science Competitions

There is the upcoming opportunity for Year 5 and Year 6 students to compete in the Kiwi Competitions, offered by the University of Canterbury. These skill-based competitions take place annually and are designed by New Zealand teachers for New Zealand students, closely aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum.

Each test is $10 and you can register your student on Kindo (closing date 8th May) for any or all of these, depending on their interest. You can find out more information at www.canterbury.ac.nz/cam/. Students receive a certificate and a prize will be awarded to the top student nationally. Parents will receive an individual student report of their child's performance. The tests are administered at school, under exam conditions, near the end of Term 2. Contact Matt Moncur for questions or queries: matthewm@oratia.school.nz.

Online Safety Hub for Parents and Whānau

Through our use of Linewise internet safety products, we have access to an Online Safety Hub for parents and whānau. You will also find a link to a safety app for parents, called Qustodio.

This short video (can you embed this video in the newsletter?) explains what the Online Safety Hub can offer. For more information, please contact Matt Moncur at matthewm@oratia.school.nz

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.