Year 8’s - Cadence, Jack, Jonty and Lily (absent: Delia)

Kia ora koutou

It’s come to that time of the year to thank our many wonderful members of our Omihi whānau. Firstly I would like to acknowledge our Year 8 students who will be leaving our school at the end of the week. To see their growth, their achievements and their lovely personalities develop over the years has been a privilege. We wish Delia, Cadence, Jonty, Jack and Lily good luck for their years ahead at high school. We hope to see them back for a visit.

Thanks to our teachers Kelly, Penny, Georgie, Kate, Elizabeth and Liz, for all of their dedication and kindness throughout the year. We farewell Kate at the end of this year, who has been a wonderful reliever in Awaawa and Paemoana. I’m sure we will see her back relieving next year. Thank you to our support staff for everything they do to help our school run so smoothly - Bryleigh, Trudy, Sharryn, Yo, Fi and Emma.

Thanks to our Board of Trustees - Craig, Emma, Pip and Kelly, for all of the time, effort and care you put into our school.

Thanks to our parents who have helped this year in any way - coming on school trips, transport, at our trailride, selling raffle tickets….anything at all you have done for our school. We appreciate it.

Lastly thank you to our wonderful students. We really do feel lucky to have you as part of our Omihi whānau. It is so rewarding to have such a great bunch of students to teach, and we feel privileged to know you all so well.

I would also like to acknowledge the passing of Nick Hamilton. Nick has been a big part of the Omihi community for many years. He is from generations of Hamilton's that attended the school, including his children. He was also a member of our BOT and of a number of local committees. He is another huge loss in our community. Nick’s funeral is this Friday at the Omihi Hall, so we will be bringing our prize giving forward to 9.30am to ensure there is time to set up for the funeral.

Amongst a lot of sadness, we will have joy and celebration at our prize giving this Friday. Have a lovely Christmas everyone, we look forward to seeing everyone back in 2025.

Ngā mihi

Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Principals Award
Congratulations to Harry and Jai who are our recent Principal Award winners. They will be going out for their hot chocolate at the start of Term 1.

Food Truck Friday
We are excited to have our Food Truck Friday back for 2025. This is not a fundraiser, just a chance to bring our community together. It is on Friday 14th March across the road at the Omihi Community Hall.

Start date 2025
We welcome our students back on Monday 3rd February. Bryleigh will be in the office the week before if you need any new uniform.

Teacher only days
Please note we have a teacher only day on Friday 7th February and Monday 17th March.

Stationery Lists
Stationery lists for 2025 are available on the Office Max MySchool website. Please go on and order these so they arrive in time for the start of the year.

Prize giving
We welcome our community to our End of Year Prize giving on Friday 13th December at 9.30am in the Omihi Hall.

Term 1 Events
Dates are in the school calendar for Term 1, so please check them on our website. In week one we have a whānau picnic on Tuesday 4th February at 5pm. We will have the school BBQ available to use, and the pool will be open. Please bring food for your family and you’re welcome to bring a picnic rug. We would love to see all of our families there.

Tipu Māia Kāhui Ako
Here is our termly newsletter for your information.

Community Notices

Enjoying having the school pool open for the summer!

Kia ora koutou

It is hard to believe that this is the second to last Principal newsletter for the year! I am writing this letter on behalf of Maree while she is away on bereavement leave. I just want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your support last week by allowing us to attend Alistair Harris’ funeral to support Maree and her family. We are very grateful.

Please read on for information about what is happening between now and the end of term. There is a lot still to come in our calendar. Please email me if you have any questions.

Ngā mihi
Penny Vincent
Acting Principal/Tumuaki
penny@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

River Safety Trip
Thank you to all the parents who are providing help for our upcoming River Safety Trip at Waipara Adventure Centre on Monday 2nd December. We currently have no bus so we are asking all parents to arrange for their children to get to and from the adventure centre. Teachers will be there from 9.15am. You need to collect your children at 2.30pm. We will make a call by 7.30am regarding the weather. At the end of the day we will be swimming in their swimming hole. We will need adults in the water. Thank you to those of you who have offered to do this. Children who are not confident in the water will also require a life jacket.

Whole School Assembly
We have our whole school assembly this Tuesday (previously Thursday). It will start at 2pm. This time, we will be starting with certificates so please be prompt if you don’t want to miss this piece. 

Report Comments
Last Friday you should have received a reading and writing comment for your child. At the end of the term you will receive a general comment from the classroom teachers and a principal’s comment. Sliders that show the children’s learning levels for reading, writing and maths will also be shared with you.

Welcome to Ned
Ahead of starting in Paemoana in the new year, we’ve been welcoming Ned for visits this term. It is always so lovely to see our students supporting new students with their transition to school.

School Camp
Please keep an eye out for more information about our 2025 school camp to Living Springs coming out before the end of the term.

Swimming Pool
We are loving having the pool open! If you would like to purchase a key for the summer, please contact Bryleigh.

Raffle
Thanks to everyone who has sold raffle tickets. If you still have unsold tickets could you please return these back to school. You can send in cash, or transfer money into the school account.  

Non-Uniform Day
Thank you for supporting the Big Brother, Big Sisters charity with our non-uniform day last week.

Prize giving and whānau picnic
We welcome our community to our End of Year Prize giving on Friday 13th December at 11am in the Omihi Hall. This will be followed by a whānau picnic across at the school between 12pm - 1pm. Please bring your own lunch for your family, and a picnic rug if you wish.

Year 8 Day Out
The Year 8’s will be going with Miss Fletcher and Mrs Lucas to Hanmer Springs on Tuesday 10th December. All of the costs are covered by the school.

Tough Kids Challenge
On Wednesday 4th December, Tūpari will be participating in the Tough Kid Challenge in Christchurch. We will need parents to provide transport for this since we are no longer able to take them on the school bus. You are able to drop and go. Please get in touch with Kelly if you are unable to do this. It is a great event and the kids will love it!!

Transition Days
This week we are beginning our transition visits. Our Year 2 students will spend the day in Awaawa, and our Year 5 students will spend the day in Tūpari. This will give them the opportunity to start getting ready for 2025. These days are noted on the school calendar.

Library
Please return all books to our school library by Friday 29th November 2024. Once all the books have been returned students are welcome to take out 5-10 books for holiday reading. Yo will be in the library this Wednesday, however no books will be issued until next week.

Thank yous
We would like to say a big thank you to Amuri Net for their support of our recent trail ride fundraiser, hooking up wifi for us. Also our wonderful posties for delivering our newsletter every fortnight.

Community Notices

The Little Unity Theatre presents ‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens

28, 29 November and 1 December, 7pm at Hawarden Hall.

Tickets $5, available in advance from Hawarden Library or email pcfdenise@gmail.com / text 0211664493

Limited door sales, cash only.

Christmas punch and nibbles provided by the Red Cross.

Stunning views on our trail ride.

Kia ora koutou

A huge thank you to Craig and Andy, our landowners, who put a lot of work into the trail ride and let us ride their beautiful farms. A big thanks to Todd for helping set up the track, and James from Precision Yamaha for helping set up the track and sponsoring the event. Thanks to Sofia who organised the BBQ, and all of our parent volunteers, riding marshalls, and students who helped on the day. The views from the track were simply stunning. Thanks to everyone who came and rode it, and helped fundraise for our little school. We raised close to $20,000!

Our students were awarded so many prizes for artwork in the Amberley Show! What a success. They should be very proud. And how lucky we are to have such arty teachers to share their talents!

Congratulations to all of our students who competed in the Small School athletics last week, and well done to the following students who came 1st, 2nd or 3rd:

• 1st:
  Shot put - Andy
  Long jump - Zac, Lily
  Discus - Ruby-Grace, Zac, Jack and Lily
  Distance - Alex, Hugo, Jack
  Sprints 60m - Jack

• 2nd:
  High jump - Andy and Ruby-Grace, Zac and Ava, Jack
  Long jump - Andy, Jack and Lily
  Discus - Andy and Delia
  Distance - Zac
  Sprints 60m - Hugo, Zac, Lily
  Sprints 80m - Theo, Hugo
  Sprints 100m - Zac, Jack and Lily

• 3rd:
  High jump - Hugo
  Shot put - Ze’ev, Hugo, Zac
  Long jump - Alex, Ze’ev, Hugo
  Discus - Thomas
  Distance - Michael, Lily
  Sprints 60m - Theo
  Sprints 80m - Ze’ev

First and second place winners will be going to Kowai athletics this afternoon.

Ngā mihi

Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
Omihi School
principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Preschooler morning
This is on Wednesday 13th November at 9am. All preschoolers are welcome. Please bring a drink bottle, sunhat and morning tea.

Year 5-8 Camp in Living Springs
Our senior camp is from Monday 31st March - Wednesday 2nd April. Penny and Kelly will be leading the camp, and Maree will be over there for part of it. Anna.S, Patrick and Aimee will be our parent helpers. We will send more info out about the camp before the end of term, and will send an invoice out as well. You can choose to pay it this year, or next year. The school is subsidising it, so it will be $220 per child.

Swimming Pool
Thanks to Kurt who has been looking after the pool, and has it ready to go for us to swim in! Swimming has started, so please send togs and towel along each day. If your child has a rash vest, or long sleeve togs, please send those in. Thanks to Emma, Tamar and Pip who are testing the pool daily for us. If you would like to purchase a key for the summer, please contact Bryleigh.

Attendance Letters
Attendance continues to be a focus for our current government, and they have targets that the Ministry of Education is working with schools on. Parents and caregivers are required to have their children attend school, and to develop habits of regular attendance, and it is the school’s responsibility to follow this up. We will be sending attendance letters out this week to any student who had less than 90% attendance in term 3.

School Facebook Account
Our school Facebook account has been hacked, so it’s currently not active and you won’t be able to find it. We are hoping to get it back up and running soon, just figuring out how! Our Instagram is still active, and we are posting on there.

Assembly
We welcome you to our assembly on Thursday 28th November at 2pm. Straight after the assembly at 2.30pm, we would like to introduce our BOT and have a quick chat with parents regarding our fundraisers. We would love you to stick around for 10 minutes if possible.

Raffle
Thanks to everyone who is in the process of selling raffle tickets. Please have all money and unsold tickets back by Monday 25th November. You can send in cash, or transfer into the school account. We know there are some families that will want more tickets to sell, and some that don’t sell them all. You just do what’s achievable for your family right now.

Non-Uniform Day
We have a non-uniform day on Friday 22nd November. Please send a gold coin donation, which will go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters, North Canterbury. This is a charity that the student leaders have chosen.

Prize giving and whānau picnic
We welcome our community to our End of Year Prize giving on Friday 13th December at 11am in the Omihi Hall. This will be followed by a whānau picnic across at the school between 12pm - 1pm. Please bring your own lunch for your family, and a picnic rug if you wish.

River Safety Trip
On Monday 2nd December we will be heading to the Waipara Adventure Centre for a day focused around River Safety. For those of you that drive past Waipara Adventure Centre, we can meet you there at 9.30am and you may collect your child/ren at 2.30pm. At the end of the day we will be swimming in their swimming hole. We will need adults in the water. If you are able to help out with transport and/or parent help on the day/swimming for this trip, please email Penny to let her know. Thank you to those of you who have done this already.

Children who are not confident in the water will also require a life jacket.

Year 8 Day Out
The Year 8’s will be going with Miss Fletcher and Mrs Lucas to Hanmer Springs on Tuesday 10th December. All of the costs are covered by the school.

Year 0-3 Sports Spectacular
Year 0-3 children will be going to Amberley Domain for the Sports Spectacular on Wednesday 20th November. We will need 3-4 parents to be there with us, and one to be a volunteer. Plus we will need a couple of cars for transport, and we’ll be taking the bus. Please email Penny if you are able to help with this.

Tough Kids Challenge
On Wednesday 4th December, Tūpari will be participating in the Tough Kid Challenge in Christchurch. We will transport them there on the school bus.

Transition Days
In the last few weeks of term we will be having one transition day a week, where our Year 2 students spend the day in Awaawa, and our Year 5 students spend the day in Tūpari. This will give them the opportunity to start getting ready for 2025. These days are noted on the school calendar.

Community Notices

Fergus and Arlo working collaboratively.

Kia ora koutou,

This is a term where we have a lot of events going on. We love having our whānau coming into school, and supporting us at these events. Thank you for being a part of these events, as we know how busy everyone is.

Our students have been working hard on their beautiful artwork throughout the year. You will be able to see some of these, and their poems/handwriting at the Amberley Show in the Tin shed this weekend. The teachers have helped them create some real master pieces!

We are excited for Pet Day tomorrow. It’s always a highlight! This year we have a range of animals, from dogs, horses, calves, to chickens, goats and a centipede! Pets arrive from 12pm, we welcome all of the community to come down and have a look.

Ngā mihi

Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz

School Notices

Assembly
We welcome you to our assembly on Thursday 28th November at 2pm. Straight after the assembly at 2.30pm, we would like to introduce our BOT and have a quick chat with parents regarding our fundraisers. We would love you to stick around for 10min if possible.

Raffle
Each year we have two fundraisers - our trail ride and our raffle. We purposely don’t have lots of little fundraisers throughout the year, because we try and be time efficient. This year we have moved the raffle to term four, so we can try and sell some tickets at the trail ride, and at the Amberley A&P show. If you would like to sell tickets at the show, please let me know. This week, each child will be sent home a sheet of tickets to sell. We encourage you to get your children involved in selling these. The prizes will be listed on the back of the tickets, and tickets are $5 each. Please send back any unsold tickets. All money and unsold tickets to be back by Monday 25th November.

Volunteers
Thanks to everyone who has volunteered for the trail ride. I will email you in the week leading up to it with further details.

Year 4-8 Small Schools Athletics day
This will be held at Waipara School on Wednesday 6th November. It is an all day event, starting at 9.20am, so you can go straight there with your child. Please let Kelly know if your child is going straight there, or if they will be on the bus.

Omihi Library
A reminder that our library is open to the community. We have a great selection of adult books, as well as preschooler books. Plus, our wonderful librarian Yo, is always happy to bring requests from the Amberley Library. If the teachers or Yo aren’t in there, you can just write your name and book down and we will issue it for you.

Year 0-3 Sports Spectacular
All Year 0-3 children will be going to Amberley Domain for the Sports Spectacular on Wednesday 20th November. We will need 3-4 parents to be there with us, and one to be a volunteer. Plus we will need a couple of cars for transport, and we’ll be taking the bus. Please email Penny if you are able to help with this.

Tough Kids Challenge
On Wednesday 4th December, Tūpari will be participating in the Tough Kid Challenge in Christchurch. We will transport them there on the school bus.

Transition Days
In the last few weeks of term we will be having one transition day a week, where our Year 2 students spend the day in Awaawa, and our Year 5 students spend the day in Tūpari. This will give them the opportunity to start getting ready for 2025. These days are noted on the school calendar.

Year 5-8 Camp
Our camp for 2025 is at Living Springs from Monday 31st March - Wednesday 2nd April. If you would like to be a parent helper, please fill out this form by Monday 4th November. We will confirm parent helpers by the end of this term.

Teacher Only Day
Please note we have a teacher only day on Thursday 14th November.

Gumboot Friday
On Friday 1st November it is Gumboot Friday. Children can wear their own clothes and their gumboots. Please send along a gold coin donation to help fund free counselling for kids.

Non-Uniform Day
We have a non-uniform day on Friday 22nd November. Please send a gold coin donation, which will go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters, North Canterbury. This is a charity that the student leaders have chosen.

School Docs policies to review
We work on a 3 year cycle, and each term we review a number of our policies. These are open for review from our community as well. Please review the following by clicking on this link: http://omihi.schooldocs.co.nz. Username: omihi Password: glenmark

• School Donations and Student Activity Payments /
  Attendance Dues and Other Income

• Expenditure

• Property Planning and Maintenance

• Prevention of Bribery,  Corruption, Fraud, and Theft

Community Notices