Monday, 12th April 2021
Kia ora whānau
Omihi School are on a mission! Come and join our mission and help us to get to Christ Church School in London. Over the last year our Omihi School Farm Race has been cancelled twice. This year we decided we still wanted to participate in some form of exercise, but ensure it was something we could still do if we changed alert levels. I used to teach at Christ Church School in London and they contacted me as they were on a mission to virtually walk 25,538km’s from Christ Church School, London, to Christchurch, New Zealand.
They sent us a video and we sent one back, learning about each other's schools. So we thought it would be great if we could virtually get back to them. Whether it's running, walking, biking, swimming or any form of exercise! And we want our community to come with us. With fundraising being impossible last year due to Covid, we also wanted to find ways to raise money. The fundraising from this virtual trip to Christ Church School in London will help a number of projects. Being an Enviroschool, one of our projects is new solar panels. We have a community member that is going to match what we can raise, so we will be focusing on getting money for solar panels to start with and then see how much more we can raise for our other projects.
At the start of term 2 we will let you know the details on how to join our Virtual Mission. There is a donation amount to join, which is where the fundraising comes in and then you download an app and start uploading your exercise, either manually or through apps such as Strava. All of our exercise will add together and you will be able to see on the map where we are in the world.
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
School Notices
Principal Awards
Our latest Principal Award winners are…..Kurtis and Gineva!
Anzac Day
The Anzac Ceremony will be held on Sunday, 25 April at 8.40am at the Omihi Domain. Please can you let me know by Friday if your child will be attending. Children are to please wear school uniform. We normally lay a wreath from our school. If there is someone that is able to help with that, please let me know.
Movie Night/Catch up
Our senior leaders are organising a movie night as a fundraiser for their camp. This will be on Friday 7th May at 5pm at school. Tickets will be $5 and they will be selling them in week 1. At the same time as the movie is playing in Paemoana, we would like the opportunity to talk with parents. The BOT are reviewing our school vision this year and it would be a great chance to get your input on this. We would also like to have an open discussion around our classes - obviously we have 3 classes at the moment, so we are wanting to discuss how we can make this manageable to continue moving forward.
Mufti Days
Our senior leaders have organised mufti days for this year:
Wednesday 14th April - Mufti day for ANZAC Poppy day
Friday 21st May - Pink Shirt Day
Friday 28th May - Gumboot Day (wear uniform and gumboots)
Friday 5th November - Mufti day for guide dogs
Omihi Bus
If your child is not going to be on the bus please make sure you notify Tracy and Fi for the morning and myself for the afternoon. Please note there will not be an Omihi bus run on Friday 28 May or Tuesday 1st June, due to using the bus for trips.
Playground update
The playground is looking great! The students have loved seeing it progress and our sandpit is nearly in! This week we will be working with Emma from Woodland Escape to look at how the water play section could look like. The students are going to model it on the waterfall that they visited on the Crofts farm. On Wednesday we will have time in the afternoon to literally get in there and play with water to see what works well and to give feedback to Emma. Can you please send along a change of clothes on Wednesday for this.
Teacher only day
Please note we have a Teacher Only Day on Friday 4th June, at the start of Queens Birthday weekend.
Rakahuri Rage
Good luck to our seniors who are participating in the Rakahuri Rage this Friday! Thanks to Miss Mickleson for organising this.
Community Notices
Farmers and landowners are invited to a Groundswell NZ meeting at the Omihi Community Hall on Tuesday, 13th April at 7:30 pm.
Groundswell NZ are a new group formed by Southland and Otago farmers initially aimed at providing a stronger voice on behalf of farmers against the Freshwater legislation. Next week they are touring the South Island with 3 guest speakers:
Jane Smith Otago farmer and vocal critic of the Freshwater legislation.
Jamie McFadden environmentalist and chair of Rural Advocacy Network who will explain the new Freshwater and Indigenous Biodiversity laws, why they are unworkable and the alternative solutions.
Otago farmer Bryce Mckenzie will speak on how their local catchment Pomahaka Water Care Group are addressing water quality issues.
Further information is on Groundswell NZ Facebook or contact Jamie 027 3218747.
