Monday, 18th October 2021

Kia ora koutou

The sandpit is one of Paemoana’s favourite places to play!

We had such a lovely finish to our term 3 with our ‘Positive Education Week’. It was great to learn some more ways to practice mindfulness, celebrate our character strengths and learn more about the 5 fingers of kindness. There is so much happening at the moment with Covid 19, so it is lovely to see our tamariki learning how to focus on their own wellbeing and learning how to strengthen their own physical, emotional and social wellness.

I was in and out of school with the building works going on these holidays, but Delilah and I still managed to have some lovely playdates with her friends. George, Delilah and I had a few days in Akaroa last week, which was nice to recharge. I hope that you managed to have some family time, and we are looking forward to having our tamariki back and hearing their holiday stories.

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

School Notices

Welcome
Welcome to Joella Haglund (Miss Jo) who will be a student teacher in Paemoana for the next 5 weeks. Welcome to Stanley who is starting his school visits this week in Paemoana.

Principal Award Winners
Congratulations to our recent Principal Award winners….Billy and Lily! They will enjoy a trip to Fossil Point later this term for a hot chocolate.

Classes for 2022
We have confirmed our classes for 2022. We are very excited to have our three wonderful teachers back again and continue with our very small class sizes each morning. In the afternoons the classes will be in two groups - Year 0-4 (Mrs Vincent/Miss Smith) and Year 5-8 (Miss Mickleson).

Paemoana - Year 0-2, Mrs Vincent (8 children)
Awaawa - Year 3-5, Miss Smith (12 children)
Tūpari - Year 6-8, Miss Mickleson (12 children)

Tipu Maiā Kāhui Ako (Community of Learners)
In 2022 we are really excited to be fully invested in our kāhui, with the 13 schools to learn alongside - Greta Valley, Hanmer Springs, Waipara, Waikari, Rotherham, Waiau, Amuri Area School, Akaroa Area School, Oxford Area School, Cheviot Area School, Hurunui Area School, Rangiora New Life.

Congratulations to Penny, who is now one of the Across School Leads for our Kāhui. She will be working alongside two other teachers from Amuri Area School on a Friday and for two afternoons a week. Sally and Georgie are our Within School Leads. They will have some release time throughout the term to work on their focus area for our school. Sally - Positive Education and Georgie - Cultural Responsiveness. I am also continuing as a Support Principal to the Kāhui.

Character Strengths
Character Strengths is a big focus for us as part of our Positive Education Curriculum. Everybody has character strengths and we help our students to identify them and utilise them. Students and staff complete the VIA Character Strength Survey online to find out where their strengths lie. Each newsletter we are going to showcase one of our students or staff, what their character strengths are, and how they help them. Leni, Year 8 - ‘My top character strengths are love, love of learning and forgiveness. It’s good to be able to forgive, as you can make lots of friends if you are able to forgive. I love to learn new things, you can go so much further in life if you are able to love learning. It’s good to show love to others. We are all different and we need to love everyone for who they are.’

Working bee
School was a hive of activity during the holidays. The solar panels look AMAZING! We are just waiting for Contact Energy to come and do the last part of work so we can start utilising them. We now have a new roof on the office block and toilets, and the outdoor learning area is looking great. The landscaping and learning area should be finished mid term. We are hoping to have a working bee mid term to help spread some mulch and do some of the planting. If you are available on Monday 8th November during the day, please let me know. Or if that day doesn’t suit and you could do some work the weekend before, let me know.

Swimming Pool
In order to have our swimming pool up and running we need it to be tested twice daily. In larger schools this would be the role of a caretaker. We are looking for someone, or a couple of people who are happy to pop in before and after school to test the pool. Thalia very kindly did this for us last summer, but with her new bubba on the way we need someone to train up to take over. Please contact me if you are interested.

Sun hats
Omihi sun hats must be worn every day in term 4.

Dental Van
A reminder the dental van will be at school this Wednesday and Thursday.

Report comments
The health comment will be sent home later this week via Hero.

School photos - Tuesday 19th October
These will be taking place tomorrow at 9am. Please ensure children are in correct uniform. We will be in touch when they are ready for you to order.

Masks on buses
We have been advised by the Ministry of Education that children 12 years and older are now required to wear face coverings on buses. So children on our school bus and the technology bus 12 years and older now need to be wearing a mask. These need to be provided by families. Children under 12 years are not required, but are encouraged to wear a mask, so we will leave that up to your discretion.

Road safety
After school the pick up area is getting increasingly busy. This term we are going to trial the first bus to leave from the school driveway. So the bus children will go out the side gate. The second bus will leave at the front of the school as normal.

• If you are parking on the school side of the road, please don't park in front of the gate, ensure there is enough space for children to be able to see the road clearly.

• If you are parking in the hall carpark, children need to be crossed over by an adult, they can not cross themselves.

Community Notices

The Hurunui Theatre Group production of "Spamalot" is postponed until April/May next year due to a number of factors resulting from the COVID lockdown. Tickets already purchased are refundable at the outlet purchased, or transferable to the new dates when set. Thank you.

The North Canterbury Basketball's Girls Got Game Programme is a collaboration with Basketball New Zealand and Sport Canterbury's Tū Manawa Fund. It aims to engage young girls in basketball and encourage them to continue being active and enjoy basketball with their friends. Run by the best female coaches and Wildcats in NC, its major advantage over mixed programmes is its focus on girls.

Current Girls Got Game Programs Available:

Girls Got Game Weekly Skills Session - Register here

Run on Wednesday evenings for 8 weeks in term 4 (October 25th to December 13th), in parallel with our hoops and stars programme.

Like holiday camps, this is run with Wildcats and other top players and coaches in the region to get the best out of our young girls.

Girls Got Game Camp

North Canterbury Basketball provides holiday camps run by Canterbury Wildcats and the best players/coaches in the region during terms 1, 2, 3 and 4 Holidays. NC girls will experience basketball based fun where they will learn and develop their skills with the opportunity to play plenty of games and take part in fun competitions under the eyes of the best female players and coaches in the region. All days will include skills sessions, games 3X3 and 5V5, all coached by local Rams, Wildcats and other NCBA senior coaches and players.

Girls Got Game Camp - Next camp dates to Be Announced by November 30th 

For questions please email committee@northcanterbury.basketball