Monday 22nd August, 2022
Kia ora koutou
Hamish, Jack and Leo having a break during play time.
It has been a very wet winter and our grounds still seem to be muddy. As the children always remind me, we are a country school with country kids that love the mud! Our students are allowed to climb trees, they love to play physical games, and they do get muddy. The teachers and I try to be as clear as we can on our expectations around this. They still need to show our Omihi values of whakaute (respect) and kotahitanga (unity), and look after one another. Plus show respect for our classrooms, as Sharryn shouldn’t have to be cleaning mud up off the classroom floor everyday.
During break times there is always a staff member on duty, and we now wear a high vis vest so we are really visible to the children. We keep an eye on the games, and if there are games that are getting too rough or too muddy, or they are too high up in a tree, we generally move them onto something else.
There is often a group that push to play tackle rugby, but as we explain to them, to play that they must have mouth guards and a qualified rugby referee or coach here with them. If they can organise that, then I’m happy to let it happen and supervise.
The most wonderful thing to see when out on duty is the tuakana-teina relationships we have in our kura. There are 5 year olds playing with 13 year olds, and often the whole school are playing a game altogether. If there are children that are a bit nervous, someone always steps in and supports them.
We really are lucky to have such an amazing Omihi whānau.
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
principal@omihi.school.nz
School Notices
Principal Awards
Congratulations to our latest Principal award winners - Eva and Hugo.
Teachers for 2023
We are excited to have our teachers back for 2023. I will be on maternity leave for the first half, and will be returning in term 3. Sally and Penny will be sharing the Acting Principal role until then. The classes for next year will be:
Paemoana (Year 0-2) - Georgie Smith
Awaawa (Year 3-5) - Penny Vincent
Tūpari (Year 6-8) - Sally Mickleson and Liz Grigg
Please let me know if you have any questions, or would like to discuss anything further. We will be sending out info on Sally and Penny’s Acting Principal roles before the end of term, so you know who the best person is to contact in different situations.
Enviroschools
We are excited to have Andrea from Enviroschools working with our Enviro leaders tomorrow. There hasn’t been any funding in the Hurunui for Enviroschools in the last 2 years, so we have been quietly working away on our own. Now that there is some funding we will be able to become registered as a Bronze Enviroschool, then continue working towards our silver. Thanks to Sally and Georgie who are leading this.
Yamaha Omihi School Trailride - Sunday 30th October
Early bird entries will be online at www.iticket.co.nz from the 1st September. Thanks to Sofia who is going to be running the BBQ on the day. We need some parents to help with this, and with registrations on the morning. Please let me know if you are able to help.
Nano Girl - Science Assembly
We are excited to have Nano Girl visit us and a number of other schools in the Omihi Hall this Thursday. The cost for this is covered in your activity fee. The Superhero Science Assembly is an hour long interactive and explosive Live Show which includes a short Q&A session for the budding scientists and engineers in the room. The show focuses on the superpowers of general science and engineering creativity and covers topics from both the Physical and Material Worlds, and The Nature of Science.
Omihi bus
A reminder there is no Omihi bus this Friday.
3 Way Learning Conferences - 29th and 30th August
Please sign your child and yourself up to have a time to meet with their teacher to discuss their learning. We ask that parents please wear masks during the meeting.
Production 2023
2023 is a Production year for us at Omihi. We are already looking ahead to the initial planning stage of this and are excited to announce our production will be ‘Peter Pan’. We are putting the word out now that if you have any large cardboard boxes from appliances etc, please can you save these and send them in to school. They will be really useful for us to make props with next year. Thanks to Penny who will be leading this.
Tuahiwi School
The Year 0-2 children are looking forward to building on their connection with Tuahiwi School and are going there for a visit on Tuesday 30th August. We will take them in the school bus, so please ensure their carseats are at school that day if needed.
Preschooler Morning
We welcome all of our local preschoolers to come and join us for our preschooler morning on Wednesday 31st August from 9am - 10.30am. They will be in Paemoana for the first session, and then will join our students for playtime, so please bring some morning tea for them.
Tipū Maia Kāhui Ako update
Earlier this term Principals, Deputy Principals, Teachers, and Leaders from Tipu Māia, our Kāhui Ako or Community of Learning, gathered for our annual Hui. Tipu Māia Kāhui Ako aims to grow strong, brave, capable, and confident learners. The representatives from across all thirteen schools came together to unpack our shared, student-focused, achievement challenges around literacy, numeracy, wellbeing, and culture. We were able to send all of our teachers, plus myself to this.
Collaboration works by sharing the expertise that already exists within a community and by providing opportunities for good ideas to be tested and developed further; collaboration leads to knowledge building. By working with the other Tipu Māia schools we increase our impact on the learning for all our ākonga. The hui was an ideal time to reaffirm and strengthen the connection between our schools with a shared purpose; we look forward to our next steps.
