Kia ora e te whānau

Fergus and Michael playing in the leaves!

It’s lovely to be back after a relaxing break. We are excited to see your tamariki again today and hear about their holidays. It was so nice to see a number of our past and present students at the Omihi ANZAC service. We have always been away that weekend, so it was a first for Delilah and I. What a special event to be a part of.

I’m not sure about you, but a lot of my holidays was spent vacuuming up cluster flies! As much as I loved the warm weather, I am looking forward to it cooling down so we can finally get rid of these pesky flies. I know Sharryn feels the same about them at school as well!

Our school was hit hard with Covid at the end of last term. A reminder to please continue to monitor children for symptoms and illness, and please keep them home if they are unwell. I have heard from two Principals today to say they have students that have tested positive for the second time.

Ngā mihi

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

School Notices

Character Strengths
Eva (Year 6) - My top 3 character strengths are Love, Humour and Creativity. Love helps me to make friends and see other people’s perspectives. Humour helps me to help interact with my friends and be funny. Creativity helps me with all of my learning, especially art, and to try new things.

Whole School Inquiry this term
Our whole school inquiry this term is called ‘Ocean Explorers’ - a chance to understand the importance of our oceans. This will have a social science and literacy focus, along with visual arts.

Raffle Tickets
Please send your raffle tickets and money back by Friday 13th May. Thank you for all of your support with this fundraiser.

Overdue Accounts
We have been going through our overdue invoices recently with our accountants and we have a very high number of invoices from term 1, and some from 2021 that are yet to be paid. If you would like more time or need assistance when paying these, please can you let myself or Bryleigh know. If you are unsure whether you have any invoices outstanding, please contact Bryleigh directly - office@omihi.school.nz.

Year 5-8 Camp
We are currently confirming details for our camp from the 14th - 16th September in Hanmer Springs. As we have a number of new children, we are needing to confirm numbers, so then we can work out the costs. If your child is not going on camp, can you please let me know asap. Sally will be sending out requests for parent helpers in the first half of this term and we will send invoices by the middle of the term.

National Young Leaders Day - Year 6-8
A reminder to please let me know by Wednesday if you would like your child to go to National Young Leaders Day on Thursday 2nd June. As part of our leadership programme we pay for our Year 8’s to attend, and it is optional for the year 6-7 students. For those students the cost is $45.

Pizzas and Pies
Each year we offer a fundraiser of selling pies and pizzas to help cover the cost of school camp and our ski trips. This is optional, and all money raised goes directly off your child’s cost. We need one parent to take lead of this and organise the orders, then give the food out when it arrives. If you would be happy to do this, please let me know - principal@omihi.school.nz.

Mufti Day - Friday 6th May
We have a mufti day this Friday. The senior leaders have chosen Ronald McDonald House as our charity, so all gold coin donations will be given to them.

Year 7/8 Technology at Hurunui College
This starts next Monday 9th May. Children will be picked up by the bus at 9am, and will be dropped back at school at 1pm.

Assemblies
We are excited to start our assemblies again this term. We have our Year 5-8 assembly on Friday 13th May. We are having this at 1pm either outside or in the Omihi Hall, and then invite families to stay for a whānau picnic at 1.30pm. We welcome our Year 0-4 parents and families to this as well. It would be really nice to reconnect again. The picnic will be outside and families are to please bring their own picnic. The Year 0-4 assembly will be on the last day of term. We are looking forward to sharing a whole school dance at this one!

Whole School Cross Country
This is on Tuesday 31st May and we run against Broomfield and Waipara School. Parents are welcome to come and watch, and children go home after the races. Please organise someone else to give your child a ride home if you are not able to be there. Usually the Omihi bus doesn’t run after school as all children are picked up, but please let me know if you need it to. We need help with transport to get children to the course on Baxters Rd, so please let me know if you are able to help transport. We need to be there at 12pm. All the information is here.

Dates this term
We have a number of events happening this term. Please keep an eye on the calendar on our website for dates. These trips will be on the school bus, unless we ask for extra parent transport. Please send car seats for the trips where needed.

Wed 4th May - Whole school walk to the cow statues, across the road from school
Fri 6th May - Mufti Day for Ronald McDonald House
Tues 10th May - Awaawa to visit Amberley Library
Fri 13th May - Year 5-8 Assembly and Whole School Whānau picnic
Tues 17th May - Paemoana to visit Amberley Library
Tues 31st May - Whole school cross country with Broomfield and Waipara
Thurs 2nd June - Year 6-8 National Young Leaders Day
Fri 3rd June - Teacher only day
Mon 6th June - Queen’s Birthday
Tues 7th June - Kowai Cross Country
Wed 8th June - Whole school trip to Gore Bay (we will need parent transport for this)
Wed 22nd June - Pre schooler morning
Fri 24th June - Matariki public holiday
Thurs 30th June - Playhouse Theatre - Emperors New Clothes at the Omihi Hall
Fri 8th July - Year 0-4 Assembly

Kia ora koutou

Welcome to Harry who is starting his visits in Paemoana next week as a Year 2. We are excited to have him as part of our Omihi whānau from term 2.

There have been a number of changes from the Government in the last couple of weeks regarding mandates and other Covid restrictions. We will be continuing as is until the end of this term and will review our procedures and processes at the beginning of term 2.

Thanks for all of your support during the changes we have made lately with staff illness. It’s great to work with such a flexible and adaptable team.

Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal

School Notices

Raffle items
Thanks to those that have sent items in already. Please send these in this week, so we can send raffle tickets home next week. Minimum value $10.

Character strengths
Gineva (Year 6) - My character strengths are zest, honesty and love of learning. Zest helps me get excited about narratives, inquiries and our speeches. Honesty helps me make friends. Love of learning is great because I love going to school every day. In the holidays I always want to be at school.

Updating contact details
If you change phone numbers, or move house, please make sure you let your child’s teacher know and send an email to Bryleigh as well. We need to ensure we have all contact details correct at all times.

School uniform
There are a number of children that are losing their hats and merinos lately. We ask that you please ensure all of your child’s clothing has their name on it.

ANZAC Day
The ceremony at Omihi is going ahead on ANZAC day at 9am across from school at the memorial. All families are welcome to attend. We would like one family to lay a wreath on behalf of the school. If you know that you are attending, can you please let me know and I will organise the wreath for you. There is also a dawn service at 6am at the Amberley tin shed, and one at Waipara at 10am.

We have poppies in the school office if you or your child would like to purchase one.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters Mufti Day
This is on Friday 8th April. We ask for a gold coin donation and children to dress up as someone they look up to.

Dates
The last day of term is Thursday 14th April. We look forward to seeing you back on Monday 2nd May.

Community Notices

The Rangiora Rotary Club has created a “Ready to Learn” fund to assist financially disadvantaged children, and is available to be distributed between all North Canterbury primary schools. As a fundraiser for this, Rotary are selling daffodil, freesia and tulip bulbs. Please download the order form if you would like to support this cause.

Miniball is back in Term 2! Thank you to Julie Wells who has agreed to organise for us once again. Please get in touch if you would like to register your Year 3 or 4 student in a team.

Kia ora koutou

We’ve had a different two weeks at school with some staff members away, but it is so great to see the resilience in our students and how adaptable they have been. We have tried to keep things as normal as possible for them. A big thanks to Elizabeth Maddren for relieving for 2 weeks for us.

I have really enjoyed being in the classes and seeing the progress in our ‘Energy’ science inquiry this term. We look forward to sharing progress on this in the coming weeks.

I would like to say thanks to one of our Dads - Carl, for coming in and fixing our hammock, the front gate and putting some health and safety signs up for us. It is so hard in rural areas to get tradespeople to come and do minor jobs, so it’s wonderful to have a supportive community that help get these jobs done.

Finally thanks to Anna Williams who is our new Parent Liaison. Anna will get in touch with new families during their first term at school to ensure everything is going ok and see if they have any questions.

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

School Notices

Principal Awards
The latest principal awards went to…..Jack.S and Michael. I look forward to taking them to Fossil Point for a hot chocolate.

Character Strengths
Lily (Year 6) - My character strengths are bravery, love and gratitude. Bravery helps me be brave and to try new things - like when we are at camp. Love helps me to be kind and considerate to others about their feelings. Gratitude helps me to be grateful for what I have and how lucky we are. We have a good school, and good friends.

Swimming Pool
The swimming pool is still open. We are still having some warm afternoons, so please encourage children to bring their togs and we will swim if it is warm enough.

Masks
We have been given literally thousands of masks from the Ministry. If you would like some for your family, please let me know and I will send a box home with your child.

Mufti Day for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, North Canterbury
This is on Friday 8th April. We ask children to bring a gold coin donation and to dress up as someone they look up to - could be a sportsperson, coach, teacher, parent, community hero, superhero…..the possibilities are endless!

Bus Parking
When parking outside the school gate before and after school, please ensure there is enough room for the school bus to pick up and drop off children.

Sushi and Subway
A reminder that you can order sushi and subway at www.lunchonline.co.nz. Thanks to Dave and Carl who are picking these up for us. It is sushi this week.

William Pike Challenge
As part of our William Pike Challenge, Tūpari will be going to Amberley Beach on Tuesday 29th March for a beach clean up. We will use the school bus for transport.

School Docs Policies
Each term we review some of our school policies. These are reviewed by staff, BOT and our community. Here are our latest policies that you are able to review:

Please review the following by clicking on this link: http://omihi.schooldocs.co.nz
Username: omihi Password: glenmark

• Health, Safety, and Welfare section

• Emergency, Disaster, and Crisis Management section
  

Community Notices

The Hurunui Council’s latest Waste and Recycling newsletter is available now.

Kia ora e te whānau

At our board meeting last week we looked at our strategic and annual plan. We had a big year in 2021 putting this together and it’s so great to say that we are already ahead of schedule in our annual plan, with our main initiatives being around literacy, positive education, cultural responsiveness, Enviroschools and our local environment.

This is not to say we aren’t focusing on other areas as well. We’ve had a great few weeks focusing on statistics in our classes. I’ve really enjoyed talking to our students about their statistical investigation. It’s always interesting to see their outcomes and fantastic to hear the mathematical language they use. Plus our inquiry around Energy has started, which is focusing on Science and Social Sciences. There is a lot of great learning happening in term 1!

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

School Notices

Principal Awards
The latest Principal awards went to……..Isobel and Stanley K.

Character Strengths
Jack (Year 5) - My character strengths are teamwork and kindness. Teamwork helps me when we are playing games on the field and also when I’m doing maths, because sometimes I need to help others. Everyone should have kindness and it’s so good to be kind to people.

Omihi School Board of Trustees
Leighton has stepped down from the board, as of our last meeting. We want to thank Leighton for his wonderful contribution to Omihi School throughout his time here - as a student, parent, community member and board member. He has been such an asset as a board chair during our new building projects. We thank Julie Wells for stepping up into the board chair position.

3 Way Learning Conference - 14th/15th March
Please make sure you book a time for a Zoom meeting with your child’s teacher.

Absences
Please either email your child’s teacher or call and leave a message in the office if your child is sick or away for any reason. We can’t rely on siblings relaying the message to us.

Swimming Carnival
We are looking forward to our Omihi Swimming Carnival this Wednesday. Please send children with their togs, goggles and a rash vest if they have one.

School drop offs and pick ups
The Omihi bus gets here at 8.30am and does the last pick up at 3.20pm. Please ensure you drop off and pick up your child between these times.

Omihi Bus
A reminder there is no Omihi bus this Wednesday 9th March.

School pool
A big thanks to Kurt, Tamar and Emma who have been looking after our swimming pool and keeping it running for us. It is a lot of work to have a school pool, so we are really lucky to have such dedicated parents to help us test it. Tamar and Emma check it daily and Kurt is in very regularly making sure the levels are all ok. He completed a one day course last week on looking after pools. Thank you so much!

Community Notices

This programme develops fundamental movement and ball skills. Running for 10 weeks in Term 2 from Thursday 5th of May, it is $85 per player to register. Players register individually and are then placed in groups. If you have any enquiries, please contact Raewyn at admin@ncnc.org.nz or on 03 313 1445.

North Canterbury Basketball are shortlisted to receive a share of the Mainpower Community Fund. Any funding received will go towards a new programme called ‘Girls Got Game’, which introduces girls to basketball in an inclusive, fun and confidence-building environment. Visit mainpower.co.nz to vote now!