Kia ora koutou

It was a short first week, but so nice to see everyone again, and lovely to see our families at our whānau picnic last week. I would like to welcome Skylah, who has joined Tūpari class.

Ava, Skylah and Jessica

I’m excited to introduce our Year 8 leaders for 2025 - Ava, Zariah, Skylah and Jessica. We look forward to helping these girls to thrive in their final year of primary school, and take on some new leadership roles.

This year we are looking forward to offering a variety of lunchtime clubs each term. We will have a running club, frisbee golf, knitting, singing, guitar and biking. If you have a skill or interest and would like to run a club, please let me know.

Bryleigh is away this week, so please feel free to send any urgent inquiries that would usually go to Bryleigh, to me.

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

School Notices

Food Truck Friday - Friday 14th March, 5-9pm
We are looking forward to our Food Truck Friday again with North Canterbury Rural Support Trust! We have the following food trucks confirmed:
- Sabaya - Israeli Cuisine
- Big B’s Tucka
- Woodfired Pizza
- Mythos Greek Souvlaki
- One scoop or two - ice cream truck

Basketball
Please contact Bryleigh by 17 February if any Year 5-8 students are interested in playing basketball in Term 1. The competition runs on Friday nights across 6 weeks in March-April. Games are held at schools in Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Woodend and Ohoka. Total team costs would be shared evenly between players and are $228 for the 3x3 competition or $420 for the 5x5 competition.

Miniball
If you have a Year 3-4 student interested in playing Miniball this term, please contact Bryleigh by Monday 17th February. Games are held at Mainpower Stadium on Mondays after school. It is $49 per student for a 7 week competition.

Lunch Online
We have Sushi and Subway available to order online on alternate Wednesdays again this term, starting with Subway on 12 February. To order, please go to www.lunchonline.co.nz and it will be collected and delivered to school by the wonderful Allan family.

Year 4-8 Swimming Sports
This is on Wednesday 5th March at Amberley pool. Here are all the details. If you are meeting us there, please be at the pool by 9.15am. If your child is coming on the bus, or needs a ride back to school on the bus, please add their name to this doc. If they are not on the doc, we assume they will meet us there. Thanks to Aimee who is our lifeguard on the day. We need one more parent helper to be a back up timer. Please let Maree know if you are available.

Contact Details
If you have changed address or phone number, please make sure you let us know. You can email Bryleigh on office@omihi.school.nz.

Bus Safety
Constable Ken will be taking the whole school for bus safety on Friday 14th February, and he will also be training our bus wardens - Ferg and Hugo.

Preschooler Morning
We welcome all of our preschoolers on Wednesday 26th February from 9.00am - 10.30am. Please bring your child’s morning tea and water bottle.

Kowai Triathlon
The Year 5-8 students who place 1st or 2nd in our school triathlon will be going to the Kowai Triathlon, which is this Wednesday (12th) at Amberley. Parents need to take their child, and be there by 12.15pm. Kelly and Maree will be there, but will be assigned to a role. Here is all of the information. We will email parents if their child has qualified.

Community Notices

Omihi Hall cleaner
We’re in need of a new cleaner for the Omihi Community Hall from March. If you are interested, please email principal@omihi.school.nz.

Kia ora koutou

Happy new year. I hope you had some lovely family time over the holidays. After a wet January, we had some lovely sunshine in Momorangi Bay in the last week. Although it’s great for the farmers….not very often we are this green in January!

The teachers and I are meeting this week for our first teacher only days to get ready for the year. We are excited to have everyone back next week.

I am sending my newsletter out this week, as there are a few things happening in the first couple of weeks, so hopefully this helps with your planning.

Next week we welcome Ned, who is joining Paemoana, and Penny who is joining in week 3, and will be starting her visits on Monday.

Bryleigh is in the office today, Wednesday and Thursday if you need to organise any new uniform.

Enjoy your last few days, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

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

School Notices

Omihi Bus
This term the bus will do Reeces Rd pick up first, then South/North. The Ministry has recommended schools remind caregivers of the following points:

• Caregivers are responsible for getting children to school, which may involve getting them to and from their nearest bus pick-up and drop-off location.

• Please either stay with your children while they are waiting for their school transport in the morning or keep in contact with them to make sure that they are picked up safely.

• It is recommended students and caregivers be at the bus pick-up/drop-off locations 5 to 10 minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.

  If you wish to discuss any school transport related issues, please contact Maree.

Stationery
Please can you hand in your child’s stationery to their teacher, and they will give it out as needed. The lists can be ordered through www.myschool.co.nz/omihi. We will give students their books and invoice you for these.

Invoices and Donation Scheme
Families will receive an invoice for your child’s books, and also a contribution to the bus. This is to help cover the costs of using the bus for school trips, so we can minimise the amount of parents we require each time. We are still part of the Donations Scheme from the Ministry, so we do not need to ask for the annual school donation from parents.

Whānau Picnic
We welcome you to our whānau picnic on Tuesday 4th February at 5pm. Please bring along dinner for your family, the BBQ will be available if you would like to use it. The swimming pool will also be open. This is a good chance to meet new families and catch up after the holidays.

Triathlon
Our school triathlon for Year 1-8 is on Monday 10th February. We will confirm the time next week. We welcome parents to come and watch. The top 3 children in each year level from Year 5-8 will go to the Kowai triathlon on Wednesday 12th February at the Amberley Domain. Children can bring their bikes to school each day in week 1 to practise.

Contact Details
If you have changed address or phone number, please make sure you let us know. You can email Bryleigh on office@omihi.school.nz.

Sunsmart Policy
A reminder that as part of our Sunsmart policy, sun hats need to be worn every day in term 1. Please put sunscreen on your child before school. If your child has a rash vest, please send that along for swimming. We will be swimming every day if possible.

Teacher Only Day
A reminder that we have a teacher only day on Friday 7th February and Monday 17th March. On these days we will be meeting up with the other 12 schools in our Tipu Māia Kāhui Ako to look at the new Maths curriculum, and also visiting the Tuahiwi Marae.

Bus Safety
Constable Ken will be taking the whole school for bus safety on Friday 14th February, and he will also be training our bus wardens.

Preschooler Morning
We welcome all of our preschoolers on Wednesday 26th February from 9.00am - 10.30am. Please bring your child’s morning tea and water bottle.

Year 4-8 Small School Swimming Sports
On Wednesday 5th March, we will be joining Waipara and Broomfield School at the Amberley Pool for our small school swimming sports. These will be in the morning, and we will send out more details nearer the time.

Food Truck Friday
We are collaborating with Rural Support North Canterbury for the second year to bring Food Truck Friday to Omihi. This will be across the road at the Omihi Hall on Friday 14th March, from 5pm - 9pm. It is not a fundraiser, just a chance to bring the wider community together. Kelly will be singing and there will be a number of food trucks available to purchase dinner. Bring a picnic rug, and we would love to see you there.

Agri Kids/PCT Competition
We are taking a team of senior students to the Agri kids competition on Saturday 22nd March, and the PCT (Police Competence Test) Competition on Monday 10th March. We will be in touch with the parents to give further details.

Year 5-8 Camp
We are excited about our Year 5-8 camp to Living Springs on Monday 31st March for 2 nights. Kelly and Penny are leading the camp, and they will be sending further details home in the next couple of weeks.

Year 7/8 Technology
Technology starts at Hurunui College on Monday 3rd March. The bus will pick the children up at 9.00am each day. If your child is going to be late, please let Kelly know, and you will need to drop them straight to Hurunui.

Whole School Assembly
We welcome you to our whole school assembly on Thursday 13th March at 2pm.

School Calendar
Please keep an eye on our school calendar on the website for upcoming events. If you would like me to share the calendar with you, please let me know.

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.