Mission Statement -“Together We Build Life-Long Learners” Term 1 Week 2 — 14th February 2019

AROHA

Old Coach Road, R D 6, Te Puke, 3186, Telephone / Fax: (07) 5333 783

email: office@otamarakau.school.nz, www.otamarakau.school.nz

Otamarakau School TERM DATES: Term 1 - 4th Feb - 12th Apr, Term 2—29th April - 5th July, Term 3—22nd July - 27th Sept, Term 4—14th Oct - 18th Dec

Kia ora koutou katoa Welcome back to all of our families and an extended heartfelt welcome to all of our new families who have joined us at Otamarakau School we are all so happy to have you here. We’ve only been back at school for two weeks and it feels like we haven’t been away. Our children have all grown and our school is their second home so they get back into the swing of things really quickly. We’re all so impressed with their attitude and enthusiasm to all that they do. The classrooms are buzzing and there is so much happening, it’s really exciting. As a staff cohort prior to our learners joining us last Monday, we had two amazing days together, one on-site and one off-site. I’m just wanting to acknowledge the moment and am truly grateful to have amazing colleagues who have enjoyed our time together as we set our direction and plan for the year ahead. On that note I’d formally like to welcome Nikola Patrick teacher of our Yr 5&6 class in Room 4, Megan Wade teacher of our Yr 3&4 class in Room 2, Maraea Coles our full-time teacher aide and Carol Oden our student teacher from Waikato University who is placed with us for the year. Our very first day at school saw us spend the entire day at Otamarakau Marae, a truly special occasion and a first-time experience for many. It was a truly wonderful way to start our school year and create that closer connection with Ngati Makino. To our new students, we are excited you chose to come to the best school in the Bay and am sure you will enjoy your learning journey with us. Room 2= Addison Roberts Drei Coles Ariki Jones Mellina Walker Kohine Tangitu Room 3 = Arya Kerslake April Timoti-Reha Ryan Saiini Room 4= Lennix Thacker HOMEWORK- A robust and topical discussion not only in homes but in the media and many staffrooms across the country. At the beginning of the year on our teacher only days we spoke about this at length. There is no research found to support homework in homes unless it’s specifically related to in-class learning. Our teachers are also the best judge of the extra specific practice that each individual may need to consolidate their own learning. Otamarakau staff were in agreeance that reading was vital and could identify the many benefits from such repetition. We appreciate and support that our families are very busy so we suggest and value you spending time with your children and encourage them to talk about their day. Peanut and Egg Allergy We are super excited to welcome a new enrolment in March to Room 3. He comes to us with a special condition which we are fully supportive of and have assured his whanau that we will take extra good care of him. I’ve done some research as to what other schools are doing when they have children who come with severe allergies and they are all in agreeance that it’s about education, not prohibition. The public health nurse visited the school on Wednesday to talk to us about the importance of our children washing their hands after they have eaten and the dangers around the allergy. Washing hands is a positive thing for us all and a great habit for our students to do. We would encourage hands to be washed after breakfast at home also, especially if breakfast has been eggs, peanut butter or nutella. Your support with this would be wonderful. Staff are receiving training with an epi pen and we will have a care plan provided by the doctor. Allergy NZ advocates a collaborative approach and has produced Allergy and Anaphylaxis guidelines for schools as a resource for educators, students, parents and caregivers. This can be found on their website if you would like more information. Our children will be receiving specific education over the next few weeks and introduced to our new student when he arrives. As a community, I am confident we will show the true Aroha spirit that’s embedded in us all to make this transition. Andrea Dance—Principal

Powhiri

4th February 2019

Week 7 NAME DETAILS

Room 1 Seb Lawson For a fantastic start to the year, being awesome and goal focused. Well done Seb and keep it up.

Room 2 Drei Coles For making new friends in his first week at school and helping others do the right thing.

Room 3 April Timoti-Reha April has settled in well to her new school and is a pleasure to have April demonstrate the AROHA values in class

Room 4 Ethan Wylie Ethan, you are a pleasure to have in our classroom because you show great respect for the teacher and your classmates, by following istructions and being prepared for your learning.

PRINCIPAL AWARDS

Congratulations to the following students who received Principal awards for Week 1

Hello my name is Megan Wade, I am in my second year of teaching and I am

so excited to be here at the beautiful Otamarakau School. I grew up in Te

Puke and I am happy to be back here in the Bay of Plenty region. I have

previously spent many years teaching children how to swim, so I am excited I

get to continue that here at our school pool this term with Room 2. I look

forward to meeting you all!

Tena koutou katoa

My name is Miss Patrick and I am from Maori, Indian and European decent. I

have the pleasure of joining the Otamarakau whanau this year, which I am

extremely excited about. My whanau are from Matata and I love all things to

do with the ocean, so I appreciate being in this stunning area. I have two

gorgeous boys – Jett is 14 and Kobe is 11; both attend Bethlehem College.

Please introduce yourself if you are in or around school – I would love to

meet you.

Kia Ora, my name is Carol Orton (nee Winters) and I am going to be a student

teacher at Otamarakau School for most of 2019. I am a local from the area

having grown up in Pukehina, and now living in Pongakawa with my Husband

and 4 children. I have previously worked in Early Childhood Education, but I

have decided on a new challenge of Primary School. I believe that learning

should be fun and I love the Otamarakau School motto of Aroha. I am sure I

will meet many of you throughout the year and look forward to working with

your children.

Kia Ora Koutou, my name is Maraea Coles. I am the new teacher aide here at

Otamarakau School. I have been teacher aiding for the last 6 years at Pongakawa

School, but when an opportunity came up here as Otaramakau School’s full time

teacher aide I jumped at it. I am married with 3 children and we have lived in the

area for a good 17 years. My husband Terrance, oldest son Jahrone 16, Nikaia 12,

and Drei 7. Drei my youngest has started here at Otamarakau as a year 3 too. I am

very happy to be here and I look forward to working with your children and meeting

new families. Nga Mihi, Maraea Coles

Go Girls Cricket Yrs 3-6—Friday 15th February 9.15am—10am (Every Friday)

Assembly—Friday 15th February 2.20pm

Have a go Tennis—Monday 18th February

Singing Assembly—Every Tuesday 10.15am

Red Cross First Aid Course Yrs 5-8—Tuesday/Wednesday 19th/20th February

Assembly—Friday 22nd February 2.20pm

Bus Monitor Training—Tuesday 26th February

Meet and Greet Otamarakau Staff—5pm 27th February

“You are loved”

Library

Books

If you have

any outstanding library books at

home, now is your opportunity to

bring them in before you are

invoiced for them.

Uniform Returns

We still have a number of

uniforms outstanding from last

year. Please have a look at

home and bring these into

school ASAP

Otamarakau Kindergarten

A short stroll down the road from our school, is the fabulous new

Kindergarten. Enrolment forms are available at our school office or

contact the kindy team on:

Email: otamarakau@ikindergartens.nz Phone:07 533 3340

Address: 2244 Old Coach Road, Pukehina 3186

Te Puke A&P Show Winners!

Congratulations to our students who entered art items into the Te Puke A&P show

last Saturday. The following students won cash prizes and certificates which will

be coming home in their bags tomorrow afternoon—so please check. Pippi Adams, Brodie Schuster,

Ryder Ballingall, Annabelle Hodgson, Theo Lepper-Blackett, Grace Metcalfe, Madeline James,

Laureana Borghi-Zefferino, Merenia Newton, and Ani Stowell. Congratulations to you all we are so

very proud of you!

Goldfish

Hayley

Boreham is selling baby goldfish

for $5 each—assorted colours.

Please get in touch if you would

like any.

HUGE THANKYOU!

To Stacey Wylie who has spent 4 days of her own

time doing a stocktake and organising our library!!

You are truly amazing and we so appreciate all you

do!!

Sausage Sizzle

Every Thursday lunch time—

$2 for a sausage

$1 for a Juicie