Kia ora Koutou

Ngā mihi mahana, warm greetings to you all, especially as we have begun to experience the shift in seasons with some colder mornings over the past week!

School continues to be a hive of activity with students involved in a wide range of activities both in and out of the classroom. Of particular note has been the auditions and preparation for the school production of “High School Musical”. We are looking forward to seeing the final result when the shows go ahead in Term Two.

Last week we acknowledged and celebrated those students who achieved subject and course endorsements in NCEA (from 2022) at our assembly. These achievements reflect the effort and hard work of those students as well as input from teachers and whānau. Well done again to those who achieved these results. We will also be acknowledging students who achieved at the various levels of NCEA at an upcoming assembly.

I wish to make a special mention of Tamzyn Murdoch who has been selected as one of 80 students worldwide to attend the Children’s General Assembly in Denmark. This is an outstanding achievement and I know Tamzyn will represent New Zealand, the Hurunui District, our school and her whānau with distinction.

Work will begin next week on the extension to our junior classes in the Te Kooti hub. We are hoping that the work will be completed towards the end of the holidays or first week back. Design work is continuing with our senior redevelopment. Staff have had the opportunity to feed into the process and we are hoping that designs will be finalised in the next month or two so that the project can move into the next phase.

Our school value this term is RESPECT. Hopefully you have had an opportunity to chat with your children about this value. Last week we encouraged students to put respect into action when speaking with one another using the acronym THINK. We challenged the students to consider whether what they might say is True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary or Kind. If what is being said didn’t meet one or more of these criteria, then it is unlikely to be showing respect. The THINK strategy is a great strategy to help our young people understand respect in action. 

Have a great weekend.

Kia kitea toikaka

Matt Barlow
Principal
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Primary School News

Kia ora Parents and Whanau

Thank you for all the wonderful comments about our show art that was displayed recently at the Amuri Show. It was so lovely to hear how appreciated the childrens’ efforts were, so on behalf of our primary team, thank you!

Year 7 camp had an overnight stay in Hanmer Springs as the final part of their transition into Year 7. The focus is on making connections with students in other classes as we have three classes of Year 7/8 students. Mrs Shaw and Mrs Voice attended camp with the students and they both said how much they enjoyed the camp experience with the Year 7 students. Thank you to all the campers for being the best version of themselves on camp and to our staff and parent helpers for supporting the students.

Two weeks ago Mrs Voice ran our Year 1-8 duathlon on the secondary side field. If you attended, you would have appreciated how hard the students had to work. The temperature was exceptionally warm and muggy that day and we all baked, whether we were participating or spectating! It was great to see students pushing themselves and trying either the individual or the team events and well done to all the students, especially those who participated in both! Thank you to the supporters, the bbq helpers and the staff, everyone plays their part in making the event a successful one. Next week some of our students will be travelling to Hanmer to take part in the HPSSA (zone) duathlon on Tuesday. Notices have been handed out for this by Mrs Voice.

Primary assemblies have started again today and will be on Fridays at 2.15pm in the community room. We have a slightly later start as the community room doubles as a canteen for secondary students, so we can’t get in there during lunchtimes to set up. Today Room 3 and Miss Allison have hosted us and next week Room 1 will be hosting. This will be the first assembly for many of Ms Jamieson’s students as most of this class have started their school journey this year.

Assembly Roster – Term 1 2023
17 March – Room 3
 24 March – Room 1
31 March – Room 5
7 April – Good Friday

A huge and warm welcome to Jia and Chance who have come into Room 1 with Ms Jamieson. Welcome to Amuri!

Nga mihi nui

Kylee Habgood
Deputy Principal - Primary

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Secondary School News

2022 Achievement celebration

During whole school assembly last week, we were able to recognise the outstanding achievement of our students through NCEA in 2022. It was fantastic to see so many young Amurians recognised for outstanding achievement with certificates in NCEA endorsement over 50 credits in total at Merit and Excellence and subject endorsement where students had to gain 14 credits within one subject, including an external at Merit and Excellence.

High achievement is often rewarded for diligence and work ethic with most of the recipients having been active learners throughout the school year.

With the importance of time in class reflected in our awards, I would just like to remind our community that leave for holidays and non-educational trips during term time are not encouraged. We are now well into our academic year for NCEA and assessments are fully underway. Leave of any kind could have a detrimental impact on your child’s achievement. There are specific rules around assessment that as a school we have to adhere to, especially around the granting of extension requests for NCEA. We have found in a couple of situations students have taken time away from school not knowing this will impact their achievement for the year. To help students to understand, we have introduced a leave request form that students will need to complete, get parental approval for and information from their teachers around work / assessments that will be missed.

North Canterbury Leadership Hui

The inaugural North Canterbury Youth Leaders Hui was held in Rangiora on the 15th March. Members of our Kairahi leadership team were invited to attend to represent Amuri Area School. The event saw student leaders from other North Canterbury schools network and build connections around leadership roles and programmes within the differing schools. Dan Gordon the Waimakariri Mayor, spoke to the group on lessons he had learnt through his leadership journey. We look forward to the next event in Term 2.

Nicole Peterson
Deputy Principal - Secondary

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Dates for Your diary

March
19th Year 12/13 Geo/History Sth Island Trip
20th PTA Meeting @ 7:00pm
21st HPSSA Duathlon - Year 4-8
22nd HPSSA Duathlon - Year 4-8 PPT
22nd Year 10 Grafitti Art Trip
23rd CSS Swimming
26th-30th Year 12 OE/PE to Marlborough Sounds
28th BOT Meeting @ 6:00pm
29th Caverhill Assembly @ 9:55am
30th SISS Mountain Bike
30th Year 13 Geography Coastal Fieldtrip
30th CPSSA Swimming @ Selwyn Aquatic
31st-1st SISS Athletics

April
3rd HPSSA T-Ball - Year 3/4
3rd Amuri Softball - Yr 5/6
3rd-6th CASAfest @ Rangiora New Life
4th HPSSA T-Ball - Year 3/4 - Postponement
4th Amuri Softball - Yr 5/6 - Postponement
6th CPS Swimming
6th End of TERM 1
26th Start of TERM 2

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A huge thank you to Paget Construction for supporting the school by way of work recently carried out at the new shed at the road crossing. This is very much appreciated.

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Piano Lessons with Andrea

Andrea currently has lesson times available. If you would like your child to learn the piano, please get in touch with Andrea either by phone 020 4035 8805 or email hooperandrea4@gmail.com