Newsletter # 1 - WE 09/02/2024

Kia ora Koutou

Nau mai hoki mai ki te tau hou – Welcome to the new year! 

I trust that all in our school community have had a safe and enjoyable summer holiday break. The weather has certainly been hot and dry and I hope this hasn’t had too great an impact for members of our community. 

Our staff started the year with a visit to Takahanga Marae on our teacher only day. This was a great way to start the year together and it was interesting to hear about the history of the marae and local area. It has been good to continue to build our relationship with Ngati Kūri who are our local rūnanga. A particular highlight for me was to visit their small museum with archaeological artefacts on display. 

Congratulations to all of our senior students who gained NCEA at various levels. It was great to see such a large number who achieved and this is testament to their hard work as well as the support that our wonderful teachers have given them, the individualised programmes we have the ability to provide here at Amuri Area School. We will celebrate these achievements a little later this term. 

 This year we are working towards the strategic aspirations that we communicated to families last year. All that we do will aim to fulfil these aspirations in some way. They come under four key statements: 

1. We know our learners;
2. We grow our learners;
3. We connect our learners to time, people and place;
4. Success is within reach for all. 

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of our new students and their whānau. It is great to have you all join the Amuri Area School community. I hope that you quickly make connections and settle into a great year of opportunities ahead. 

Lastly, could I please remind parents that if your child is being dropped to school late or picked up early for any reason, please ensure that you sign them in / out at the office before they head off to class or they leave site. 

Kia kitea toikaka
Matt Barlow
Principal

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Primary School News

Kia ora parents and whanau

Welcome back to school for another exciting year!

There are a number of new students in our primary syndicate. Firstly I’d like to welcome all our new Year 7 students from our feeder schools. Frank, Noah, Henry, Cassarla-Marie, Arnika-Lee, Miah, Jimmy, Page J, Akeila, Yohan, Emily, Paige B who have all joined Tapuae-o-Uenuku hub. In Year 1-6 we have welcomed Zion, Leighannah, Luke, Peyton, Sipora, Isobel and James into Room 1 with Ms Jamieson. They are all beginning their school journey in Te Kooti hub. Nicky and his brother Kauri have arrived at Amuri from Christchurch, and Yushra has arrived into Culverden from the Phillippines. We also have a group of new entrants about to start school visits ready for entry into school in March. Welcome to all our new Amurians! 

A reminder for parents that school starts for Year 1-6 at 8:55am each day. The buses start arriving from 8:30am and there should be no students on site before then as it is a Health and Safety issue. Teachers are not available to supervise children before 8:30am so if you are bringing children to school, please wait until 8:30am before dropping them off at school.

Year 1 to 6 primary assemblies will start after the Amuri Show, as will Bible in Schools. We have swimming and show art, along with standardised testing of Year 3 to 8 students all happening in the next few weeks and our timetables are crammed full. Next week we are expecting Harold the Giraffe and the Life Education trailer from Wednesday through to Friday. Harold is always a hit with all ages, even the big kids! Female Tapuae-o-Uenuku students will be undertaking self-defence lessons beginning next Friday. There are three sessions, one per week scheduled, thank you to Mrs Shaw for organising this. And of course, Tuesday is our school swimming sports where all students who can swim a length of any stroke will be competing to gain qualification for HPSSA and CSS events, along with the much sought after whanau points to kick off this year’s whanau points competition! We are planning the Primary Splashtacular event for Friday the 23rd of February, this is for all our Year 1 to 6 students and is a showcase of water confidence and swimming skills.

Returning to school can be a time of anxiety and stress for some children and therefore for their families as well. I came across this article recently and it answered a lot of questions I get asked frequently. If you are interested, it’s well worth a read.

https://parentingplace.nz/resources/back-to-school-survival-guide

It is a pleasure to see all the smiling faces back at school ready for another whirlwind of a year.

Ngā mihi nui
Kylee Habgood
Deputy Principal - Primary

Room 1 today with six more enrolments to come this term.

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Dates for Your Diary

February

13th Swimming Sports
14th-16th Life Education Trust Visit - Years 1-8
16th Girls’ Self Defence - Years 7-8
20th Swimming Sports Postponement
21st Board of Trustees Meeting @ 5:30pm
23rd Girls’ Self Defence - Years 7/8
23rd Crash Bash - Year 10-13
23rd Primary Splashtacular @ 1:00pm - Years 1-6
27th CCHS Swim Champs
27th Primary Splashtacular Postponement
28th Senior Athletics

March

1st Girls’ Self Defence - Years 7/8
4th-6th Year 9 Camp to Windy Point
5th HPSSA Swimming - Hanmer Springs
6th HPSSA Swimming Postponement
6th Mitchell Assembly @ 2:00pm
7th Senior Athletics Postponement
8th-10th CSS Senior Volleyball Champs - TBC
13th CCHS Athletics
14th-15th Year 7 Camp - Hanmer Springs
15th TOD - SCHOOL CLOSED
20th HPSSA Duathlon - Hanmer Springs
21st HPSSA Duathlon Postponement
21st-23rd SI Skoda MTB - Queenstown - TBC
24th-29th Year 12 Geography SIHC Trip
26th CSS Athletics Prelims
27th CPS Champs - Selwyn Aquatic Centre
27th CSS MTB Cross Country - TBC
27th Caverhill Assembly @ 2:00pm
28th CSS Athletics Finals
29th Good Friday - SCHOOL CLOSED

April

1st-2nd Easter - SCHOOL CLOSED
4th CSS Swim Champs at Jellie Park
5th-7th SISS Athletics - Timaru
7th-11th Year 12 OE trip - Marlborough Sounds
8th Years 3-6 Teeball/Volleyball - Scargill/Cheviot
9th-11th CASAfest @ AAS
10th Years 3-6 Teeball/Volleyball Postponement
12th End of Term 1
29th Term 2 begins