Tēnā Koutou

Welcome back to Term Three!

Good to be back for what we hope will be a normal term!

Some events in the first part of this term worth noting are:-

· Next Tuesday 28th our senior ski trip head away to Mt Lyford. Details of a ski trip for younger students coming your way soon.

· Next Wednesday 29th at 12.30pm the "Hanmuri" 7 and 8 football team take on Rangiora New Life on the Senior field with a return fixture in Rangiora the following week.

· On Monday 3rd August NETSAFE are running an evening presentation for parents and caregivers at the Hawarden Rugby Club Rooms on keeping your children safe online. More details are in this newsletter.

· Thanks to the efforts of Mr Cate, the Year 9 camp has been resurrected and they head away for a unique winter experience on the 5th August.

Policy Review

This term the Learning Support Policy is up for review by the Board /Staff and Community. The review can be accessed through School Docs (see instructions for access later in this newsletter) or our office staff will be happy to print off a paper copy for you to write on and return if you require.

Property work completed

Over the term break the Community Room had a bit of a makeover and now looks great and ready for another few years of use. This room can be booked by members of the community by contacting the office. Thanks to our Board member Shane Dwyer for coordinating the tidy up of our netball/tennis court netting as well over the term break. This looks fantastic. You may notice one side is untouched. This end will be removed in the next term break to make way for our new basketball court to be installed.

New Appointment

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Kirsten Allison to our Primary school. She joins us from Miramar Central School in Wellington with previous experience at Murchison Area School and will be taking over the reins in Room 3 at the start of Term 4. Our wonderful Robyn Davidson will be staying with this class until Kirsten arrives.

Social Media

Over the term break we have once again seen some inappropriate use of social media and although, as a school, we have little to no control over this in the home, we do feel a need to let you know this is happening and what you, as parents, could be trying to do about it. The NETSAFE event on Monday the 3rd August in Hawarden will be well worth your time to attend and of course, having conversations with your child about what they are using, how they are using it and who they are connected to is critical to ensure your child is in a safe space. We are seeing an increased trend of inappropriate messaging from outside of our community (sometimes far outside) as children connect far wider than perhaps before, so it is often not as simple as calling the other parent and having a chat and it is very possible you as a parent will not know the individual concerned.

In our work with students, dealing with such occurrences, we try to keep it simple.

1) Screen shot it for evidence.

2) Tell someone who can help.

3) Don't reply or engage in anyway.

4) Block them.

Try not to think about this as a technological problem.

1) It really isn't, and

2) If you try and keep up with tech you will invariably fail. We are way beyond Facebook these days!

If your child has compassion and empathy for others, this will apply in the digital world and real world. If they feel secure in themselves, they are more resilient to such things and more able to deal with them. Also, these things happen when you are NOT present! If you allow your child access overnight to their phone, make sure you are secure, they have the skills and maturity to manage the messages that may come and if not, overnight charging in the parents’ bedroom is always a great option. The parent in me often wishes all this technology would simply go away. The realist however, tells me to manage it the best I can as it is here to stay.

Kia Kitea Toikaka

James Griggs

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Senior School News

It is good to see everyone refreshed and settled after the Term 2 break ready for a full-on term ahead. Year 9 head away on camp on Wednesday 5th August and Mr Cate has organised a great programme of activities for this. I am sure one of the key messages will be to take warm and waterproof clothing to enjoy the spectacular outdoors that we often take for granted. A number of Year 9 teachers will also be involved in many of the activities and it will be good to get the two Year 9 classes working as one cohort.

After the disruptions to the first two terms, we are confident going into this term that students will still be able to achieve the goals they set earlier on. As we identify individual achievement issues, we will work with students on how these might be managed. Nothing takes the place of consistent personal effort and motivation to succeed and this is something that comes from within. NCEA students will be mindful of the mock exam week in Week 8 and the importance of these exams and results in the event of any emergency/unexpected event. Year 10 will also be having formal assessments in Maths, English, Science and Social Studies during this week to prepare them for external exam conditions in 2021.

With the reality of winter becoming evident over the last couple of weeks, a reminder to students that additional warmth can be provided by thermals or similar as you are all very aware hoodies are not acceptable under or over uniform please. Our classrooms are all well heated, so warmth indoors is never an issue. A note also that scuffs/slides and gumboots do not have a place at school – all workplaces have appropriate footwear requirements so again we ask for our health, safety, and hygiene requirements to be met with correct footwear.

There is no doubt that globally we can count ourselves as very lucky in NZ with our current Covid status. As our new term begins in a normal way it is timely to remember that many students in the world are not in such a fortunate position, so enjoy and make the most of a very busy term.

Penny Mossman

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Reading Book Amnesty!

We are getting desperately short of reading book sets in our Reading Room. Would all Year 1-8 families have a hunt at home and please send any school reading books back to school? Mrs Habgood has a box outside her office.

Thank you!

Year 1-8 Teaching Staff

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Primary Assembly Roster

Term 3

24 July – Room 4
31 July – Room 5
7 August – Room 6
14 August – Maths Week
21 August – Singing
28 August – Room 14
4 September – Room 5
11 September – Room 2
18 September – Singing
25 September – Room 3

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July 2020

Reading Together Workshop

Dear Parents of Amuri Area School

Following on from our three very popular Reading Together Courses we would really like you to consider taking part in our Reading Together workshop programme for parents. I am sure you will find it of great help for yourself and your child(ren) as you support their education. We all know how important reading is for children to succeed. One of the things that really helps children to become good readers is support from home. The Reading Together workshops will show you best how to do this. A huge number of parents nationwide have already attended these workshops and found the programme very helpful, indeed we have already run three very successful workshops here at Amuri Area School.

The programme consists of four workshops – each 1 hour and 15 minutes. To make the most of this opportunity it is important that you attend all of the workshops, if you can.

At this stage we are planning on having the workshops on a Thursday evening, but recognise that this term or this day may not be convenient for everyone. For that reason we are wanting you to phone the school and register your interest and tell us what evening would suit you.

The programme is FREE! We can even help with childcare costs if you need it and it will REALLY help your children to become much better readers. In particular, it helps children to UNDERSTAND what they are reading and helps you to form strong bonds and make reading a positive family experience.

Please see https://www.readingtogether.net.nz for more information and the significant positive research on this programme. We are looking forward to your participation.

Please register by calling our school office or e-mailing alison@amuri.school.nz. Should you need further information I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Yours faithfully

Alison Nimmo

Reading Together Co-ordinator

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AMURI AREA SCHOOL PTA CALF SCHEME

Our Calf Scheme we run every year is our No. 1 fundraiser for our school. Every year, thanks to your generous support, we raise in excess of $30,000.00. All money raised goes to classroom resources, school excursions or any other needs within the school.

If you are keen to donate to this years’ scheme, please let us know and we will get tags to you.

If you would rather make a monetary donation, as any donation is greatly appreciated, please donate through online banking using your surname and first name as reference, code CALF. Our bank account number is 03-1582-0069597-00.

If you are after a tag or two or need any further information, please contact Vicky Hamilton on 021-134-1793 or Fiona Dwyer on 027-260-2027. Please note that you will need to ensure all donated stock are NAIT tagged.

Thank you to Allflex and Amuri Transport for sponsoring this scheme.