Newsletter - WE 17/11/2023

Kia ora Koutou

Another two weeks have flown by as we march towards the end of the school year. This Thursday our staff are participating in a Ministry appointed teacher only day to cover the changes to NCEA and the Curriculum Refresh. As Friday is Canterbury Anniversary, this makes for a slightly longer long weekend for our tamariki and whānau. We hope that you all have a safe and enjoyable long weekend. 

 Last week we hosted the Hurunui Primary Athletics Champs. Schools from all over the district participated and there was a vibrant, fun and competitive atmosphere. Congratulations to all of our students who represented Amuri Area School and to those who placed in their respective events. We have a number of students who have qualified for the Canterbury champs. Well done also to the group of Year 9 and 10 students who represented Amuri Area School at a sports exchange with Murchison, Collingwood and Tapawera Area Schools. 

Our Kapa Haka rōpu had a wonderful trip to Takahanga Marae. It was awesome to experience a pōwhiri along with a range of cultural activities. We are grateful to be able to build our connections with Ngāti Kuri who are the Runānga of our area. My thanks to the staff and parents who attended this trip and made the whole experience possible. 

 Next week our Year 10 students head out on their outdoor education camp to Windy Point. We wish them a safe and enjoyable time in the great outdoors! 

 A reminder that our last day for the year is Thursday 14th December. School will finish at the end of our prize-giving ceremony at approximately 12:30 – 1:00pm. The new school year will begin with teacher only days on 29th and 30th January. We will communicate specific details to families about the times / days in which various year groups are required to be at school during the first week next year in due course. 

Kia kitea toikaka

Matt Barlow
Principal

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Primary School News

Kia ora parents and whanau

It’s almost the end of the year and you can feel things moving at a faster pace. Reports are being completed, class lists compiled and overall teacher judgements are being made. In the last fortnight we’ve also had a hugely successful Kapa Haka group trip to Takahanga marae, the HPSSA athletics, where a number of our students from Years 4 to 8 competed against other schools in the Hurunui zone and the Christchurch Schools Music Festival. A special mention must be made of Bella Godfrey-Grant who was again selected for the special choir and also made her debut as a compere, introducing a section of the programme. It is fabulous to see our students achieving in so many areas of the curriculum.

It is a very short week due to our Teacher Only Day on Thursday the 16th of November and then Canterbury Anniversary Day on Friday. Teachers will be working at school on Thursday to look at the updated English component of the refreshed curriculum as we begin to plan for 2024.

The primary assemblies for the remainder of the term are listed below. Please check these dates if you have already written them in your calendars. 

Term 4
17 Nov - Show Weekend
24 Nov – Room 2
6 Dec – Terako (Leavers Assembly) 11:30am in the Gym

For the last few weeks, Year 6 students have been working through a transition programme allowing them to see what life is like in Year 7. They have recently learned what form class they will be in for 2024 and will soon take a tour of Tapuae-o-Uenuku hub to see Year 7 students in action. I have also started to interview incoming Year 7 students from Rotherham and Waiau and working on their transition to Amuri. The Year 6 students are excited about the new stage of school they are about begin and I’ve really enjoyed working with them. 

It is time to start tidying up for the end of the year and we would love to see more of our reading book collection back at school. Books are easy things to lose track of, so please check under beds, in wardrobes and bookshelves and if you find any reading books, please return them to your child’s class teacher. We have lots of incomplete sets and this does impact on our reading programmes as we don’t always have enough books for a group. 

We have noticed a few students arriving early to school. We ask that you keep your children with you until 8:30am when the teachers are in their classrooms. School starts on the primary side at 8:55am and students can start arriving at school from 8:30am. There is no supervision for children before this time. 

Teachers and students in Years 1-8 have been busy planning their biennial Market Day which is going to be held on Thursday 30th of November from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Children will be able to leave school with their parents from 2:00pm after clean up. Each class has been studying financial literacy this term and now are busy creating products to sell. Parents and whanau are welcome to come along and support our Market Day. We are all quite excited as our last Market Day was during Covid restrictions and parents were not allowed on the school grounds, so this year’s event promises to be much more exciting! Look for the poster in this newsletter.

We are beginning to look at classes for 2024 and staffing for our classes. At this stage it looks like we will have the following classes. We will be allocating staff to these once our staffing entitlement is confirmed and we have our timetable in place.

Te Kooti – 1 x New Entrant, 1 x Year 1/2
Tekoa – 2 classes of Year 3/4
Terako – 2 classes of Year 5/6
Tapuae-o-Uenuku – 3 classes of Year 7/8 students

Students in the primary school will find out what class they are in on Tuesday 5th of December. 

A huge welcome to Khael who has joined Ms Jamieson in Room 1. We have one more new entrant who will join us at the end of this month. All students who turn five over December, January and early February have been invited to visit and their visit days are planned for the end of the year allowing them to start on Wednesday the 31st of January. Room 1 is a very busy place to be, currently we have 27 on our roll! Ms Jamieson has been very ably assisted by the wonderful Jade and together they are working with the learners in this year group. They are an amazing team!

Have a wonderful long weekend. Once we return, the sprint to the end of the year begins!

Ngā mihi nui

Kylee Habgood
Deputy Principal - Primary

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Secondary School News

Exams are fully underway for our Year 11 to 13 students. A big thank you to our Exam Centre Manager, Janet Moriarty, who has the exams organised to perfection. While the rest of NZ has had hiccups with their exam access, I can reassure you that the end of year exams at Amuri have been running smoothly.

I would like to remind students and whanau that you can access results both through our Edge portal and also through your NZQA log on. Results for externals will be available at the end of January. 

Year 9 and 10 students have a range of events planned for the remaining month at school. We have:

Year 10 Camp – 20th – 22nd November
Year 10 Drama trip – 23rd November
Year 6 and Year 8 transition day – 5th December
Year 10 Big Day out – 8th December
Year 9 Big day in – 8th December
Year 1 – 10 end of year reports sent home
Prizegiving – 14th December

One of my favorite times of the week is when I get to experience the Year 7 and 8 technology modules in action. It is always a joy to see such unfiltered excitement about learning. Here are some of the examples of our students together with Hanmer students engaged in projects.

I would like to finish off my report this week by wishing the senior students well for their summer break. Stay safe, stay responsible and we all look forward to seeing you in the New Year ready for a positive year of learning in 2024.

Nicole Peterson
Deputy Principal - Secondary

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Can all prizegiving cups please be returned to reception ASAP, They do not need to be cleaned. Thank you

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Dates for Your Diary

November

20th-22nd Year 10 Camp - Windy Point
21st Children’s University Graduation
28th Caverhill Assembly @ 11:20am
29th CPS Athletics
30th Year 1-8 Market Day

December

1st North Canterbury Kapa Haka Festival - Hanmer
3rd Craig Pickering Memorial Trail Ride
5th Year 1-10 Transition Day and Year 6 Leavers Assembly
6th-8th Year 1-10 Reports emailed
8th Big Day In/Out - Year 1-10
14th Prizegiving at 11:00am - Last day of School

January 2024

22nd School Office Opens

February

1st Years 1-8 students and school leaders return
2nd All students return

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Roll of Honour

Elena Ackermann-Ffrench
Dylan Brogden
Wikitoria Collins
Claudia Davison
Wally Johns
Ella Milne
Mark Narciso
Janae Tily

1st Merit

Alex Abbott
Maria Dela Rosa
Sophie Downes-Diack
Archie McCone
Ella Milne
Charles Paragas
Valerie Paragas

2nd Merit

Ruby Glassey
Ashton Goodman-Wallace
Isaac Kelly
Arthur Milne
Van Samera
Tamika Van de Wiel

3rd Merit

James Van Arendonk

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Amuri has three National Cheerleading Champions!

Claudia, Baylea and Lily have just come back from Auckland where they competed at the NZ Super Nationals.

Claudia in her first Nationals, won gold with her team Lions in the Cheersport Grade 1 Mini C division.

Lily and Baylea competed in two teams. They came 1st with their Neonkatz team in the Elite Level 1 Mini division, and their Superkatz team came 3rd in the Elite Novice Youth Small division. Lily has also captained the Superkatz team this year.

Congratulations girls, you were outstanding!

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Well done to the choir for their participation, commitment and awesome behaviour at the Choir Festival in Christchurch.

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Athletics Day 2023 Poem written by Room 3

Run, run, run
Swing your arms
Look up!
Jump from the end of the mat
Can we play on the playground?
3, 2, 1 Go!
You got this
Run fast, don’t give up
2.5 laps
Put on your x game mode
Slice and dice
The finish line ahead
Can we play on the playground?
Grip your hand around the discus
Keep focus
Aim high, let go!
Straighten your arm
Stand back behind the line
Can we play on the playground?
Jump higher
Run in a curve
Do the scissor kick
Three chances
Ignore the crowd
A wiggly bar
Phew I made it over!
Mrs Voice, pleeeeeease can we go to the playground?
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Kapa Haka trip to Takahanga Marae Kaikoura

On Tuesday 7 November, the Kapa Haka group drove to Kaikōura to stay at Takahanga marae. 

When we arrived, we were greeted with a karanga and pōwhiri. Then we were allowed inside. We had to remove our shoes because shoes are worn in war and the inside of the marae is peaceful. Mr Barlow was the whaikōrero for our rōpū. Alex put down a koha. He had to stay facing them the whole time while he was putting down the koha because, if he turned his back on them, they may attack him (not that this happens these days, but it’s still custom). We had kai in the wharekai to remove the tapu. There were fruits, cakes and sausage rolls. 

Then we went back to the wharenui to share mihimihi and pepeha. Whaea Miri told us about the carvings and the stories behind them, in the wharenui. After that we had lunch and brought in our bags. Then we made poi. Some of the wāhine learned to do a karanga while Mr Barlow took the boys for haka practice. We had Kapa Haka practice until we lost our voices. 

The parent helpers prepared us burgers and chips, which was better than McDonalds. After dinner, most of the tamariki played spotlight while the others stayed inside to chat. Before bed, we had to lay the mattresses out on the floor to sleep on. There was a maximum of 30 mattress in each room. Some of us had difficulty sleeping due to various reasons. 

The next morning, the HPSSA Athletes had to get up early and leave at 7:30am to be at school by 9:30am. The rest of us had a leisurely breakfast and watched Sing 2 while the adults cleaned the marae with the responsible student helpers. Then we headed to the beach where we found about 7 dead, smelly seals. We had lunch at the playground and headed back to school. Some children fell asleep in the vans on the way home. We had a fantastic time.

Special thanks to Whaea Haley, Matua Will and Whaea Bex for being amazing parent helpers! Thanks to Whaea Eve, Whaea Renet and Whaea Denise for organising our noho marae.

From Alysha, Alex and the rest of the Amuri Kapa Haka rōpū.

Te hauka te ahi.

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