Newsletter - WE 31/03/2023

Kia ora Koutou

Next week is the last week of Term 1 and it is amazing how quickly the first 10 weeks of the year have flown by. It has been a term packed full of opportunities for our staff and students. This continues next week with 28 students heading off to the annual CASAfest tournament in Rangiora. We wish them all the very best.

Our last day of term is Thursday 6th April. A reminder that our first day of Term 2 is Wednesday 26th April. As a school we have decided to take our Ministry teacher only day on Monday 24th (this was initially signalled as part of the term holidays) in order to prevent another day of teaching and learning lost in the first two weeks of Term 2. Tuesday 25th is ANZAC day. The school will be participating in the community ANZAC service.

Work has started on the extension to the Te Kooti hub (Rooms 1 & 2). Our junior students have enjoyed seeing the digger and other construction processes in action. We hope to see this project completed towards the end of week two next term.

This weekend a number of staff and parents are competing in the Spirited Women’s Adventure Race in Wanaka. We wish them all the very best for this event.

Our school value in Term 1 has been ‘Respect.’ This is a foundational value which is critical to having a vibrant and successful community and it has been a pleasure to see this in action in many school-based activities this term. Our value in Term 2 will be ‘Excellence’ and we look forward to unpacking this value as a community.

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday break and look forward to seeing everyone back next term.

Have a great weekend.

Kia kitea toikaka

Matt Barlow
Principal

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Secondary School News

As we wind down to the end of Term 1, I wanted to share some insights that I have deliberated on that prove that Amuri Area School (AAS) is a unique school. Despite the location and size, we offer opportunities for our students that embrace the wider life of New Zealand and makes it an accessible option for our students. With the disruptions of Covid 19 on travel lessening, we have been able to embrace this part of school life again.

“A significant research piece funded by Education Outdoors New Zealand (EONZ) and the Ministry of Education has just been published. This piece shows the value of Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) within Aotearoa New Zealand schools.

This research involved 523 school leaders and EOTC coordinators. Results show that 96% of participants felt that EOTC was extremely or very important to their school. As a result, four key themes emerged on the value of Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC):

1. Curriculum enrichment and real-world learning.
2. Increasing student engagement.
3. Building learning relationships and connections.
4. Experiencing something new”.

We have found at AAS that our experiences outside the classroom connect students to themselves, each other, their community, and the nature around us and can provide culturally specific outcomes and deeper understanding of their subject knowledge.

Most importantly, I would like to acknowledge all of the teachers and staff that give their time outside of school hours to enable these experiences to happen.

Here are some examples of a few of the many excursions that have happened this term.

Year 13 Geography on the West coast

To measure costal processes (erosion vs deposition)

Year 12 Social Science Deep South tour

Geographical processes in a natural environment, South Island High Country alongside the historical aspects of gold mining.

Year 12 Agricultural Studies

Agricultural students thrive on seeing the theory they learn in class in practice on a working farm. Talking with the farmer enables them to ask specific questions to deepen their learning.

12OUED - Marlborough Sounds – Mountain biking & Sea Kayaking

Some senior courses require students to show sustained physical activity in order to be assessed as competent. Mr Cate takes multiple excursions away for students to undertake and collect evidence of this in practice. The Marlborough Sounds trip for Year 12 is just such a trip.

Yr 10 Visual Arts “Shift’ Urban Art at Christchurch Museum

This is a fantastic opportunity for Amuri art students to view an art exhibition within the “about to be strengthened” Christchurch Museum. 

For a limited time, the space within the museum has been transformed into modern, living, urban and powerful artworks that we need to explore.

Mr Hewitt and Mrs Baldwin took a group of Year 10 students to experience this phenomenon.

Year 11 PE

Ms Helmore and the 11PE students are undertaking skill development in tramping and surfing during Term 1.

With one week of term left, it is important that students stay focussed on finishing assignments ready for assessment. Whanau can help support students by getting a copy of their assessment dates and asking what study they are doing towards each of their subjects.

Have a safe term break.

Mrs Peterson
Deputy Principal - Secondary

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Primary School News

A huge and warm welcome to Nilo and his sister Elena who have come to us from Argentina! We’d also like to welcome Hank who has turned five and joined Room 1 with Ms Jamieson. Welcome to Amuri!Last week Mrs Voice accompanied a team of primary students to compete in the HPSSA duathlon up in Hanmer Springs. The wild and windy conditions were tricky to compete in and our students did an amazing job of pushing through with some outstanding results. Congratulations to our participants and thank you to all the parents who provided transport for bikes and students.

On Monday the 3rd of April, we have all our Tekoa hub students (Year 3 and 4) attending the HPSSA tee ball tournament in Scargill and Terako hub (Year 5/6) will be hosting all the schools Year 5/6 students for our softball tournament. The postponement date for this is Tuesday the 4th of April. We will advise parents of any postponements via Seesaw and on our Facebook page.

This year the Government has made attendance and engagement a focus and are asking schools to look closely at the attendance records for unjustified absences. The pandemic has highlighted how important it is to be at school regularly and while we aren’t able to control this, we do ask that children be at school as regularly as possible. There are often good reasons for children to be absent, such as school trips, illness and medical appointments, so please do let the school know so we can code it correctly. Primary teachers in Years 1-6 and form teachers in Years 7/8 have been asked to phone home alerting parents and whanau when their child’s absence rate falls below 80%.

Primary assemblies are on Fridays at 2.15pm in the Community Room. We have a slightly later start as this room doubles as a canteen for secondary students, so we can’t get in there during lunchtimes to set up.

Assembly Roster – Term 1 2023
31 March – Room 5
7 April – Good Friday
Term 2
28 April – Room 4

Thank you to all our parents and whanau for your support this term. It has been quite a busy one with a large number of sports events that required supervision and transportation and we are always very lucky with those of you who are willing to help us out with these jobs. Now that we have no restrictions on parents coming into the school, we have been delighted to welcome you back to watch and support your children here at school too. Have a wonderful break with your children and we are looking forward to seeing you back at school on Wednesday the 26th of April.

Nga mihi nui

Kylee Habgood
Deputy Principal - Primary

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Roll of Honour

James Anngow
Michael Anngow
Stacey Babanto
Alicia Barlow
Maddie Bell
Rachael Bell
Jack Cater
Max Cater
James Clark
William Cromie
Elizabeth de Beer
Aizelle Dela Rosa
Kirk de Ridder
Tazmin Emsley
George Flintoft
Lilly Frame
Jamie Gardiner
Kyle Gardiner
Madi Gavin
Lexie Godfrey-Grant
Jazmin Goodman-Lloyd
Ashton Goodman-Wallace
Tom Jackson
Peyton Langford
Riley Lauder
Pia Mercado
Rommie Murie
Kaitlyn Palmer
Issy Pinckney
Naman Rana
Yenzel Rana
Charlotte Schenkel
Emma Schroder-Brown
Molly Schuurman
Charlotte Snowling
Hannah Sparplin
Tayla Spiers-Coburn
Fil John Suela
King Tallar
Riley Van der Heyden
Lucy Whittleston
Elliette Williamson
Mackenna Williamson
Sarina Woodhouse

1st Merit

Jakob Bush
Lucy Cater
Maria Lim

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Dates for Your Diary

April
3rd HPSSA T-Ball - Year 3/4
3rd Amuri Softball - Year 5/6
3rd-6th CASAfest @ Rangiora New Life
4th HPSSA T-Ball - Year 3/4 - Postponement
4th Amuri Softball - Year 5/6 - Postponement
6th CPS Swimming
6th End of TERM 1
26th Start of TERM 2
26th Caverhill Assembly @ 9.55am

May
3rd Student Executive Meeting
4th School Cross Country
5th School Cross Country Postponement
9th CSS Road Race
9th School Photos
10th Board of Trustees Meeting
12th Hamilton Assembly @ 11:20am
14th-15th TOSI Trials at AAS
22nd HPSSA Cross Country
22nd Year 1-6 Storyquest Performance

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HELP!

Relief Teachers Needed!

Are you a registered teacher with a current practising certificate and a few spare hours during the week? Are you looking for a bit of part time work in a stimulating and supportive school environment?

Then we need YOU!

Please contact Janet on 0273514656 or email janet@amuri.school.nz.

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CPSSA Swimming

Congratulations to Joel Barlow and Gwen Manifold who competed at CPSSA Swimming yesterday in Rolleston. They both did us proud!