Newsletter - WE 19/05/2023

Janine Jack

— May 19, 2023

Kia ora Koutou
Today is pink shirt day and it is wonderful to see so many students and staff wearing pink to support the anti-bullying message that pink shirt day promotes. I recently read the following quote in relation to this:

‘Bullying is a serious issue in New Zealand. Every year, one in 10 workers report they have been bullied at work and Aotearoa has the third-highest rate of school bullying out of 36 OECD countries’. https://mentalhealth.org.nz/our-campaigns/pink-shirt-day

This is not ok! As a school community we want to ‘speak up, stand together and stop bullying.’ Students are encouraged to be upstanders, speaking up when they see bullying occurring as well as demonstrating kindness to others even when there are differences or disagreements. We also encourage students to tell a trusted adult if there is someone who is bullying them or others.

There is a clear link between the anti-bullying message and our school value of respect. I would also suggest that there is a link to our value for this term ‘Excellence.’ The Oxford dictionary describes excellence as the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. When we acknowledge that an action is not right and stand up for others then we are demonstrating excellence as well as respect.

Speaking of excellence, we are looking forward to the school production High School Musical starting next week. This is going to be an amazing show! I want to acknowledge the hard work the cast has been putting into rehearsals and practice. I would also like to acknowledge Ros Kelly the director, Ms Campbell who is the teacher in charge of the production, Mrs Peterson who has been creating amazing costumes, Mr Black along with Eve and Tony, who have been constructing the set, Janine who has been organising tickets as well as many other staff and parents who have volunteered their time to make the production happen! Make sure you get tickets to one of the performances!

It was fantastic to see 15 senior students selected for the Top of the South team for the upcoming NZ Area Schools Tournament in Rangiora. Thank you to those of you who hosted billets for the trials.

I would like to extend my thanks to our community as we continue to navigate the current industrial action in the education sector. This is likely to continue in the near future as the Government and Unions try to reach a settlement.

Kia kitea toikaka

Matt Barlow
Principal

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Senior School News

Careers Expo
Hurunui District council is co-hosting the North Canterbury Careers Expo on the 24th May at Rangiora High School. The event is open from 4pm until 8pm. The event is targeted specifically to our local youth and will cover career opportunities within both the Hurunui and Wamaikariri districts, alongside further education providers. If you are unsure about where to from school, I would recommend this event as a good place to start and get ideas.

We will be running a bus to the event from Amuri for parents and students interested in attending. Our bus will be leaving Amuri at 3.45pm after the school bus run. It will take us to Rangiora and then leave to return to Amuri at 7pm. There are still places available on the bus if you would like to attend.

Careerwise
As a school we have just started a trial with an online career resource called Careerwise. We will be using this platform to send out newsletters about career opportunities, events and pathway support for our students in the senior school. You should have received our first newsletter from Careerwise earlier last week. Please check your emails for this.

Student Advocacy
At the beginning of the year I was approached by a Year 10 student Mitch McKenzie. He expressed his unhappiness around the school uniform and being cold during winter months and that he would like to see a jumper available similar to a ‘Backroad’ jersey. I explained to Mitch that there was a process that needed to be followed around changing the uniform code set by the Board of Trustees and he was resolute in attempting to put forward his idea.

With the help of the Year 13 student leadership group, a proposal was put together. Research was completed in sourcing a product at the manufacturers cost of $98.00 and this idea was passed through the student leadership group for consensus of approval, then to our Board of Trustees for consideration. At the latest Board meeting, a black, unbranded windbreaker was approved as an addition to our senior uniform.

Please note that it is not a compulsory item, but more and additional pieces are available. If you would like to order, please complete an order form available at the school office. The school does have a hardship fund available for families in financial difficulty. Please let me know if you would like some support in accessing this.

Within one week of this item being available, we have had orders for over 50 items. Mitch McKenzie & Shelby Rutherford-Menzies modelling the black windbreaker jersey for the proposal they put forward to the Board of Trustees.

School Production
We are looking forward to the school production next week. A huge thank you to all those involved putting in extra time outside of school to pull off the performance. Tickets are still available through our main office.

Mrs Peterson
Deputy Principal - Secondary

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Primary School News

Kia ora Parents and Whanau

After a very successful school cross country we have a large group of Year 3-8 students heading off to compete in the HPSSA (Hurunui zone) cross country next Monday the 22nd of June. We wish them all the best of luck! The postponement day for this is Wednesday the 24th of May.

We have a growing number of enrolments to start in the first week of June. Things have been quiet during the covid years, but it seems there is more movement this year. If you are intending to move and will be leaving the area, please let us know. If you are employing new staff with school aged children, please encourage them to pre-enrol their children so we can plan for their arrival. We appreciate your support with this as it makes a huge difference to our class sizes if we can plan in advance.

Thanks to everyone for their support around school uniform. The primary team have noticed a real improvement in uniform. We are still getting the odd item sneaking through, especially now winter sport has started. Please support our team in making sure your children are wearing the correct uniform and if you’re having difficulty, please come in and speak to your child’s teacher or to me. We are happy to support where we can. The Year 9-13 students have a new option of a plain wool jersey which was approved, with conditions, by our Board of Trustees last week. This option is ONLY for Year 9-13 students and not Year 1-8.

Next week sees the start of our school production “High School Musical’. We wish all our cast and support team the best of luck with the performances and hope to see many of you there to see the work that has gone into making it happen. Please note there will be no primary assemblies during the school production and we have a full school assembly timetabled for Friday the 23rd of June. The primary assemblies for the remainder of the term are listed below.

Term 2
19 May – Production
26 May – Production
2 Jun – Room 6
9 Jun – Room 2
16 Jun – Room 1
23 Jun – Full School Assembly (Caverhill) 2pm
30 Jun – Room 5

A huge and warm welcome to Eva who has turned 5 and started school with Ms Jamieson in Room1. Welcome to Amuri Eva!

Ngā mihi nui

Kylee Habgood
Deputy Principal - Primary

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Dates for Your Diary

May

22nd-2nd Wool Shed Sustainability container
22nd HPSSA Cross Country
22nd Year 1-6 Storyquest Performance
24th Year 11-13 to Careers Expo Chch
24th HPSSA Cross Country Postponement
25th I-Sport Foundation trip
25th-27th High School Musical Production
28th-30th Year 12 OE Multi Day Tramp
31st Student Executive Meeting @ 1:15pm

June

1st CSS Cross Country
1st Mitchell Assembly @ 10:00am
2nd CCHS Indoor Tournament
4th-6th Year 12 OE Multi Day Tramp Postponement
5th Kings Birthday - SCHOOL CLOSED
7th Life Education Presentations - Yr 9-10
7th Board of Trustees Meeting @ 6:00pm
17th-18th SISS Swimming
19th Kapa Haka Matariki Performance and Dinner
21st CPS Cross Country
21st NZ Playhouse Visit - Year 1-6 @ 11:00am
23rd Caverhill Assembly @ 2:00pm
26th Kapa Haka Matariki Performance and Dinner Postponement
26th Tekoa trip to Kaikoura
27th-29th Parent Teacher Interviews
28th School Photos
30th End of Term 2

July

17th Term 3 Begins

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Roll of Honour

1st Merit

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BOOK AMNESTY

We are having a two-week book amnesty for lost and misplaced reading books.In the last two terms a large number of our instructional reading books have gone missing. We would request that all families have a search at home for any school books. If any books are found please return them to school.

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Notice regarding Lowry Peaks Bus run on Wednesday 24th May 2023

Next Wednesday the Lowry Peaks bus, which connects with Meg’s bus, will leave Amuri Area School 15 minutes earlier in the afternoon due to a bus charter issue. Meg’s bus will run earlier as well. Trevor Devine has been contacted.

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News from Bob Thompson attending the Division 2 National Swimming Championships in Wellington May 2023

Racing 11 events and 4 relays over 5 days.
With 2 days racing left.
Bob has achieved 7 pbs
An individual Gold in the 100wm breaststroke
An individual silver in the 50m Breaststroke
A team Gold in the 4 x 50m Freestyle relay
A team Silver in the 4 x 50m Medley relay (where he swam the freestyle)

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Photos from Morne, the fossil hunter visit to Tekoa

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Tekoa were learning about the discovery of New Zealand last term. They listened to the story of the discovery of Aotearoa by the first Maori people. The story is called “Kupe and the Giant Wheke.” They wrote the story in their own words....

There was a man named Kupe.
His face was grim because every time he went fishing there would be nothing but slime. It was green and sticky.
His wife told him to go to Muturangi. He walked to the other side of the island. Kupe walked for hours, then he spotted Muturangi.
“Hey Muturangi.”
“Huh, who, show yourself. “
“It’s just Kupe. I want you to keep Te Wheke on your side of the island.”
He thought.
“NO!” said Muturangi.
“Fine, I’ll have to kill Wheke.”
“Ok, but he will kill you first.”
He walked back. He said, “Let’s take the big waka, let’s set sail.”
They saw Te Wheke.
Te Wheke wrapped his tentacles around the waka.
Kupe hit Te Wheke, then had a spell so he told it to Wheke. He can go across the water.
After days and weeks, Hine Te Aparangi saw a long cloud.
“Land,” they said.
“Wait, we still have to catch Te Wheke.”
Finally they saw Wheke.
Te Wheke went for the waka!
Kupe threw the calabashes in the water.
Wheke thought it was people falling into the water, so he went for them. Kupe got his mere and hit him. Wheke fell limp.
By Aizelle
Year 4

As Kupe pulled up his net, he saw there was no fish in the net!
There was only green slime, so he went to tell his wife that there was green slime in the net.
She said, “It is octopus’ slime”.
Then she said, “Who has a pet octopus?
”Muturangi said, “Kupe.”
So he went to the other side of the island to tell Muturangi what had happened. When he got there, Kupe said to Muturangi, “I have no fish to give my family because your octopus is eating the fish. Can you keep Te Wheke to your side of the island?”
“No,” said Muturangi. “I will not, because then my side will have no fish.”
“Then I will have to kill Te Wheke,” said Kupe.
“But I bet Te Wheke will kill you first”, said Muturangi.
So Kupe set off to kill Te Wheke. Kupe went to his side of the island to tell his wife that they had to kill Te Wheke. “We need a bigger waka to kill Te Wheke.” The next morning, he got a bigger waka. Then they set off on their journey. They chased Te Wheke for days and nights and weeks. Te Wheke kept on diving, so Kupe decided to cast a spell on Te Wheke to stop diving. When they had been following Te Wheke for a long time, Kupe’s wife said, “Look, a long white cloud. It must be land.” Then she said, “I am going to name it Aotearoa.” Then they put the waka on the beach and went to bed. The next morning, Kupe saw that Te Wheke had escaped at night. Then he followed Te Wheke and cornered him. Te Wheke tangled his tentacles around the waka and made a hole in the waka and it filled with water. Kupe had to get the calabashes and started to fill them with water. Then he chucked the calabashes into the water. Te Wheke thought they were people and grabbed them. Kupe hit Te Wheke with his mere and he was dead.
By Biddie Johnson
Year 3

Kupe went out to get fish the third time, but his net was empty, there was only slime in the net. He was so frustrated, so he went to Muturangi and said, “I have had enough, I’m going to kill Wheke, he keeps eating my fish.”
“No, don’t.”
“You could train him.”
“I won’t.”
So, he told his wife what happened. They took the big waka. The kids got a lot of calabashes and plenty of food. They put the supplies in the waka. They went to the sea to find Wheke. When they found him, he put his tentacles over the waka. Kupe made a spell so he would swim in the surface. He went through night and morning. He found Aotearoa. Wheke hid in a cave while Kupe was sleeping. The next day, he woke up early and went to kill Wheke. He got the big waka and went to the sea. When they found him, Kupe threw a lot of calabashes and Wheke thought it was people and grabbed it. Kupe threw the mere, then Wheke was killed.
By Yenzil
Year 3