Newsletter - WE 09/09/2022

Janine Jack

— Sep 9, 2022

Kia ora
Congratulations to the Senior netball team who performed well in the South Island Secondary Schools Tournament in Timaru. They represented Amuri Area School with pride and finished 10th in their competition. A huge thank you to Cath Ferguson for coaching this team and accompanying them to the tournament. Also, to Shane and Bridget Adcock who were managers and to all those who supported them.

The 7-Aside day was a great success for our Year 4 to 8 students at Hurunui College – they really enjoyed competing in touch rugby, netball and football in the sunshine after two years of missing this event due to Covid. A big thank you to Phoebe Sopp for her organisation of our teams and transport and to all the staff / parents for their enthusiastic support and encouragement. Also thank you to the senior students who helped with refereeing and umpiring on the day.

On the same day the Year 1 to 3 students had a visit from the Waiau Junior school and enjoyed a programme of sport with them. Again, a very successful and enjoyable visit and a big thanks to Denise for organising this and to the parents who helped.

Congratulations to Bella Godfrey-Grant who has been selected for the Senior Representative Christchurch Music Festival Choir this year. This a significant achievement. Well done, Bella!

Congratulations also to the 12 students representing Amuri Area School in the massed choir at the Music Festival in November. They have their rehearsal on Monday next week. Thank you to Renet van der Merwe for organising this opportunity for our students this year. It is a great experience for them to sing in the Christchurch Town Hall.

Our Year 10 to 13 students have been sitting exams this week and we look forward to seeing positive results and our students learning from these in their preparation for the end of year exams.

Our Guidance Team met last week with the agencies we rely on to provide support for our students when needed. We greatly appreciate the help we can tap into and the quality of the support we have in North Canterbury. We are very fortunate to have Liz Teulon leading the guidance team here at Amuri Area School and being supported by such able Teacher Aides.

I attended the Tipu Maia (our 13 school Kahui Ako) Principals’ meeting last Friday where the Achievement Challenges for the group for the next three years were finalised. Common challenges in Literacy, Numeracy, Student Wellbeing and Cultural Identity will be chosen by individual schools based on data collected and monitored throughout the three years. We are looking forward to these challenges making a difference for our students as we work together as a group of schools. We appreciate the excellent work our Kahui Ako leaders are doing. Amuri Area School has two staff working in this area as Across School Leaders – Julia Steel and Gavin Cate. They are providing very positive leadership.

We are having a full school assembly on September 21st at 11.15am – the first one for this term. Parents are welcome to attend.

The Primary area is looking forward to two significant events in the next three weeks. Book Week is starting Monday Sept 19th with book character dress up day on the 22nd. Pet day is on Tuesday 27th – both events have been cancelled in the last two years because of Covid. It is great to have them back again.

I am continuing to thoroughly enjoy my time here at Amuri Area School – this school has a wonderful staff and friendly and helpful students who generally work well. I have been very impressed as I have visited a number of classes to observe lessons over the last two weeks - the positive learning atmosphere and the quality of the learning and the relationships is impressive, and we are so fortunate to have our teaching staff backed up by a wonderful supportive team.

Nga mihi
Bob Norrish
Acting Principal

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Primary School News

Kia ora Parents and Whanau

Firstly, I need to correct my Lions speech competition results from my last column. Lillie Schuurman (2nd) and Lexie Godfrey-Grant (3rd) in the Year 7 and 8 competition. I accidentally had them in the wrong order. Congratulations and apologies to both girls.

Yesterday a group of writers from Years 6-8 worked with Gail from the Young Writers School and were involved in a number of creative writing tasks. This opportunity comes with funding from the Hurunui District Council to help pay for the fees and we are grateful for their support. I look forward to sharing some of the student writing soon.

Here is the primary assembly roster for the remainder of the year.

Term 3
16 Sept - Room 7
23 Sept – Room 1
30 Sept - Room 6
Term 4
21 Oct – Room 3
28 Oct – Athletics
4 Nov – Room 1
11 Nov - Show Day
18 Nov – Room 2
25 Nov - Accord Day
2 Dec - Year 6 Leavers Assembly

Pet Day plans are well underway. Please return your child’s pet day confirmation slips to their class teacher by Friday 16th September. We need to know in advance how many of each animal are attending so we can create our pet areas for the day. I have had some parents ask if it is ok to present a project and not bring the pet (e.g a cat that will find the day too stressful) and that’s fine, just please email me and let me know so our judges don’t get confused! We had a fantastic day at the 7-Aside competition at Hurunui College last week. Mr Norrish and I went down to see our teams in action and it was a great day. It was lovely to see our students representing the school with pride and enjoying being able to meet and interact with students from other schools. Thank you to Miss Sopp for arranging the logistics of getting us there and back safely! Whilst the Year 4-8 students were out, our Year 1-3 students hosted the junior room from Waiau School. Our younger students don’t get out as much as our older ones, so they enjoyed the visit and having a special treat with the older students being away. Thanks to Mrs Johnson for arranging this to take place.
We have lots of things coming up before the end of the term, so please keep your eyes on the class Seesaw accounts to keep up to date with all the events!

Hei konā

Kylee Habgood
Deputy Principal - Primary

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Secondary School News

Kia Ora Everyone

Senior exams have been held all of this week under the supervision of our NZQA exam centre manager, Janet Moriarty. A big thank you to Janet for her organisation and administration of these exams. For our Year 10 students, it has been the first time that they have experienced exam conditions.

Teachers will now be busy over the next week marking the students’ work to be able to provide constructive feedback both face to face in class and through our senior Term 3 reports that are due to go home in the last week of term.

Students are encouraged to listen and take constructive feedback on board, putting in place study plans to improve or sustain high grades in the official NZQA external exams which start in November.

A huge congratulations to Regan Kay, our senior school achiever of the month for September. Well done Regan for your continuing excellence in attitude and academic outcomes in all of your subjects.

Senior subject selection for 2023 has now closed. Thank you to all the parents and Whanau that had robust discussions at home around pathways and choices. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussions I had with students, who are incredibly articulate around their passions, career opportunities and where they feel their strengths are. This has helped a great deal in the process of creating a smorgasbord of subject opportunities that support student goals.

My advice to students in the senior school, who only have a limited number of teaching hours left for the year within their subjects is:
• Work out where you have gaps;
• Identify what you need to know;
• Plan your time to acquire what you need.

Well done for getting through exam week.....

Nicole Peterson
Deputy Principal - Secondary

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2022 Hawarden-Waikari Lions Schools’ Speech Contest Results for Year 7/8 Students

1st Bella Godfrey-Grant
2nd Lexie Godfrey-Grant
3rd Alysha Hepi-Te Huia
4th Eva Roberts
5th Gwen Manifold
6th Lillie Schuurman
Congratulations to all the speakers. It was a wonderful competition!

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Babies By Room 4

Babies don’t walk,
they crawl.
They cry for cuddles,
not talk all the time.
Babies don’t guzzle or gulp from glasses,
they suck and nibble their mother’s nipple.
Babies don’t wear undies under big clothes,
they wear nappies under small clothes.
Babies don’t drive dangerous vehicles,
they play with red rattles.
They are bald but wear beanies,
not much hair to keep their heads warm.

This poem we wrote as a class is inspired by this poem we read:

Spring Lambs

Spring lambs
don’t waddle,
they wobble.
They say ba-a-a-a
in a squeaky squeal,
not in a raspy rumble.
Spring lambs don’t grab at grass
in big quick gulps.
They search and suck
their mothers’ milk,
tails tweaking.
By Julia Wall

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The Filipino Salakot

The salakot is a symbol of Filipino identity. Salakot is made from natural resources of the Philippines. These are bamboo, palms and rattan leaves. Some salakot were coated in a resin to make them waterproof. Salakot are worn by farmers and fishermen to keep them dry and sheltered from the sun. These days you will find salakot worn by many people, not just farmers and fishermen.

At Amuri, last week, we celebrated the Filipino tradition by creating our very own salakot. ‘nasiyahan kami’ We had fun!

Kimberly, Marc Shein, Ysabella, Fil John and Martha Room 5/6

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.... so this is what happens when the receptionists go away to a conference for a couple of days!!

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Roll of Honour

Brodie Carr
Gus Clisby
Tim Del Mundo
Maria Dela Rosa
Bianca Dela Vega
Alanah Flintoft
Willow Harwood
George Jackson
Willow Macadam
Charles Paragas
Lachie Perry
Janae Tily

1st Merit

Safira Barroz
Julia Black
Jack Cater
William Cromie
Annabelle Cundy
Milly Dampier-Crossley
Tim Del Mundo
Bianca Dela Vega
Xaria Fawcett
Daniela Panganoron
Charlene Paragas
Valerie Paragas
Aggie Rutherford
Lillie Schuurman

2nd Merit

Khean Garces
Lexie Godfrey-Grant
Cole Phillips
Hank Reed

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Dates for Your Diary

September
13th-14th Year 12 Outdoor Ed Trip
13th Student Executive Meeting @ 1:15pm
14th School Nurse on site for consultations
14th Children’s University Gowning Session
19th-20th Year 11 Geography to Kaikoura
19th-23rd Book Week - Years 1-8
20th Author visit James Russell - Years 1-8
20th Pat Buckley from HDC visit for Year 11-13
21st 11AgHort Field Trip
21st Mitchell Assembly @ 11:15am
23rd North Canterbury Kapa Haka Festival @ Ohoka
23rd Years 12-13 Biology Trip to Orana Park
24th-30th Year 12 Geography SIHC
27th Pet Day - Years 1-6
27th-29th Year 13 Outdoor Ed Cycle Tour
29th Pet Day - Years 1-6 postponement
30th Mufti Day - for Culverden St. John
30th END OF TERM 3
October
17th Start of Term 4
19th Huxter Bike Race @ McLeans Island
20th Senior Athletics
24th Labour Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
25th Caverhill Assembly @ 11:15am
25th-28th Year 8 Camp to Kaiteriteri
28th Primary Athletics
31st Primary Athletics postponement
November
4th Firewise Visit for Year 1-2 students
7th HPSSA Athletics @ Amuri
8th Year 7-8 Cup Shield Cricket @ Mandeville
8th Hamilton Assembly @ 12:15pm
8th Student Executive Meeting @ 1:15pm
9th HPSSA Athletics Postponement
11th Canterbury Anniversary - SCHOOL CLOSED
17th Mufti Day for the Blind Foundation
19th Amuri Trail Ride

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Congratulations goes to Dominic Brett

on being presented with the New Zealand Area School Excellence Award for 2022. This award is presented to the top three students in New Zealand Area Schools who exemplify academic, cultural or sporting excellence.Dominic was a great role model for his peers, who worked consistently at a high level to gain the DUX award in 2021. He was also a fantastic whanau leader and supported many sporting and cultural activities through his years at Amuri. This award is a much deserved recognition of his achievements. Well done!