We have enjoyed a wonderful year in the Rata Team in 2016. 

We have adapted to our temporary space in the Epicentre and have transformed it in to a bright and cheerful environment where our students are happy and settled and their learning has ‘taken off’. Although there have been some challenges, it certainly feels like ‘business as usual,’ now! We have had many visitors from teachers and principals throughout the year as well as a visit from the Education Review Office, who have come to see how we have modified our hall in to a learning space. All have been impressed with how we have adapted to our current space. This has been the result of very dedicated and hard-working teachers and fantastic children who have impressed us by showing a strong motivation to be the best they can be as learners and for demonstrating consideration for other learners. Thank you to parents for your understanding and support this year. You have been amazing and your children have done you proud.

Next year the Rata Team will be named the Māunu Team and we will start the year in the Epicentre (Te Pokai) again. We are looking forward to getting straight in to our learning as we will be ‘ready for action’ with our learning space already established and the systems and routines needed to make it a wonderful learning environment known by our current Year 1 students.

Rata 2016 Highlights

There have been many highlights in the Rata Team in 2016. These include visits to Sumner Beach, the Canterbury Museum, and the Isaac Theatre Royal, going to Halswell Quarry for the school cross country, having Kelly Sport lessons and Aquagym lessons in Term 1, the Lego House of Bricks show coming to school in Term 2 and golf lessons in Term 4. Other special Rata events have been our ‘Snuggle up and Read’ night, where we wore PJs to school on a winter’s night and snuggled up and read with our friends and parents, our ‘Houses’ Inquiry and our celebration of learning, the Junior Athletics at school and of course our big finale …the Rata Christmas Fairy Tale Show in December. All of these events have involved parent helpers and could not have taken place if it wasn’t for the parents who came to support the teachers. THANK YOU!

Thank you Teachers!

We have many people to thank in Rata this year. We have some wonderful teachers who, as I have already mentioned, are extremely committed and dedicated. Thank you for all the work you do on a regular basis and for the ‘extras’ you do as well. Thank you Megan Wright who began the year as the co-leader of the Rata Team. Megan was instrumental in helping set up the Epicentre and its’ systems and was a fantastic member of the team until she left on maternity leave to have her beautiful baby, Hazel. We look forward to seeing Megan back part-time at Cashmere Primary next year. Thank you to Mary Bastion for all the amazing work she does in leading Tikanga Maori throughout the school, including running the Senior and Junior Kapahaka groups and for representing the school at many meetings this year, as part of our Kahukura cluster. Thank you to Tarsha King for her supreme organisational skills at organising our Rata sporting events – including the Rata Athletics and our Aquagym swimming programme. Thank you to Toni Loveridge and Sarah Moore who do a wonderful job of running the Rata Kapahaka during their lunch break on Wednesday afternoons. The Rata children have loved being involved in Kapa haka this year. Thank you to Penelope Blanchfield and Rachael Creighton for picking up the reins so ably in the Piwakawaka Space, when Megan Wright left to have her baby. You have kept up the great learning and ensured that a smooth transition took place when Megan left. Thank you to Natasha Todd who has done a fantastic job in the Nest with our final New Entrant class of the year. We have loved having you join the team, Natasha.

Thank you to all of the wonderful part time teachers who have done a great job of continuing the classroom programme while teachers are on release. Sophie Huston has been a wonderful release teacher for Toni Loveridge and Natasha Todd, as well as many other teachers in the Rata Team. We love her positivity and creativity and her friendly manner. Rachael Creighton has been in the Piwakawaka space one day per week, as well as being Tarsha’s release teacher. Rachael is a kind, organised and fabulous teacher who we love having at school.

Thank you Pam Clearwater our literacy expert who has run the Leap In to Literacy Programme and the Mini Lit’ programme this year. Your expertise has helped our students immensely and we are lucky to have you in the Team. Thank you for also organising the Reading Mileage programme at school to support our readers.

Thank you to Aleisha Klomp who has been a fantastic support to the whole Rata Team (and me in particular) in her role as the Epicentre Mentor this year. Aleisha has many skills, as well as a wealth of knowledge and fantastic ideas which have helped ensure the successful establishment of the Epicentre as a learning space. She has been a great source of support and inspiration for us and we will miss her next year. The Kiwi, Nest and other Rata children have looked forward to ‘Miss K’ teaching them each week. We will miss Aleisha, but are very excited for her as she is due to have her second child in April next year. We wish Aleisha, Nicholas and Archer all the best for their new arrival and hope to meet him/her soon!

Thank you Parents

Thank you to our amazing parent helpers who have come along to help when they can with the classroom programme this year. Whether it has been helping during our reading, writing and maths lessons, testing sight words, doing reading mileage etc, the teachers have really appreciated your help. Your children have loved having you involved too. We have relied on parent helpers when going on trips etc. and have really appreciated your support on these outings.

Planning and presenting our Rata Christmas Show has been a huge undertaking this term and many parents have given up a lot of their own time to help make and organise costumes, make props etc. Thank you to all the parents who have helped create and organise things for our show. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you Marlene!

The Rata Team are very fortunate to have a kind volunteer who comes in every Monday and Tuesday morning to help out in the Rata Team. Marlene Victor, comes reliably to school each Monday and Tuesday morning and stays to help with Reading and Writing. Nothing fazes Marlene and she happily assists in any way she can. Thank you Marlene, the teachers and children look forward to you arriving each Monday and Tuesday morning.

Congratulations Tarsha

Congratulations to Tarsha King who became a fully registered teacher this year. Your pupils and your colleagues all love the sparkle and enthusiasm that you bring to the team. Well done Tarsha, this is very well deserved!

We are excited for 2017 and look forward to seeing the children’s happy and excited faces on day one of next term. We wish all our Year 2 students well as they move on to Year 3. Have a a very merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday.

Kind regards

Kirsty Brownlie and the Rata (Māunu) Teachers