Principal's Pānui - Week 6 - Term 2 2024
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Tēnā Koutou Katoa,
I hope the winter chills have not bought with them any unwanted sickness within your households. It is tricky as a parent making the decision around whether to send your child to school or not when they are feeling unwell. The government focus on attendance is an important one. Cotswold Mātāhae had 77% of our children attending 90% of the time in Term 1. The Government target of 80% of pupils attending 90% of the time is an attainable one for our School Community.
Next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, we have Jacqueline Woods and Dick Edmundson, our Education Review Office Evaluative Partners, onsite conducting their review of our school. We look forward to showing them how Cotswold Mātāhae School functions, how great our staff and tamariki are, and how supportive our community is.
Congratulations to our Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 students who represented Cotswold Mātāhae at the Zone Cross Country Competitions last week. Some fantastic results with 8 students qualifying for the Canterbury Cross Country event later this Term. Check our the photos and results via this link.
Our trips to the Antarctic Centre get underway next week. Thanks to the plethora of whanau who have offered to support us, this trip will be an really exciting way of diving into our Inquiry Topic. Our thanks to Mrs Fleming-Connell for all her work in the background organising these trips for our tamariki.
Thank you to the 70% of our parent community who have contributed towards the bus and Antarctic Centre admission. EOTC trips like this cannot continue in the future without parents contributing to the cost. If you have not already done so we would appreciate the $17 parent contribution.
We will be holding two Non Uniform Days next week to raise funds to provide kai to our school community at our upcoming Matariki Community Celebration.
Year 0/1 students will have their Matariki Non Uniform Day on Thursday 13th June as they will need to wear school uniform for their Antarctic Centre Trip on Friday.
The remainder of the school (Year 2-6) will hold their Non Uniform Day on Friday 14th June. Gold coin appreciated.
As we settle into the winter period I wanted to communicate with you all around supporting the tamariki and staff at Cotswold Mātāhae. Effective communication is key to nurturing the collaborative spirit that I believe exists amongst our school community.
When communicating with staff, particularly electronically, please be mindful of the tone in which your message is written. In my experience it is better to make an appointment with a staff member and discuss the issue face to face.
While our staff strive to respond to emails promptly, please be mindful that they have numerous responsibilities throughout the school day and after hours with their own whanau. Allow reasonable time for a response to be received. All of our teachers and support staff are committed to the well-being and success of our students. Thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation.
We are getting excited about our upcoming Matariki Celebration later this Term. Keep an eye out for messages via Hero as to how you can contribute kai or your time to assist with success of this community event. We are still looking for sponsorship to assist with the cost of the kai to be served for our school community. If you can assist please email Paula Fleming-Connell paula.flemingconnell@cotswold.school.nz
If I can be of assistance do please make contact.
Nga mihi nui
Chris