Our Purpose: To prepare students to be active participants who will contribute to their community.

Tēnā koutou katoa, Malo e lelei, Talofa lava, Bula vinaka

A short but busy week, congratulations to all our students who represented the school at the Oamaru Intermediate 50 metre Swimming Sports on Monday. A special thank you to Mrs Kingan, Sharon and other members of staff who organised and made this event happen. I would also like to congratulate all of our students who swam in 25 metre events within their class. Everyone that swam gained points for their house.

We will be holding our school triathlon near the end of term and will communicate more information around the format of this closer to the time.

Thank you for keeping your students home at the moment when they are unwell, or totally overwhelmed and unable to positively engage at school. I appreciate that this is putting extra pressure on you as parents and caregivers. With this in mind, if you need any support please don’t hesitate to make contact with your child's classroom teacher.

Last week I was lucky enough to be a part of our Community of Learning Principals and teacher meetings. While these meetings took place virtually, it is always a great opportunity to get together and begin to set our own goals for the year. One of the most exciting things that comes from these meetings is the opportunity for teachers from high schools, primary schools, kindergartens and the Intermediate to get together to discuss education across sectors and communities.

The Teacher Only Day tomorrow was originally set to be an across schools day, however with COVID, we decided to change our format and will be only meeting as an Oamaru Intermediate Staff. Our focus on tomorrow will be for us to have a look at our Curriculum, what we are currently doing, how that is working, what we want to achieve, and the steps we need to determine to be able to get there; the where to next.

On Monday at Assembly I acknowledged and thanked an iDEAL child from our school. A boy who went out of his way to do something positive for our community. It was a good reminder for us all that a small act of kindness can mean a lot both at school and in the community. Have a talk to your child about what things they could do to help someone else or show kindness and empathy in our community, especially during the current climate.

Our school values are built on the foundation of relationships, respect and responsibility.

We talk about being IDEAL Students. I..

Dare to succeed

Engage with mana

Act with respect

Learn with purpose

As part of our rewards system at OIS children receive IDEAL cards. Each student aims to collect 10 cards for each specific value. Once they get 10 cards for that one value, they then receive a badge with the letter that they got the 10 cards for, ie: 10 cards for Learning with purpose, the student receives a L badge which they can then wear the badge on their jersey. When they receive all 4 badges, they are then presented with the letter I, this completes the set.

At OIS we value your feedback and I encourage you to continue to communicate with your child’s class teacher, our door is always open. If you have any concerns please contact your child's teacher and they are always willing to have a chat at an agreed time outside of school hours. It is much better to sort things out at a low level and restore understanding early on to ensure we are all on the same page. Please also remember to pass on those positives too.

Regards

Rebecca Meek

Principal