Kia ora whanau, talofa aiga, hi everyone. We are definitely in the throes of winter with today marking the shortest day, so it’s great to see our tamariki wearing slippers in the classrooms, and woolly hats and jackets outside, allowing them to have a run around in the very fresh air!

Only two weeks of school left before it is the holidays with a long weekend coming up also. It's been great to see our tamariki engaged in learning about Matariki, the Māori New Year, over this week. Make sure you come along to assembly on Thursday to see what the classes have been up to.

Welcome to two new staff members

We are rapt to have Marg Sutherland back with us working part time as an ORS Specialist Teacher, and we welcome Clare Fahey who will be working in Kahikatea as a part time Learning Coach. A very warm welcome to you both from the Tihiraki North Loburn School community.

Matariki and Mihi Whakatau Special Assembly - Thursday 27th 1.30pm - All Welcome

On Thursday 27th June we are going to hold a special assembly which will incorporate a Mihi Whakatau to welcome our new tamariki and whānau to our kura, the unveiling of our beautiful korowai made by Mrs P with the help of Ashleigh Connelly’s design expertise, and a Matariki celebration.  Please join us for this special assembly on Thursday 27th June at 1.30pm.  We would love you to bring a plate of food/kai to share with the adults at the conclusion of the assembly if possible please, before we send you off for the long Matariki weekend. Thank you very much.

Olympics

We had a fun filled morning on Tuesday 11th June as each ‘country’ took part in our Olympic activities - Table Football, Keepy Uppy, Bucket Golf, Egg and Spoon Obstacle Course and Medic Dodgeball. Each country was made up of children from all classes and it was great to see the tuakana teina relationships thriving - older children helping and encouraging our younger children during the activities.  The teams bandied together to master their team chant, before the chant competition at the end of the activities.  Congratulations to Scotland, Brazil and Spain who came 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Fantastic team work! Tumeke!

The Beat Dan Carter Challenge

On Friday 14th June our hardy rugby kids; Carter, Chester, Clyde, Cooper, Edy, Flynn, Jaxon, Jesse, Kieran, and Levi, took up the DC (Dan Carter) Challenge  #beatdancarter to beat 273 goal kicks in 1 hour with 1 tee and 1 ball to raise money for the kids of the Pacific, in association with UNICEF Aotearoa.  It was an epic hour of kicking, chasing the ball, team work and encouragement.  The weather didn't play ball but you guys sure did!!!  Out of the 104 kicks you took, you managed to score 50 goals - fantastic!!!  They have so far raised over $1,100.  Thank you to Penny Vincent for organising, and Jenny Burgess for being the official goal score keeper, and for encouraging the kids to think about their strategy.  Thank you to the parents, grandparents and our tamariki for all your support.   We are so proud of you all!!! 

Miniball Mentor!

On Tuesday our Yr 3/4 miniball team - Oliver, Landy, Blake, Hudson and Marley (absent on the day) were stoked to meet Walter Brown, current Canterbury Ram and Tall Black. As Louisa said, it is so awesome to see a hometown hero supporting grassroots sport! Great stuff!!

Youth Partnership Hui

Today Mrs P took 4 young leaders: Eleanor, Chester, Sophie C and Jaxon V, to a Youth Partnership hui at Ohoka school which is a Puketaraki initiative. Eleanor and Chester said they had a great time and had lots of fun - a great way to get to know other tamariki from our local schools and share their thinking and ideas.

Garden to Table Yesterday

We welcomed Chessa and Lisa from Garden to Table to our session today.  A chance for them to experience what we do here, first hand!  They were very complimentary of our programme and the children and whānau involved, and grateful for the experience.  Thank you Max and Louisa for accommodating our visitors and to everyone for making them feel welcome.

Garden to Table Jolly Sock Selling Fundraiser

Our Garden to Table and Paddock to Plate programmes are something that differentiate us from all the other kura/schools in our area.  We value this programme immensely, and we know you do too, and  we rely heavily on outside support to fund it.  Without your support and the support of our wider community we would not be able to continue to offer the wonderful experiences and learning opportunities that Garden to Table and Paddock to Plate can offer.

Before the end of this term we are going to distribute a box of Jolly Socks to each family to sell to raise money for our Garden to Table and Paddock to Plate programmes.  Please utilise the school holidays to sell your allocated Jolly Socks to friends and family - help them start their Christmas shopping early!!  We really appreciate your support with this.

Please see the article later in this newsletter for further information.

Reports through Hero

Our kaiako/teachers have been busy writing maths and topic reports, and updating data on your child’s progress with regards to the Key Competencies and our PRIDE values.  This information will be published in Hero at the beginning of week 10.  As always, please get in touch with your child’s teacher if you have any questions or anything you would like to discuss.

School Attendance

When your child’s report is published to you via Hero, the first thing you will see is their attendance data.  Please note - this is reported in half days - not full days eg 10 half days = 5 full days.  

A student is considered to be regularly attending school if they attend more than 90% of the time, that means they are missing less than 5 days of school in a term. The government has set a  target of more than 80% of students attending more than 90% of the time by 2030.

We have recently received a summary of our Term 1 attendance data, Every Day Matters, from the MoE which told us: 

• 57% of our tamariki were present for more than 90% of the time

(absent for 5 days or fewer = 1 week/term or 4 weeks in a year)

• 92% of our tamariki were in attendance >80% of the time 

(absent for fewer than 10 days -  2 weeks/term or 8 weeks/year - please note this is close to one term of absence in a year)

• 89% of children were absent due to illness/medical/holiday in term time/a justified reason

• 82% were on time to class

Of note is the fact that if a student misses one day of school every two weeks (5 days in a term), they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age. 

We all play a key role in supporting our tamariki on their learning journey by building strong habits of getting to school on time and regular school attendance.  If you require support with this please get in touch.

Congratulations Eleanor McCaleb!

Eleanor recently had her ‘beautiful’ writing ‘Tis My Story!' that she completed at the Write On School for Young Writers workshop, selected from hundreds of submissions to appear in Write On 62: On a High Note.  Our congratulations to you Eleanor!  What an outstanding achievement.  We are super proud of you!  I wonder if we will see your work published and on sale in book shops in the years ahead?  I hope so!

Year 5/6 Chess Competition

All the very best to Ben, Eli, Frankie and Jan for their chess competition on Tuesday.  We know you’ll do us and yourselves proud - go and enjoy it and karawhiua - give it heaps!!

Coffee and Cake with Bruce Kearney, principal of Rangiora High School

On Monday 24th June, this coming Monday, parents of Yr 8 children interested in attending RHS are invited to ‘Coffee and Cake with Bruce Kearney’ at Ashley Rakahuri School at 6.30pm.  Please come along to hear more about Rangiora High School and what they can offer your tamariki. Don’t forget 2025 enrolments for RHS close on Friday 28th June 2024.

Have a lovely weekend with your whānau and we look forward to seeing you all at our Mihi Whakatau and Matariki Special Assembly on Thursday at 1.30pm.

Ngā mihi nui

Kate