Kauri Whānau: Weekly Update Term 2 Week 2

Comedy Evening:


We need everyone to click on this link to indicate how you can support the Comedy Night. This is our last major camp fundraiser and could also provide some funds towards ski trip next term.

Self Defence:

Our Year 8 girls have started their 5 week self defence course. They are working with Lynda Maindonald from Self Defence NZ. This is a programme that our Year 8 girls have been involved in for a number of years. Past feedback has been extremely positive, and no doubt the girls are practising their moves and responses on you at home already!

Sport:

The inaugural whole school cross country event is this Thursday. Our team will be the first to run, with the event starting at 1:40. Following their race the Year 7 & 8s will be supporting our younger tamariki. They may wear their house t-shirt on this day.

Winter sport starts next Friday. Information can be found in last week's school newsletter. Those not travelling to Hagley Park will be involved in a sports programme at school. If you have any shin guards or football boots that your whanau have out grown or no longer require, please consider donating them to the school for children who don't have their own gear to borrow.

Basketball games get underway this week. On Friday we have the zone competition at Hillview in class time. If your child is involved in this you would have already received information. We are still looking for a couple of cars to call on for transport if it is raining. Please email Jenny if you can help. Pioneer competition starts next week. The draw for the first three weeks of competition will be emailed to you within the next day. Next week our Monday teams play each other at 5:30pm and our Friday team plays at 4pm.

40 Hour Famine:

Last week our famine leaders spend a day with World Vision, learning about the 40 Hour Famine and how they can support and encourage tamariki at school. Famine packs have been sent home with those who are interested and permission forms need to be returned to Hannah this week. If you have any questions about the famine, either check out this website, or contact Hannah.

Leadership Awards:

At our assembly this Friday, starting at 11:00, we will be awarding bronze and silver leadership awards to the following children. You are most welcome to attend.
Bronze: Jordy, Kate and Lucy
Silver: Gabriel, Joel K, Marlonique, Tilly, Rekha, Thom and Constantin

Kete Programme:

We are excited that our first Kete Badge has been earned and will be presented in assembly on Friday. A big congratulations to Lucy. We are currently looking at offering more support and encouragement to work towards these badges. It will be an expectation that all children are working towards a badge. Each Monday they will have 35 minutes of class time to focus on this, as well as 45 mins of self directed learning time on a Friday, when this can be a priority. Of course giving some time to this at home will result in more speedy progress.

Sleep Programme:


Over the next few weeks our classes will be taking part in Yes, I can! Sleep. This is a learning unit based around sleep and finding ways to improve your own sleep. Research has shown that as little as 10 minutes of lost sleep a night can lead to symptoms similar to ADHD. Our school is doing this unit in partnership with the University of Canterbury to try to improve the duration and quality of children’s sleep. We would like to equip children with the knowledge and skills required to make positive changes to their own sleep.       

The tamariki will have the opportunity to learn about sleep. They will conduct their own research and present their information in unique ways. Together we will learn about the benefits of sleep and positive sleep hygiene. Tamariki will then be given the opportunity to monitor both the duration and quality of their sleep. They will be given a clock to put near their bed so that they can track the duration of their sleep. During this time, we encourage you to talk to your child about sleep and support them if they would lie to make small changes to their sleep environment and routines.

If you would like sleep support or to share your own knowledge on sleep, please join the parent Facebook group….


Ski trip helpers:

Our next big outdoor education experience is our ski trip on Thursday August 9th, next term. We will have a very early start this day, with buses leaving school at 6:30am. At this stage we need offers of adult help, both on the snow skiing and around the base lodge and beginners slope, on foot. If you are willing to help, please fill in this form.

High Schools Info:



Christchurch Rudolf Steiner School
OPEN DAY  on May  24th. We have only 5 places for students in our Year 9 class next year, so if any are interested, this is a  perfect opportunity for them to see our school in action, watch what  students do and even interact with potential class mates for 2019.

Get Your Comedy Evening Tickets Now!

On Saturday May 19th, our very own funny man, Mr Jarred Skelton and friends, will be on stage in the Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto hall. Jarred and his friends have entertained us in previous years and we can guarantee plenty of giggles and side splitting laughter. This stuff is great for your well-being, so grab some friends, buys your tickets and book that babysitter...

Click here to book your Comedy Evening Tickets.


Proceeds go towards the Year 7 & 8 Dunedin Camp. We've been there and done that and it was awesome! Now we just need to finish the fundraising to pay all the bills. We have worked hard to make this camp affordable for our families. Please support this fun night out.


Kauri Student Response Needed

Many thanks to those who have already asked their children to fill in the forms for passion choices and Dunedin camp feedback. There are also some who have yet to fill in their winter sport choices. Please check with your children and get them to fill in the following, if they haven't already done so:

We'd appreciate these done ASAP. Those who don't will be asked to do this as soon as they get to school on Monday. If we got this info by tomorrow, Friday, it would really help with our planning. 

Many thanks.

Kauri Whānau: Important Holiday Messages

We are hoping that everyone has caught up on sleep post camp and that the holidays are going well.

Please get your children to ...

We have two forms that we would appreciate your child completing over the next couple of days.

We are planning to put together a Dunedin camp photo book. This will be a great way to preserve the memories of our fabulous week down south. In the children's survey form there is a box to tick if you would be interested in purchasing a photo book. As well as photos, it will also include writing from the children. Cost will be around $25. At this stage we are just after an indication of numbers. An official order form will come later.

Reading and Maths Groups

This term we will be using a different approach to reading and accordingly have adjusted our reading groups. After gathering student voice about maths, we have also made some changes to maths groups for this coming term. Please remind your child to check the groups display as soon as they arrive at school on Monday.


High School Information

This is the term that we get lots of information about high schools and open days / evenings. We have set up a display in the maker space to share information that we receive.

Currently there are brochures and letters to take from Shirley Boys' High School. Shirley Boys' have a community open night on Thursday May 24th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. There are also parent information evenings run by John Laurenson, the school principal, on 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of May, from 6:00 - 7:30pm.

Missing anything?

In the maker space we have laid out all of the unclaimed items from camp. We also have a number of baking containers. Please check the photos below to see if any of your child's property needs collecting on Monday. We are happy to make a future camp supply of any unwanted tea towels.