Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all.
We hope everyone was able to enjoy some extra family time over the holidays. The tamariki have come back looking rested and revitalised, and we are ready for another fantastic term in Pōhutukawa.
Wellbeing/Hauora
We have also started the term with some stunning weather -very chilly mornings and very warm afternoons! With some similar weather forecast, our message to the children is around the importance of drinking plenty of water and taking off jackets and polar fleeces in the afternoon as we are noticing a big variance in temperatures through the day.
In saying that, the colder weather is ahead, and with it comes the inevitable surge in coughs and sniffles. We will be vigilant (particularly at the start of the term) in promoting good hygiene practices. Reminders about regular hand washing, sneezing into elbows and using and discarding tissues are all good discussions we will be having at school and would be great to have reinforced at home, as well. Mā tātou kātoa te waka e hoe, we are all in the waka together.
"Cool Curriculum Classes"
We love alliteration in Pōhutukawa, and our "cool curriculum classes" are continuing with some changes this term. Anna will still be teaching Social Sciences and investigating World Cultures, incorporating this with our concept of Change as the term progresses. Rae is delving into Te Ao Māori with a look at comparing and contrasting Myths and Legends, as well as learning Te Reo Māori. Steve is continuing the Science investigation we started last year with the Urban Eel Project/Te Tuna Tāone and looking at how we can use the findings to make a difference to the health of the Heathcote/Ōpāwaho te awa. Finally, Gayle is covering Digital Technologies and working with the tamariki on coding. There is a lot of learning that will be happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.
Cross Country - Tuesday May 11th
More alliteration, this time our whole school cross country, which is coming up next week. It was so great to see many of the tamariki hit the ground running - literally - and come back to school having done some training over the holidays. We are gearing up for the event by having daily training on the park, which the students are tracking on their cross country training goal sheet. Nau mai te wero, bring on the challenge! We are also encouraging the students to think about some of these goals, depending on their level of confidence, as we lead up to Cross Country next Tuesday:
- I can run until I get too puffed and then 'walk a cone, run a cone' until time is up.
- I can jog for the whole time without stopping.
- I feel more comfortable running
- I feel great doing regular exercise
- I feel great challenging myself
- I feel great achieving my goals
- I have shown a positive attitude towards cross country training
Winter Sport
Winter sport starts in Week 5 of this term. We would love to be able to provide every child who wants to participate in competitive winter sport a place in a sports team. To make this possible, we are still looking for adults to accompany teams. Ideally, this adult would be comfortable having a go at refereeing a game. This is something we can support you in learning how to do if you are new to it. If you are not comfortable refereeing but would be available to support a team, please do still get in touch. The most important thing we need is for the children to be adequately supervised.
At the moment we do not have enough adults for competitive winter sport to go ahead this year.
Currently, we are still looking for:
Netball: 2 x year 5/6 and 2 x year 7/8
Hockey: 2 x year 5/6 and 1 x year 7/8
Football: 1 x year 5/6 and 1 x year 7/8
Important Dates
Tuesday, May 11 - School Cross Country, 11:45 am
Friday, May 21 - Staff Only Day
Monday, June 7 - Queen's Birthday (School closed)
Tuesday, June 8 - Staff Only Day
