week 2 T2

Another wonderful week has passed and we are on track with our goals and targets. We had our School Parent Association AGM last night and have made some changes to the way that we do things. All this will be revealed in the newsletter next week.

Please try to get your School donations and transport assistance accounts up to date. These are very important in the running of the school. Without these payments we cannot do those little extra things we do with the children.

Next week we have the Rotokare trips and a trip to Tabloid sports for the year four children.  These should be great educational trips for the children. Lets hope that the weather holds!!!

Remember BOT meeting on the 16^th May at 7.00pm and the Sponsors night on the 23^rd May from 5.30pm-7.30pm

Week 1 Term 2

A big welcome back to all for term two! Another busy and exciting term for the staff and children.

Don’t forget that we have the School Parents Association AGM next Thursday 3rd May at 7.30pm in the library. Please let’s all make the effort to get there and support SPA and school.

The next BOT meeting is on the 16th May at 7.oopm in the library. All are welcome to attend these meetings.

 We also have our sponsors night on the 23rd May from 5.30 onwards. This is to thank all that have sponsored us and to talk about new initiatives for sponsorship and fundraising.

Reports are due out at the end of this term. We will be using the same format as last year but reviewing this as well. So if you have any suggestions on how we can make the reporting process any better for you, please write it down and send it into school.

This term we are studying native flora and fauna with several trips planned. Please make the effort to help out with transport if you can.  Talk to your children about their school day and ask them what their goals are. We are using our MAP book (Matapu Achievement Progress Booklet)  with the children so they should know what they are learning and what it looks like. :)

Keep safe

Regards

Rick

Week 10

What a great term we have had!!! I am really pleased with the work and attitude of the children through out the term and the work and effort that the teachers, teacher aides, office staff, cleaners ands grounds people have put in to make this a great learning environment. Well done everyone.

As you have now seen the SPA are doing a fundraiser with the chocolates. Please sell as many as you can as this all contributes to allowing us to give your child that little bit extra at Matapu School. Don’t forget the SPA AGM on 3rd May at 7:30pm. Please make a big effort to be there and support our SPA.

Next term we are looking at native flora and fauna as our inquiry topic. The children will be travelling to Lake Rotokare to be enviro detectives, we will have people from Puke Ariki coming to school to share their expertise, Taranaki Regional Council representatives will come to talk with the children and we will be going up the mountain to look at the local flora and fauna. We will also be doing our Literacy and Numeracy and sports etc as well so another exciting, busy term ahead!

Have a great holiday with the children and we will see you all bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday 23rd April.

Stay Safe

Rick

Week 9

WOW only one more week of term left before the Easter holidays. Looking back over the term we have had our school and interschool swimming and athletics, trips to Opunake to do our beach safety, all staff have completed the first aide course and Professional development in linking Numeracy and Literacy to our integrated curriculum, the children have had several visits from experts in water safety and a visit from the author Diana Neild, as well as completing all of their academic school work. So a very busy but productive term. Next term we have Kissick/Eraio, visits to Lake Rotokare, visits from experts in flora and fauna, Puke Ariki coming to school to talk to the children, ANZAC celebrations, Sponsors night, and reports coming out at the end of term. Our topic focus for next term is Native Flora and Fauna.

Dates to remember:

ANZAC Day 25 April

BOT meetings held in the school library next term are on:

16th May at 7:00pm and 19th June at 7:00pm.

Sponsors Night is 23rd May

Queens Birthday 4th June

Matapu & Districts 125 Jubilee 7-9th February 2014

Week 7

This week and next we have Mr Stoddart in the classrooms teaching the children art skills. Mr Stoddart covers the teachers while they have their CRT (Classroom Release Time) which allow them to catch up on assessment and other paper work duties.

The children had their interschool swimming sports yesterday and did very well. The parents that attended came back buzzing about the children’s efforts and behaviour. Well done guys.

We are due for the Ultras Fast Broadband upgrade at school. You may have seen in the papers recently about what schools can do when they get this Fibre into their schools. Well it’s not the great fix that they are reporting. It is great that we have the fibre at school, however there are no providers the hook into so we can’t use it anyway. We may not have any providers for quite some time as they are all still assessing what they are going to provide and how. It is really frustrating for schools and communities when they are lead to believe that they are getting a service and that service is not delivered. So get hold of your local MPs and voice your concerns about this!!

Stay safe

Rick

Week 6

Another week down and we are steaming along nicely.

Athletics at Kaponga on Wednesday was a great success again. Thanks to the Kaponga Athletics people for putting on the day. WOOOHOOOO Matapu School won the interschool 100m relay. Well done Matapu!!!!!!

We have a brand new notice board for school dates etc erected on the corner of Hastings and Skeet Roads. This is to communicate better with our wider community about dates etc for school and community events. Have already had some good feedback from the wider community, so that’s good!

Please remember that Monday is Taranaki holiday and there is no school!!

We will also be having our school swimming sports next Wednesday. The children will have their

individual races and will be trying to break the school records again this year. Parents please bring along your togs as there are parent, teacher and children’s relays. The children get a big kick out this so please ensure your swimming attire is in your bag next Wednesday.

The preparations for the Matapu and Districts 125 Year Jubilee is starting to come together. We had a meeting last week and will have another on Monday 26th March. Please come down and help with the organization of this special event. Please go to the blog site and become a follower and follow by email. This will give us an indication of interest in the event and keep you updated as things happen. http://matapu-jubilee.blogspot.co.nz/

The wild weather played havoc with our power earlier this week. We had no power for three days because of trees down across power lines on Hastings Road. So we had school the old way with no computers, interactive whiteboards etc

I gave one 6 year old a piece of chalk to take to her teacher, she said "Whats that?" I said 'Chalk" she said "Whats that?", we have come a long way since I went to school!

The school buildings suffered no damage but our fence was demolished at the Skeet Road end by a fallen tree and the fence at the hall was blown over. However we were a lot luckier than some who lost roofs and parts of their house! Beautiful weather at the moment so all good now.

Week 4

I hope that everyone has handed in their times for parent / teacher interviews for next Tuesday.

Please note that school will be finishing at 12.30 on Tuesday for the interviews.

Attached to the newsletter is an Athletics sheet that shows you the times etc for the school athletics day on Wednesday 29 Feb. It also has a sausage sizzle form for you to fill out if you want sausages for lunch with your children. We do this to get an indication how what we need to purchase for the day.

There is an opening for another elected BOT member so if you are keen please put your name forward for election. Being on the BOT is not about having to do lots of jobs or extra work around the school. It is setting policy for the school and ensuring that the way we do things is in line with these policies. It also gives you a better insight into how the school is run and what makes it tick. So take up the challenge and be a part of our children's futures.

We have had a great start to the year and all is humming along nicely. The children are in full swing with their water safety topic so question them about water safety when they get home!!

Don’t forget that reading, writing and maths forms the backbone of everything that we do. So practice these with the children at home,. Make it fun and let your children see you enjoying reading, writing and doing maths.

Keep Safe

Rick :)