Hope you all have had a relaxing holiday! Everyone has come back to school keen to get stuck into their work and our calendar is quickly filling up.
Reminder to get your interview forms into the school as soon as possible. The longer you leave it the less chance of getting the time you want. We are going to have a quick postit note survey set up on the night for community consultation on two things that we need you to help out with as you are walking past. Two questions will be:
1 - Would you like to have our senior camp every year or every two years?
2 - What would you like your child(ren) to learn more about at school? (not counting reading, writing and maths)
We would like our school to reflect our community as much as possible so this is an opportunity for you to have a say in what we do at Matapu.
Our McLeod shield campaign begins next Thursday against Manaia at home. The team had a run around against Auroa on Thursday and played pretty well with little practise beforehand. Our Hurlstone netball team has a bye the first round and is due to start in three weeks.
Have a great weekend everyone. and go the NZ Commonwealth games teams!!!
MrC
Thursday, 24 July 2014
Thursday, 3 July 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Looking back, this term has flown by. It seems like a year, not seven weeks, since our staff spent a couple of days in Auckland looking at schools. Big thanks to everyone who has supported us through this busy term of sports and events. Huge thanks to the SPA for organising a really successful bingo night (I hear the caller was awesome!). Hopefully we get a better night of weather and a few more numbers next time.
Reports are out today. Have a good look at your child's attendance this term. If it is of concern on your report, they are getting close to 80% attendance. This means that they are almost having a day a week of school for the term on average. If you combine this with sports days, of which there have been a few this term, it means your child is missing more than a day a week spread out over the term. This can have a considerable impact on their progress in the classroom and it is something to think about when keeping your child home from school.
Big congratulations to our teams this term. You have all represented our school well with the effort and enthusiasm you have shown on the field and your behaviour off it. A huge thanks to the time coaches have spent with their teams, we are getting some great results due to your efforts.
Have a safe and enjoyable holiday everyone.
MrC
Reports are out today. Have a good look at your child's attendance this term. If it is of concern on your report, they are getting close to 80% attendance. This means that they are almost having a day a week of school for the term on average. If you combine this with sports days, of which there have been a few this term, it means your child is missing more than a day a week spread out over the term. This can have a considerable impact on their progress in the classroom and it is something to think about when keeping your child home from school.
Big congratulations to our teams this term. You have all represented our school well with the effort and enthusiasm you have shown on the field and your behaviour off it. A huge thanks to the time coaches have spent with their teams, we are getting some great results due to your efforts.
Have a safe and enjoyable holiday everyone.
MrC
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Jarad's Jargon - a half year wrap up for our Community Newsletter
Wow, what a year so far. To say this has been a busy two terms would be an understatement. The school is looking forward to the mid-year holidays to take a deep breath and brace ourselves for the last half of the year!
The students have been busy in the classrooms. We have tried to send students out and about on authentic experiences outside the school to help support their learning in the classroom. Classes have gone to the Patea Museum and Puke Ariki to look at some great resources and to hear from some very knowledgable experts. We have also take classes up the mountain to get a look at what our big hill has to offer. Lucky for us everyone managed to stay pretty dry. With the combination of our high speed internet and our recent iPad purchases, students can also access a wealth of knowledge to help them get a deeper understanding of the world around them.
We have had some great sport results so far this year. A number of records fell in our swimming sports, though unfortunately our athletics day was washed away in the rain. The year 5/6 students have been ultra busy with the Crowley Cup and Chittenden Trophy. The rugby team made the Crowley Cup semi finals, having only lost one pool game and the girls contest for the Chittenden Trophy this Friday in the final, having being undefeated this term. The girls also completed a clean sweep at the Hawera Winter Tournament, winning the Wilson Cup. We have also had our year 5/6 rippa rugby team compete in the Champion of Champions trophy at Yarrows Stadium, where we were only a few tries from the final. Next term we are lining up the year 7/8 McLeod Shield and Hurlstone Trophy competitions for rugby and netball.
It has been great to welcome a number of new families to the school and it's always a pleasure to see new faces running around the playground. All our new students have joined in well and we are extremely lucky to have such a great group of students at our school. A big thanks to all those parents who have helped out, from the SPA to sports coaches to parent help in the classrooms. You are what makes this school such a supportive and great place to be.
Have a great holiday,
MrC
The students have been busy in the classrooms. We have tried to send students out and about on authentic experiences outside the school to help support their learning in the classroom. Classes have gone to the Patea Museum and Puke Ariki to look at some great resources and to hear from some very knowledgable experts. We have also take classes up the mountain to get a look at what our big hill has to offer. Lucky for us everyone managed to stay pretty dry. With the combination of our high speed internet and our recent iPad purchases, students can also access a wealth of knowledge to help them get a deeper understanding of the world around them.
We have had some great sport results so far this year. A number of records fell in our swimming sports, though unfortunately our athletics day was washed away in the rain. The year 5/6 students have been ultra busy with the Crowley Cup and Chittenden Trophy. The rugby team made the Crowley Cup semi finals, having only lost one pool game and the girls contest for the Chittenden Trophy this Friday in the final, having being undefeated this term. The girls also completed a clean sweep at the Hawera Winter Tournament, winning the Wilson Cup. We have also had our year 5/6 rippa rugby team compete in the Champion of Champions trophy at Yarrows Stadium, where we were only a few tries from the final. Next term we are lining up the year 7/8 McLeod Shield and Hurlstone Trophy competitions for rugby and netball.
It has been great to welcome a number of new families to the school and it's always a pleasure to see new faces running around the playground. All our new students have joined in well and we are extremely lucky to have such a great group of students at our school. A big thanks to all those parents who have helped out, from the SPA to sports coaches to parent help in the classrooms. You are what makes this school such a supportive and great place to be.
Have a great holiday,
MrC
Thursday, 19 June 2014
Jarad's Jargon
The results are in! Last week we competed in the Champion of Champions rippa rugby tournament and performed exceedingly well. With a couple of catches here and there, we may have turned a couple of results and even challenged for the title!
Here are our results...
Win 5 - 4 vs St Joesephs Stratford
Win 6 - 3 vs Egmont Village
Loss 5 - 7 vs West End Primary
Loss 4 - 6 vs Waitara East
Loss 8 - 10 vs Normanby
Yesterday we also competed in the annual Kissick Eraio touch rugby/netball tournament held in Kaponga. Congratulations to our year 5/6 netball team who defended their title. Our other teams also were very competitive.
Year 5/6 touch rugby - third
Year 7/8 touch rugby - third
Year 5/6 netball - first
Year 7/8 netball - runners up
Next week our year 5/6 rugby and netball teams will be competing in the Bhana cup at Hawera Primary and our Year 7/8s are playing at Yarrows Stadium in their rippa rugby tournament, so come down and support our teams if you can!
Don't forget our Bingo night is on next Friday in the Hall. Come down and bring the family for a fun night with our community. We are hoping we get a good night where the sky isn't falling down!
Go the AB's this weekend, hoping that they can close out the series and best of luck to our Bhana Cup and rippa teams next week.
MrC
Here are our results...
Win 5 - 4 vs St Joesephs Stratford
Win 6 - 3 vs Egmont Village
Loss 5 - 7 vs West End Primary
Loss 4 - 6 vs Waitara East
Loss 8 - 10 vs Normanby
Yesterday we also competed in the annual Kissick Eraio touch rugby/netball tournament held in Kaponga. Congratulations to our year 5/6 netball team who defended their title. Our other teams also were very competitive.
Year 5/6 touch rugby - third
Year 7/8 touch rugby - third
Year 5/6 netball - first
Year 7/8 netball - runners up
Next week our year 5/6 rugby and netball teams will be competing in the Bhana cup at Hawera Primary and our Year 7/8s are playing at Yarrows Stadium in their rippa rugby tournament, so come down and support our teams if you can!
Don't forget our Bingo night is on next Friday in the Hall. Come down and bring the family for a fun night with our community. We are hoping we get a good night where the sky isn't falling down!
Go the AB's this weekend, hoping that they can close out the series and best of luck to our Bhana Cup and rippa teams next week.
MrC
Monday, 16 June 2014
Rippa Rugby Champion of Champions Tournament
Last Friday we took our year 5/6 rippa rugby team to Yarrows Stadium for the Champion of Champions tournament. There were ten of the best Y5/6 rippa rugby teams in the province and we were playing off for a chance to represent Taranaki in the national tournament in Wellington.
We started the day by going into overtime against St Josephs Stratford after the score was 4-4 in regulation time. After a couple of sets, we managed to score the winning try. This set the tone for what was going to be a nervous day for the spectators!
Results:
Win 5 - 4 vs St Joesephs Stratford
Win 6 - 3 vs Egmont Village
Loss 5 - 7 vs West End Primary
Loss 4 - 6 vs Waitara East
Loss 8 - 10 vs Normanby
Despite losing the last few games our team was in the hunt throughout every game, with only one or two drop balls or a runaway try being the difference in most of the games. Despite only having a couple of subs for the day our students were still running up and down the pitch with great enthusiasm! Our game against Waitara East, who were the eventual winners, could have gone either way with a runaway try near the end of the game by Waitara being the difference between the two teams.
Great effort everyone and a big thanks to the supporters who travelled with the team.
We started the day by going into overtime against St Josephs Stratford after the score was 4-4 in regulation time. After a couple of sets, we managed to score the winning try. This set the tone for what was going to be a nervous day for the spectators!
Results:
Win 5 - 4 vs St Joesephs Stratford
Win 6 - 3 vs Egmont Village
Loss 5 - 7 vs West End Primary
Loss 4 - 6 vs Waitara East
Loss 8 - 10 vs Normanby
Despite losing the last few games our team was in the hunt throughout every game, with only one or two drop balls or a runaway try being the difference in most of the games. Despite only having a couple of subs for the day our students were still running up and down the pitch with great enthusiasm! Our game against Waitara East, who were the eventual winners, could have gone either way with a runaway try near the end of the game by Waitara being the difference between the two teams.
Great effort everyone and a big thanks to the supporters who travelled with the team.
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Jarad's Jargon
The next couple of weeks are going to be hectic with sports activities!!! Today we are taking our Year 5/6 rippa team to Yarrows Stadium to play in the Champion of Champions tournament to decide who represent Taranaki in the Wellington Tournament. Best of luck to that team!
Next week we have a school trip for the senior classrooms to Puke Ariki to support our topic of Mt Taranaki this term. We also have a lot of sports happening again. The Kissick Eriao touch rugby/netball tournament is next Thursday, and Sport Taranaki are coming in on Wednesday to train our year 7/8s up for the rippa tournament in two weeks. In the same week we are competing in semi-finals for rugby and netball in the Crowley Cup and on the 25th the year 5/6 rugby/netball teams are competing in the Bhana Cup.
To keep up to date, check in at http://www.matapu.school.nz/p/calendar.html on our website.
It's going to be a really busy couple of weeks with reports also coming out before the end of the term.
Have a great weekend everyone. Great effort to the Black Caps in toppling a Windies team in the West Indies for only the second time and here's hoping the AB's step up this weekend!
MrC
Next week we have a school trip for the senior classrooms to Puke Ariki to support our topic of Mt Taranaki this term. We also have a lot of sports happening again. The Kissick Eriao touch rugby/netball tournament is next Thursday, and Sport Taranaki are coming in on Wednesday to train our year 7/8s up for the rippa tournament in two weeks. In the same week we are competing in semi-finals for rugby and netball in the Crowley Cup and on the 25th the year 5/6 rugby/netball teams are competing in the Bhana Cup.
To keep up to date, check in at http://www.matapu.school.nz/p/calendar.html on our website.
It's going to be a really busy couple of weeks with reports also coming out before the end of the term.
Have a great weekend everyone. Great effort to the Black Caps in toppling a Windies team in the West Indies for only the second time and here's hoping the AB's step up this weekend!
MrC
Thursday, 5 June 2014
Jarad's Jargon
A big thanks to those who have brought cans and bottles the last couple of weeks. At the moment Blue House has a significant lead, though there is still a chance to catch them up. Next week we are gathering in children's toys in the form of little knick knacks that might have been purchased at the $2 shop. If you had forgotten to bring in cans and bottles, we are still taking in those as well.
Reminder - Friday the 27th of June for BINGO night.
Reminder that Anderson Pie Orders are due back at school by next Tuesday, the 10th of June.
Congratulations to our year 5/6 netball and rugby teams. The final pool round took place yesterday and both teams have made it to the semi finals to be played in a couple of weeks. The netball team go through as top qualifiers having won all their pool games and the rugby team has won two out of their three games. Best of luck for the semis!!!
Have a great weekend everyone, and go the AB's this weekend against England!!!
MrC
Reminder - Friday the 27th of June for BINGO night.
Reminder that Anderson Pie Orders are due back at school by next Tuesday, the 10th of June.
Congratulations to our year 5/6 netball and rugby teams. The final pool round took place yesterday and both teams have made it to the semi finals to be played in a couple of weeks. The netball team go through as top qualifiers having won all their pool games and the rugby team has won two out of their three games. Best of luck for the semis!!!
Have a great weekend everyone, and go the AB's this weekend against England!!!
MrC
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Virtual Reality visits Matapu...
Yesterday we had a visitor who brought their virtual reality headsets to our school. The whole school managed to experience a roller-coaster without leaving the library!!! It was quite amazing how the kits worked and it even made MrC a little sick.
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Jarad's Jargon
A reminder that on the 27th of June the school will be holding a BINGO night. It will be a great chance to bring the family and have a great night. For some of the prizes we are doing a collection over the next couple of weeks. Next week we are looking for CANS and BOTTLES. Could you please send your donation to the school office. There is a house competition going where each object will earn house points.
If your child is away from school can you please let the school know by phone or text. We can spend a large amount of time trying to ring parents and caregivers to find out why children are away from school. The Ministry also require us to clarify the type of absence, which range from medicals to holidays and everything in between. If we cannot reach you and you do not make contact, the attendance system automatically registers your child as truant so please make contact when possible.
Have a great weekend,
MrC
If your child is away from school can you please let the school know by phone or text. We can spend a large amount of time trying to ring parents and caregivers to find out why children are away from school. The Ministry also require us to clarify the type of absence, which range from medicals to holidays and everything in between. If we cannot reach you and you do not make contact, the attendance system automatically registers your child as truant so please make contact when possible.
Have a great weekend,
MrC
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Our school blogs are in full swing and there are some fantastic examples of work on them at the moment. You can go to the school blogs by clicking on the room numbers on the side of our website. There is also a great feature on a number of the blogs where you can receive updates when new posts are made by entering your email.
Head lice are once again finding their way around our school. Can you please be vigilant at home, as it only takes one or two students to come to school with head lice to spread it around the classroom. If you would like help with treatment, contact the school and we can get our public health nurse to help out. There are a number of preventative steps you can take that can be found online from tea-tree oil or spraying lacquer hair spray before they come to school. If your child has head lice, remember that it takes multiple treatments to remove them.
Have a great weekend everyone,
MrC
Head lice are once again finding their way around our school. Can you please be vigilant at home, as it only takes one or two students to come to school with head lice to spread it around the classroom. If you would like help with treatment, contact the school and we can get our public health nurse to help out. There are a number of preventative steps you can take that can be found online from tea-tree oil or spraying lacquer hair spray before they come to school. If your child has head lice, remember that it takes multiple treatments to remove them.
Have a great weekend everyone,
MrC
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Last night our School Parent's Association held its AGM. In an effort to welcome new parents into our community and to gather as a community we will be holding a Bingo/Battons Up night on the 27th of June. It's a great opportunity to bring your children and have a fun night while reinforcing some great math number identification!!! For the next few weeks we will be asking for donations for prizes based on a particular theme. Everything will be packaged up and given out as prizes. Next week we will be collecting "CANS".
Have a great weekend everyone,
MrC
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Welcome back to school for Term 2!!! We have lots in store this term and it will fizz by, especially as it is only a nine week term.
A reminder to everyone that there will be no school next Monday and Tuesday. The teachers are visiting some high performing schools in Auckland as part of our professional development this year. It is an important part of teacher development to observe other classrooms and schools to help develop their own practise, and it is a powerful exercise to collaborate between staff and schools. We are not only looking at how they use technology in the classrooms, but will be noting teaching methods across all the curriculum areas with the aim to further enhance what we are doing at Matapu. As we will be travelling with Opunake and Auroa, it is also a great opportunity to share ideas amongst the three schools.
Our year 5/6 rugby and netball teams are playing in the local competition over the next few weeks. We have games in weeks two, three and four, with a possibility of games later in the term if we make the semi-finals. Best of luck to players and coaches for our game against Eltham next Wednesday. Please don't forget your gear after the long weekend!
Have a great weekend everyone.
MrC
A reminder to everyone that there will be no school next Monday and Tuesday. The teachers are visiting some high performing schools in Auckland as part of our professional development this year. It is an important part of teacher development to observe other classrooms and schools to help develop their own practise, and it is a powerful exercise to collaborate between staff and schools. We are not only looking at how they use technology in the classrooms, but will be noting teaching methods across all the curriculum areas with the aim to further enhance what we are doing at Matapu. As we will be travelling with Opunake and Auroa, it is also a great opportunity to share ideas amongst the three schools.
Our year 5/6 rugby and netball teams are playing in the local competition over the next few weeks. We have games in weeks two, three and four, with a possibility of games later in the term if we make the semi-finals. Best of luck to players and coaches for our game against Eltham next Wednesday. Please don't forget your gear after the long weekend!
Have a great weekend everyone.
MrC
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Our Easter Raffle was drawn today and a big congratulations to the winners. Huge thanks to those who supported this raffle by selling and buying tickets, and making egg donations. The draw was taken under supervision.
1st place: Jason Hurley
2nd place: Leesha Clarke
3rd place: Jarad Chittenden
4th place: Zak Orchard
5th place: Summer Vercammen
6th place: Casey Orchard
We have had a couple more cases of head lice at the school, so please be vigilant with your child's hair. I know that this can be a tedious task but the more carefully we monitor this at school and at home, the better the chance that we can control these spreading through families.
1st place: Jason Hurley
2nd place: Leesha Clarke
3rd place: Jarad Chittenden
4th place: Zak Orchard
5th place: Summer Vercammen
6th place: Casey Orchard
We have had a couple more cases of head lice at the school, so please be vigilant with your child's hair. I know that this can be a tedious task but the more carefully we monitor this at school and at home, the better the chance that we can control these spreading through families.
Thanks again for the great term everyone. It has been really busy with our 125th Jubilee, a number of field trips, athletics, swimming sports, interviews, raffles as well as normal day to day activities. A big thanks to all those who have helped out throughout the term and have a well deserved break over the holidays.
MrC
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Jarad's Jargon
We are still looking for a slink calf run co-ordinator. If you are willing to help out with this please contact the school. We need to have a someone sorted by early next term and if we do not get a co-ordinator then we run the risk of losing this form of fundraising for the school.
Coaches wanted: Year 5/6 rugby starting term 2. We have a bunch of boys who are keen to play and rearing to go for next term. Time is running out for preparation for their first game early next term. We also need a coach for our year 7/8 McLeod Shield rugby team. The McLeod Shield competition doesn't start until term 3, but it would be great to have practises begin in term 2 to prepare the boys. If you are able to help out with either of these roles, please contact the school.
If you receive a mini ball notice it means that your child has indicated that they are keen to play mini ball for the school next term. Can you please return these next week indicating if they can play or not.
The school bus will be running early on the last day of term, next Thursday. It will be leaving school at 1pm instead of 2:45pm. Please make arrangements for your child to be picked up from the bus stop with this new time in mind.
Have a great weekend everyone, and hopefully the Canes can keep up their winning streak!!!
MrC
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Statistics in R6
Room 6 have been doing some great investigations. They are learning to read graphs and make conclusions from data they collect.
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Great writing Jazmyn!!!
Room 4 went out and played hide and seek a couple of weeks ago and are now finishing their writing based on that experience. Jazmyn's piece of work caught my eye because of some amazing descriptive language she has used. I LOVE the simile in her story and the descriptive verbs. Well done Jazmyn!
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Jarad's Jargon
We are currently looking for parent help for two things rapidly coming up.
Our year 5/6 rugby team needs a coach to go into next term's local rugby competition. The draw isn't out yet, but it would involve 3-4 games and idealistically at least one practise a week.
We are also looking for someone to organise the slink calf run for this year. The money raised through this fundraising event is extremely important to supplement the funding we receive from the government to run the school. We will go through with you how this system works and provide step by step guidance to help organise the roster.
If you are able to help out with either of these activities please contact the school as soon as possible.
A big thanks to everyone who has donated easter eggs for our raffle. Also, a big thank you for selling tickets to the raffle. We very much appreciate the time and effort that goes into these fundraising events.
We currently have a lot of lost property stored in our boxes at school. Clothing ranges from socks, shoes, jerseys, t-shirts etc. Pretty much everything from head to toe. Clothing that is named is very easily returned to their owners so it is a great idea to name as much as practically possible!
Next Wednesday is our school Athletics.
At 12pm students will assemble on the back court. There will be five rounds of 20 minute-activities (shot put, discuss, long jump, relays and sprints) starting at 12:20pm. This leaves the sprint finals, house relay, pre-school run and parent/teacher vs student relay to start at 2pm approx. There will be no backup day for bad weather and if we have to cancel the day a school text will be sent out.
Please make sure your cell phone details are kept up to date so you receive messages via text from the school. If you do not wish to receive these messages, let us know and we will take your number off our list.
Have a great weekend,
MrC
Our year 5/6 rugby team needs a coach to go into next term's local rugby competition. The draw isn't out yet, but it would involve 3-4 games and idealistically at least one practise a week.
We are also looking for someone to organise the slink calf run for this year. The money raised through this fundraising event is extremely important to supplement the funding we receive from the government to run the school. We will go through with you how this system works and provide step by step guidance to help organise the roster.
If you are able to help out with either of these activities please contact the school as soon as possible.
A big thanks to everyone who has donated easter eggs for our raffle. Also, a big thank you for selling tickets to the raffle. We very much appreciate the time and effort that goes into these fundraising events.
We currently have a lot of lost property stored in our boxes at school. Clothing ranges from socks, shoes, jerseys, t-shirts etc. Pretty much everything from head to toe. Clothing that is named is very easily returned to their owners so it is a great idea to name as much as practically possible!
Next Wednesday is our school Athletics.
At 12pm students will assemble on the back court. There will be five rounds of 20 minute-activities (shot put, discuss, long jump, relays and sprints) starting at 12:20pm. This leaves the sprint finals, house relay, pre-school run and parent/teacher vs student relay to start at 2pm approx. There will be no backup day for bad weather and if we have to cancel the day a school text will be sent out.
Please make sure your cell phone details are kept up to date so you receive messages via text from the school. If you do not wish to receive these messages, let us know and we will take your number off our list.
Have a great weekend,
MrC
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Keep those easter egg raffles coming in. At the moment we almost have enough for one placing, though the other baskets are still empty. These need to be in by 11th April so the baskets can be made up and put on display for the last week of term. Tickets will be sent out next week.
Can you please keep the school front gate closed when you come to school. It is a busy road and we always have young students new to the school and Hastings road can get very busy at times.
Please note that the pool will be closed from next Monday onwards. This means we will not be testing or chlorinating the pool after the weekend.
Head lice is once again doing the rounds at school. I know that this can often be an expensive and frustrating time for all families at the school. If you know your child has had head lice can you please be vigilant and check their hair on a regular basis. If you see signs, please treat your child's hair. I appreciate that this can be a time consuming and expensive process, but if nothing is done then the problem on your child's head becomes a problem for everyone else they come in close contact with. Don't forget that you need to retreat your child's hair after seven days of first treatment.
Can you please keep the school front gate closed when you come to school. It is a busy road and we always have young students new to the school and Hastings road can get very busy at times.
Please note that the pool will be closed from next Monday onwards. This means we will not be testing or chlorinating the pool after the weekend.
Head lice is once again doing the rounds at school. I know that this can often be an expensive and frustrating time for all families at the school. If you know your child has had head lice can you please be vigilant and check their hair on a regular basis. If you see signs, please treat your child's hair. I appreciate that this can be a time consuming and expensive process, but if nothing is done then the problem on your child's head becomes a problem for everyone else they come in close contact with. Don't forget that you need to retreat your child's hair after seven days of first treatment.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Jarad's Jargon
Big thanks to those parents who attended our Meet 'n Greet last night. This term has been a busy one for events and meetings at the school, with our parent interviews, swimming sports (both at school and at Opunake), athletics and as well as class trips. I cannot emphasise the impact your involvement in these events helps positively influence student motivation and achievement in school. This is not only important with attending events, but also with conversations happening at home about what they are learning at school. Students who have that support from home often transfer that enthusiasm into the classroom.
A reminder to everyone that there are two teacher only days coming up early in term 2, 12th and 13th of May. We are going to Auckland with Auroa and Opunake to look at other high performing schools so, as a staff, we are kept informed of current "best practices" in the classrooms. School will be closed for these dates.
Due to changes with bus pick-ups, the times the bus will leave Kapuni are 8:40am and 3:40pm. Can you please ensure you are there at least five minutes before this time. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Have a great weekend everyone,
MrC
We won the battle, but lost the war!!! Well done parents for beating the staff in our swimming relay...again...this year. Big thanks to Ethan who managed to capture this moment where greased lightning on the left managed to hold out the students by a whisker!
A reminder to everyone that there are two teacher only days coming up early in term 2, 12th and 13th of May. We are going to Auckland with Auroa and Opunake to look at other high performing schools so, as a staff, we are kept informed of current "best practices" in the classrooms. School will be closed for these dates.
Due to changes with bus pick-ups, the times the bus will leave Kapuni are 8:40am and 3:40pm. Can you please ensure you are there at least five minutes before this time. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Have a great weekend everyone,
MrC
We won the battle, but lost the war!!! Well done parents for beating the staff in our swimming relay...again...this year. Big thanks to Ethan who managed to capture this moment where greased lightning on the left managed to hold out the students by a whisker!
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Time capsule snippet from Room 4's blog
This was a great day, some really neat stuff put in this capsule!
Check out Room 4's blog to check out other cool stuff happening in the classroom!
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Jarad's Jargon
It's amazing what you can pack into a shortened week sometimes. Even though we have only had four days at school we have managed to send a group of students to the triathlon in Opunake, where our students are getting faster and faster, and also sent another group to a WOMAD performance on Thursday. I have been told that this was an incredible experience! On top of that, our school swimming sports is today. Big thanks to Michelle McLeod who has been meticulous in keeping our pool and our pool area spotless. We (especially MrC!) very much appreciate the time and effort that this requires.
Next Thursday we will be holding a meet'n greet at school. This is an opportunity for parents to meet the staff, if you haven't already, and have a sausage sizzle (BYO salads) in the sun. The pool will be open and we will organise tennis/cricket games on the night. The BBQ will start cooking at 5:30pm. All welcome,
Have a great weekend,
MrC
WOMAD performers getting our students moving and dancing on Thursday
Thursday, 6 March 2014
Jarad's Jargon
I'd like to start with congratulating our Matapu School Councillors for 2014. Well done Ethan McLeod, Maia Rupapera-Maeke, Nikita MacDonald and Matthew Picard. The standard of applications was, once again, very high and we look forward to the activities that the 2014 Councillors have planned for this year.
Next Friday is our school swimming sports. We plan to start the swimming events at 12pm this year, which is a little earlier than previous years. We encourage students to dress in their house colours and I would also like to remind parents to bring their togs for the parent/staff/student relay. The teachers will be after some payback after losing our undefeated record last year!
Reminder to parents that we are a water only school and if drinks are sent to school with students they need to be water.
Have a great weekend,
MrC
The weather turned it on for us on Thursday at the athletics at Kaponga. We all had a great day and all the students ran extremely hard in their races. Big thanks to the parent support we had on the day!
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Jarad's Jargon
This week has been action packed with various activities! On Monday the senior school went to Puke Ariki as part of our Water unit for this term. On Wednesday we sent our first triathlon team to compete in the triathlon event held in Opunake. They all competed ferociously and were excellent representatives of our school. We have also had parent interviews this week. If you missed out on your time, or couldn't make this particular date, I strongly encourage you to make contact with your child's classroom teacher over the next few weeks to discuss how your child is working and getting along at school. Often it is very empowering for a student to hear their teacher and parent/caregiver discuss their attitude, behaviour etc and can have an impact on their education.
There are still a number of accounts outstanding from last year. If you have outstanding accounts can you please make contact with the school and organise payment, whether it be automatic payments or another method. It is important to ensure your account is settled each year so it doesn't continue to grow from year to year. We will be making contact with those who have outstanding accounts and who haven't organised payments by the end of April.
Have a great weekend everyone,
MrC
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Jarad's Jargon
We have figured out a lot of new dates for things coming up in the school this week, which are all on our school website under the calendar. We will also be updating our Facebook page with these new dates. Our classroom blogs are up and running now as well, so go in and check out what's happening in the classrooms! All the links can be found at our website, www.matapu.school.nz.
It's that time of the year where we are looking for sports coaches for upcoming competitions. If you are interested in coaching rugby, netball, basketball, mini ball, touch rugby or rippa rugby come in and let us know. We had a great turnout last year with regards to teams involved in sports and we hope that continues for 2014.
Just a reminder to contact the school if your child is going to be absent. You can leave a message on the phone or text us to let us know. We are required to provide a reason for a student being absent from school, otherwise they are considered to be truant, so it saves us a lot of time if you make contact with the school with regards to any absentees.
Have a great weekend everybody!
MrC
On Tuesday we planted a time capsule that the school has created to commemorate our 125th Jubilee. We also had Roberta and Stephanie Murray visit the school to rebury the capsule that was buried in 2004 during the school merger. (Unfortunately we are still trying to locate the capsule buried in 1988 at the last jubilee, even metal detectors couldn't find it!)
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Jarad's Jargon
The Jubilee weekend has been and gone and, despite the weather, it was a great event. We had over 400 people visit the school over the three days and had amazing feedback about our school and those students who helped out. I even learnt a few things about the history of our area! A really big thanks to everyone who helped out over the weekend, including those from the BOT and SPA. Special thanks to Sarah Robinson, Natarsha Blanchard and Amanda Buckthought who also spent a number of hours organising a variety of events.
Parent interviews are on Thursday the 27th of February. These first interviews will have a portion of the interview where the student will be explaining their goals. There're will be an opportunity to talk with the teacher after this. There will be a timetable sent out today so get your forms back in as quick as possible so you get your preferred time slot!
Have a great weekend and look out for me on the tv at the 9's in Auckland!
MrC
Parent interviews are on Thursday the 27th of February. These first interviews will have a portion of the interview where the student will be explaining their goals. There're will be an opportunity to talk with the teacher after this. There will be a timetable sent out today so get your forms back in as quick as possible so you get your preferred time slot!
Have a great weekend and look out for me on the tv at the 9's in Auckland!
MrC
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Hello 2014!!! Welcome to those who have joined our community this year and welcome back to those who are returning. This is our new school site where you can find out various things about our school, from newsletters to videos. It is still under development at this stage and I will be adding things constantly to keep you all updated with what is happening at Matapu. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.
Have a great week!!!
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