Kia ora, Talofa lava, hello!

On Monday we farewelled our long time Caretaker, Clive. Clive has worked at our school for 18 years, and has been a key member of our Team throughout this time. Clive’s wife, Fe also finished her time cleaning with us last Friday. Clive and Fe have been long-standing members of our community and their children also attended our school many years ago. While we will miss Clive and Fe, we know that a new chapter of their lives awaits and we are extremely grateful for their care and attention to our school over their time with us. As committed and loyal members of our community, we know that we will continue to have a strong connection with Clive and Fe in the future. Our new caretaker, Rob Stent begins in two weeks on March 2nd. This year we have a continued focus on whenaungatanga / belonging, as well as Numeracy and Literacy. We are busy setting school - wide targets in these three areas and we will share these targets in our next newsletter, once our Board have seen them and approved them at our first meeting next week. Our mahi/work in these areas is led by key staff and supported by Shevaun, myself and our two team leaders - Jeanette and Nick. Verity has a with-in school role for Literacy; Amy leads Maths and Rach is leading Wellbeing. Welcome to our six Graduate School of New Zealand Interns who are with us for seven weeks training to be teachers – Emily, Ben, Emma, Sylvia, Hannah and Caitlin. Working in partnership with teacher training providers is very important to us, as we are committed to training, learning and working alongside the best people for our teaching profession. Our children deserve to be educated by the best and we love supporting this process! Our ‘community time’ programme starts this Friday. This is another important way that we connect with our community and for our children to ‘pay it forward’ and develop a strong sense of belonging / whenaungatanga. Every fortnight on Friday mornings we have groups of children visiting Chatswood Rest home, Kōwhai rest home and Ōpāwa / St Martins Kindy. We also have groups of students who tend to our playground, Ōpāwaho (Heathcote River) and school garden. We are looking forward to connecting with you this Friday at our community picnic from 5-7pm on the lower field. Have a great week. Ngā mihi, Sally

ŌPĀWA SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

Term 1, Week 3

19th February 2020

30 Ford Road, Christchurch

Telephone: 332 6374

Cell: 022 319 1181

Email: admin@opawa.school.nz

Website: www.opawa.school.nz

H & S Community Picnic 21st February

School Swimming Sports 26th February

BOT meeting 27th February

Cycle Safety 2nd-6th March

South Swimming Zones 11th March

Year 7/8 Camp 17th-20th March

Good Friday 10th Apr

Anzac Day 27th Apr

Teacher Only Day 28th April

2020 TERM DATES

End of Term 1 9th Apr

Term 2 28th Apr-Jul 3rd

Term 3 20th Jul-25th Sep

Term 4 12th Oct-16th Dec

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Government School Donation Scheme

The Government recently announced its School Donations Scheme, where schools will get an additional $150 per

student if they no longer ask for donations to cover the costs of delivering curriculum related activities. After careful

consideration the Ōpāwa School Board intends to ‘opt in’ to this scheme for 2020. This will mean that parents will no

longer be asked to pay for:

Curriculum based activities and visits eg: swimming lessons, arts, visiting shows.

However we will be able, and will need to, ask for:

Donations towards the cost of running overnight school camps Payment of costs for non-curriculum events eg: specialist sports events, technology take home component,

Voluntary School donation:

If families/whānau or any other organisations want to give a donation, GST is not payable and donation tax credits can be claimed.

We plan to communicate clearly about the actual cost of all events, so that you can choose to help if you wish! As has

always been the case we can only provide opportunities for our children when we have enough money to do so!

Further information is available via this link https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/publications/budget-

2019/government-introduces-donations-scheme-for-decile-1-7-schools/.

Additional Teacher Only Day The Community of Learning collectively decided that Tuesday 28th April 2020 will be a joint Teacher only day. School will not be open this day.

Scholastic NZ Issue 1 closes on Friday 21st

February

If your child has bought home a Christchurch School of Music application, these now need to be

returned to the School Office

Our three suppliers of our uniform are:

The Warehouse, Eastgate

Mainland Uniforms, 189 Peterborough Street, City, Telephone 377-6771

Little One, 4/132 Opawa Road, (second hand uniforms)

Uniform/Dress Students are expected and encouraged to take pride in their general appearance.

Our uniform is available from: Mainland Uniforms, 189 Peterborough Street - Telephone 377-6771

The Warehouse, Eastgate

Secondhand uniforms are sold at a local shop called ‘little one; which is located at 132 Opawa Road.

Please see http://www.opawa.school.nz/uniform.html for the full Ōpāwa School uniform.

The uniform should be clean, tidy and named.

Only the long sleeved Ōpāwa School undergarment (gunmetal grey) should be visible under the Ōpāwa polo shirt.

Socks/tights - plain navy, black or white.

Shoes must be black, brown or predominantly white trainers, leather shoes or sandals.

School sun hats must be worn in Terms 1 and 4. Plain black or beige bucket/wide brimmed hat or cap.

No nail polish and/or makeup to be worn at school.

Coloured hair is not appropriate.

Hair accessories: plain black, nave or orange headbands, ties, ribbons, bows or clips. Ties, ribbons, bows or clips to be no longer than 8cm in diameter.

Drawing on skin and tattoo transfers are not acceptable.

One piece swimming togs are recommended.

No jewellery should be worn except watches and ear studs or sleepers. No other earrings. Any other jewellery, including rings and necklaces can be a safety hazard and are not to be worn at school. All jewellery must be removed for sport. Variations due to cultural or religious beliefs are allowed on written request from parents/caregivers.

The final decision on all matters relating to the uniform resides with the principal

Subway Every Tuesday – have you tried online

ordering?

With online ordering there’s no need for

envelopes, however this option is still

available

To place an order for your child,

simply log on to online system, and

follow the instructions below to

pace an order before 9am each

Tuesday. Please note that you can

order days beforehand if you wish.

Visit www.subway.co.nzschools and select

SUBWAY School Lunch Programme –

Ferrymead Branch.

Either create an account or login by

following the prompts

Lunch online/Sushi Lunches can be ordered using lunch online.

This is an online service where

parents/caregivers set up their own

account, order lunch and pay online. The

lunch is then delivered to school on a

Wednesday in time for our lunch break.

To view the menu or to set up an account

is simple; all you need to do is register at

www.lunchonline.co.nz and follow 4 easy

steps to get started:

1. Register an account

2. Add member/s including your

child’s name, school and

classroom

3. Make a payment so you have

funds in your account before you

order

148 Main Rd, Redcliffs Christchurch

Shay from Moa Kids preschool, will be

starting classes in in the 2nd week of Term 1,

February 2020, on both Mondays and

Wednesdays. For children aged 4yrs to 11yrs.

Times for Mondays and Wednesdays:

3.20pm – 4.15pm & 4.20pm – 5.20pm.

There will be a couple of fun filled days in

January where you are welcome to come and

join in. Please see our Facebook page:

Braveheart Performing Arts for more

information.

VIOLIN TUITION Born in Moldova, one of the ex-Soviet Union republics. Academical degree, Graduated of Moldavian State Conservatorium:

Diploma in Speciality String Instruments – Violin, Soloist interpreter/ Symphonic Orchestra Artist/ Chamber Ensemble Artist/ Music

Teacher.

Violin player of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, solo and chamber group performer, leader of the Resonance Ensemble.

More than 30 years teaching experience and 27 of playing in Symphony orchestra in both countries Moldova and New Zealand.

During the time in Moldavian Symphony Orchestra performed in La Scala, Sala Verdi in Milano. Has also, performed on other,

prestigious stages in Italy, Spain. Germany, Switzerland, Romania.

Being in New Zealand, has touring with CSO to Japan. Performed with CSO on the same stage with such celebrities as Dianna

Krall, Cliff Richard, George Benson, Serj Tankian, and Andrea Bocelli.

Currently teaching at CSM, SDMS, St.Martins, Opawa, Hillview Christian School and privately both Violin and Viola, Theory of

Music.

Cornelia Didenco came to New Zealand, 19 years ago. Married. 3 children.

Enjoying family activities, gardening, cooking, accompanied by two cats and two cockatiels.

Speaks languages: Moldavian/Romanian, Russian and English.

Fees $40 - individual 30 min. or group of two students

$26 - individual 20 min.