Maungawhau School Newsletter Term 1 Week 9

Monday 30 March 2015

‘A nurturing community of active, confident and connected learners striving to achieve’’

Dear Parents/Caregivers We welcome Grace, Alfie in room 1, Isabella in room 2 and their families to the Maungawhau School community. Well here we are at the end of term already, and what a huge term it has been. All three teams have

experienced enriching out of school experiences the senior team (Matauranga) at Camp Adair, the middle

team (Waipuna) at Tiritiri Matangi and the juniors at the Art Gallery. Again thanks to our

parents/caregivers for all your support. This enables these amazing experiences to occur. A huge thank you

to our staff, who work so hard and do their very best to offer our students a great education. I trust that

everyone enjoys a well-deserved break over the school holidays and look forward to seeing everyone again

on Monday 20 April.

Swimming Pool - The swimming pool will be open for pool key holders until the end of the school holidays

Sunday 19 April. We ask that all keys are then returned back to the school office in week one of term 2

please.

Shave For A Cure - This Wednesday four of our staff (Martin Rodwell, Eliot Hall, Anthony Curry and Ben

Fahey) are shaving their heads at a special assembly for ‘Shave for a Cure’ a New Zealand fundraiser for

leukaemia and blood cancer. So far they have raised $1 455 for this worthy cause. If you would still like to

donate go to the ‘Shave for a Cure’ website and under schools find Maungawhau Magic. Students are

being encouraged to donate a gold coin this Wednesday. We are one of the few primary schools

participating in this worthwhile event. Thank you Eliot for this great initiative.

Staff News - This week we farewell Nick Ryde, who has been our music specialist for this term. Prior to this

Nick taught in the senior school team. Nick we thank you for your work with the rock band since being

here, for all of the music groups you have initiated this term, for working so well with your colleagues in

the senior team, and for stepping up at camp recently. We wish you and your wife all the best in London as

you start a new teaching position. You will be missed.

Virginia Papali’i- Curtin will be our music specialist for the remainder of this year, until Claire Pearce

returns from maternity leave. Virginia has already been working with some of our students through Lewis

Eady since 2008. At Lewis Eady she has tutored in violin, voice, piano, ukulele and recorder. Virginia has

her Masters in Music Performance (violin) from Auckland University and her ATCL in Speech and Drama.

She also has a Graduate Diploma in Teaching. Most recently Viriginia has been Head of Vocals at Hillsong

Campus in Sydney. We warmly welcome Virginia to Maungawhau and look forward to her sharing her

musical skills with our students.

Jemimah O’Leary is returning to our school to start our new New Entrant class at the beginning of term

two. We also welcome Jeanette Poole who will be a new Learning Support worker attached to Room 1.

We also welcome Diana Ford from the University of Indiana, who is with us until 13 May. Diana has

completed her teacher training programme and is on placement with us for a NZ school experience. We

welcome her to our school.

FOMS Meeting - Last week we had another great turn out. It was great to see the results of the FOMS

wish list survey which saw 64 parents and 18 teachers respond. I am sure that the results of the survey will

be published in due course.

I hope to see as many of your children as possible enjoying our end of term ‘Superheroes’ disco this

Wednesday evening. We are running two evening sessions to enable us to accommodate as many

students as possible. There are plenty of tickets still available. We do still need at least three more parents

to help at session two and with the clean-up at the end. If you can assist could you please contact the

school office in person or by email?

Kind regards

Delanee Dale

Reminders Whole School Assembly this Thursday 2 April led by room 25 Whole School Sausage Sizzle – Thursday 2 April led by room 24 with support from parents

of rooms 24 and 19 (Order forms sent home today) School closes at 3pm Thursday 2 April for two weeks holiday

Term 2 BOT Meeting Dates Meetings start at 5.30pm in the school staffroom.

Thursday 21 May Thursday 18 June

Term 2 FOMS Meeting Dates Meetings start at 7.30pm in the school staffroom.

Wednesday 27 May Wednesday 24 June

Upcoming Events Whole School Cross Country will be held on Thursday 30 April. More details will be sent home

closer to the date.

ANI Modern Learning Environment Information Evening This is an open invitation to an information evening at Auckland Normal Intermediate School. The information evening is about the Modern Learning Environments or MLEs we have developed and could be of interest to those parents with children in year 6 looking to move on to ANI next year. The evening is designed give current and perspective parents an insight into the new learning spaces our students are working in. The evening will be just over an hour and will consist of an introduction to MLEs, information about the style of teaching and learning that goes on in these spaces and details of why we believe it the best way for our students to learn. This will be followed up with an optional of all the MLEs currently in operation and the opportunity to ask question of some of the teachers working in these spaces. If you think you would be interested the evening is on Wednesday 6th of May at ANI.

Lost Property All lost property will be laid out on trestle tables for students and parents to check this week outside the school library. All unclaimed lost property will be distributed to our chosen charity through the school holidays so please encourage your children to have a good look.

During the school term any bikes or scooters left on the school grounds at the end of the school day will be placed with the lost property (junior school courtyard) where they are secure overnight.

School Fair Request

Would you like to join the Fair Committee? The first fair committee meeting will be held on the Monday 30 March at 7.30pm in the school office and everyone is welcome! Come along and join in on planning another exciting event. You don’t need to be highly skilled to be a volunteer; you just need to want to help! We need as many people to assist with the behind the scenes logistics and helping us co-ordinate another successful event in 2015.....not to mention a great way to meet people! We’re also seeking someone to work alongside the committee chairperson in preparation for taking over the chairperson role in 2016. If you would like to join the team or have any ideas for this event, please contact us via this link or come along on the 30th. Thanks in advance, Jo

‘Dyslexia is a learning difference not a learning difficulty’ Last week was Dyslexia Advocacy week and this was a good chance to check what we are doing for our Dyslexic students and acknowledge them in the classroom. Dyslexia is an alternative way of thinking-a learning preference- that affects an estimated one in ten New Zealanders, including 70,000 NZ school children. Our teachers have, in the past, had professional learning around dyslexia and we have resources to support us in the school. The website www.dyslexiafoundation.org.nz/ is a useful place to visit and contains a wonderful clip called Dyslexia: An Unwrapped Gift. We have dyslexic friendly classrooms at Maungawhau. We are positive and inclusive of all

learners. We are open to suggestions and often use pictures where possible. We appreciate all differences and work hard to make work exciting and relevant. Prominent dyslexia researcher, Dr Sally Shaywitz, in her book Overcoming Dyslexia says systematic and direct instruction in phonics, sight words and reading comprehension strategies along with practice every day in reading and writing are key ingredients of

effective early intervention programmes. These things are part of our learning programmes, especially in the junior school along with enriched language experiences that include interactive dialogue involving listening, speaking, storytelling. We also need to ensure we provide ways for student to learn and to show learning and knowledge in ways that don't require reading and writing, e.g., group work where reading and writing is not the dyslexic student’s responsibility, oral or video presentations, dioramas, collages, debates, recording, performance, power point presentations, cartooning, illustrations, moviemaking and craft skills. As the author of In the Minds Eye, Thomas West says, in the short clip Dyslexia: An unwrapped gift, we have now moved into a world where the written word is slowly being taken over by visual communication. He believes the “unique visual skills of dyslexics will put them at the forefront of innovation in a dramatically changing world.”

Superheroes Kids' Disco Wednesday 1 April Tickets are still available and can be purchased either online via ‘Wrap it Up’ (www.wrapitup.co.nz) or at the Office. We would love some parents to help with decorating and set-up or during the actual disco sessions. Please sign up at the office if you are able to help or contact Lucy MacGinley (lucymacginley@yahoo.com.au).

All tickets purchased using ‘wrap it up’ will be held on a list at the hall door therefore no tickets will be issued for the online payments.

Pre-Orders for the new 2015/16 Entertainment Book/Digital Memberships are available from 16 March. Purchase yours before 24 April and receive an extra $160 worth of Early Bird Vouchers that you can start using right away! Click here to pre-order http://www.entbook.co.nz/976s95 or go to www.wrapitup.co.nz to make your payment of $65. Books and Digital Memberships are distributed from the last week of April. Remember 20% of each purchase goes towards fundraising for our School.

Extra-curricular Activities

Our extra-curricular activities are run by teachers and are held during break times with some happening before and after school. Children are alerted to what is available to them via their class teacher in the daily notices. Some of the activities on offer are various Music Groups (Ukulele, Rock Band, Singing, and Choir), Drama, Games Club, Gardening Club, and Indian Dance.

Please note that ECA’s (extra-curricular activities) are subject to change without notice. Children are advised on a daily basis if this is the case.

Communication Home It is very important we keep our students’ details up to date and that we are notified immediately of any change of residential address, phone numbers and email addresses. Please include your child’s name and room number in any communication. If you wish to have the school newsletter go to a second email address please email Karen Blanchard on karenb@maungawhau.school.nz so it can be added to the recipients list.

Ezlunch - School Lunch Orders ezlunch (easy-lunch) take your school lunch orders through their website until 9am and deliver it to

our school at lunchtime. There's a full range of freshly made hot and cold meals, snacks and drinks, made by local fresh food caterers, Daily-Bread. Their food is great! Subway is available for ordering on Tuesday and Friday through ezlunch. The menu is all online. To order, go to www.ezlunch.co.nz, create an account and click on the items you want. It's very fast and simple to use. You can top up your account by credit/debit card (min $20) or bank transfer and use it up throughout the year. If you have any queries, call the Helpdesk 8am-4pm school days, on 09 4755287.

Community Notices

CAR FOR SALE 2006 Automatic silver Subaru Impreza that has just over 104,000km on the clock for sale for $8000 ONO. For more information contact Nick Ryde on nickandmel@hotmail.com

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUPPORT AT HOME Do you, or someone you know, need support and help to use every day English? I am a patient, kind, professionally qualified tutor with extensive coaching and training experience with adults. I enjoy working with individuals or couples, mums and dads at home, grandparents, etc. Reasonable rates. TEXT, phone or e-mail Carol for more information: 027 237 8793 / carolgi@actrix.co.nz