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Connect Communication
10th March 2021
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Well here we are and it is halfway through the term already. There is certainly an autumn chill in the morning air and you get the sense that daylight savings will soon be over. My emoji might soon need some winter clothes!
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This issue is chocka with news from the hubs as there has been such great learning happening in all our spaces. Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) provides rich learning opportunities and our children are so lucky to be utilising the outdoors in their learning. This of course needs your support, so thank you if you have taken the time to attend these trips and visits.
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A few weeks ago half of Hikuwai headed to Hanmer and next week the other half is off to Waipara. I spend one day and night at both locations and hats off to the parents and teachers for making these events happen.
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You may have noticed a few changes to our HERO app. We have now added links to the school calendar, you can view school dates and report your child's absence. It helps us with our administration if you take the time to record the reason for the absence. With these improvements and the knowledge that ALL whanau are HERO subscribers, we will phase out the use of the Skool Loop app. All notifications will then come through one place. This will be as a notification on the app, or if you do not have this feature, an email. If you are interested in paying to advertise in this space please let Trine know.
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Tēnā koutou from the Board of Trustees
We held our first meeting of the year on 17 February and re-elected Hilary Kingston as the Chair for 2021. Our main tasks were to approve the school's annual plan - which this year is built around oral language, Māori student achievement and gifted and talented students - and the finalised budget. We also approved the planning for the year 4/5/6 camp at Hanmer Springs.
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The school's policy on home learning is up for review this term - if you'd like to review the policy and comment on it, please visit our Schooldocs site at https://ararira.schooldocs.co.nz. Our username is "ararira" and password "russdrive". Comments can be anonymous, and all comments will be reviewed by the board at the next meeting on Wednesday 24 March.
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The board is also reviewing the finance and property management policy this term; and given our continuing rapid growth (13% this term so far!) we have appointed a property sub-committee to begin looking at options for the next stage of our building programme. We have received our Confirmed Assurance Review from the Education Review Office report following its visit in December (this is required two years after opening for all new schools). If you are interested in reading their review, you can find it on Our Board page. The board generally meets twice each term; the next meeting is on Wednesday 24 March.
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Hanmer Springs Camp
Our Hikuwai learners enjoyed an amazing three days in Hanmer Springs in week 4. We stayed at the Hanmer Forest Camp and had delicious meals provided by the Rusty Carrot. Our first day was full of sunshine and discovery, as we were straight off the bus and into activities. The team at Activity Hanmer were enthusiastic guides as they showed us how to survive in the bush, climb incredibly tall trees (with safety ropes), navigate the local mountain bike trails, and find the hidden markers on the orienteering course. It can be hard sleeping away from home but Charlie made it worth it by bringing enough chocolate birthday cake to share with everyone on the first night. Our parent helpers made sure the dishes were clean at the end of each meal and encouraged us to do our best at each activity - thank you for all your support Damien, Kelly, Todd, Umar, Virginia, Wayne and Zoe - we couldn't have done it without you!
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Before heading home we stopped by the hot pools and everyone agrees we could have stayed just a little bit longer before having to come back to school (sorry we were late - having too much fun!)
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Let's face it, we Cantabrians know that emergencies happen and we need to be prepared. I recently attended a superb workshop jointly run by the Ministry of Education and Police. This gave us the opportunity to fine-tune our plans and make a few changes. As a result, we have formed an incident management team. This includes me as Principal (or …
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Parent Help - Sports Tops
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The wonderful Te Hapori Tautoko group purchased school sport tops to issue to students who will represent Ararira Springs at any primary school sporting event. We are looking for a volunteer to help issue the tops and work with Blair and Hinehau to ensure the tops are returned. If this is something you are interested in please email blair.cook@ararira.school.nz
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It would be greatly appreciated if you are able to do this.
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Dates to put in the diary:
There are dates to diary for the next two weeks below but please be aware that we also put events on a community calendar, this is linked to our website.
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Wednesday 17th March - Y7/8 Camp
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Thursday 18th March - Y0/2 Sport Spectacular
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Wednesday 24th March - BOT Meeting 6:30 pm staffroom
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Thursday 25th March - Y5/6 Splashtacular Lake Crichton
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- Life Ed Carvan and Harold arrive
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- THT Meeting 7pm in staffroom
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Friday 2nd April - Good Friday - school closed
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Monday 5th April - Easter Monday - school closed
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Tuesday 6th April - Easter Tuesday - school closed
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Wednesday 7th April - School re-opens
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Friday 9th April - THT Movie Night
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Friday 16th April - End of Term 1
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Monday 3rd May - Term 2 starts
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As we have a few very busy weeks, we thought we would remind you that most school communication from teachers comes through our HERO app.
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If you haven’t installed the HERO app on your phone or logged in via a browser - please read the attached instructions, use the email address that you gave on your enrolment form to register and contact Trine if you aren’t able to connect to HERO.
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Welcome to...
Since our last newsletter, Hikuwai has welcomed Juanita and Micaiah and Huarapa welcomed Charlotte.
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We hope you have all settled in and made some new friends and that you will soon love Ararira as much as we do!
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If you know of a family in Ararira Springs Primary enrolment zone with children aged 3 - 5 or know someone moving soon, please forward this newsletter to them and ask them to complete an enrolment form or call us on 420 0888 to help us with our planning for 2021 and beyond.
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Student Privacy
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With lots of events happening in and around the school at the moment, we have lots of great photo opportunities. We are happy for you to download a copy of any photos for your own use but please do not reproduce them, forward to other people or post on social media if they include children other than your own without the permission of any other children's parents.
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Have you moved house or job?
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Please ensure that you email office@ararira.school.nz to let us know if your address, phone number or email has changed so that we can update our records.
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Medical records
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Has your child's health needs changed over the holidays - please let us know if this is the case!
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Young Writers Workshop
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On Friday the 5th of March Zarnder, John, Libby and I went to Turanga, a library in town. While we were there we did three different pieces of writing. The first piece of writing was about something we could see in the room or in our backyard and we had to be transforming into it. For the second piece of writing we were given three pictures and we had to choose one to link to our stories, and for the third, we got to choose a location to write about but it was guided and there were some things we had to include.
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Overall we all really enjoyed it.
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Te Hapori Tautoko |THT
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Tuesday Morning Coffee Group
Anyone is welcome to come along for a cuppa and a chat. It is a great way to meet new people in our school community and preschoolers are welcome to come along.
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When: Starting from 8.45 am
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Next THT Meeting
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Our next meeting is on Thursday 25 March starting at 7 pm in the staffroom.
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Anyone is welcome to come along and see what Te Hapori Tautoko (THT) is all about and help support our wonderful school community.
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When: Saturday, 20 March 2021 from 3-6 pm
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THT have organised a Karma Keg fundraising event to be held at The Laboratory, Lincoln and would love you to come along!
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This is a fantastic opportunity to socialise whilst raising funds for the school as ALL proceeds from the sale of the Karma Keg beer purchased during 3-6pm on the day go to Ararira Springs Primary. The Karma Keg beer of the day will be Galileo's Golden Lager (5%).
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Feel free to share this with your family and friends who are welcome to come along and join us.
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2nd Hand Clothing
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Te Hapori Tautoko has limited stock of second uniform. Donations of old uniform are always welcome. All profits from sales go back to our Kura (school).
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Cargo shorts: 4 x size 14 - $15 each.
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Skorts : 1 x Size 2, 4 x Size 8 - $15 each
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Polo shirt size 4 ( stained) - $4
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Please txt, Cassandra Robb 0274553834 or email cassrobb1@gmail.com to purchase.
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Wanted: Shein ziplock bags. If you shop online at Shein, their clothing is shipped in ziplock bags. These bags are perfect for organising our second-hand uniform stock. If you have any spare can you please drop them into the office?
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Donations of 2nd hand uniform always accepted. Please either drop to Trine at the school office or contact Cassandra.
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Kaunuku Visit the Forest to see Fairy Doors
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On Tuesday and Wednesday Kaunuku went on the bus to Darfield to visit McHugh's forest. We were on the hunt for fairy doors! We saw a giant blue gnome door, stick shelters, painted rocks and lots of decorated fairy doors. Some friendly fantails followed us on our walk and we enjoyed listening to them chirping. After a long walk, we stopped for lunch and then did some activities with nature such as a scavenger hunt and art creations. It was such a fun day and we are excited to use this experience as inspiration to create our own fairy doors!
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School Swimming Results
Well done to all the swimmers who competed at our first School Swimming sports held at Halswell Pool. Thank you to all the parent helpers that made the day run smoothly. Below are the results and those that placed in the top three will be invited to attend Lincoln Zone Swimming on Tuesday 9th March.
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Maku e whakatika
Jacob is leading the way with making things happen. He is wanting to fundraise some money for, 'shave for a cure!' He is planning on shaving on the 31st of March, any help would be greatly appreciated here is a link if anyone is interested.
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Tau kē Jacob that is fantastic!
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To offer extra support to Jacob and his cause, Libby, Hunter, Alex and Freya are organising a mufti day on the 31st March. Children will bring a gold coin donation for their mufti.
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KELLY CLUB
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Next week at Kelly Club it is Wildlife Week, get ready to get wild and learn about lots of cool animals! To book online head to www.kellyclub.co.nz
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Lincoln Netball Club – Dates for 2021
8 February 2021: Registration Opens
14 March 2021: Registrations Close for Year 7 & 8
26 March 2021: Registrations Close for Year 1 - 6
Year 7 & 8: Trial Dates
Sunday 21 March @ Lincoln Netball Courts
10am - 1pm
Thursday 25 March @ Lincoln Event Centre
5pm - 8pm
Year 1 – 6
These year groups are placed into teams based on their age and friendship groups (as much
as we can!)
Further information is available on our website: www.sporty.co.nz/lincolnnetball
Updates are announced on our Facebook page.
Alicia Hopping
Registrations Co-ordinator, Lincoln Netball Club
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