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Connect Communication

15th September 2021

Kia ora Whānau,

Well here we are again, readjusting to a return to school post lock down. Like you, I am sure you are looking forward to a time when we don't have to wear masks and we can open our gates and welcome everyone inside.
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Thank you all for the engagement in your child's learning over the time spent at home. It was wonderful to see all the work shared on Hero. The children have been excited to return to school and reconnect with their friends and teachers. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to the teaching team. Many of them trying to juggle working from home and parenting, like so many of you!

Unfortunately, the uncertainty about levels and the inability to secure the hall at the high school has meant we have had to postpone our production plans. Instead, we will add a dimension to our end of year hui that will be able to be easily modified if required. We will move our production to Term 1 of 2022. Other sporting events have had to be cancelled and postponed as well.

It just seems crazy that it is September already and we are starting to turn our heads towards planning for 2022. We are currently advertising for new staff. If you know anyone who is thinking of shifting to the area or planning on joining us, please ask them to complete our online enrolment form. This helps us with our planning.

Hopefully, we won't be in Level 2 for too much longer but while we are a few reminders;
  • We are adopting health and safety measures around cleaning, hand washing, safe distancing, and sanitizing
  • Masks do not have to be worn by children, we will support children who choose to
  • Parents are encouraged to wear masks
  • Where possible, drop your children at the gate
  • If you do come in you must sign in or use the COVID app and keep 2m distance from others
  • Parents are not allowed inside the learning spaces.
Bring on level 1!

Kia pai tō wiki
Claire and the Ararira Team

Welcome to Te Puna o Ararira

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This week we welcome Josh and Aidan to Huarapa, and Molly and Charlie to Kaunuku. We know you will soon love Ararira as much as we do.

Te Hapori Tautoko

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Te Hapori Tautoko (THT) means Community Support Group in Te Reo Māori. Our main aims are to provide opportunities to tautoko (support) and connect our school community and fundraising for school initiatives, and resources that benefit our school. To date our fundraising has helped to pay for:
  • Sports uniforms owned by the school, that are lent to tamariki as required
  • Community Events such our annual Matariki Evening
  • Coffee mornings
Fundraising in 2021 will go towards play areas and equipment at the school.
If this is something you are interested in, we would love to see you there. We always welcome new people.

NEXT MEETING -Thursday 16th September

Our next meeting will be Thursday 16th September starting at 7pm via Zoom. Email THT@ararira.school.nz for details if you would like to join and don’t already have the invite.

QUIZ NIGHT - 5th November 2021

We have made the call to postpone Quiz Night as it is highly unlikely we would be at Level 1 in time.
The postponement date is 5th November. Fran will be in touch with team captains via email with instructions for refunds if there are any teams that can’t make the new date.

You can also stay up to date by following the Ararira Springs Online Whanau page on Facebook. Quiz Night is on the Events tab.
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We are delighted to advise that we were successful in our recent grant application to the Rātā Foundation to cover the costs for 20 new trestle tables and a table trolley.

The tables will be kept at Ararira Springs School, and will be used for our own community events such as Matariki and Quiz night, and other community groups if they are using our hall and outdoor spaces. The school will also make use of the tables as required to support learning for our tamariki (for example, serving kai, displays, anything that requires lots of tables!).

We encourage any groups that are looking for a venue for their community event, to contact the office.
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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.

When: Starting from 8.45 am
Where: Pūtahi (School Library)
FRIDAY COFFEE GROUP
We will now be having coffee afternoons on the first Friday of each month. Our next one will be Friday 01 October starting at 2:15pm in Putahi.

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From the Board of Trustees

Kia ora koutou

The Board met on the 11th August and we were pleased to welcome Nic Jansen to the teaching staff and Justine Hogan to the administration team. We were also thrilled to hear that we have attained an EnviroSchools Bronze award. The board would like to extend their thanks and appreciation to Whaea Andrea for her leadership with this.
Community consultation has started regarding our approach to Health and Wellbeing. A survey has been sent to you to complete via Hero and a consultation evening was held on the 16th August.

This term the following policy is up for review by the school community – Behaviour Management and Concerns and Complaints. Your input is important, appreciated and encouraged. To be a part of this review process please visit our Schooldocs site at https://ararira.schooldocs.co.nz. Our username is "ararira" and password "russdrive".
The mid-year student progress data was reported and the board is satisfied with the assurances of robust assessment practices and tracking of student progress across all year levels. Thanks to Whaea Claire for her leadership in assessment and time taken to complete a comprehensive mid-year report.

We would also like to acknowledge and thank Fulton Hogan for donating the 10km signs for the carpark and Neil Andrews for his support in organising this and his efforts in sourcing resources for the playground spray marking.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 15th September.

KELLY CLUB CORNER. . . . .

Next week at Kelly Club join us for some Frozen Fun where we get to go ice finishing and make snow globes.. Book online at Kelly Club
9. Activity Planner Frozen Fun (All Ages Combined)

Our Enviroschool Reflection 2021

There was a very exciting day for our school last term. Whaea Andrea introduced us to the person who may give us a bronze enviro award. The lady’s name was also Andrea. We introduced her to the school with a waiata. Andrea sang a waiata with Whaea Chloe.

Next, we went to the library and they discussed why we were Enviroleaders and why it was important for Enviroleaders to be involved and look after the school.
This is what four of the Enviroleaders said;
  • Liam: To know that our school is doing their part.
  • Annakin: I like the opportunities that this school gives us.
  • Alex: You get to do your part for the school and community.
  • Izzy: Caring for nature.
Maya, Liam and Gracie were year 0 last year. They went to the Liffey and saw eels. So last year they decided to make rock art of the life cycle and what makes the Liffey dirty.

We went back into the library and talked to Andrea about our school's vision. A lot of the vision is about the environment and how we can make our school better.

Liam and Annakin talked about the stepping stones in the gardens by the bikes and scooters. Also a lot of the group made the point that some of the types of stepping stones are slippery. On a wet day you can fall over and hurt yourselves.
Year 1 EEls
We showed the New Zealand Iwi map and all the te reo Māori students and their tribes. Next we went to the year 8 legacy piece which displays our school values; caring, curious and capable and also the supporting values.
Legacy piece
We went to the adventure playground and talked about the materials used. The majority of the materials are recycled tyres, bark, wood and stones. It is a fun extra playground and is often used for nesting birds who decide to grow their babies there.

Whaea Andrea showed the posters with the eels and what pollutes their water. If you walk down the new Liffey path by our school you can see the posters about the eels.
We walked to the fruit trees in our school. They hope the trees will grow to produce fruit for our school. The fruit trees looked healthy. Last year the kids in Huarapa read a book about scarecrows. They decided they wanted to be like the people in the book and make scarecrows. They did a great job and they were a nice part of our school.

The Enviroleaders decided to go to Hikuwai and show our art and learning, like the koru art and the lanterns from Matariki. Some Huarapa kids explained that the orange skins can’t go into the worm farm. They also talked about the recycling bin.

We next went to the trees that were planted last year so one day we will have trees in our backfield. A good thing about the trees is that they were planted right near the bees. Both the trees and bees are happy and healthy.

We all walked back to the library to discuss if we thought we had earned the bronze award. Everyone honestly said if they think that our school has earned it. Andrea said some sentences and we put our thumbs up, middle and down.

We continued talking and Andrea said that she agreed that we had earned bronze. Everyone seemed so proud of themselves and the school. Our school is now a bronze Enviroschool and now the Enviro group is working towards silver.
By Olive and Sophie
Bronze

Bricks4Kidz has reduced their prices for Term 3:

  • Junior Robotics Level 1 – 3 (Year 0-8):
    (Combines model building and WeDo & Scratch “drag and drop” Coding to spark interest in STEAM. Build up a solid foundation for the Advanced Robotics class )
    Every Thursday 3:15 – 4:45pm (5/08/2021 – 23/09/2021)
    (Only $3 more for casual drop-in sessions)
    Fees: $25/1.5h, Full Term: $224 $200/8 weeks
    Book online here.
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Facebook Page for Ararira Whānau Māori

We have created a Facebook page specifically for our Māori families. This is a space to post successes at home and school, share ideas and resources, and make connections. The page is called Te Puna o Ararira Whānau Māori. Nau mai, haere mai!
If you have pātai about the page, please contact chloe.cull@ararira.school.nz
Ararira Springs Donation
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Learn to Sail
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