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Connect Communication
29 November 2023
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The silly season is fast approaching and we quickly get caught up in all the end of year and Christmas madness. It is tricky time at schools as we complete the end of the year but also need to start thinking about the year ahead.
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Teachers are busy writing learning comments for you about your children. Please make sure you take time to read and share these with your children as much thought and time goes into them. We are aware that the move to structured literacy doesn't align well with current achievement levels in the curriculum. We decided not to worry about that too much for now as the literacy and mathematics curriculum areas are currently being rewritten to align to phases of learning. Instead, it is better to focus on the trajectory of the child's learning journey and them trending in the right direction. We will be providing more information about the changes in the new year. All reports, graphs and classes will be posted by the end of day on Friday 8th December.
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Our staffroom was bursting this afternoon as Nicky, Donna and I welcomed new families to Ararira and shared with them information about starting the school journey. I reflected on being at the end of my children's school journey but reminded them that school is a place to meet people and make friends. I am still friends with the parents I met when my son started school 15 years ago!
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We have recently met with the Ministry of Education and are waiting for communication from them about the delay in our build to share with you. This is very frustrating to all concerned. The first casualty of this delay was music lessons. After a recent think tank, we believe we can accommodate music lessons next year. So, until the pre-fab buildings arrive, we will host music lessons in Kaunuku on a Wednesday morning while the Year 7 and 8 learners are at technology. The drum lessons will operate out of the garage by the hall for term 1.
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I look forward to catching up with many of you as you pop into school on Friday to attend and support learning activities that are happening across the school.
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Claire and the Ararira Team
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School Board
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NEXT MEETING - 06 December, 6.30 pm in the Staffroom
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Would you like a coffee/tea/water?
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If you know of families moving into the area or with preschoolers, please encourage them to fill out our online enrolment form soon as possible. This allows us to plan ahead and recruit the teachers we might need!
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Coffee Van
The coffee van will be at school from 8.30-9am on Tuesdays.
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In addition to this, the Tallyho Espresso coffee van will be at school from 9am until 12pm on 01 December for Run Jump Throw Day/shared parent morning tea, and the Teretere Sustainability Market.
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Opportunities to 'Give Back'
We have two opportunities for families who would like to give back to their community and help others as Christmas approaches.
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Lincoln Rotary’s 'Love Your Locals’ are having a Community Hero day on 1st December and are collecting food donations for Greenpark Foodbank and Lincoln Community Care. If you would like to donate something we will have a box in the office this week.
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We also have our 'Giving Tree' for Women's Refuge for unwrapped presents which we will deliver end of next week.
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A huge thanks to those who have donated already.
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IMPORTANT DATES 2023
- 29 November - THT meeting, 7pm at The Laboratory (tonight)
- 30 November - Children's University Graduation evening
- 01 December - Run, Jump, Throw, years 1-4 (see below)
- 01 December - THT sausage sizzle (see below)
- 01 December - Teretere Sustainability Market, 11.15am-12.45pm
- 05 December - Year 8 Leavers Day
- 06 December - Tough Kids Challenge (afternoon), Hikuwai/Teretere
- 06 December - Board meeting, 6.30pm in the staffroom
- 12 December - Orientation/Class Swap, 9.10-10.30am
- 12 December - Sausage sizzle (order via Kindo)
- 13 December - Year 8 Leavers Dinner
- 14 December - Monster Music Concert, 11.30am-12.15pm (all welcome)
- 15 December - Last day of term (school closes 1pm)
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THT - Te Hapori Tautoko - providing opportunities to tautoko (support) and connect our school community and fundraising for school initiatives and resources.
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NEXT MEETING - 29 November (tonight), 7.00pm at The Laboratory. All welcome.
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Second-Hand Uniforms - THT has a small selection of second-hand uniform items available for purchase. Click here to view a list of the items we currently have available. If you have uniform items to donate please contact Charlotte via charlotte.mcmenamin@ararira.school.nz
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Rediscover Refuse Visit
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Huarapa's recent adventure to the waste centre and Rediscover hub was exciting! Riding the bus was a bit bumpy, adding a touch of excitement to our journey.
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The trip opened our eyes to the various types of waste we generate. Interestingly, in the past, people created much less waste. Small changes, as we learned, can make a BIG difference!
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We learned that Aotearoa produces 17 million tonnes of waste annually – that's equivalent to the weight of 125 blue whales! We spotted recycle signs, observed different types of waste, and even identified items that don't belong in landfills.
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Our little explorers marveled at dump trucks, bulldozers, and diggers! Plus, the highlight: crafting reusable beeswax wraps. From choosing designs to brushing with beeswax and waving them dry, the kids had a blast.
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The best part? They get to use their handmade wraps in their lunchboxes! Together, we learned that by reducing, reusing, and recycling, we can take steps to care for our precious planet.
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Enviro and the Enchanted Forest
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Enviro this year has been productive, with plenty of learning about our local environment, and our whole school enquiry has focused on sustainability starts with me’. There have been many trips to our local awa and wetlands with different environmental agents: Nature Agent: water testing and investigating invertebrates with Eco Ecology; plant monitoring and planting 300 seedlings of native trees and shrubs with Te Ara Kākāriki Greenway Canterbury Trust. The environmental leaders have been amazing. They have presented to two groups on different occasions about why they value our local awa (stream/Ararira Lll), the long-fin tuna (eels), and how the awa has a connection to our school. This was in partnership with Eco Ecology, Nature Agent, Department of Conversation, and Fonterra (Living Water Project).
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The Enviro leaders have been working on refreshing our Enviro school vision and new initiatives. The environmental leaders have collaborated and gathered information and ideas from all the students and staff. From the students and staff perspective, the Enviro Leaders worked with Matt, our Enviro School facilitator, and myself to create new initiatives. This, in turn, evolved the enchanted sensory forest. The environmental leaders used all their ideas and resources to design and landscape the enchanted forest. We have had many helpers, Brie (parent) and Stephanie (grandparent) for your knowledge and Stephanie for drawing the ideas into a landscape design. Currently, we have two working plans and have planted hedging donated by Sam (parent).
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A huge thank you to all the whānau that have donated trees for the enchanted forest. These will be planted next year, when the timing is right, currently it is too dry. We will probably have working bees to lay mulch and steps over the little hill. It is a work in progress over the following year or so.
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Thank you to all our wonderful Enviro Leaders this year. Amelia, Claire, Amelia, An, Antonia, Charlotte, Chloe, Cian, Clarissa, Ella, Emily, Freya, Henry, Janie, Lacey, Liam, Evie, Madilynn, Micaiah, Seth, Sienna-Rose, Skye, Tiffany. Ka mau te wehi (awesome) learning and rangatira (leadership).
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On Wednesday, 29th of November 5 or our tamariki attended the Canterbury Athletics Day. We would like to congratulate them all on making it this far and wish them all the best for their next events. Ka rawe team!
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Sarah Year 5 Girls discus
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We have 3 teams attending the Ki-O-Rahi festival in this first year of the festival taking place. We would like to wish all our teams well and say a very big thank you to Brandon (Year 7/8 coach) and Jamie (Year 5/6 coach) for supporting our teams on the day. Ngā mihi nui whanau!
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Run, Jump, Throw and Market Day
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On Friday our junior tamariki from Year 1-4 will be hosting their run, jump, throw tournament. Parents are welcome to come and support their children. After the tournament parents are invited to visit their older children in Years 5 and 6 in their classrooms and see what they are currently working on. The Year 7/8 hub will be hosting their sustainable market day and we look forward to seeing what they have to offer. We wish all our juniors all the best for their run, jump, throw tournament.
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Tough Kids - South New Brighton Domain
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On Wednesday, 6th December, our Year 4-8 learners will take part in the Mash Tough Kid activity at South New Brighton Domain. It involves climbing over, under or through obstacles, getting muddy and wet and generally just having a fun time. If you would like some more information please click on the link below:
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We are looking for a couple of parents from each hub to come along and help manage the day. If you are able to assist please contact Whaea Meeghan.
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See below for next week's Kelly Club planner.
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Kelly Club will also be running a Holiday Programme over the summer break (18-22 December and from 8 January until school starts back).
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Jump on the Kelly Club Website to book now!
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Please note there is no guarantee orders placed now will be dispatched to you before the end of Term 4.
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All orders will be delivered to school in batches and distributed to the classrooms as they arrive. Any orders marked as gifts, we will put to one side and contact you when they are ready to be collected.
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The Ministry of Education has refreshed the curriculum and updated how schools report on student progress. As previously mentioned by the MOE, the benchmark for achievement has increased with the new curriculum. You may see a change in your child’s progress or achievement compared to previous years because of this. At Ararira Springs Primary, our staff have been undergoing professional …
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Berry Street Education Model BSEM at Ararira - Nicky Harding and Claire Howison At Ararira Springs, we are committed to fostering a learning environment where every child feels safe, supported, and ready to thrive. To support this, our kura has adopted the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) - a trauma-informed, strengths-based framework designed to boost student wellbeing, engagement, and academic …
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Attendance Monitoring at Ararira The government has publicly stated that it wishes to lift attendance rates at New Schools so 80% of all children are attending 90% of the time by 2030. We have set this as a target for our kura|school in 2026. All schools are required to have an attendance management plan (AMP) in place that follows stepped …
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2025 End of Year Progress Graphs The end-of-year progress graphs for students (English Year 0-6 and Maths Year 0-8) will be live on Friday, 12 December. English progress in Years 7-8 will be released in a statement at the bottom of Year 7-8 children's reading and writing comments. The Overall Teacher Judgements (OTJs) regarding progress that your child will receive …
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Te Mātaiaho | The New Zealand Curriculum Curriculum Update - English, Term 3, 2025 Kia ora, Earlier this year, we held a successful whānau hui regarding the refreshed Maths curriculum for Phases 1-3 (Year 0-8). We are unfortunately still waiting on Phase 3 (Year 7-8) of the English curriculum, which is due to be released in Term 4 of this …
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New Parent Portal Released The Ministry of Education has released a parent portal to help whānau partner with schools to support their child's education. From Minister Stanford: "Education is a partnership of what happens in the classroom and what happens at home. Parents, caregivers, and whānau play an important role in supporting their child’s learning and development. The new webspace …
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