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Connect Communication
01 November 2023
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I haven't been at school this week as I have been in Methven with my Canterbury Principal colleagues taking part in professional learning.
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Part of the time was spent with a focus on the service element of leadership. More than 80 principals headed to the Staveley Forest for some weed wrangling. My picture of dainty weeds did not match the mammoth vines that we cut and dragged from the forest. This is one of the last remaining area of native forest in the region.
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In the afternoon we heard from Vitale Lafaele and the idea of being an invisible leader. He had some insightful quotes about leadership that illustrated the concept of universal approaches to leadership. At the heart of great leadership are sound values and it was a great reminder that our values are at the centre of learning at Ararira. Vitale has recently published his first book, based on the memoirs he wrote for his grandchildren. This is called, 'A Canoe Before the Wind.'
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This morning's speaker, Arnika McPhail recounted her personal journey from 'drop out to director'. She asked us to reflect on what gives us a deep sense of personal freedom. There were four elements to consider and these were the factors that gave you;
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- Clarity of priorities
- Resilience and Adaptability
- Effective boundary setting
- Mindfulness
I will share this learning with the wider leadership team and will reflect on it further over the coming days. This will be especially important as the madness of the end of year approaches. However, I know our values of being caring, curious and capable will hold me in good stead for whatever lays ahead.
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Claire and the Ararira Team
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School Board
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The school board met on 25 October. Feedback on the draft strategic plan has closed and we're updating the plan in response. We expect to approve the final version at our meeting on 15 November.
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We have been continuing our self-assessment of our Māori cultural responsiveness using the Hautū self review tool and last week considered the theme of representation.
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In late September the Ministry of Education confirmed that our new building is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2025. As of last week's meeting our roll is more than our nominal capacity of 450, and we have pointed out to the ministry that an interim solution is needed urgently (and will ultimately cost taxpayers more).
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Unfortunately the ministry controls the funding for the project and we are applying as much pressure as possible (both as an individual school and in conjunction with Lincoln Primary and Lincoln High Schools). On a positive note, we can share with you the latest plans for the permanent building which are linked here.
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NEXT MEETING - 15 November, 6.30 pm in the Staffroom
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Tēnā koe - Hello to one person
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Kia ora/Tēna kōrua - Hello to two people
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Welcome to Ararira Springs Primary!
This week we welcome Darcy, Jiaxi, Claire C and Jashriya to Huarapa, Chongheng to Kaunuku and Kai to Teretere.
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We hope you love Ararira Springs Primary as much as we do!
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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 Tuesday.
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In addition to this, the Tallyho Espresso coffee van will be at school from 9am until 12pm for Run Jump Throw Day/shared parent morning tea, and the Teretere Sustainability market on 01 December.
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Cookie Time Fundraiser
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This year we are taking part in the Cookie Time Christmas Fundraiser. The funds raised from this will be used to offset this year's camp deficit. Just four buckets per family will achieve this goal!
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- Your eldest child will have already come home with a fundraising form to help you collect your orders.
- Ask your friends, family, work colleagues (or even the boss!) if they would like to order for their friends, family, staff, corporate gifts or to keep a couple of buckets in the pantry for those emergency occasions like unexpected gift bearing visitors!
- Collect payment for all your orders.
- Place and pay for your entire order via Kindo - easy as!
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Orders close Thursday 16th November.
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Each order will be given to you to distribute after 4th December.
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IMPORTANT DATES 2023
- 02 November - NCEA Literacy & Numeracy Whanau Q&A, 6pm LHS (see below)
- 02 November - THT meeting, 7pm in the staffroom
- 03 November - Gumboot Friday
- 03 November - Music Festival Performance Night
- 10 November - Hui (Whaea Angela H1), 9.15am in the hall
- 14 November - Blue Day for diabetes awareness
- 15 November - Board Meeting, 6.30pm in the staffroom
- 16 November - Cookie Time orders close
- 16 November - Teacher only day (school closed)
- 17 November - Canterbury Anniversary Day (school closed)
- 20 November - Book Week
- 15 December - Last day of term (school finishes 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 - 02 November, 7.00pm in the Staffroom. 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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The weather has not been kind to us this year in regards to being able to attend our Athletics Day at Brookside. Even so all the Hikuwai and Teretere teachers did their best to allow those who wanted to participate to have a go and we have selected those who met the qualifying times and distances to represent Ararira at the Zones on Thursday the 9th of November at Ngā Puna Wai.
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Lincoln Zones Athletics Day
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If your child has been selected you will receive an email from Whaea Meeghan stating that they will be participating and you will need to check the Sports website, Athletics button, to see what they will be participating in. All information for the day will be found here. If you are able to assist on the day please contact Whaea Meeghan as soon as possible.
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Unfortunately our Ki-O-Rahi festival was postponed. We hope to have a new date soon! Thank you to the students and parents who volunteered to take part and support us!
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Weetbix Tryathlon 25th February 2024
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We have had a couple of families register their children for this competition. The entries will remain open until right before the event takes place. We look forward to seeing many more children representing Ararira Springs! All the best!
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Check out our What’s on offer page for what clubs in our community are offering over the next few months.
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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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