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Connect Communication
08 May 2024
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It has been a great start to the term and lovely to see so many smiling faces at the beginning and end of the day. Yesterday I hosted the first of my monthly coffee mornings. On (roughly) the first Tuesday of every month I invite you to pop into the staffroom for a chat if you have any issues or ideas you wish to discuss.
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We will post these sessions on the school calendar and a wee reminder that this is accessible from the landing page of the Hero App. Here we post the details of any scheduled events so it is useful to subscribe or visit it regularly.
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At the end of the last term, I was lucky to be invited to China as part of an educational delegation. If you would like to hear more about this trip I have linked a parent update at the end of the newsletter.
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The Ministry of Education announced the nationwide move to structured literacy last week. As many of you know, our school undertook a year of professional learning in this area in 2023. This is well implemented across the school. Shelley Smith is our literacy leader and continues to share learning and research with the team. You can read more about structured spelling from this update from Shelley and an earlier article from Nicky.
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You may (or not) be aware that we have several interesting articles linked to the communication tab of our website. You can click on 'parent updates' and search for keywords. If there is something you are interested in knowing more about, please let us know and we will see what we can do
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From the Office
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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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Chicken Pox - We have been notified of a case of Chicken Pox in Hikuwai. A reminder to please watch for symptoms and keep your tamariki home from school until they have stopped getting new blisters and all blisters have dried. Click here for further information.
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ASP Community Calendar - As well as being available via our school website, the ASP Community Calendar is also available to view via the Hero app. Just log in to the Hero app, and click on the calendar icon on the home screen.
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Attendance – Every Day Matters - The new government is focusing on attendance, they are taking data from our SMS system to inform national reporting. The factor that contributes most to our attendance data is holidays in term time. They ask wherever possible, that these holidays be taken during term breaks.
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If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.
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All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school. As we enter 2024, every day of school matters.
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You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent for a day or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure. Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by school) are not acceptable reasons for being absent.
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If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, talk to us! Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school and building a culture that fosters excellent attendance by having:
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· School staff who have strong relationships with students and whānau.
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· A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who they are, where they come from and who they want to be.
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· A school community that does everything to make sure students are at school, and they are participating, and progressing in their education.
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Parents and caregivers can find more information here:
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Kindo Donation Tax Receipts - Donation tax receipts are available in Kindo. Log in to your Kindo account and click on the person icon (top right). Select 'my orders' to access your past receipts. Click on 'resend receipt' and Kindo will email these to you directly.
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Pink Shirt Day - Ararira Springs Primary is joining the movement by hosting a Pink Shirt Day on Friday 17 May 2024, and encouraging our staff and students to Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying! Bullying in Aotearoa is a real problem. We have the third-highest rate of school bullying out of 36 OECD countries and one in five workers feels discriminated against or bullied at work. Those bullied are far more likely to experience mental health issues.
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Pink Shirt Day works to reduce bullying by celebrating diversity in all its forms and supporting schools, workplaces and communities to be safe, supportive, welcoming and inclusive for everyone. To celebrate this important kaupapa we’ll be wearing pink (alternatively wear school uniform) on Friday 17th May.
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We’ll also be fundraising to support Pink Shirt Day. A gold coin donation will be appreciated. Money raised goes to The Mental Health Foundation. By taking part in Pink Shirt Day, we are part of a powerful movement to spread aroha and kindness and to end bullying. The focus this year is: 'Being an upstander". More information can be found here.
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Coffee with Claire will generally be held on the first Tuesday of the month, but please check the school community calendar for exact dates as this may be subject to change.
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IMPORTANT DATES 2024
- 10 May - Curiosity Clubs, 11am-noon
- 16 May - THT AGM, 7pm in Tahuna | Staffroom
- 17 May - Curiosity Clubs, 11am-noon
- 17 May - Pink Shirt Day (see above)
- 17 May - Hui (Teretere), 9.15am in the hall
- 22 May - School Board Meeting, 6.30pm in Tahuna | Staffroom
- 24 May - Curiosity Clubs, 11am-noon
- 31 May - Hui (Hikuwai 123), 9.15am in the hall
- 31 May - Curiosity Clubs, 11am-noon
- 03 June - King's Birthday (school closed)
- 04 June - Teacher Only Day (school closed)
- 11 June - Coffee with Claire, 9am in Tahuna | Staffroom
- 28 June - Matariki (school closed)
- 02 July - Coffee with Claire, 9am in Tahuna | Staffroom
- 05 July - Matariki School Celebration, 5.30-7pm
- 05 July - Term 2 ends
- 22 July - Term 3 begins
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School Board
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Next meeting - 22 May, 6.30pm in Tahuna | Staffrooom
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Te Hapori Tautoko (THT)
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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 THT AGM 16 May, 7pm in Tahuna | Staffroom
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All welcome - we'd love to have some new faces join us!
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With Matariki fast approaching the THT Hāngī team is on the lookout for the following resources that could be donated or supplied at a discounted cost. We will also be requiring support in the week leading up to Matariki with hāngī pit preparation and food preparation. If you or someone you know could help us out with either of these please let Matua Dan know dan.horwell@ararira.school.nz
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Logs, dry pine, wattle, manuka, various sizes (approximately a decent trailer load is required).
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Fire bricks – over the next year or so we would like to make it a permanent pit lined with bricks.
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2x D12 x 6m Reinforcing rods to make some long hooks.
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Ngā mihi nui, Nā THT Hāngī tīma
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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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Kia Ora and welcome back to Term 2! We have a busy term of sport coming up so please remember to use ASP Sport website for all your sporting information.
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This year we have changed the route of our Cross Country event. We will be running from school, along the fence facing the Liffey, across the grass alongside Jimmy Adams terrace, around the dam and over the wooden bridge where we will turn around and run the same route back. This event is open to all Year 4 to 8 students.
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We are still looking for parents who are able to volunteer as marshals for the new course. If you are available please email Whaea Meeghan as soon as possible.
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For the Year 5-8 students it will be their qualifier for the Lincoln Zones Cross Country event later this term.
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Please note the change of date for this Cross Country event. It will now be held on Wednesday, 22 May 2024.
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The Zones Basketball competition will be taking place next week Thursday, 16th of May at Selwyn Sports Centre. The teams will meet in the hall and leave school at 8:45am. Please make sure they have a good packed lunch, mouth guard and water bottle for the day. Unfortunately we did not have enough Year 5/6 children to enter this competition this year.
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The Selwyn Hawks Basketball season will begin on the 20th of May. The teams have been entered and the coaches/managers have been given contact details of the parents so they can contact you with game information. Please note that the cost of entering the season will be added to your Kindo account.
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Below is a table of events taking place in Term 2. If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact us or check out our ASP Sport Page on the school website.
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Don’t forget to check out the “What's on offer?” page for clubs advertising their sport.
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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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We suggest you order by Friday 17 May to ensure your order is despatched before the opening of Issue 4.
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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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