Newsletter 1 – Term 1, Week 3 2023

141 excited students are now well-settled in their new classrooms and there has been a great hive of activity. Kapa haka, ukulele, science, history and art have all featured in their learning over the last 2 weeks. We are so fortunate to have such highly qualified teachers helping our children to understand the delights of trying out new ideas and developing a passion for learning.

Ahi class testing their parachute designs

Clara and Miki testing their thinking

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendar now:

10am, Wed 1 March (Wk 5) School Mihi Whakatau – We will welcome all families who are new to Rewa Rewa School at a mihi whakatau. Please meet in the School Office at 9.45am.  Further details soon.

Term 1 Easter Raffle – Further details soon.

Sun 5 March (Wk 5) Quiz Night

Sun 5 March (Wk 5) Rotary Teddy Bears Picnic – The Rotary Teddy Bears picnic on our top field. See flier below for details.

6-8pm, Fri 24 March (Wk 8) Fire Performance – Flier to come home shortly for this amazing, free show. This event is weather dependant.

Monday 24 April (Wk 1, Term 2) Teacher Only Day – School will be closed for a Ministry-directed Teacher Only Day, but we are inviting parent attendance. We are using this as a day to consult with our community about the development of our own Localised Curriculum. So, the more parents who can attend, the better, as your voice is very important! Flier to come out closer to the event.

Bike & Athletics Track

Our Bike & Athletics Track is getting closer to becoming a reality with just the last amount to be fundraised for items such as a drinking fountain, rubbish bins and security cameras. Rather than a number of small events, the Bike & Athletics Track Committee is holding a Raffle and a Quiz Night this term, in the hope that preparation of the top field might begin before the April holidays. $2 Easter Raffle tickets to be sold will be sent home soon and we would really appreciate families supporting this.  Donations of goods for prize baskets (eg. chocolate, Easter eggs or Easter-themed items, books & toys), can be brought to the School Office before Friday 10 March.   Our student leaders have already purchased the first bike and Juicies Tubes will be on sale again as from next week – $2 each, every Friday.  Money raised will go towards the purchase of a second bike. We will soon be inviting local community sponsors to assist us with purchasing the rest of the fleet.

Volunteers

We are always looking for helpers, for the myriad of things that need doing around school – Scholastic Book Club, morning teas for visitors to our school, gardens and lunchtime clubs, such as ukulele and art. If you have time and skills to offer, we would love to hear from you. Keeping our children safe is very important to us, so consider signing up to be a Road Patrol parent volunteer.  For just 15 minutes of your time, once a week, you will help to keep our children safe on the roads. We are still need 2 parent volunteers for Road Patrols in term 1.

School Library

Retaining our school library is very important to us. However, as our roll continues to grow and more space is needed for classroom teaching, our library has had to be re-established in the hall. Our huge thanks to Claire, our librarian, who undertook this massive task at the end of last year.

Term 1 Curriculum

Our curriculum has a very strong focus on literacy and mathematics throughout the school. This is supported in Year 1-3 with the development of creative and critical learning skills through a Learning though Play model. This year our Year 4-6 students will start using a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) approach to facilitate their learning enquiry.

In term 1 our Social Science focus for the whole school will be implementing the NZ History Curriculum. Our students will learn about the local stories of Newlands and how this affects us today. We look forward to the stunning mural which is soon to be fixed to the exterior of our school hall. Our kaumatua, Todd Wano, has been hard at work painting over the last two terms and we can’t wait to share it with you, as it tells our local story.

This year we will be reviewing our Te ao Māori and tikanga protocols, as well as developing our localised curriculum. We look forward to input from our community to help with this process.

Hauora & Wellbeing

Thank you to all those who made a card for one of our students who spent Christmas and most of January in Auckland at Starship Hospital – it really cheered him up and he is enjoying being back with us now!

Thank you to the many families who helped others last year in so many ways, eg. paying for stationery packs, sunhats, providing food for lunches, making additional voluntary donations and contributing to our hauora baskets. Please email office@rewarewa.school.nz if you are able to offer general support or Lauren at  lozhew@gmail.com if you would like to add your details to our Hauora/Wellbeing Support Group who donate baking/meals/vouchers towards our family care packages, from time to time.

We also have families who choose to support us by making donations towards larger ticket items, such as school sports uniforms. In 2023 we are looking for items such as picnic tables with umbrellas, garden vouchers to purchase trees for shade, a replacement sound system for our hall and banners for when we attend sports events. Please email office@rewarewa.school.nz if you know of someone who might be able to help us with any of these things. We offer free advertising in our school newsletter for businesses who support our school in this way.

School Board News

We look forward to meeting you all over the next term and are very excited about the direction for the school year ahead. Many property projects such as drainage, gutters, top field steps and shade are continuing to be undertaken. Stage 1 development of our top field is nearly ready to begin – our thanks to Al Pearce, Jan Otene, Naomi Godfrey and Miranda Zander for leading this exciting addition to our playground resources.

For the third consecutive year, the Board has chosen to keep our school fees and donations at the same level as in previous years. This money is used to support teaching and learning activities during the year, such as school trips to Te Papa and the zoo, live theatre performances, external sports tuition, such as gymnastics and badminton and Life Education Trust etc. The payment that you make is a one-off, so that families are not constantly asked during the year for further payments.

Remember, when your child is enrolled at Rewa Rewa School all families give signed permission for IT use, as well as for all school trips whilst your child is with us.  There are some exceptions, such as sporting events or camp, in which case, a separate permission slip is sent home for completion.

Naomi Godfrey (Presiding Member), David Nowak, Tanya Radford, , Jared Simons, Ian Svela (Staff Rep) and Miranda Zander.

We welcome Cami, Ethan, Dhiya, Ditya, Jahzelle, Leah, Linh, Magnus, Quinn, Romit, Sumit, Te Maire, Theo and Yana, along with their families, to Rewa Rewa School.

We hope you enjoy learning with us!

Wednesday 1 March       10am

Sunday 5 March

Sunday 5 March

Friday 24 March              6-7pm

Monday 24 April

School Mihi Whakatau

Quiz Night

Rotary Teddy Bear’s Picnic

Fire Performance

Teacher Only Day – parent participation invited

Term 1

Tuesday 31 January—Thursday 06 April

Monday 06 February – Waitangi Day Observed, School Closed

Friday 07 April—Good Friday, School Closed

Term 2

Wednesday 26 April – Friday 30 June

Monday 24 April – Teacher Only Day, School Closed

Tuesday 25 April—ANZAC Day, School Closed

Friday 02 June—Teacher Only Day, School Closed

Monday 05 June—Queen’s Birthday, School Closed

Term 3

Monday 17 July – Friday 22 September

Term 4

Monday 09 October – Friday 15 December (School closes at 1pm on the last day)

 Monday 23 October—Labour Day, School Closed