Newsletter Term 3 Week 6

2022 Term 3 Week 6

Kia ora koutou,

We have passed the halfway mark for Term 3 and it feels like the rest of the term is going to fly by. We have a lot going on!

Jump Jam: We entered 2 teams into the Strictly Jump Jam Regional Competition. The junior team – called the Lovea-Bulls earned a 2nd placing. The senior team – the Unstoppa-Bulls earned a 3rd place AND an invitation to attend the National Competition in Tauranga in November. We are so fortunate to have passionate staff who go above and beyond to give our tamariki these experiences. Huge thanks to Jo Darling and Katie Gilbert for their patience and skills! The dancers put their heart and soul into their performances and we could not be prouder of them all!

Author Visit: This happened on Tuesday. Most of our children had the opportunity to listen to and interact with Tom E Moffatt & Sandra both authors of books that many of our children are familiar with and have read. I’m sure their visit to our school will inspire more reading! Thank you Amie Brown for organising this for our tamariki!

Teacher Only Day this Monday: Staff will be on-site for this day. We will be being taken through a programme by Ministry of Education providers focusing on Understanding Behaviour and Responding Safely (UBRS). This training helps us work through ways to support tamariki when they are experiencing trauma or displaying behaviours that indicate they are not coping. Our schools commitment to being a Restorative School sits alongside this kaupapa as we strive to make things better for our children rather than worse even when their behaviours are not ideal. It is complex training that requires full concentration and commitment and therefore the decision was made to dedicate a full day to the programme rather than break it up into several smaller lessons after school.

Movewell Country Schools Day: Next Tuesday we have Sport Whanganui coming into our school along with students from other schools to get involved in a variety of sports associated with “Healthy Active Learning”. We are the host school and look forward to being able to plan for more of these interactions in the future and involving other year groups across the school.

Rangitīkei Tough Kids: There has been such a great build-up to this event. For two reasons: 1, the last time it was run was in 2019 and 2, Bulls School is the host school! We have about 75% of eligible students registered – it will be a fabulous day. I will be shoulder-tapping many of you to muck in and help us out, particularly with the pack-up required at the end of the event. I have two parents who have volunteered to help out with set-up on Thursday as well. What a great community we have. The Bulls School Support Group have been super busy behind the scenes and will be set up selling a variety of items on the day. Please see the advert further down and if you want to help out in other ways we would love some home baking to sell at $2 per item for the baking table. If you are attending don’t forget to bring some cash along – sales will be cash only. 

Bulls School Cross Country: We are able to return to the Golf Course for 2022 and are looking forward to this whole school event. We have decided to put on buses as we have often struggled for transport for this event but if you have offered transport we gratefully accept. There will be more details to come so stay tuned.

Quad Sports: (Year 5 & 6 and Year 7 & 8) This is another event that has been dormant for a while – if you are able to assist us by supporting one of the teams as a manager we would be very grateful. Staff who attend can not be at all events all of the time – it isn’t possible, so knowing there is an adult casting a watchful eye over our teams and subbing them etc is a huge help.

Bulls Agriculture Day: This will take place on Friday 21st October. We have made changes to how the day will function and will only be providing judges for the Calves and Lambs. All other pets will be here as display only and we will enjoy setting up a time for the rest of the school to come and view the display animals throughout the day. More information to follow.

School App: We have discontinued our subscription with our old version which means you need to be connected to the new one in order to receive live updates or reminders. Please see the instructions further down to help you upload our new app.

And that is about all I have for now! There are other events scheduled, however, this is a quick rundown on the most pressing ones. Do you remember when we said that we could all learn a thing or two from our Covid Lockdown days – to slow down and smell the roses! Hmmmm…note to self!

Ngā mihi nui

2023

Our school is growing. This has prompted us to consider how we might staff our hubs for 2023 and how we might ‘fit’ in our spaces. It is looking like we may structure it a bit differently to accommodate all-year groups. This is our first plan and we want to share it with you to help you process where students may be situated next year. Staffing is yet to be organised, but we are working on it! Years 1 – 4 will be in the junior block and years 5 – 8 in the senior block.  

1 x New Entrants/Year 1 class 

1 x Year 1 & Year 2 class

2 x Year 3 & Year 4 classes

2 x Year 5 & Year 6 classes

1 x Year 6 & Year 7 class 

1 x Year 7 & Year 8 class

We have a major property project taking place next year and this will have an impact on our teaching spaces – but no gain without pain! We are hoping to turn our tired Calfe/Library/Hall space into something far more practical and useful. We believe this has the potential to support us through this growing roll faze. We are also in discussions with the Ministry of Education about additional classroom space however this is a very slow-moving beast and involves conversations around future zoning possibilities. Our Board of Trustees will keep you informed and updated as we continue to work with the Ministry of Education.

ROAD WORKS

Blackley Construction has notified us of extensive road works taking place around our school. This is likely to go on over a period of months. If your tamariki walk or bike to school it is advisable that you speak to them about possible alternative routes. A copy of their plans is available in our office or can be emailed to you if you would like clarification. Also, parking in and around the school may be affected – please exercise your ‘be patient’ muscles, the safety of our children is our primary concern.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

By the next newsletter, we will have a new Board of Trustees. I want to take this opportunity as the Principal and member of the BoT to thank our parent and staff representatives and co-opted members for their dedication and commitment to the vision and strategic plan of our kura.  I will miss the whanaungatanga we have worked hard to build,  I have valued our journey. This whakatauki sums up how I feel about the mahi we have done together over the past 3 years:

“Me mahi tahi tātou mo te oranga o te katoa” 

We work together for the well-being of everyone.

I appreciate you all very much, ngā mihi koutou,

Kim.

This week our KIND KID is: Laiken   

POU TĀHŪ

We have had a busy time in Pou Tāhū with baking and learning about procedural writing. On Friday we made some pikelets and today we are making lemon crunchy muffins! Thank you to whānau for your donation of lemons. Luckily we are balancing all this eating with our cross-country training which is quickly approaching!

We need your help!
On Friday 9th September we will be showing our manaakitanga skills at this event! This is likely to be our biggest fundraiser of the year. One of the ways you could help out is by sending along some baked goods next week that we can bag up to sell as individual items. We plan to sell all baking at $2 each so things like slices, cupcakes, or biscuits would be ideal and hugely appreciated. Please deliver to the office at any time next week, we can freeze it if necessary and will be gratefully accepting goods up until Thursday afternoon.

FOR SALE ON THE DAY:

Baking @ $2 

Sausages @ $2

Juicees @ $2

Milo @ $2

Burgers @ $6

We will also be selling any surplus T Shirts for $25 each.  

Lunch in School

The Ministry provides free healthy lunches daily, you will need to provide morning tea and a water bottle for your child. Please let the office know of any dietary requirements, alternatively, you can opt-out of the Lunch Scheme by contacting the office and then provide your own healthy lunch. 

SEND HEADLICE PACKING!

If you find head lice or eggs – you need to treat them. Repeat the treatment: 7–10 days later for chemical treatments and every day for wet combing if you can manage it, but at least every 2 to 3 days.

For more information, talk to your pharmacist, doctor or nurse.

If you have any second-hand uniform you would like to donate we would greatly appreciate it.

Please drop off at the office. Thank you.

Term Dates 2022

Term One Mon 2nd Feb to Thur 14th April

Term Two Mon 2nd May to Fri 8th July

Term Three Mon 25th July to Fri 30th Sep

Term Four Mon 17th Oct to Fri 16th Dec (TBC)