We are so lucky to have such a great school community. Thank you all for the way you are supporting your children and helping them to feel safe and happy in whatever COVID 19 level or restriction we happen to be in, in these bizarre times. By everyone feeling happy and calm it is much easier to adapt to the constant changes around us and there are many. Please make sure you are looking after yourselves as well. ‘Oxygen masks’ on adults first, so you can take care of others.

None of us want to go back through the Levels, though I guess it is inevitable. Poor Auckland – we are just so pleased we are still in Level 2. ????

Please Note: Drop Offs and Pick Ups

Thank you for moving back to the gate drop off and pick up so quickly that the students have hardly even registered the change, which is great to see. Parents still need to stay off our school site. Exceptions are as follows: Our newest classes, Harakeke 18 and Puriri 5 can still have one parent come onto site, if they sign in. With smaller numbers in Harekeke18, if needed one parent can sign in and sanitise before coming into the classroom. Other parents of students who need special support may also come onsite and sign in as needed – please just let us know. Parents who are coaching teams may come onsite after signing and sanitizing, as long as there are less than 10 students outside with an adult.

In this uncertain world we will continue to adapt to achieve the best we can for our students and keep life as normal as possible. The following changes apply as we head into next week:

• The Lit Quiz has been postponed
• The Inter School Chess Tournament is pending announcements. Year 5 & 6 Players will still have their knock out tournament this Friday.
• The decision regarding the Discos will be decided after the August 21st announcements. At this stage under Level 2 there is a maximum of 100 in the TCC. If we move back to Level 1 these discos will go ahead.
• Assemblies will not happen in Level 2.
• Kapa Haka – Numbers will be reduced and same syndicate-only practises will occur.
• ICAS exams can continue.
• Sports Photos will continue with extra organisation on Thursday.
• Kids 4 Kids Choir is going ahead at this stage but I will hold separate Syndicate practices.
• With practices in the TCC limited and other uncertainties the Taupiri Show will now be filmed to ensure everyone can perform. Classes may be able to perform live in front of the school at a later stage.
• Inter School Cross Countries have been cancelled. However we are asking to host an elite – reduced athlete event on our course. Keep training if you are in our top few!
• Author Des Hunt is still coming to talk with our Senior classes on Monday.
• Daffodil Day will be going ahead everywhere except Auckland. Wear bright colours on Friday 28th and bring a gold coin donation for the Cancer Society.

All of New Zealand excluding Auckland region (Ministry of Education Information)

Alert Level 2 applies:-

• At Alert Level 2 it is safe for all students, children and staff to attend school and early learning. There will be appropriate precautions in place.
  
• Children and staff who are at higher-risk of severe illness are encouraged to take additional precautions when leaving home.
  
• Please be alert to illness and ask anyone who is presenting as unwell to go home, or ask parents and caregivers to come and pick the child up.
  
• Messaging about good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette to be reinforced.
  
• Soap and water is very appropriate for washing hands, particularly if hand sanitiser stocks are low.
  
• For schools, children, young people and staff should be far enough away from each other so that they are not breathing on or touching each other, coupled with good hygiene practices and regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces. There does not need to be a specific measurement but where practicable and reasonable 1 metre can be used as a guide, particularly between adults.
  
• Physical distancing of 2 metres is recommended for parents and caregivers, from people they don’t know (to align with public health measures outside the school grounds).

Masks

Masks are not required at schools and early learning services at Alert levels 2 and 3.

• We will be following our school organisational practices as outlined in our newsletters last week. Click here for details

Our annual Cross Country was a great success last Thursday. We were lucky to have a fabulous day, the sunshine together with parents scattered around the reserve made it a special day for excited children as they took up the challenge.

It was wonderful to see our Kia Maia – Confident Can Do Kids striving to do their best with a positive attitude. We are so proud of all our students, the ones who achieved highly, right through to the students who showed courage and resilience towards the back of the field. Well done everyone! It was also great to see Kia Manaaki and Kia Kotahi displays of respect and support being shown by our students on the day.

Thank you to all those who came and supported the event.The children were that much more motivated and enthusiastic by having you there, even if this year you had to cheer loudly from the perimeter of the school grounds!

A massive thank you to Ms Copponi and Mrs Metcalfe for organising our school cross country, giving our students the opportunity to reach their personal goals. 

We are pleased to share the names of the children who achieved the top 5 places in their year group:

If you missed last week’s newsletter, we would love to get our school communities feedback on our Vision. As part of our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) Professional development we have been re looking at our vision to make it more user friendly for our students and better able to be used in all learning and behavioural situations at our school. What we have developed so far is below. We still love our Vision and use it daily but just want to update it for further use and to have specific language around the Vision Kids. What do you think? Are we hitting the mark? Do these statements and values resonate with you and achieve what you want your child and their school to develop? To have your say in our very short 2-4 question survey, please click here. Can we please have your responses by this Wednesday. Thank you.

We are still hoping to be able to hold the Pirongia and Maungatautari School Discos on Thursday 27th August. We may of course have to pull the pin on these events depending on COVID 19 restrictions at the time, but in the meantime we encourage all our Maungatautari & Pirongia students to think about what they may want to wear. Our Disco theme is T.M.C.S – children can dress in a character or anything that starts with one of the letters of our school name . e.g. T = Teacher, M= Monster, C = Cyclist & S = SpiderMan.

Tickets are available through classroom teachers – disco tickets are $5.00, which includes a bag of popcorn and pizza slices are $1.00 per slice. Payment must be made to the classroom teacher in cash.

We ask that children bring along a full water bottle, which they can refill. There will also be a stall offering treats for sale on the night, so feel free to bring some pocket money along.

Just a reminder of the times –

• Pirongia Disco is on from 5:10pm – 6:30pm

• Maungatautari Disco from 7:00pm – 8:20pm

Does anyone have any office-type partition boards that we could use to display art on? We are also on the hunt for either wooden pallets (x2) or a length of ply that we can use to nail into and display 150 small plaster of paris items. If you can help with either of these requests, could you please email Leah Mills lmills@tamahere.school.nz

We have an exciting new look to AG Day this year. There are more categories for everyone to get involved in. It is wonderful to have our Calves category back for 2020, following biosecurity guidelines. We have also introduced a Pony Category and the garden category, as you can see below. Our Horticultural Happenings have been reviewed and revamped and we now have a two year cyclic programme to keep variety, along with family items and activities. We have no overseas trips planned these holidays, so why not take this opportunity to raise a lamb, kid, calf or chicken, develop gardens and create hanging baskets or a scarecrow, as a family activity? We want Ag Day 2020 to be a very special event! The PTA will be baking – what more could we ask for? Sunshine – maybe!

Thursday 15th October (Week 1 Term 4)

On this day our school will be open to our community, family and friends to celebrate our children’s achievements and our agricultural heritage.

To enable our whole school to be involved in the day, all students will have the opportunity to bring an animal, a caged pet or our students who do not choose to bring an animal, will compete in the ‘Horticultural Happenings’ activities, which will be notified closer to the time.

Having the opportunity to rear a pet is very special. The skills and hard work put in to raise and care for a live animal are also a great way of learning very important life skills and responsibility.

If you are new to Ag Day, welcome! There are a number of resources and information leaflets that can be picked up from our school reception or local vets.

How to enter an Animal for Ag Day

Each child that wishes to enter an animal into Ag Day will need to complete an entry form, which can be collected from the School Office. Entry forms will need to be returned by the end of Term 3 to allow for all the data to be entered and ribbons to be ordered.

We will be holding an Animal Demo and Judges Visit day during Week 8 of Term 3, to give advice on how to look after the animals and prepare for Ag Day. All children entering animals should attend and parents are also welcome.

A Free Animal Health Check day for lambs, goats and calves is also kindly offered by one of our Sponsors, Cambridge Vets, where they will offer free vaccinations and tail docking. The date for this will be September 12th (Saturday) 9-10am in the TCC carpark.

Pet Diary

Children are also encouraged to keep a “Pet Diary” with details about their Pet’s breed, date of birth, feeding and health details. It is up to the child as to what they choose to submit for this, there is no set criteria. This year children have two options: the first being a hard copy notebook, clear file etc. The second is to create a google slide pet diary. You can click on this link to view an example.

Pet Diaries will need to be submitted for judging at the end of the term.

Animal Contacts:

If you do not already have your own animals, then we have the following contacts available:

Lambs:

Contact Amy Beech 021 542 547

Amy will be offering lambs to be raised, available from mid-August through to October, however the sooner people get in touch with her the better. Lambs are $65 each, then this money is refunded on the return of a weaned, healthy lamb after Ag day. Amy is also able to offer advice on rearing.

Calves:

Contact Roger Duncan 021 929 163

Roger (and his wife Karen) will be offering calves for sale (not to be returned to farm), they are also available to offer advice, and can sell feed/colostrum etc to assist with the raising of the calf as required.

Goats:

Unfortunately our previous contact for goats does not have any kids available this year. If any parents know of anyone in the community we would love to hear from you.

Chickens:

Eureka Poultry Farm will be able to supply 7 week old Hyline chicks for anyone that wants to raise a chicken. Cost is $24 per chick and they will be available from 9th September. They will be feathered and old enough to go in a cage outside. Will need to keep an eye on them if the weather turns cold.

Maria at Eureka Poultry Farm will be arranging a day for the chicks to be dropped off and picked up from school.

We will also be having a section for “Show chickens” this year, if children have a special chicken which they would like to bring to show.

Caged pets

A caged pet is an animal that is happy to be caged, so no cats or dogs please, Any questions as to whether it is appropriate please ask your classroom teacher.

Ponies

This is a new section this year and this event will be a leading day, with no riding. Children are to lead their ponies in tidy riding attire.

There will be a Champion and Reserve for each age section, taken from points scored in classes 1-3:

1. Best Cared for Pony (turnout)
2. Best Leader
3. Most loved Pony and Educated Handler

The winners of the Best Leader in each age group will come together at the conclusion of the first 3 classes for the judging of the Champion and Reserve Pony Leader.

Classes 4, 5 & 6 are fun classes and will happen at the conclusion of the Champion judging:

1. Best Trick
2. Obstacle Course
3. Fancy Dress

Pony Entry forms are available at the school office. The final day for handing in entry forms is Monday 21st September. Any questions, please email Bridget Hawthorn on bhawthorn@tamahere.school.nz

Trophy Return: Can we please ask that all 2019 trophies now be returned to the school office as soon as possible.

This day could not be achieved without our sponsors and parent helpers. If you have a local business who wishes to sponsor any prizes, or are available to help out our Ag Day committee in anyway please contact:

Frances McKenzie (021 206 9451) francesmcknz@gmail.co.nz

or Rachel Algar (020 422 6711) rachelannealgar@gmail.com

This year we are very excited to be running our first Tamahere School Vege Garden Competition! leading up to our school Agricultural Day on Thursday 15th October, with prizes kindly sponsored by Amber Garden Centre.

Gardening is a skill that used to be readily passed on from one generation to the next, but with changing lifestyles many children grow up without learning any basic gardening skills. Getting them into the garden is a wonderful way to teach them about nature and where their food comes from. It also helps to gain an appreciation of the importance of plants and of the natural world in our lives.

Giving children responsibility for a few plants will start them on the path to learning valuable lessons about nurturing other living things.

How to enter:

Any child who wishes to enter must complete an entry form available from the school office. Entries must be received by Tuesday 1st September 2020. Since this is our first year we are leaving the criteria open to the children to decide what they would like to create. Get inventive and use your imagination!

Entries can be something as simple as lettuce grown in an upcycled container, through to a project carefully thought through with an elderly neighbour or grandparent.

Children will need to keep a diary containing details on what, and when, they have planted, plants may be started as seeds or seedlings and children should understand basic principles such as planning the garden, preparing the soil, watering, pest and weed management.

Other than that, we are keen to see our children outside enjoying the fresh air, hands on and getting creative!

Competition Timeframe:

The competition will open on Saturday 29th August. Gardens must be started on or after this date, and can run until judging, which will occur during the first two weeks of October, with prize winners announced at Ag Day on the 15th October.

Some tips on where to start:

Advice from your local garden centre – The team at Amber Nurseries are very friendly and happy to help with ideas.

The below websites also have a lot of useful information:

Tui Kids Gardening Guide

https://tuigarden.co.nz/ideas-and-inspiration/kids-gardening-guide/

Mitre 10 – How to grow spring veges

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/guides-and-advice/guide/how-to-grow-spring-veges

Yates – How to get started in the garden

https://www.yates.co.nz/ideas-plans/project-guides-articles/all/getting-started-in-the-garden/

Amber Nurseries

https://ambergardencentre.co.nz/category/advice/

Thanks again to Amber Garden Centre for your generous support!