Week 1, Term 4 Newsletter

It is lovely to have everyone back at school once more and a feeling of positivity being in Level 1. We are excited about  the opportunities we are able to offer our students this term and hope they are all able to eventuate. We continue to be vigilant with hand washing and cleaning and ask as is expected, that anyone who is unwell stays home and gets tested. 

We are really looking forward to a very special Ag Day tomorrow with over 100 animals involved, including ponies and having 16 calves back competing but at their own socially distanced arrangements! Ag Day with the Horticultural Happenings is always a special day for our school and this year is expected to be bigger than ever. The new learning and craft activities are exciting and dressing up will add to the day. – Not to mention the sausage sizzle! 

Thank you to all parents and caregivers who also put so much into this day, from our dedicated Committee, through to all parents who have supported their children with rearing pets and creating gardens, collecting all the Horticultural Happening bits and pieces and maybe making family entries in the hanging baskets and scarecrow competitions. We look forward to seeing you in your farm gear tomorrow. 

Please scroll through the newsletter for further information about Group Day entries. This is another fun day that anyone can enter regardless of achievements and placings tomorrow.

We are very grateful to Hillcrest New World for kindly donating a garden bed and compost to support our New World Little Garden’s planting that we received in our mystery box from ‘School Kit’. Tawa 19 had loads of fun potting up the plants and then transferring them into the garden bed before we went away on holiday. The good news is, that with all this sunshine and plenty of water the plants are beginning to sprout and we are excited to see what we might be able to taste in a short time. 

Thanks again Hillcrest New World, we are so grateful for your generosity!

We are very excited to finally be able to share our film ‘A Hullabaloo at Taupiri Zoo’ with our Taupiri families. Hopefully you have received your email link and enjoyed watching it with your children. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to David Street School for the loan of the costumes, Mr Wickens and Mr Doran for their dedicated support and loaning us the shed to film in and the parents who helped with makeup and face paint on filming days.

Congratulations to all children for learning and performing your dances to the best of your abilities and specifically to the main characters and their parents for the time spent learning lines and filming the many take’s over a series of weeks. You are absolute superstars!

Lastly I want to thank the teachers in the Taupiri Syndicate for your continued support and hard work!

If you are a Taupiri family and did not receive the link please get in touch with me on lmurray@tamahere.school.nz

Lisa Murray

The Vege Garden judging went very well during the last weekend of the school holidays, with the judges visiting each garden and spending time talking to the children about their vege garden. The children all did amazingly well!

Winners will be announced and prizes will be awarded at the Ag Day Prizegiving, scheduled for approximately 1.00pm tomorrow afternoon.

We invite you to view our Vege Garden photo board tomorrow, which will be located near the Ag Day Registration desk. We will also have the children’s vege garden diaries on display, which are all very  impressive!

Please see a selection of photo’s that were taken on the day below.

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our  ‘dress up as a farmer day’. We look forward to seeing everyone in their farmer or animal dress-ups!

This Friday is the National Pink Shirt Day! Our school will be part of a powerful movement to spread aroha and kindness. We encourage you to dress up in pink or mufti to show awareness for the ‘speak up, stand up, stop bullying’ campaign where we band together to remind each other that our school is a community where everyone feels safe, valued, supported and respected. No gold coin required, just your favourite pink clothing or fancy dress!

The ‘Tamahere Junior Pups”  will be taking part in the Strictly Jump Jam Competition this Friday evening, competing in the Year 1 – 4 Freshman  category.  We wish them all the best and look forward to sharing their results next week!

Plans and preparations are well underway for the overnight camp experience for our Year 4 students. We head away on Sunday 8th November. Could all Year 4 students and adult camp volunteers please meet at school at 2.00pm, so we can depart at 2.45pm? We will arrive back at school on Monday 9th November at approximately 4.15pm. A detailed gear list was sent home at the end of Term 3. Please contact your child’s teacher if you require another copy of this – all children will need everything that is on the gear list. There is a compulsory meeting for all parent volunteers on Wednesday 28th October at 5.00pm in Kauri 2. 

All Year 4 students will also take part in the syndicate Tent Day on Tuesday 10th November – more information about this will come home this week.

WEEK 3

Dress up as a children’s Book Character Day is happening on Wednesday 28th October All students are encouraged to dress up for the day. The parade is usually held after morning tea.

The Library Giant Book Swap

What is it?

A free second-hand book swap for library book week. If you have read it, and it is in good condition you can swap it! No ex-library books.

When is it?

The Book Swap is to be held in the Library during morning tea on Tuesday 27th October and during lunchtime on Wednesday 28th October.

Why take part?

Students can swap books which they have read and no longer want for new ones, and recycle their books.

How to take part

Students can bring in the maximum of 5 (picture, fiction or non-fiction) books for Book Swap into the Library on the Monday and Wednesday lunchtimes during Week 1 and 2 only. They will be given a token sheet for their donated books, then these tokens can be exchanged for books on Book Swap Days.

Please see Mrs Kewish in the Library for more information.

WEEK 4

The Scholastic Book Fair is being held in the school library on Monday 2nd, Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th of November, between 2.30pm-5.30pm. Cash, cheques, credit and debit card payments will be accepted and an eftpos machine will be available.

Come along and buy books for Christmas. All purchases go towards free books for our school library.

Come along to NZSTA’s Kōrari Programme to find out about becoming a board member! NZSTA are holding community hui in the lead up to this year’s mid-term elections. Come along if you’d like to know more about school boards.

Te Kuiti, Wednesday 21st October at 5.30pm To register click here

Cambridge, Wednesday, 28th October at 7.00pm To register click here

At the hui you’ll hear about:

• What is a school board of trustees
• What do trustees do
• What skills do trustees need
• Who can become a trustee
• How do I become a trustee
• Who is on a board of trustees
• How is a board elected
• What help do school trustees get
• How does the board of trustees work

The Kōrari information sessions are designed to provide information about what the role entails.

People who want to understand what school governance looks like can come along and find out more. The hui will be facilitated by a regional adviser from NZSTA who will talk about the reality of being a trustee, the support and training that is available.

NZSTA is covering the cost of the hui, including refreshments and will provide all resources needed.

You can also find out more information by going to:

https://nzsta.org.nz/

https://www.facebook.com/NZSTA

https://twitter.com/NZSchoolTrustee

How about becoming a trustee and using your skills and experiences to help shape a positive future for our children?

The Board of Trustees is the employer of all school staff and sets the school’s overall strategic direction. The membership of the school board includes elected parent representatives, an elected staff representative and the Principal, who is the board’s ‘chief executive’ and manages the school operations in line with the board’s policies.

School trustees have a very important role in making sure every child at our school can reach their highest possible standard in educational achievement. If you want to know more about what trustees do, view here.

Here are some of the things they do:

• Work with the principal and consult with staff, students and the community
• Set the educational goals and strategic direction of the school
• Monitor progress and inform parents on how the school is progressing against its annual targets and on the development of the students
• Decide how the school’s funding will be spent
• Select the school’s principal and support the development of all staff
• Ensure the school is a physically and emotionally safe place for all students and staff, and is inclusive of and caters for students with differing needs
• Oversee the management of staff, property, finances, curriculum and administration.

What sort of skills do trustees need?

Trustees are active leaders in their schools and need a balance of skills and experiences. They need to work well in a team, be able to put plans in place for the school’s future, ask challenging questions and have good communication skills. It helps to have strong links to one or several of the school’s communities, as well as an understanding of financial matters and the education sector, and experience in managing people.

Contact your school if you want to find out about standing for election, nominating someone else or voting in the election – they will be happy to help.

When: Every Friday during Term 4

Where: Outside Titoki 6 (Junior School) and Karaka 15 (Senior School)

Time: 2:30pm

Cost: $1 per Ice block

Note: If there are any parents who would be happy to offer a small amount of time to support the PTA and help sell the ice blocks in the junior school (between 2.20pm – 2.45pm, on one or more Fridays this term), please contact Sandra Reynolds – 0274 155 535.

Thank you for supporting this PTA Fundraiser.

Our neighbours at Li’l Pumpkins have asked that we remind our school community that their carpark is only for  families with children at Li’l Pumpkins, as this is causing an issue for their families. They are finding that a number of vehicles are being parked in their carpark, mostly around the end of the day at school pick up time, which is also a very busy time for Li’l Pumpkins.

Thank you for your assistance.

The Ministry of Education Waikato is planning for future Māori medium provision in our region, through the development of a regional Māori Medium Network Strategy.

An important component of the strategy is to find out what the demand for Māori medium education is, now and in the future. The Ministry has developed a quick survey to give as many people as possible from across the Waikato region the opportunity to share their thoughts.

The survey is available to complete up until this Friday, by clicking on this link: Waikato Māori Medium Network Survey.

The Tamahere Community Centre Committee’s AGM is coming up soon. This is a community committee where anyone who pays rates towards the Tamahere Community Centre can get involved. The AGM is being held on Thursday 22nd October at 7:00pm in the Tamahere Community Centre. We encourage you to attend, so that you can have a say. 

Everyone is welcome!

This year Newstead Model Country School is hosting the South East Hamilton Country Group Day.

Entry to this event is open to all school age children who have a calf, lamb or kid.

This year your entry will be submitted through an electronic form.

Entries close on SUNDAY 19th OCTOBER 7.00pm. No late entries will be accepted this year.

To access the entry form please click here

On the day, registrations will be accepted from 9.00am. Please ensure your registration is completed by 9:30am, to allow judging to commence from 10.00am.

We will endeavour to accommodate all vehicles and trailers for animals. Parking will be marked.

Important information regarding Calves

Please note that with Calves being eligible to return to Waikato Ag day events this year, there are some stipulations that will need to be followed for your child to show their calf at Ag Day this year:

As M-Bovis is still present in NZ there will be a number of items to be addressed by each student/calf.

1) All calves MUST have a NAIT tag in RIGHT ear

2) All calves to have an “Animal Status Declaration Form” when entering school grounds. The NAIT no. must be the number allotted to the property that the calf leaves from on show day

3) Calf/Student and supporters to pass through a Biosecurity pathway when entering calf show area.

There is no postponement day. Group day will take place in rain or shine.

The organisers of the A & P Show are asking for volunteers to help set up the day. They are looking at doing a Working Bee from 10.00am on Tuesday 27th October at the Claudelands Event Centre.

They are also on the look out for new Judges, and are asking that each school supply 1 calf and 1 lamb/ goat associate judge to be trained to become judges

Please contact Dennis Ticklepenny if you can offer your services on 07 8567905, 021 773 493 or janden@xtra.co.nz

The date of the Ag Club Showing Competition has changed – please mark your calendar for Thursday 29th October 2020. Due to Covid-19, ALL entrants will need to register to enter the competition for contact tracing. ENTER HERE!

Calves (both Beef and Dairy) will be returning to the A & P show. All calves must be tagged with a NAIT approved RFID ear tag and registered with NAIT. If you have purchased/loaned a calf from a farmer or saleyards, it is your responsibility to ensure it is registered with NAIT and that it has a NAIT tag before calf club day.

This coming year, the WEETBIX TRYATHLON is on in Hamilton on Sunday February 21st. We have a school team all set up and ready for you to enter. Join the team! Each year we have a large group of students who participate in this event and everyone LOVES IT! Nearer to the time I will send out further information to help you on the day. Click on this link to register: https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=40594&G=120163

Lee Boyd

Deputy Principal