Helen Bladon from Eves Realty is the Premium Sponsor for Matua School. As a school parent, Helen is actively engaged in the school community and has been a PTA member for many years. We are proud to have her support and recognise the value she brings to our school. Helen brings many years of expertise and knowledge of the real estate industry and knows the Matua area intimately. If you or someone you know requires real estate services, please contact Helen Bladon.
Kia ora koutou,
It has been a fantastic start to the school year. We have loved welcoming the children back, hearing their summer stories and laying the foundations for a year of learning. The sunny weather has been a bonus, with classes enjoying the pool, outdoor learning spaces and, of course, the air-conditioning. We trust that the start has been a positive one for your whānau. For some children, settling into a new class can take a bit of time. There are new relationships to navigate and different classroom routines to understand. If your child is having a shaky start, we have a few opportunities coming up to help build connections, including Learning Conferences on Friday 1st March.
Hero School App
Hopefully, you have downloaded and signed up to Hero, the new school app. Our goal is that all key communication and information related to school can be accessed through Hero. If you haven’t connected with Hero yet you can do that now by following these instructions.
There are two ways to sign up for Hero:
- Download the Hero by LINC-ED App from either the Apple or Google Play Stores.
- Visit the website: https://our-hero.com/nz/ and sign up via your browser.
Enter the email address that the school has as your contact email, select ‘New User,’ and you will receive a password to activate your account.
Pro Tip
Did you know you can message your child’s teacher through the Hero app? After selecting the child you want to message about, look for ‘Caregiver Communications’ to create a message directly to your teacher. Please be aware that when you send a message using ‘Caregiver Communications’ all parents or caregivers who are connected to your child will have access to the message.
Fees & School Donations
As part of moving to the Hero App, our system for charging out fees for sports, camps, activities, and school donations has changed. We are working in the background to get this system up and running and hope to have this available for you by early next week. This is particularly important for our Year 5 and 6 students heading off to camp in a few weeks. Please note when the system is running, it will still be in Kindo and, from a parent’s view, will be the same as it has been in the past.
Community Picnic
Thanks to everyone who made it along to our school picnic, it was great to enjoy a summer evening as a community. We hope that you enjoyed spending time with other parents, meeting teachers and seeing your child connect with others from around the school.
Ngā mihi nui
Marcus Norrish
Principal
SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS – LEVERS RD, HALL RD & CLIVEDENE ST
Those who access the school via Clivedene Street will have noticed the new pedestrian crossing. We are thankful that this has been installed, providing a much safer crossing point for the children walking to school. It would fantastic if you could model the use of our pedestrian crossings by using them when you are with your children. It is not unusual to see parents take children across a ‘shortcut’ to save time, which quietly communicates to our kids that crossing use is actually optional.
The Lever Road crossing is currently being upgraded to include a speed hump. This is a welcome addition and will improve the safety of children crossing.
Crossing Clivedene Street
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SPORT
ONLINE HARM & DIGITAL SAFETY – PARENT WORKSHOP
This workshop event is highly recommended for all parents who want to learn more about supporting children to navigate the challenging digital landscape we live in. We would encourage you to take advantage of this popular event being held in our community. Book your FREE ticket quickly as spaces are expected to go quickly. CLICK HERE to access the booking website.
MAHURI TEAM – GARDEN TO TABLE
PTA
We have a fantastic PTA at Matua School, with a group of parents who know how to have fun creating opportunities for building community and fundraising for the school. The PTA is always looking for new members and helpers. You may want to be fully involved or just help out at a specific event. We have a number of exciting events coming up and would love people to get in touch and just help out where and how they can – we understand that life gets busy and committing to something is tricky. It’s a great way to meet more people and be involved in the community.
We are proud of our team and the fun we have creating events. If you would like to join us, email the PTA on matuapta@gmail.com.
Our first PTA meeting for the year is on Tuesday, the 21st of February, at 7:00 pm at The Neighbourhood, Cherrywood. Come along and meet the team!
ART CREATIONS
With the library being closed and having work done over the summer, it needs to be redecorated with beautiful art. This week, rooms 11, 12, and 24 have worked hard to create collaborative pieces for the walls, inspired by our local area. Watch this space as it comes together over the next few weeks, and see if you can guess what has influenced their art works!
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LIBRARY
Welcome back everyone!
We have a wonderful library at Matua School, and everyone is welcome. I work in the library Monday to Thursday (usually 8.30am to 1.30pm). If you need to contact me when I’m not here, please email library@matua.school.nz .
Classes have a 45 minute library session during the week with their teachers. Teams Kākano and Tupu are allowed to issue one book at a time, while teams Māhuri and Rākau can issue two books. Books are issued for two weeks, but may be returned before then. There is a return box located by the entry doors. Māhuri and Rākau children may also return and issue books at lunchtime.
If a book is more than a week overdue, a notice will be emailed home. These will be sent every 2 weeks as reminders. If you are unable to find a book please ask your child to search the classroom and the class library collection as well as to see me. Together we can search the library shelves to see if it has been returned without being scanned. We ask for a $10 donation towards the replacement of lost books. If the book is subsequently found this money will be returned to you
The library is open to the children every lunchtime except Friday. Year 5 and 6 students will have the chance to apply to be Librarians over the next few weeks. Senior Librarians are vital to help run the lunchtime time activities. Students use the library activity timetable on the library door to see whether it is their day for colouring. The library is a quiet space for puzzles and board/card games as well as reading.
I am always very grateful for parent help/grandparent help. Please come and see me or email me, if you have time to give to the library. Some fiddly and meticulous jobs can also be done at home (taping and covering new books), while other jobs can be completed at any time of the school day (helping librarians with the overflow of books to be shelved or shelves to be tidied).
Warmest Regards to all
Tracey Donovan-Grammer
Scholastic Book Club
Once a term your child will bring home a Scholastic Book Club catalogue. Scholastic Book Club Issue 2 will be handed out to students very soon.
Our school receives 20% of the price of each book purchased through the Scholastic Book Club. In turn, the scholastic dollars are used to purchase books and literacy resources for the school. There are many fantastic books available at reasonable prices, but please do not feel pressured by your child to purchase from the Book Club Catalogues. This is a resource offered to the community.
Orders are made online with credit card payment using the scholastic loop (you can also download the scholastic loop app). The school does not accept cash. If you would like the book or purchase to be a gift, click the gift tab when ordering online, and we will contact you when the order arrives at the school office. Books purchased will be handed out to children in their classrooms unless they are gifts which are picked up from the office.
SCHOOL HOURS
A friendly reminder that school is not open until 8.30am. If you require childcare before these hours, please contact SKIDS either by email – matua@skids.co.nz, phone – 027 586 0408, or book online – www.skids.co.nz/Matua.
SCHOOL INFORMATION
LUNCH ORDERS – EVERY FRIDAY
Lunch orders are available for delivery to Matua School each Friday.
SUBWAY
Simply order your SUBWAY lunch online through you myKindo account by CLICKING HERE
Order (or cancel) any time before 9:00am on the day or schedule in advance.
Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or call 09-869 5200 Mon-Fri, 8:00am to 4:00pm.
TERM DATES 2024
Term 1, 2024 – Wednesday 7th February 2024 – Friday 12th April
Waitangi Day – Tuesday 6th February
Learner Conferences – Friday 1st March. School will be closed for instruction.
Easter Weekend – Friday 29th March until Tuesday 2nd April
Term 2, 2024 – Monday 29th April – Friday 5th July
Teacher Only Day #1 – Friday 31st May
King’s Birthday – Monday 3rd June
Matariki – Friday 28th June
Term 3, 2024 – Monday 22nd July – Friday 27th September
Term 4, 2024 – Monday 14th October – Friday 20th December (12:30pm finish)
Teacher Only Day – Friday 25st October
Labour Day – Monday 28th October
SETTING UP KINDO
Setting up with Kindo
Kindo is our prefered payments system. To help you learn how it works, we’ve added their new help sheet and video. We hope it helps.
KINDO VIDEO HELP
COMMUNITY NOTICES
NATIONAL CHILDRENS DAY
Children’s Day in our city centre is back on Sunday, 3 March and will be bigger and better than ever before! Organised by Tauranga City Council, in celebration of National Children’s Day, this free event will be a hive of activity with performances, face painting, arts and craft activities, superheroes and more.
With six different activity zones spanning across the waterfront, the Cargo Shed, Willow Street and He Puna Manawa, there will be something for everyone to enjoy. Practice your circus tricks, sit in a police car or take a sneak peek inside the Civic Precinct construction zone, this is one you won’t want to miss!
The event is on Sunday, 3 March from 10am-3pm. Click on the image below or visit mytauranga.co.nz/
