Kia ora koutou,

It has been wonderful to have everyone back at school over the last couple of weeks. We have particularly appreciated being able to start the year with parents more connected to the school. We started with a pōhiri last Friday, welcoming new students, whānau and staff to Matua. Earlier this week, we enjoyed coming together for our Community Picnic, an opportunity to meet new friends, catch up with teachers and enjoy seeing our children play together on a fine summer’s evening. Thank you to those who were able to attend. We trust you enjoyed both events, and we look forward to future opportunities to connect.

This newsletter has several key pieces of information. These include:

• Teacher Only Day Information
• Sponsorship Opportunities
• Learner Conferences (Parent, Student, Teacher)
• Gobsmacked Production Update
• Teacher Union Meeting

For more information on these topics, please scroll down.

End-of-Day Messages

At times our office can be overloaded with parents calling with requests to pass on messages to children. These often come close to the end of the school day, asking to change end-of-day plans. With over 500 students in the school, getting information out to students on time is extremely difficult. While we know that plans sometimes have to change, this is ideally the exception. Please aim to have end-of-day plans arranged and understood by children at the start of the day.

New Staff

This year we are pleased to welcome three new teachers to the Matua staff team. Vicky Nelson has started in Room 17, Mariska van Staden has started in Room 3, and Angela McLean has started as our Literacy Support Teacher. All three bring many years of teaching experience from a range of contexts. We trust you will make them feel welcome as they settle into Matua and get to know our school and community over the term.

Shady Spaces

A big THANKS goes out to TECT and our very own PTA for the new shade sails that have gone up in the Junior end of the school.  While we haven’t seen that much sun recently, we are thrilled to have the Junior Playground and sandpit covered.  Your contribution through PTA events like the Quiz Night, Disco and Night Market enabled this valuable resource to be purchased – thanks!

Sponsorship Opportunities

Matua School has a strong, active and engaged community.  With 550 children and 370 families connected to the school, we would like to offer a limited number of sponsorship opportunities.  You may have noticed on the @School App, and at the top of the newsletter a couple of digital spaces that are highly visible to our community.  If you are interested in supporting our children and Matua School, please read the image below and contact me at marcusn@matua.school.nz

Teacher Only Days

As highlighted last week, you can see on the school calendars that we have a Kahui Ako Teacher Only Day on Friday, 17th March.  The school will be closed on this day, and teachers will work with a Mathematics facilitator.  Growing our Mathematics practice and learning more about the refreshed curriculum is a key focus area for staff this year.  You may have spotted that this Teacher Only Day (TOD) is a week later than the TOD being held at Ōtūmoetai Intermediate.  Our normal practice is to align these days as much as possible.  However, on this occasion, we were restricted on the day we could access the Mathematics professional learning.  We appreciate that for some families, this might create some challenges.  Please be assured that our intent is always to align TODs where possible.  Thanks for your understanding.

Gobsmacked Production 2023 – Payment Required

We are excited to have our bi-annual Gobsmacked Production happening later this Term.  This is a wonderful opportunity and event for all students in Year 2 – 6.   We always love seeing over 400 students performing on the big stage, with one matinee and two evening performances booked for the Performing Arts Centre at Bethlehem College.

The lead characters are already practising, and classes will start rehearsals later this term.  Children will be asked to start learning some songs soon.

Putting on a special event like this is expensive.  We include a portion of the school budget, rely on ticket sales to the shows, and seek sponsorship support.  We also need to ask parents for a small contribution that goes towards the three bus trips that are required as part of Show Week.  Please visit your KINDO account and pay the $10 contribution for the Gobsmacked Production.

Thanks for your ongoing support.  We trust that this opportunity will grow confidence and spark a passion for the performing arts in your child.

Teacher Union (NZEI) Stop Work Meeting

Teachers across the country are currently in contract negotiations.  The focus of the negotiations has a focus on pay keeping up with the cost of living, but also the conditions and resourcing we want to ensure a high-quality education for our children.  As part of this process, our teachers need to attend a meeting during the afternoon of Thursday 2nd March.  During this time, we will be running a skeleton programme at Matua School, with most of the afternoon being an assembly with opportunities for singing and other whole school activities.

We are very aware that this union meeting has come at a time when there have been public holidays and upcoming Teacher Only Days.  We appreciate that these impact parents.  Therefore, all children are welcome at school all day.  However, if you are able to pick your children up from school at 12:30 pm on the day, you are most welcome.

SCHOOL INFORMATION

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