Heron Herald Term 2, Week 2, 2021

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S LAPTOP

Kia ora koutou,

We are always thankful for the many people who go above and beyond to support the school and community.  You will recall that we have recently refurbished the ‘Superloo’ toilet block.  Our goal was to create a space that was more friendly for students to use.  We were thrilled to work with Hannah from Architects, Design Group Stapleton Elliott who did a fantastic job in reworking the space and designing a modern, yet functional space.  

Colin Bell is a professional artist and was a parent of the school until the end of last year.  As a gift to the school, Colin offered to create artwork that would enhance the new spaces and give students something to be proud of.  Colin has been working consistently on this project since early in Term 1, and the work completed so far looks stunning.

While Colin has volunteered his time to this project, the extent of it is well beyond what we anticipated at the beginning.  Many hours of work have been given already, with many more still to come.  We would love to give Colin a koha (gift) to thank him for going well beyond our expectations.  So, we have decided to hold a school mufti-day.  On this day we are asking families to consider making a donation that will be passed onto Colin and his family.  This could be a gold coin donation, or you may choose to give a greater amount, which you can donate using cash or through KINDO.  It would be wonderful to see our community pull together and show some appreciation for this wonderful contribution to our school.

Mufti Day Date:  Friday 21st May, 2021

Donations can be made by sending cash to school with children on the day.  Alternatively, if you would like to contribute a larger amount, we have set up a payment option in Kindo. 

It’s Storytime!

This term we are framing some of our learning around Storytelling.  Stories are told in many different ways, in different contexts, and across all cultures.  To kick off our learning the teachers got together and held a surprise ‘Storytelling Ignition Day’.  It all started with Matua staff arriving at school dressed up as story characters.  We certainly enjoyed the different reactions of children who arrived to find teachers and staff dress very differently, but acting as if nothing was different!  After an early morning tea, we came together in the hall for a short assembly, where we announced that everything was not as it seemed.  Children were then released into the school grounds to explore.  As they moved around the school children discovered a range of performers and activities that shared a story in some way.  This included musical groups, dancers, and a drama group that was performing while recording live to a green screen!  They also found stories being told around a campfire, local legends being shared in a hidden cave (the container!), and video stories from teachers about “life in the olden days”.  After an hour of exploration, we all returned to the hall, where professional storyteller Zeebong took the stage and performed for the whole school.  

This ‘Ignition Event’ is designed to grab the attention of students and provide an opportunity for teachers to gather ‘student voice’ and areas of interest for our learning ahead.  We hope you heard lots of stories on Monday evening about the activities of the day!

Nga mihi,

Marcus Norrish
Principal

Amazing Race

Friday 21st May

Artist Donation - Mufti Day

Friday 21st May

PTA Sausage Sizzle

Thursday 27th May

PTA Meeting in the Staffroom

Tuesday 1st June

School Cross Country

Thursday 3rd June
Fergusson Park

Queens Birthday - Public Holiday

Monday 7th June

Teacher Only Day - School Closed

Tuesday 8th June

Gobsmacked Performance

Tuesday 6th July 6.30pm-8pm

Gobsmacked Matinee Performance

Wednesday 7th July 12.30pm-2pm

Gobsmacked Performance

Wednesday 7th July 6.30pm-8pm

Last Day of Term 2

Friday 9th July

DOGS IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS

We seem to have a large number of dogs being exercised in the school grounds after school hours. Every day this week Steve has had to clear up after dogs. On a couple of occasions children running around in bare feet have trodden in dog mess and then trampled it into classrooms. This is absolutely disgusting and we are really disappointed that owners cannot clean up after their dogs especially in school grounds.

Dogs are not permitted on site during school hours.  At other times, please take responsibility for your dog or consider exercising it elsewhere.

 

KOTUKU FEATHER

Last Term our school was gifted a real life Kōtuku feather to hang in Mr Norrish’s office. When students have been ‘Caught Being Awesome’ or have work to show Mr Norrish they have the opportunity to look at it up close. Mr and Mrs Hantler found the feather in the Ōkarito Lagoon when visiting the only White Heron nesting site, and asked the land owners politely if we could have it for our school. Don at Prestige Framers offered to do the job for free when Mr Hantler took the feather in to be framed, as he has had 2 children come through our awesome school. If you need anything framed, please take it to the professionals there. Keep up the awesome work, Matua, E Rere Kōtuku.

PTA

The PTA are having a little breather at the moment after the excitement and busyness of the gala! Term two will see us organising our ‘famous in Matua’ Quiz Night for September and also the School Disco for Term 3.
Teachers and tamariki will all be busy with the Gobsmacked Production for Term 2 so we have no major events planned but will aim to do a sausage sizzle one lunchtime. Volunteers will be needed to enable to make this happen and we will probably run this on a preorder basis.
We are still in need of secondhand uniform stock for the PTA Uniform Shop which will be open on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month from approx. 2.45pm until 3pm. Outside of these times, Emma from the office will be happy to help you and donations can also be dropped there.
Winter nights are cold and dark but the staff room is nice and warm so we would love to see your friendly faces at the PTA meetings. They are a great way to meet other school families and get involved in some of the great fundraising efforts that support school projects.
The next meeting is Tuesday 1st June at 7pm.
If you would like further information about the PTA and how you can get involved please email pta@matua.school.nz
Karen & Hayley
PTA Co-Chairs

SCHOOL POOL KEYS

The pool will soon be closing for terms 2 & 3. If you purchased a school pool key, please return them to the school office. We can then refund the $25 key bond.

TAEKWONDO CLUB

The OTTC club (Official Taekwondo Training Centre) is accepting new primary-age school members at the moment (parents are welcome to join also!). Come and watch or give it a try on Thursday nights 5.30pm to 7.00pm and Sunday afternoons 3.30pm to 5.30pm, just across the road from the school at the Matua Hall. Taekwondo is great for fitness, strength, flexibility, confidence, self-esteem, discipline, and new friendships.  We’d love to see you there.
Logan (room 1), and Nathan (room 12) are proud of their Dad Sheldon Nesdale who, in the first weekend of the holidays, was awarded 3 gold medals at the Budo South Taekwondo Tournament here in Tauranga.

HEADLICE

TERM DATES 2021

Term 1, 2021 – First Day: Tuesday 2nd February 2021 – Friday 16th April

Waitangi Day – Monday 8th February

Easter – Friday 2nd April – Tuesday 6th April inclusive

Term 2 – Monday 3rd May – Friday 9th July

Queen’s Birthday – 7th June

Term 3 – Monday 26th July – Friday 1st October

Term 4 – Monday 18th October

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

We would like to express our appreciation to Chris Pringle for the ongoing support that he provides to Matua School.  Did you know that each time Chris sells a house, he makes a donation to the school?  In 2020 the school received $6000 that allowed us to invest in a range of resources that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.  This has included sports equipment, a soccer goal, and a line-marking machine.  Thanks, Chris and Sotheby’s International Realty for continuing to support Matua School.

TRAFFIC & PARKING

Road safety for students continues to be a worry for us at Matua School.  We regularly receive messages of concern regarding the traffic around the school at drop-off and pick-up times.  While issues with blocking in other drivers and being an annoyance to neighbours are part of the issue – our main worry is the potential danger for students.  With the school being in the centre of our community, many children have the opportunity to walk, ride or scooter to and from school.  This is fantastic and should be encouraged.  However, children are small, difficult to see at times, and can make poor choices when crossing the road.  If you do need to drive to school, please consider parking a little further away, investing in an umbrella if needed, and take one for the team by walking to the gate rather than adding to the jam!

ANZAC POPPIES

Anzac Day fell in the school holidays this year but we did have Anzac Poppies on sale at the end of last term. Thank you to everyone that bought an Anzac Poppy. We managed to raise $325

SPORTS

Winter sports are well and truly underway now with all sports starting this week. Every player will now have their sports uniform and should be raring to go.
This year we have a great number of teams participating with 6 hockey teams, 4 basketball teams and 5 netball teams. Good luck everyone for the season, I hope you all enjoy your time out there on the court or turf.
Our teams are lucky enough to be the first teams to be receiving our brand new Matua School Player of the Day certificates. These are super cool and display all of our Matua Learner Tui’s. To all parents, coaches, managers, supporters – we would love to receive photos of your children when receiving these certificates to include in our newsletter so send them through to sport@matua.school.nz
In the last week of term 1 we had 6 students represent Matua School for East Cluster in the WBOP Swimming Champs. Congratulations to all our swimmers, you all did such a great job on the day. Great work Georgia, Holly, Jacob, Kieran, Takara and Sam. Special congratulations to Jacob who won the year 5 boys competition!
Sports Fees can now be paid on Kindo. Thank you to all those who have already paid.
This term is filled with lots of extracurricular sport activities and to start off we have The Amazing Race taking place at Memorial Park on Friday 21st May. Students were selected after a tough trial which saw them working as a team, individually and problem solving. Well done to those who were selected, it was really tough to decide the final teams. Term 2 is also famous for cross country – which all classes have been starting to train for, and the ARGOS Gymsport competitions. Keep an eye out for more details of events coming up this term.
Finally, a big thanks to all our parents/siblings who have volunteered to coach our winter sports teams. All our teams will have a great season under the guided supervision of these wonderful humans. Thank you.
Stacey Sutherland

LUNCH ORDERS – WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY

Day change to Wednesday from Term 2!

Now with two days of ezlunch each week, your kids will have a great variety of healthy and tasty school lunches.  Simply order by clicking here.

Order (or cancel) any time before 9am on the day or schedule in advance.

Subway reveals minimalist new logo and symbol | Design Week Pita Pit in Kumeu, AKL 0810 Phone number, hours,locations,map.
Order anytime before cut-off or schedule in advance. Lunch will be delivered to school at lunchtime on a Wednesday for Pita Pit or Friday for Subway.ezLunch orders are made online through your myKindo account.  You can order lunch by simply going to www.mykindo.co.nz

Click here to view the menu.

Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or tel. 09-869 5200 Mon-Fri 8 am to 4 pm.

Find out more ezlunch.co.nz or mykindo.co.nz

OUR SCHOOL APP

Our School App

We have a new school app to keep you up to date with events and notifications. Click on the button below to check it out.

bookClick Me

SETTING UP KINDO

Setting up with Kindo

Kindo is our new prefered payment and permission system. To help you learn how it works, we’ve added their new help sheet and video. We hope it helps.

bookKindo Help

KINDO VIDEO HELP

COMMUNITY NOTICES

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