Screen Shot 2017-10-17 at 2.54.16 PM

Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa – warm greetings to everyone

Reminder: The FUN FUN (Cross Country) is tomorrow. It is held on Marshall’s farm at the rugby club. You are welcome to join us there. We are travelling by bus shortly after 9am in two trips. All children will walk the course first. We anticipate to begin races around 10am. We will start with the 5 year olds and finish with the 10 year olds. Children will need a change of clothing to run in. They may wear this to school but must change back into uniform when they get back to school. Shoes are optional but recommended. A good lunch and water is also needed. A sausage sizzle will be supplied for all children who take part afterwards.

Important Notice – please read:

Please DO NOT contact teachers with attendance messages or bus changes. These MUST go through the office. Teachers will re-direct you to the office if you communicate these messages with them.

This is to make sure we enter the correct information on our system and know the whereabouts of your children. Sometimes teachers are on release or sick at home. They are not responsible to pass this information on to the school.

1st June changeover – If you know of any families coming into the district can you notify the school – thanks.

Reminder: The FUN FUN (Cross Country) is tomorrow. It is held on Marshall’s farm at the rugby club. You are welcome to join us there. We are travelling by bus shortly after 9am in two trips. All children will walk the course first. We anticipate to begin races around 10am. We will start with the 5 year olds and finish with the 10 year olds. Children will need a change of clothing to run in. They may wear this to school but must change back into uniform when they get back to school. Shoes are optional but recommended. A good lunch and water is also needed. A sausage sizzle will be supplied for all children who take part afterwards.

Combined Strike:

I have just received confirmation that the mega teacher strike is confirmed for May 29th. This means both primary and secondary teachers across the country will be on strike together.

The minister just announced $95 million to attract new teachers. This $95 million to train new teachers does not stop the flood of teachers quitting. It does not solve the massive percentage of teachers who resign within the first 5 years. It does nothing to value our experienced, hard working teachers. It also does nothing to attract our top students to teaching – we want the best and brightest school leavers to be considering teaching!

Some of the issues that remain for us are:

Primary teachers get 10 hours a term release time. Secondary teachers get 5 hours a week.

Our collective agreement expired on the 8th of June 2018. The govt is refusing to back pay us if/when an agreement is reached.

The govt offered primary teachers a $500 bonus to sign the agreement. They offered secondary teachers $1000.

The government is refusing to commit to pay parity. Teachers should be paid the same for equal qualifications – regardless of the age of the students.

The minister likes to talk about this being a ten thousand dollar pay rise. Currently our beginning teachers spend a minimum of 3 years at university and then start on a paltry $47980. This offer gives them 3% straight away. So about $1400 before tax – or about $19 a week. This is one of the reasons we have a 40% reduction in people choosing teaching as a career.

Experienced teachers stand to get about $27 a week from this offer.
Our agreement expired in June last year, but the Minister is refusing to offer backpay. Therefore – even if they accepted the $27 a week today – they have already lost somewhere in the vicinity of $2000 over the last year through this negotiation – both through strike days and no back pay. So in fact – if we signed today, it would take over a year for us to even make up what we’ve lost.

The support for learners with special needs – both learning and behaviour – is nothing short of pathetic. Limited release for primary teachers means they have no extra time to plan for these learners – or attend meetings, or support whanau.

A decade ago we used to get a 100 applicants for a teaching job. Principals could choose the best candidates to meet the needs of their school. Now – we see vacancies having no applicants at all. We have classes being split because we can’t find a reliever. We see jobs being re-advertised over and over again.

We have already battled this for a year. It has cost teachers thousands – and we seem to have made little headway. We know it’s frustrating for parents – and I understand that May 29th will be inconvenient. I expect it won’t be the last.

Please support us by going online and messaging anyone you can think of – Hipkins, Ardern – the Labour govt Facebook page – local MPs – anyone and everyone. Together we can be heard. We want the best education for our children. The only way this can happen is with quality teaching staff.

Hillary Outdoors:

This year Nate Phillips, Harley Brennan, and Krystal Rondon have been selected to attend the Hillary Outdoors leadership camp. They are raising money to supplement the cost of the camp by  holding the following two fundraisers. Please support them on their journey to leadership!

The car wash is $10. Baking is between $1 and $5 depending on what you buy!

 

Fun Run (Cross Country):

Dear Parent/Guardian,

As a way to raise money for new playground equipment and outdoor games, we will be holding the School Fun-Run (previously called our Cross Country) on 21st May 2019. The funds raised will be used to buy playground and sporting equipment for our turf and outdoor games for an outdoor area by the staffroom. The more we raise, the more we are able to buy!

We are excited to be taking the FUN RUN (Cross Country) offsite this year and will be running it on the Marshall’s farm at the Rugby club. We will be leaving school via bus shortly after 9am. Sand shoes are optional. After the Fun Run we will return to school for a sausage sizzle put on for us by the Whanau Group. Parents are welcome to come along to watch and cheer us on!

About the Program

The School Fun-Run promotes healthy and active lifestyles while helping us raise funds! It’s all about participation, with students treated to a great day as a reward for their fundraising efforts.  Family support is key to our fundraising success and we encourage everyone to get involved. It is done through sponsorship create your profile page at schoolfundraising.co.nz

WELL DONE TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY STARTED RAISING MONEY – THE BALANCE IS GOING UP FAST ALREADY!

Uniform:

It is great to see our children looking so smart in their new uniforms. Some children are starting to wear non-uniform clothing. When this happens, teachers will send home a notice. If the non-uniform clothing continues, I will make a phone call home. We understand that sometimes things happen that are unavoidable, and are flexible in those ‘once in a while’ situations though. Please make sure all uniform items are named so that they can be returned to the rightful owner. On that note – Felix has lost his named jersey. Please check your child’s polar fleece and make sure they have the correct one!

Bus Vests:

It is great to see our children in their bright orange vests. Some children are starting to accidentally ‘leave theirs at home’. Please help us embed this safety system by ensuring that they are wearing their vest when they leave the house. We will do the same at our end to ensure they get on the bus with their vest on. If your child walks on footpaths to school or always rides in the car, please return the vest to the office and we will adjust our records so you are not responsible for replacing it if it gets lost.

Stars of the week:

Ka Rawe te mahi (awesome work) to Jake Marshall for his fantastic engagement in his work lately. Go Jake!

 

Thank You:Thumbs-Up-Circle-300px (1)

A big thank you to the Whanau Group for organising the Quiz Night on Saturday. It was a great success and they raised lots of money for our new kitchen development in room 7.

Sports-1Sports:

 

CBOP SWIMMING SPORTS – we are still waiting for comfirmation on the results. We will publish them when they are available.

Mini Marathon: 3rd May

Congratulations to all children who participated in this event. Can we have all t-shirts from this event returned to school thank you.

Fell Cup: 8th May from 9:15am

Congratulations to all children who participated in this event they came third in Rugby and Netball.

  

Thank you to Justin Phillips for coaching and supervising this the rugby team. Thank you also to Kerry Pearce for helping coach at lunchtime.

A huge thank you to Melissa Brennan for coaching the netball girls at the last minute and  to Tracey Heads for the lunchtime practise.

Rippa Rugby Tournament CBOP Wed 5th June

Teams will be selected this Friday 17th May (1 year 3/4 and 1 year 5/6). The selected children will bring a letter home regarding this. Practise will start next week at lunchtimes. Parent volunteers are always appreciated if you can help contact the school 027 6602281.

Staff:

Kōkā Piri (Jazmine Elkington) is our teacher in charge of sport and can be emailed at [email protected]

Jolene Guyton is our sports co-ordinator. She will be managing the entries, permissions, transport and sports uniforms for the teams.

Calendar:

Tues 21st May Fun Run  (Cross Country)
Fri 24th May Leadership Day
Fri 24 May BOT Nominations close NOON
Mon 3rd June Queens Birthday – No School
Tues 4 – 7 June BOOK FAIR
Fri 7 June Noon BOT ELECTION DAY
Wed 12th June Wairakei revegetation Project Day
Thurs 13 June BOT Election – declaration of results
Fri 21st June Kapa Haka Festival
Fri 5th July End of Term 2 – 3pm finish
Mon 22nd July Term 3 starts

Other Notices:                                                                           

Reporoa Primary School Board of trustees’ election

 

Nominations are invited for the election of 5 parent representatives to the board of trustees.

 

A nomination form and a notice calling for nominations has been posted to all eligible voters.

 

You can nominate another person to stand as a candidate, or you can nominate yourself. Both parts of the form must be signed.

 

Additional nomination forms can be obtained from the school office.

 

Nominations close at noon on 24 May 2019 and may be accompanied by a signed candidate statement and photograph.

 

The voting roll is open for inspection at the school and can be viewed during normal school hours.

 

There will also be a list of candidates’ names, as they come to hand, for inspection at the school.

 

Voting closes at noon on 7 June 2019.

 

Signed Maureen Johansen

Returning Officer

School Account Details:

Account payments can be made directly to our school ASB account using online banking.  The account number is: 123155 0134517 00

Remember if you get a new cell phone number  to notify the school so we have up to date records, also the office needs your up to date email address so the newsletter can be emailed out – thanks.

FRIDAY LUNCHES: 

Lunch menu

https://www.rep.school.nz/lunches/

Absences:

Reminder if your child is absent either text, leave a message or fill in an on-line absent form. We also are required to fill in the reason they are away, so remember to include this in your message – thanks.

Library News:

Library sessions happen every Monday for Rooms 1, 2 and 3.

Rooms 5 & 6 have theirs on alternate Fridays.

Books must be carried in a book bag or plastic bag to and from school. Please remind, or help your children with returning their library books.

Lost or damaged library books will be charged for.

 

 

Nãku i runga i aku mihi ki a koe – Yours with thanks

Richelle McDonald

and our team –Jill, Jazz (Piri), Debs, Chelsea, Susannah, Rachel, Julie, Maureen, Heather, Mary, Karla & Linda.