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Welcome to Week 1 Term 3 2021

Kia ora ki ngā whānau me ngā hoa o te kura tuatahi o Karāpiro. Greetings to all families and friends of Karāpiro School. 

Welcome to Karāpiro School!

We have welcomed Aidan to Karāpiro School. Aidan is in Year 3 and has joined Kōwhai Class. Welcome Aidan! We also welcome two student teachers who are with us this term from the University of Waikato. Miss May has joined Kōwhai class and Miss Gillard has joined Pohutukawa.

Kia Ora, I'm Miss May and I am the student teacher for Kōwhai class! My favorite subject is science, this includes space science and physics. I am thrilled to be in such an awesome school as Karāpiro and look forward to getting to know all the students this term who will help me on my journey to becoming a beginning teacher. He waka eke noa!

Hello! My name is Samantha Gillard and I am a third year student at the University of Waikato studying Primary school Education. I am from a small village called Whareroa which is in between Turangi and Taumarunui. I love spending time with friends and family as well as going on adventures and playing sports.I am very excited to be at Karāpiro Primary this year for my placement and I am looking forward to learning new things and meeting new people! I am always up for a chat so please feel free to come and say hi! 

THANK YOU!
Thank you to the people who help us in so many ways at Karāpiro School. Thanks to Wayne Naylor, Steve Dunsmore and Rhys Horgan for all your work in fixing our faulty rugby goal posts. We would also like to thank the mystery person who has once again trimmed the bamboo at the top of the driveway - we don’t know who you are but we are very grateful to you! 

Special thank you also to Griff who helped us out by releasing 8 of our frogs that we have grown at school - they were becoming too big for the tank and Griff offered to release our healthiest and biggest frogs. We have 3 frogs that we are continuing to grow here at school - pop into the lab and see how fat they are! We have our own mealworm farm that we have set up to ensure a frog food supply through the winter months. 

Curriculum

We have an exciting Term 3 planned for our students which will include a focus on mathematics and engineering. Students will be building technological capability through the EPRO8 engineering programme where they will design and build a range of objects and machines. There will be a strong link to mathematics with work already underway in geometry (position and orientation) in Pohutukawa. Our health programme will include a visit from the Life Education classroom later in the term and we will be participating in the burns safety programme (see flyer in this newsletter). Our physical education focus will be cross country running and students will require running shoes for daily running practice at school. Our school will organise and run the Rural Schools’ Cross Country event at Lake Karāpiro in Week 7. (More information below).

Rural Cross Country -  We need you!

Karāpiro School staff organize and run the Rural Schools’ Cross Country event for the rural Cambridge schools. Participating schools are Karāpiro, Roto-o-Rangi, Kaipaki, Horahora and Te Miro. This year the event will be held on Friday 10th September (Week 7) with the postponement day the following Tuesday 14th September. Please save these dates now! 

We will be running our 8, 9, 10 and 11 year old students only (age as at 17 September). Our 6 and 7 year olds will remain at school on this day. We will be looking for our fastest runners from the rural schools to participate in the Rural Schools team at the Town School event on Friday 17 September (the save day is Tuesday 21 September). The event will begin at 9.30am (to be confirmed) and be finished by approximately 1pm. Our PTA will run a ‘snack bar’ under the Karāpiro gazebo.

We need your help! Below is a list of the things we will soon be asking you to help us with, to ensure this is a successful event for our rural students:

Teacher Only Day

School will be closed for instruction on Friday 27 August for a Teacher Only Day for staff professional development and learning in the new digital technologies curriculum.  Our final Teacher Only Day for the year will be the Friday of Week 1 in Term 4, 22nd October.

Board of Trustees

Our next board meeting will be held at 3pm on Tuesday 10 August here at school. Visitors are welcome! We are looking for new members to join our board governance team. Please read the email from Board Chairperson Marilynn Jones which is your personal invitation to support our board of trustees.  

Cambridge Middle School - Year 6 Students

Cambridge Middle School invites applications from parents/caregivers who are intending to enrol their child/ren in Year 7 at CMS in 2022. 

Their 2022 Prospectus will be delivered to our school before the end of this week and we will send a copy home with your child. Please note that the prospectus no longer includes a paper enrolment form as they have moved to an online enrolment form via MUSAC Edge. 

Families can find information about the enrolment process, zone map and the link to the online enrolment form on their website at https://www.cms.school.nz/cms-enrolment-and-zone/ 

Cambridge Middle School is asking that all applications be completed and received by CMS before 12pm Wednesday 25th August 2021. Cambridge Middle School is also holding an Open Day - see flyer in this newsletter.  

Mother & Daughter Evening postponed - free period products

Our mother and daughter evening for our year 5 and 6 girls has been postponed to a date in September or October. We will advise you of the new date soon.

Our school has received free period products from the Ministry of Education. Please complete an order for your child at the following link: Period Products. These will be sent home with your child in the first week of term.

School Hours

Our school day begins at 9am and ends at 3pm. Karāpiro School students are welcome on site and in classrooms from 8.30am each day. Students are to be collected from school at 3pm. Karāpiro School teachers have a number of commitments in their professional roles and there will be times when teachers will be required to attend meetings after school both on site and in the Cambridge area. Your prompt collection of students after school ensures teachers can fulfil their professional obligations. Thank you for supporting us.

Car Park Safety

From time to time we need to remind you to please keep your speed down on our driveway! Thank you for using our drop off and pick up zone - you can temporarily park in the pick up zone and collect your child/ren from the gate. You will usually find teachers at the main gate to assist students to leave the site after school.

A reminder to families: Please do not use the visitor parking at the school office - this space is designated for our school visitors and was not designed for daily parent or student access. Thank you.

School Pool Caretaker

We are looking for someone to become the caretaker of our school pool from Term 4. Part of this is attending a pool compliance course which we cover the cost of. If you are interested in taking on this role or would like more information please let Lynda in the office know.

Karāpiro Community Play Group - Mums, Dads, preschoolers and babies welcome!

Friday Playgroup dates for Term 3: 6 August, 20 August, 3 September, 17 September, 1 October

Come along to our next Karāpiro Community Playgroup! From 9am-11am on the above dates, come to Room 5 at Karāpiro School. Enjoy a cup of tea and your little ones can play in our lovely junior room with our pre-school and junior resources. We have a lovely new heat pump installed so it will be nice and cosy. This is a great opportunity for you to meet school families and local families in our community. Our Deputy Principal Cheryl Naylor will be available to say hello and talk about our transition to school programme. 

Our School Virtues

Our virtues focus is on the virtue of ‘Honesty’.  What does honesty look like in your family/whanau? Click the link to listen to this great story ‘Franklin Fibs’ about a turtle who lies to impress his friends, saying he can swallow 76 flies in the blink of an eye! 

Music @ Karāpiro School    

Karāpiro School students are very fortunate to have Mrs June McKenzie teach music at Karāpiro School each Thursday. You can contact June on 021 136 0583 with regards to your child learning to play the ukulele, guitar, keyboard or piano. 

Lost Property

From time to time we have lost property at school and it is collected into the Lost Property Box which lives on the deck outside the Whānau Room. We encourage students to check the box regularly - and parents are also welcome to have a look! 

School Calendar

Keep an eye on our School Calendar which has been updated with new assembly dates, term dates, trips and activities at school. Do you have a family member (grandparent? Aunty or uncle? A relative overseas?) that would like to receive email notification of our school newsletters? Please email Lynda Smith at office@karapiro.school.nz if you would like to add them to our mailing list. 

Concerns and Complaints

We have an open-door policy at Karāpiro School which means we want to make ourselves available to speak with you if there are problems or issues you wish to discuss. Please make a time to meet with us if you want to talk. You can find more information on our concerns and complaints procedures at the end of this newsletter. 

Ngā mihi

Tina-Maree and the Karāpiro Staff team 

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Parents and friends of Karāpiro School  - We need YOU!

Kia ora!

An opportunity has arisen for members of our community to help Karāpiro School to continue to grow and to provide expert learning opportunities for our students.  As a newly appointed Board of Trustees member and Chairperson, I challenge parents and friends of the school to put their names forward to join our collaborative team as a School Trustee.  I jumped at the opportunity to work as a Trustee as I believe in Karāpiro School and I want it to succeed.  I have worked in the school over the last 3 years and have witnessed the special qualities and environment this school provides.  Karāpiro School has so much to offer as outlined in our most recent Education Review Report, which will be released to families very soon.  We have small class numbers, expert teaching and leadership, and exciting educational opportunities for our children. 

We value your contributions to the school and would appreciate your help towards making our school continue to succeed. Every family can help by offering to serve on the Karāpiro Board of Trustees for a 18 month or 3 year term. 

It’s a very small commitment to be on the Karāpiro BOT team which meets twice a term on a Tuesday at 3pm.  All you need to be able to do is:

•    Work well in a collaborative team

•    Have a commitment to Karāpiro School and its future

•    Support our staff and students

•    Have good communication skills

Board members will have a genuine interest in the work of Karāpiro School and the education and welfare of our students. This is to ensure the future prosperity of our school.  Board members should also have:

•    Passion

•    Energy

•    People skills

•    Honesty

•    Integrity

Here are some things that a board does:

•    Work with the school community to make sure that the school works in a way that meets the needs of our students, families and future families

•    Together with Principal and staff, create the school charter and strategic plan. These documents describe the board's long term plans for the school and sets goals that will help make them happen

•    Monitor progress towards the long-term plan and goals

•    Monitor and evaluate student progress and achievement to make sure that every student is getting the preparation they need to survive and thrive in the world

•    Make overall decisions about the school  property (grounds and buildings), finances, curriculum (what is taught) and administration. These decisions are often made on the advice of the principal, staff and educational advisors, and are carried out by the principal and staff once they are made

•    Ensure that the school gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (legal requirement)

•    Appoints and supports the principal and assesses (independent reviewer) their performance

•    Is a good employer to its staff. The board employs all the staff including the principal

•    The board has a responsibility to make sure that the school provides a safe and healthy environment for students and staff

Karāpiro School needs you! If every family has a turn as a Trustee our school will continue to flourish by providing the best educational opportunities for all our students for now and in the future! 

Our next meeting is at 3pm on Tuesday 10 August. Please accept this letter as your personal invitation to attend. Please consider coming along as a visitor and be part of our next meeting. 

If you’d like more information please contact me at marilynn@karapiro.school.nz

Nga mihi

Marilynn Jones

Presiding Member (Board Chairperson)

Karāpiro School Board of Trustees