2011.11.28

Well the the term has flown past and with it two weeks shorter than usual it is great to see the amount we have achieved this term. Programmes continue as they have all term...and all year in fact! It really was great to be able to share our learning with ERO last week and to receive such positive feedback. Well done to everyone...students, parents, teachers, BOT and community members alike. See the last post for more details.

Students are currently writing their end of year reports, with teachers, to share with you. Year 7/8 students are preparing a presentation to share their learning from our Senior Combined Survival camp and we are beginning to put together our end of year magazine to celebrate and share our learning from throughout the year. Our students really are involved in their learning for the entire year!! Great to see kids!! Keep up the good work!

Events for your Calendar and Community News - Remember to click on the tabs at the top of our newsletter blog to keep up to date with these. They are updated regularly.
We pride ourselves on our open communication at our school which directly benefits the learning of your children. If there is anything you would like to discuss or have any queries feel free to touch base with Mary or Nicki at any time.
The policies and procedures are also now on our Blog in the tab above. Please read these as they are the framework for how our school is run.

Thanks
We would all like to say a huge thank you to Sheree for the great job she has done ensuring that our school pool has been in fantastic working order over the last few years. It really has been appreciated. Thanks also to Nipper for his support and expertise with pool maintenance and setting up the vacuum for us!
Deltina has offered to take responsibility for this. Thank you Deltina.

Many thanks also to Christine L, Deltina and family for the extra time and effort they put into ensuring our school looked at its best last week. We all really did feel proud to show our visitors around! Richard, Sara and Mike - thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to get our mower to town and back for maintenance and repairs. Thanks also to Richard for fixing the wheel on the sandpit and the office handle.


Run Jump Throw
Each Monday and Wednesday afternoon for the next two weeks, students will be working at school with the 'Run Jump Throw' team to improve their athletics skills. We value and plan learning experiences for our students with a range of experts. Where possible we plan these at school. However learning is for life and many valuable learning opportunities are outside our classroom environments.

Oroua Athletics Sports
A reminder that the Oroua Group of Schools Athletics are on this Friday (the 2nd December), at Timona Park in Feilding. All Apiti School students will attend this event. Please be at Timona Park by 9.30 in time to assemble at 9.45. Lunch will be at about 12.05 to 12.35 for the senior students and maybe a little earlier for the junior students. Junior students will be dismissed at lunch time and become the responsibility of their parents/caregivers. Students must wear their school uniform on this day please.
Please make sure your child has a good packed lunch, a good drink, sunscreen, a hat and clothes for all occasions.
Please transport your own children to this event or arrange transport. The school bus will not run at all on this day.
Could we ask that all parents help out at a junior (ball throw) or senior circuit (boys high jump) at some stage during the day - this would be very much appreciated.
The relays and prize giving for the senior students will be after lunch and the day should conclude at about 2.00.

Teachers Professional Development
Teachers and support staff have spent today attending a First aid course at school to keep their First aid certificates current for the safety of your children and the community. This is something that was commended by our recent ERO visitors.

Tomorrow Mary and Nicki have their final day for 2011 working with Brian Coles (in PN), our appraiser and the facilitator for our WAM Professional learning cluster. As always, classroom programmes will continue as normal.

Over the next two weeks we welcome Massey Advisors, Selina O'leary and Heather Bell, to our school. We will be working together to look at data from 2011, set new targets and plan quality learning programmes for your students in 2012. We have made the most of and appreciated the support of such professionals this year as there is no funding or advisors available from the government for professional development in 2012. We continue however to value professional learning that means better learning for your children. See the google calendar for specific dates.

News from the BOT Chairperson
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would liketo congratulate Mary & Nicki on the excellent way the School is being run.
This has become very clear to the board since the Education Review Authority (ERO), visited the School last week. They indicated the School would be given a glowing report. This is a credit to Mary, Nicki and the other staff, for all the hard work they have put in over the last few years. Our School is right up there with the best in New Zealand. The authentic Context Learning(Learning from real world experiences) really motivates the students and makes learning more fun. Our Students are achieving great results.
We look forward to seeing the AAA+ ERO report in a few weeks.
Ben

Our final meeting for the year will be held at 7pm on the 12th of December. All are welcome.

Oroua Leavers Dinner
Caleb, along with the other Oroua year 8 leavers and their parents, will be attending this next Tuesday at the Apiti Tavern. We thank June for again providing the venue and meal for this.

End of year assembly and Barbecue
We look forward to seeing you all next Thursday, the 8th, as we celebrate the achievements of our school students over 2011. Assembly will begin at 2.30. Please see the previous post for details. We realise that it is a busy time for everyone. If you are only able to join us for some of the time or just send your children, that would be great too!

Mary, Nicki, Christine and Pat