2013.02.07



Apiti School and District Newsletter, 11/02/2013.

Welcome back for term 1 2013.
We hope everyone enjoyed time with their families and friends, along with the fantastic summer weather we have had. It is great to see all of the students back; revitalized and ready for learning.
We have lots of exciting learning opportunities planned for this term and right through-out 2013.
Term Dates :
1st Term : 7th Feb - 19th April.    2nd Term : 6th May - 12th July.  3rd Term : 29th July - 27th Sept.
4th Term : 14th Oct - 20th Dec
All events will continue to be available on our School Calendar. You can access this through the link above.
School Roll
We have started the new school year with 24 students, 15 in the senior room and 9 in the junior room. 
Welcome
We would like to welcome the following students to our school : Zahn, Dylan and James.  Zahn is a Year 7 student, Dylan a Year 4 student and James a Year 2 student.  We know Zahn, Dylan and James will enjoy learning at Apiti school.
Sadly we have said farewell to Jack and Danni, Cailee, Brianna and Marrac.  We wish them all well at their new schools and their future.
We also said farewell to our Year 8 student Stanley.  We wish Stanley all the best for his High School years and beyond.
Reporting
We hope everyone enjoyed sharing their children’s learning in 2012 through their reports and the information available on their record keeping pages. It was great to receive so much positive feedback about the depth and format of student reports. This year we will provide the opportunity for a teacher, parent and student conference at the end of term 1. It is designed as an opportunity to discuss learning goals, clarify learning and ensure communication that further enables us to work together to help your child reach his / her full potential.
Looking Forward...
The first Unit for the term is ‘I wonder ...’. ?
The Apiti Show provides an excellent opportunity to showcase the high levels of learning and achievement of our students. It also gives the students an authentic context for learning. As part of this unit we are focusing on further development of learning and thinking skills.
The students will: 
  • Create a 'Creature' with images from medium such as magazines, flyers or the internet.
  • Write a free verse poem using language to describe and explain their created creature.
  • Design and create a kite. This must follow the basic principle required for kites (Measurement and design) but can be decorative or functional.
  • Paint and present a night scene; 'Horizons by Night'
Students have spent some time discussing and planning their kites at school and we hope at home. They will need to bring any specific materials they need as designs/resources will vary. The school can buy material for students if required. (Students need to share their plans, ideas and measurements with us so we can buy accordingly). All making will be done at school.
We hope you can discuss options and ideas for all of these areas of learning. This work will be part of the school competition at the Apiti show on the 23rd February. It is a great community day. It is also one of our main fundraising days, especially as we have the opportunity to obtain money from outside the area. ASSA provide the judges lunches on the day, and you will be asked to provide food for this. We run some fundraising activities like a Closest to the pin golf competition and this year a nail driving competition. Please make yourself available to help during the day to run these activities.
Home School Partnership - Homework
The goal of homework is to:-
A) develop a habit and a desire to continue learning outside the classroom and
B) to encourage children to share / discuss their learning with you. This links directly with our motto; 'LEARN FOR LIFE' and our commitment to home / school links and communication.
As part of our focus this year on developing learning and thinking skills and reading comprehension, senior room students will this year research and share current events. Each student has chosen a day that fits their personal schedule, to share. Please ask your child what day they are sharing each week. A google doc is linked to their e-portfolio 'Integrated learning' page for them to present on. All students are still expected to read for at least 20 minutes each night and spend time developing their maths and reading skills. 'Mathletics' and 'Reading eggs' are invaluable tools for this. We appreciate the school's ongoing commitment to pay for these sites for your students. Students will also have a weekly homework challenge and optional 'Extra for Expert' learning tasks. (http://apitischoolwiki.wikispaces.com/Our+Current+Learning+Homework) These are designed to develop thinking skills, problem solving and time management. Spelling is a specific teaching focus as part of our class literacy programme in 2013. There will not be regular homework for spelling. If you would like to see your child's spelling, click on the literacy spelling link in the Student learning portal in our wiki.
Junior students have an oral language programme every morning, Mondays - recount of weekend. Tuesdays - share one of your favourite books, Wednesday - current events, either a photo, or retell a suitable event of local, national or international interest. Thursday - retell a partners news about a topic eg pets, favourite sport, holiday, toy computer game. Friday - poetry. 
Tennis
This term we are very lucky to have Kurt available again to teach tennis each Thursday from 11.30 -12.30. He is a very good coach and we are very pleased he is still able to come out to our school. He will coach students for $69 per term per pupil (as its a 12 week term). Please pay him directly. Thanks to those who have confirmed already, please contact the school if you would like your children to be involved in this great opportunity. All students will have tennis tuition next term as part of our commitment to expose your children to a range of possible active pursuits through Kiwi Sport.
Technicraft
Technicraft for our Year 7 and 8 students is on Mondays and started on the 4th February. Students will need to take pens, a pencil, ruler, 1 1B5 . The bus leaves Kimbolton School at 9am so parents involved will organise transport to and from Kimbolton.
Swimming and Sun Care
There will be swimming every day both at lunchtime and during class time while the weather is warm. Students need to bring their togs and towel please as this is in preparation for the Oroua Group of Schools swimming sports being held March the 1st. Students will always be able to hop out of the pool if they get cold, but those who do feel the cold may like to bring along wetsuits to swim in.  If your child is not to swim for any reason, please send along a note from home.
Students are also required to take responsibility for their own sun care while at school i.e sunhats which they bring from home and wearing sunscreen.
There are a number of students who will be aiming to swim in the championship (length) events this year. We are aware that our school pool makes training for this difficult and most of our students are not training with swim clubs. We will be offering training at the Makino pool after school for committed students. If your child would like to be involved in this and you are heading to town or home so can help with transport please get in touch with Nicki.
Tablets / Laptops / Ipods
A number of students now have these and are welcome to bring them to school to be used for educational purposes. Used properly, these are very valuable learning tools and we encourage their use as we believe in educating students with IT, not blocking use. The flow of IT into all our lives is unavoidable and we embrace the mainly positive aspects. There are a number of great educational apps that can be downloaded and they provide access to great educational websites and tools including calculators and dictionaries and higher level thinking tools.  However, they do get us thinking about a couple of possible issues ...
  • These are expensive tools and if you choose to let your children bring them to school, they are their responsibility, not ours.
  • It seems an appropriate time for you to discuss internet safety with your children as not all homes have a filter, like Watch dog which we have at school, to block inappropriate sites. Also what do they do if they get onto an inappropriate site or if someone asks for their details. 
Thank You
  • It was a delight to return back to school this week having the grounds and rooms looking exceptionally tidy and clean. Thanks Christine for all of your hard work
  • Thank you to June and Murray for the hours you have put in to ensuring the pool is ready for the start of school. It is open for community use. 
  • Thank you to Fiona for offering to continue 'Toe by Toe' tuition for a select group of students this year. Pat will also be teaching 'Toe by Toe'. Staff and students appreciate this ongoing support as it enables this very valuable programme to continue.
  • Thank you to anyone else who helped out in any way to make the holiday period run smoothly. It really is appreciated!
Water Safety - Swim For Life Programme
Together with Water Safey NZ, we aim to increase awareness of the importance of teaching children to swim, provide the tools so that parents can help support learn to swim programmes in schools and to encourage kids by making their learning to swim experience fun and rewarding.
We will be having this ‘Swim for Life’ programme in our school with a coach from the Makino Aquatic Centre on the following Mondays and Thursdays :- 14th, 18th, 21st, 25th, 28th of February and the 4th, 7th and 11th of March, from 11.30 – 1.00pm. plus two other lessons to be arranged for a ‘deep water’ experience at the Makino pool.  On the 22nd of February we will be travelling into the Makino to practice and to finalise widths / lengths for the Oroua Group of Schools Swimming Sports.  We will need transport to and from the Makino on the 22nd please.  A transport slip is attached.
Healthy Lunches                                                                                                                                                                           Healthy lunches will be every Tuesday and Thursday and will commence next Tuesday the 19th of February.  The menu and price will be posted on the blog once it has been finalised.
School Times                                                                                                                                                                           School times for this term are as follows :- Class time from 9.00 – 10.30, break from 10.30 – 11.00. Class time from 11.00 – 12.30, lunch break from 12.30 – 1.15.  Class time from 1.15 – 2.00, break time 2.00 – 2.15.  Class time from 2.15 – 3.00pm Monday to Friday.
Board of Trustees Meeting
The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday the 27th of February starting at 7.30pm in the school staff room.  All members of the public are welcome to attend.
Emergency Contacts
If for any reason you have changed your emergency contacts that were on your enrolment form or you have a change of cell phone number etc, please let us know a.s.a.p please.
Helmet Reminder
All students are now required to wear a helmet – done up under their chin, at all times when-ever they are on any wheeled vehicle e.g skateboard, scooter, bike while at school.  We appreciate your co-operation with this rule.
Thank you to Huntah for the Skate-Board Grinding Ramp.
Oroua Group of School Triathlon
For your calendar - This event is to be held on Friday the 8th of March. More details closer to the event.
School Bus Reminder
Please remember to inform Yvonne if your child is not catching the school bus on any given  morning or afternoon.  Also if a child who is not normally a bus student needs to catch the bus, a note or phone call from a parent would be appreciated. Thanks to Yvonne and Mervyn for your great committment to providing our bus service.
Northern Oroua Sam Strahan Cup
The Oroua Junior Sam Strahan Team (Years 4 – 6) will play on the 8th of April against all schools involved in this tournament and the Oroua Senior Sam Strahan Team (Year 7 – 8) will play on the 10th of April against schools with a roll of under 120.  
Internet
Unfortunately our internet is and has been down since last week, therefore any community notices emailed to me recently are not included in this newsletter.  We will endeavour to get these items (if any) on the blog spot as soon as it is up and running which should be either today or tomorrow.
Well that’s all for the first newsletter of 2013, will be back in a fortnight.
Regards, Mary, Nicki, Pat, Mary B and Christine.
ASSA
The Apiti Show is coming up and once again ASSA will be providing the judges lunches. This is a good little fundraising opportunity for us and close to home. I will be ringing around in the next couple of weeks to ask for food donations. In the past it has been an ice cream container full of meat and either a sweet or salad. I will also be looking for helpers on the day to serve between 11 and 1ish. Thanks for your support in advance! – Jo
Community Notices  -  Please look under our Community Notices link for more notices
Summer 6-a-side Hockey
Hi all.  The term 4 summer hockey went well with plenty of goals scored and lots of new skills learnt!  The term 1 summer 2013 season starts on the week of the 25th February and runs for 8 weeks.  I sent out a note at the end of last year with only a few replies (probably due to Christmas), so I am checking again to see if there is enough interest to get a team together.  I am happy to look after the Year 5 and 6 team. 
We will need a volunteer to look after a Year 3 and 4 and another to look after the Year 7 and 8 team. Can you please get back to me if you are able to look after one of these teams and also if you have a child or children that are keen to play and what year they are.  Please pass this on to anyone that you think could have a child interested in playing in the Oroua Teams.  If I cannot get the team sorted by the 15th Feb, then we will not be entering in this summer league.  -  Peter Thomas - 3289770.

Blue Light Disco
Feilding Bluelight has just started in the Feilding Community by Feilding Police and other community members.
On Friday the 22nd of February, they will be running two disco’s at the Feilding Civic Centre for primary / intermediate aged school children :-
5.30 – 7pm for Year 1 to Year 6 students for a $2.00 entry fee.
7.30 – 9pm for Year 7 to Year 8 students for a $2.00 entry fee.
Students must also present a permission slip before entry is allowed.  These are available from our school office.  Drinks, lollies and glow stick’s for sale.  (N.Z Police/Blue Light Ventures).    

Kiwitea School Fundraisers
Saturday 16th February – Farmers’ Ramble – ATV Tour.  Experience the beautiful country side of the greater Beaconsfield Valley.  Enjoy a delicious smorgasboard type lunch in picturesque Mamaku Garden, situated on the 50km loop. Cost: $25.00 per person.  Booking is essential.  Bookings close 13th Feb.  Farm bikes only – no racing.
To register : Steve and Donna – 3289 666 (steve.donna@inspire.net.nz).
Bill and Pam – 3289 894 (corpecrew@thinair.net).  Colin and Louise – 3285 011 (coda@farmside.co.nz).
Details will be sent once booking is made.
Sunday 24th February – Trail Ride.  $30.00 adults, $15.00 child.  Senior / Intermediate / Junior tracks.  Contacts : Glen or Jo Terry – 3289 003 or 021 2374170.
Peter Thomas – 027 6273345. More details : www.silverbullet.co.nz    -  Kiwitea School.

Manawatu Cricket
The Have-A-Go cricket programme will be starting in Feilding on Thursday February 14th at Kowhai Park from 5.30 – 6.30pm.  The cost of the programme is $30.00.  All gear will be provided by the Manawatu Cricket Association.  To register, please contact Dave Meiring on 3542 498, email: dave.meiring @mca.org.nz

Sport Manawatu – Splash and Dash Kids Triathlon 2013.
Wednesday February 13th.  Timona Park 4.15 – 6.00pm.  $3.00 entry per participant.
5 – 6 years           5.00pm – Run 500m, Cycle lap 500m with a slip and slide and obstacle fun.
7 – 9 years           5.30pm – Run 1km, Cycle lap 1km with a slip and slide and obstacle fun.
10 -13 years         6.00pm – Run 1.5km, Cycle lap 1.5km with a slip and slide and obstacle fun.
Entry forms from the school office, or from the Makino Aquatic Centre, or Sport Manawatu Feilding Office.  All participants will receive a swim pass at the Makino Pool, a certificate and a BBQ dinner after the event.  Loads of awesome prizes including a brand new bike from Avanti Plus and a school competition prize worth $200.00.  For more info, contact Sport Manawatu on 3236 900 or email serena.rata@sportmanawatu.org.nz   -  Sport Manawatu. 

Thank You
Thank you to Doug and Winston who have very kindly resurrected the ‘Welcome to Apiti’ sign on the South side of the Apiti Village.

Chess Clubs
Feilding Chess Club – Monday nights 5.30 – 7pm. Feilding Intermediate, East St, Feilding.  Contact Mark on 3237 003 or 027 3382040 – Chess Grandmaster Coach.
Palmy Knights Chess Club – Tuesday nights 5.30 – 7.00pm.  Hokowhitu Bowling Club, Albert St, Palmerston North.  Contact Mark on 3237 003 or 027 3382040. 

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Transport into the Makino Aquatic Centre – Friday 22nd February

I am able / unable to transport my own child/ren to the Makino Pools in Feilding, plus …………children.   

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                                                                                Signed.