Together We Grow  – Ka Tupu Kotāhi ai Tātou

Kia ora koutou OVS Whanau and Caregivers,

The past two weeks have gone by in a flash!  Our staff, PTA, and wonderful community have created a multitude of fantastic memory making opportunities for our tamariki!  A massive THANK YOU to everyone who has helped in any capacity.  I will highlight more about the events in the sections below. 

We are already starting to look at next year and planning forward.  To make sure we have the correct numbers, if you have a child who will be starting with us next year please contact Jen in the office and enrol them.  If you hear of anyone who is thinking of joining our wonderful kura, once again please ask them to contact Jen in the office.  

Ngā mihi

 

Heidi Nieddu

 

Dates for your calendar 

Term 3

29 August – Waiotira Cross Country

27 September – Last Day of Term 3

Term 4

14 October – 1st Day of Term 4

18th-24th October – Book fair in our library

24th October – Ag and flowershow day

25th October –  Teacher only day

28 October – Labour Day (Public Holiday)

TBC – Last Day of Term 4

 

Star Spot – Celebrating Student Learning @ OVS

Every week at assembly we celebrate super OVS students, and this week’s shout out is to say a huge congratulations to our R.U.R.U award winners from the last two assemblies.

Well done to Jaa and Noah our amazing RURU winners from week 4.

 

Week 5’s RURU recipient was Oakley. 

 

  

 

Star Spot – New students.

 A warm welcome to Cassius who started in Room 1 this week.  We hope you love your time at our kura! 

Haere mai ki te kura o Ōtāika Valley !

 D I S C O!

A MASSIVE thank you to the sub committee of the PTA who were responsible for organising the disco for our kura last week.  Thank you also to everyone else who helped out – other PTA members, parents, and staff.  The decorations were fantastic, the lights were amazing, and the tunes got everyone up and dancing!  Lots of fun was had by all – it was great to see so many of our children, parents, and teachers up and dancing the night away. 

A reminder – if you would like to join our amazing PTA, please reach out to Jen in the office or contact our PTA directly.  You do not have to commit to being at every meeting, or volunteering for every event – you are welcome to join in whatever capacity suits you! Many hands makes light work! 

Senior Stream Trips

Our senior classes were fortunate enough to be involved with the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust over the past few weeks.  As part of this program the students were lucky enough to go on two different stream visits to assess the quality of the water in each spot.  Both trips were very successful, with the children experiencing a wide variety of creatures and learning how to assess the clarity of the water.  A big THANK YOU to Whaea Frances for her wonderful school organisation, to her team (Miss Lynch and Whaea Kiri), and to Tracey Phillip from Mountains to Sea for her organisation once we arrived. Thank you also to the parents who transported everyone backwards and forwards.  Without your support we could not do these wonderful trips! 

New Staff Member

You may have spotted a new face at after school care recently!  We would like to extend a warm welcome to Imogen who will be working in after school care for the remainder of this year. 

Early pick up?

If you are picking up your child early for an appointment, or just picking them up early from school, please make sure that you have told their teacher or you have been to the office.  Similarly, if they are late to school all children need to come to the office so we can record them on the roll.

Real time reporting

Last week you should have received a real time reporting update around structured literacy with spelling as the focus.  This was posted onto Hero.  If you have not seen it yet, please take the time to make sure your Hero app is logged in and you have the notifications settings on.  We will also be posting another update later in the term.  If you are unable to access your child’s learning post, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher. 

The Waiotira Cross Country is next week

On Thursday the 29th August the whole school will catch buses to attend the annual Waiotira Cross country.  A detailed letter and permission form has already been sent home.  PLEASE make sure you have filled this in for your child. 

 

Here is the link – https://bit.ly/2024crosscountry

 

Some key information about the day – Please note there have been a couple of changes made by Waiotira School 

• Parents/whanau are welcome to come out and support our tamariki. 
• Please note that children will race in age groups based on their age on the 1st January this year.  This is how the Barge Park cross country is run.
• The races start with the 4-5 yr old girls and then progress through the ages.  
• Race times are very approximate so it pays to be there in plenty of time.  The first race is approx 10.30. 
• There will be coffee and food available to purchase on the day.  
• As there is no running water in the area we set up in, it is very important that every child comes to school with a full drink bottle.  
• It is also guaranteed to be muddy – please make sure your child has a spare set of warm clothes and a bag to put muddy clothes and shoes into.  
• The toilets are in the hall across the road from the event.  Our students will be supervised crossing the road and accompanied to the hall.
• If you are taking your child home early, please let Heidi Nieddu or Anna Keogh know so we can cross them off our school roll.
• School shirts will be worn by our tamariki on the day and must be returned to a teacher before they go home.

 

RURU Olympics fun day

In celebration of our RURU values, the wonderful Whaea Frances organised a fantastic day of fun, participation and even medals! Each child had a country that they were a part of and participated in a variety of events such as;  the marathon, obstacle courses, soccer dribbling races, gymnastics, and bean bag throwing.  The event started in the great Olympic tradition of a parade and ended with the winning countries being announced.  

Lamby daycare  update 

This week we have had our very first visitors to the lamby daycare!  We were super excited! 

 

 Robyn has also found a very helpful booklet which you can access on this link – https://whangareishow.co.nz/show-entries/ .  Scroll down the page to this icon ..

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Click on the “Guidelines for school Ag days and calf club” to download the PDF.   Alternatively, there are a couple of copies available in the office. 🙂

We have also been asked about the rule around calves being born on the property.   Robyn has been in contact with the Agricultural Society who have informed us that this rule is no longer needed.  We have a calf registration form at school alongside our lamb one. 

A few parents have also expressed confusion around bringing lambs to school. Hopefully the following information will help.  

Here is the information from the registration form – 

We have had some high intensity animal farming lessons here at school. Due to the larger numbers of animals on site being  housed in close quarters, an animal disease was spread (scabby mouth).  Therefore, we now insist on vaccinated and drenched animals on site with no  runny poo, or illnesses, to keep the flock disease free. We will also house them in open spaces with movable shelter covers.  

We no longer have the option to vaccinate and drench at school this year.

Vaccination in lambs 

Vaccination is used to prevent the major clostridial diseases in sheep. This includes enterotoxaemia (pulpy kidney disease),  tetanus, black disease, malignant oedema (blackleg-like disease) and blackleg in sheep.

Internal Parasites in lambs 

Internal parasites are common in lambs and are transferred easily between lambs. The exposure to parasites is  increased when multiple lambs are housed together. It is therefore important that all lambs that are brought to  school are given adequate drenching to ensure the safety of all the lambs.  

There are two broad types of worms that can affect sheep: 

Round worms (which includes barbers pole and lung worm) and tape worm. 

The classical effects of worms include diarrhoea, weight loss and death.  

The Barbers Pole worm is a blood sucker and causes anaemia and death. 

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Feeding at school

Feeding time for the lambs/goats will be scheduled at the children’s break times at 11am and 1.20pm to reduce the disruption of their class learning time.

Feeding bottles must be named, contain the correct amount of milk powder, and be clearly marked with how much warm water to add.  

Please drop off and pick up using the staff car park. 

 

Next newsletter – Week 7