Together We Grow  – Ka Tupu Kotāhi ai Tātou – Week 7 

Kia ora koutou OVS Whanau and Caregivers,

As we start to see the end of Term 4 in sight, as a staff we also start to look to next year.  We have started class lists – but these are not finalised as yet.  If you know of any changes for you and your family, please contact us.  Also, if you hear of anyone who is interested in enrolling for 2025, please encourage them to  make contact with Jen in the office.  Next newsletter we will also let you know about how the staff and school will be structured for 2025. 

As the raffle closes today, we would also like to take this opportunity to thank the PTA for their on-going support of our school.  We have a core of hard working parents who organise a variety of events throughout the year and raise funds for all our children.   They are always on the lookout for new fundraising opportunities or more members! Could this be you? Please contact them or the office if you would like to join. 

Things continue to bubble along at school for us this term.  Please read below about the many and varied activities we have been involved in.  It sure is busy! 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Heidi Nieddu

 

Dates for your calendar 

Term 4

6th December – Whole school beach day 

11th December – Kai and Carols

12th December – Year 6 fun day

13th December – Library Pool Party 

17th December – RURU fun day – Wet and wild! 

18th December – Last day of school.   NB No ASC on this day

2025 – Term 1

4th Feb – First day of school.  Welcome back Mr Sayer! 

 

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 past two weeks .

Week 6’s super star students are  Tilly and  Layla . 

In week 7 we celebrated Taylor. 

 Ka mau te wehi (that’s outstanding)!   Your wonderful RURU values help to make our school a cool place to be! 

 Welcome to OVS

We would like to extend a warm welcome to Bodie and his family in R1.  We’re thrilled to be part of this new chapter in Bodie’s learning journey.  

PTA Update 

Just a reminder that raffle tickets ( sold or unsold) are due today.  Please hand in to Jen/Robyn in the office. 

Next week is our whole school beach day! 

We are super excited to be taking our whole school to the beach for a fun filled, low key celebration to the end of the year next Friday.  Thank you so much to all the parents who have offered to come along and support us – please remember to pack your togs as we will need you to be in the water with your group on the day.  We will all leave school around 9.15am in buses and spend the day exploring the beach, swimming, and having heaps of fun!

 Structured Literacy

Last week, we were fortunate to host the wonderful Pam Weir, an iDeal facilitator, at our school. Pam modelled reading lessons across different classrooms, allowing our teachers to step into the role of students for the day.

As you may know, this year we have been implementing a structured literacy approach to our spelling program. Over the past two terms, we’ve also been focusing on incorporating this approach into our reading instruction.

Structured literacy in reading encourages students to engage deeply with texts, making meaningful connections with words, their spellings, and their meanings. Grounded in the science of learning, this approach involves reading a single text over four days. This repetition helps build strong neural pathways, aiding students in remembering sounds, words, and meanings.

We recognize that this represents a shift in our teaching methods. However, we are confident that this more explicit and evidence-based approach will significantly enhance literacy levels across our school.

Kapa Haka

Yesterday our Kapa Haka Rōpū travelled to Whangārei Primary to participate in their Annual Kapa Haka Festival and really made our school proud.  We were so impressed with their waiata, haka, poi, and rakau.  Well done to every single student who performed – the hours of work put into this really paid off.  What a great life lesson to learn also – that hard work and the right kind of practice, gets you the goal.

 A very special ngā mihi also goes out to Miss Lynch and Darcie for dedicating so much time and effort over the entire year to this group.  Over the past few weeks, they have given up morning tea times and personal time to make sure our rōpū were ready and in the zone!  Ngā mihi also to Whaea Kiri who helped to write one of the songs that was performed on the day.  How lucky are we to have such a talented and dedicated bunch of people working in our school!  

Mana Ake

We have recently met with our new Mana Ake person.  Renie will be joining us on Wednesdays with a focus on wellbeing.  For the rest of this year she will spend her time becoming familiar with our school and students.  We welcome her to our kura.

Life Education Visits Ōtãika School!

This week , we have been thrilled to welcome Nadine and Harold the Giraffe from Life Education! Our students have had an amazing time learning about health and wellbeing in fun and interactive ways. Exploring understanding emotions and making positive choices, the sessions were packed with valuable lessons and plenty of laughs.

A big thank you to Nadine and Harold for helping our tamariki grow their knowledge about health while having such a great time!

Don’t miss out! This Saturday – Monster Garage sale in the hall! 

Signing in and out of school

Just a quick reminder that if you are picking up your child early for any reason, please let the office know so we can keep track of who is at school.  Also, if your child is late to school, please make sure they come to the office to be signed in. .  

Exciting News: New Musical Instruments Have Arrived!

We were delighted to welcome Fern to our school last week as they delivered our brand-new musical instruments! 

These new additions will enrich our music program, giving students more opportunities to express themselves creatively and develop their musical skills. A huge thank you to Fern for bringing this wonderful delivery and helping us make music a bigger part of our school life!

Stay tuned for some fabulous performances in the future!

Even more exciting news!

We have received a grant for 17 ipads for our junior school!  Many thanks to the Oxford Sports Trust for their support of our little school. 

Attendance and sickness

Unfortunately, some pesky bugs are still lingering this term. We’ve recently had reports of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease, tummy bugs, colds, and COVID-19 within our school. We kindly ask that if your child is unwell, the best place for them is at home to recover and prevent further spread. Don’t forget to let us know about absences, either through the Hero app or by giving us a call.

On a brighter note, we’re thrilled to celebrate our attendance stars! Currently, 24 students have achieved 100% attendance for Term 4 so far, and another 20 students have attendance rates between 95% and 98%. Ka pai, Ōtāika Valley School! Keep up the amazing effort!

Pool Keys – available now! 

If you would like to get the pool ‘key’ for summer please contact Jen in the office ( admin@otaika.school.nz).  Your key will last for the whole of summer and through to the end of Term 1.  Pool usage is limited to our immediate school community and we appreciate you not passing on the ‘key’ to anyone else.  The ‘key’ will cost $60 this summer due to the increase in chemicals and maintenance costs.  Once the school comes back next term, users are limited to after 5pm on school days.  With a lovely hot summer approaching, this could be the ideal way to stay cool without the cost and hassle of your own pool! 

ASC

We are on the hunt! 2 super star ASC caregivers are needed!  These are fixed term positions.  Please contact Jen in the office if you think this is a position you are interested in. 

Also – Please note we will not have ASC on the last day of school as we finish early.  

Without giving the surprise away too early – I would like to thank Pepper Racoon for her amazing discount given to our school!  Check out the website here.