Together We Grow – Ka Tupu Kotāhi ai Tātou- Week 10
Kia ora OVS whanau and caregivers,
As Term 1 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to thank you all for your incredible support and contributions throughout what has been a very busy and rewarding term here at Otaika Valley School. A special thank you to our amazing parents and caregivers who supported our school camps — your involvement makes all the difference, and we’re so grateful to have such a committed and caring community behind us.
To our dedicated staff, thank you for your tireless efforts and the passion you bring to your mahi every day. Your hard work continues to create a nurturing and inspiring environment for our tamariki to grow and thrive. We’re also thrilled to share that our school attendance has improved significantly — rising from 60% to 70%. A 10% increase in one term is outstanding and a real testament to the combined efforts of staff, students, and whānau. Ka pai!
We couldn’t have asked for a better way to wrap up the term than with our vibrant Book Week! A huge thank you to Darcie for all her hard work behind the scenes to make it such a success. And to all our students and staff — you looked incredible on Character Day! Thank you for embracing the fun and bringing so much joy and creativity to the occasion. And wasn’t Mr Whippy YUM!
Wishing you all a restful and safe holiday break. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready to go on Monday 28th April for the start of Term 2.
The new New Zealand Curriculum
As indicated last week we have put together an information page on our OVS website that allows whanau to explore what the new curriculum is all about. This page includes specific information on the new Math and Literacy that may be of real interest. These outline the year specific learning content your child/ren will now be working through.
If you go to the website. Click on the drop down menu Learning you will then see the page ‘NZ Curriculum’.
Powhiri
There will be a powhiri on the first Monday of term 2 (28th April) for all students who started with us during term 1.
Star Spot – Student Learning @ OVS
RURU Awards
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 winner from today’s assembly .
Week 10 – Riley (Yr 1) Lexie (Yr 4)
New Student Shout Out!
A very warm OVS welcome and a shout out to our new students over the past 2 weeks.
Welcome Louis…
Excellent Attendance @ OVS in Term 1.
Week 6-10
A huge shoutout to the below students who are OVS superstars that have achieved 100% attendance across the second 5 weeks of school.
100% ‘OUTSTANDING’ Attendance for the ‘whole’ Term
The below fantastic students have earned a Pizza Party with Mr Sayer for their OUTSTANDING attendance in term 1.
Student Showcase!
Literacy is alive and well at OVS! Check out the amazing Easter writing by one of our fabulous year 2 students. The work (while typed for the newsletter) is otherwise unedited. The accuracy, the humour and the punctuation is amazing
“Dear Easter Bunny
Thank you for delivering easter eggs to all the children around the world every year. I bet it’s hard work, but you like doing it, don’t you? Anyway, here come the questions:
Where do you live? How do you hide from humans? Do you use a factory to make our easter eggs? Have you got workers to help you? How many workers have you got? What type of animals are your workers? What do you eat? What do your workers eat? Do you live in dream land? Ok, ok. I’ll stop for the questions now. Now, I think I’m gonna finish the letter now.
From Emily T (6 years old)”
Staff Sabbatical
I would like to inform our school community that Miss Keogh has been awarded a teaching sabbatical in ‘Term 3’ of this year. Miss Keogh will undergo professional study in the area of ‘New entrant transitions to school’ . Her study in this area will help strengthen and innovate our current systems and processes, and provide invaluable links with our contributing early childhood services. Miss Keogh will be replaced for the term by Mrs Spearpoint who is a very experienced new entrant teacher. Miss Keogh will be back in charge of Room 1 in term 4.
PTA SPOT
Our OVS PTA has been instrumental in providing amazing support for the students and whanau of our kura.
And today …
You will be receiving the below PTA notification in your email but we have also included it in todays newsletter. As OVS whanau, on the enrolment of your child you are automatically a member of our great PTA … but must be a regular attendee to meetings to vote. We now need more committee members and office holders. Please see the communication below and come along…we would love to see you!
Subject: Notice of Special General Meeting (SGM)
Dear school whanau, parents, caregivers Members,
At our AGM, we were unable to fill all positions on the committee. Open positions are Chairperson, Treasurer and places on the voting committee. We are particularly in need of a Treasurer – without one we cannot operate. The Treasurer does not need to attend the meetings. The role entails providing a breakdown of income and expenditure once a term, and then a full year summary for the 2026 AGM. It is preferable if the Treasurer is able to act as a bank signatory to approve payments, though this is not essential. The Treasurer will need to consent to being police vetted.
As such, please be advised that a Special General Meeting (SGM) of Otāika Valley School PTA will be held on May 5th at 3:20 at school (room to be advised).
Purpose of the Meeting:
The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and vote on the following: Office Holders for 2025 and to ratify a constitution. A copy of the proposed constitution can be found here.
A General Meeting will follow.
Voting Procedures:
- All members are welcome to attend the meeting. The voting committee will be decided first by secret ballot.
- Only members of the voting committee are entitled to vote with regards to the constitution.
Contact Information
For any questions or further information, please email pta@otaika.school.nz
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Sincerely,
Otāika Valley PTA
Wow, what a week full of fun activities and visitors, and Thursday was such a success with the dress-up, the character parade, the book ‘nic and of course Mr Whippy! A huge shout out again to Darcie our amazing librarian who pulled out all the stops to make it a such a special week. Another huge shout out to Mr Whippy who is generously donating all the proceeds to our OVS library. A special thank you also to all the students and staff who all put so much effort into their costumes. If you haven’t already, checkout the great photos on our facebook page!
Get your slice of OVS PIE !
We will be holding our first ever OVS PIE evening (Parent Information Evening) next term in week three. The topic will be structured literacy. It will be aimed at providing whanau an understanding of how the ‘spelling’ component of structured literacy works at OVS and what you can do at home to help your child/ren. Mark the 14th May on your calendar. More information to come early next term.
School Pool Closed
The school pool will close for winterising as of today and our swimming programme finishes. We would like thank everyone who to advantage of the use of the pool, and we will be commencing this again at the end of this school year.
Holiday Programmes
Holiday Hula Hangout
Back by popular demand, Darcie and Mana o te Hula – The Power of Hula, a local contemporary Cook Islands and Tahitian dance group who have been performing throughout Northland since 2008, is offering a 2 day Holiday Hula Hang Out at Otaika Valley School for 20 children aged 5 – 11 years old. See Darcie for more info and forms.
Details are below:
- Children will learn the fundamentals of hula and learn a dance to perform for their parents at the conclusion of the 2nd day
- Activities include: a Pasifika inspired craft, movie with popcorn, games, reading – we have the use of the school library, playground, field.
- Children will need to bring their own lunch.
When:
- 9 – 3pm
- 14th – 15th April
- 22nd and 23rd April
Cost:
Term Dates
| Terms |
Start |
Finish |
| Term 1: |
4 Feb |
11 April |
| Term 2: |
28 April |
27 June |
| Term 3: |
14 July |
19 Sept |
| term 4: |
6 Oct |
16 Dec |
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