Kia Ora Whānau

A massive thank you to the Rototuna Primary whānau for showing me so much manaaki and support last Friday. It was such a special day and one that I will cherish. It was so lovely to share the warmth of everyone at Rototuna Primary with my whānau, who thought our school, the staff, the students and the supportive parents, were just the best! I do not take leading our kura (school) lightly and know that it is such a privilege and will do my very best to ensure that Rototuna Primary School is the best place to be for young and old! The students absolutely loved the ice blocks gifted to them at lunch time by the. Board of Trustees and it was so nice to chat to the many parents who came in to share lunch time with their children, despite the wind and the rain! 

Congratulations to the South African rugby team for winning the Rugby World Cup! It was a hard fought game of rugby and we were proud of the mammoth effort the All Blacks gave with only 14 men on the field for most of the game. As I was watching the after match interviews, I was proud of how the All Blacks handled their defeat. They acknowledged their disappointment, they gave praise to the South African team and shared their gratitude for all the good that has come their way through the privilege of being an All Black. This was a pattern many of the team used when interviewed. It is always hard to not achieve something that you have put your heart and soul into and then carry on with grace and resilience.  I shared this little lesson in resilience with our students in my Monday morning 'BING BONG' so that when they are faced with disappointment, they realise that they too can be strong of heart: feel and acknowledge the disappointment, find the grace to congratulate others, and always focus on the positives that surround you, not just the disappointment ...  the disappointment will pass and it will be replaced with many more positive experiences! 

We have a great few weeks ahead of as we head towards the end of the school year... Road Safety Week, Year 5 and 6 Beach Education Trips, Year 6 Waimarino Trip, Year 3 and 4 Athletics, Year 5 and 6 Athletics, Year 0-2 Athletics, Interschool Athletics, 2024 School Leader Interviews, Year 1 Museum Trip, PTA Colour Run, PTA Disco, Choir Trip, Year 6 Leaders Day, Christmas Celebration and our Year 6 Leaver's Ceremony. 

Kia pai tō ra koutou 
Enjoy your day everyone,
Kylie 

We celebrated the following  manaaki super stars in Week 2 of this term. Congratulations to the following students who showed manaaki and kindness: 
Isaac R23, Jake R34, Lucian R23, Keisha R18, Satriani R40/41
Brody R40/41, Harry R8, Zubeir R30, Laya R1, Rahyl R2
William R17, Rainy R17, Eveleen R32, Archie R31, Angie R11
Maddy R5, Evan R12, Elena R13, Coco R15, Lachlan R33
Queenie R19, Zain R14, Isabella R20, Zealan R9, Beaudy R16
Nate R16, Amrit R21, Polina R6, Mila R24, Emma R22, and Alexis R3

Last week, I celebrated those students who participated in the ICAS competitions and achieved high distinction (awarded to the top 1% of participants) and distinction (awarded to the next 10% of participants):

Science: Bruce Wang - Distinction - Yr 5

Writing: Sadhana Sivaruban - Distinction - Y5 , Prabhasees Kaur - Distinction - Y5, Joyce Yap - Distinction - Y6

Mathematics: Benjamin Harrison - Distinction Y6, Ryan Ma - Distinction Y3 (absent from photo)

Spelling Bee: Joyce Yap - Distinction - Y6, Miraya Raju - Distinction - Y6

English: Miraya Raju - High Distinction  Y6, Helena Liu - Distinction - Y5, Zhuoyu Jasper Su - Distinction - Y5 

Congratulations! We are proud of your outstanding effort and achievement! We are very proud of every student who participated in the ICAS competitions. Thank you to Jane Bibby for organising the ICAS competitions for our students! 

A huge thank you to Susan Arnold and Jane Bibby for taking 8 very excited School Leaders to the annual Amazing Race held at Hamilton Gardens. . Our school leaders challenged themselves and displayed initiative, problem solving, team work and manaaki while racing to solve cognitive and physical tasks. The students had a great day out competing against many other school teams.

Thank you to all the helpers who came along to support Sarah and the Enviro Group with the Gully Working Bee. They all  had an awesome time on a beautiful, sunny Saturday! The sausage sizzle and sprite went down well after our hard mahi! Thanks again to the PTA for providing a well deserved lunch!!

We are having a whole school Celebration on Friday 3 November starting at 11,00am to showcase some of our student groups and the hard work they have put into their extra curricular activities. We will be celebrating the success of the following groups of students:

Laura Burrows (Board of Trustees Member) had also organised her daughter and a few friends to share their talents with Mrs Morris at the New Principal celebration last Friday, but unfortunately we did not have enough time for them to perform. Therefore, we have made space for them in this celebration. They will be performing a cultural dance, a piano item, and a violin item.

You are welcome to come along and share in the celebration! 

Class Placement organisation for 2024 has begun. We have a robust process which includes using a clustering model which supports the relationships that students have already formed with their peers. This means, that we cluster groups of students from each class together when organising the new class for the next year. 

Team Leaders and classroom teachers will be working in collaboration to organise placement of students for 2024. This process takes time and will be finalised at end of an 8 week process as they give careful consideration to many different dimensions of organising classrooms within a school. 

If your child is not going to be attending Rototuna Primary School in 2024 can you please let the office know by emailing Delwyn at reception@rototunaprimary.school.nz

Thank you! 

We are counting down to Road Safety Week! Barbara and Cameron from the Hamilton City Council have organised a fun-filled week Transport Safety Week for our kura (school) for next week (Tuesday 7 November - Friday 10 November). Our Transport Safety Week includes the following activities:

WOW Day - Walk or Wheels Wednesday:

WOW day promotes active travel to all students on Wednesday 8 November. Student leaders, alongside Barbara and Cameron from the Hamilton City Council, will be giving out prize entry slips to students who walk, scooter or skate to school. After school they will reward active travellers with popcorn and ice blocks!

Year 1-4: Ruben the Road Safety Bear:

Ruben the Road Safety Bear will deliver a 30 minutes road safety lesson for students in Year 1-4. 

Year 1 Wheels Day:
The Year 1 team are organising their very own wheels day on Tuesday 7 November.

Our Year 5 students are the first students to participate in the Hamilton City Council newly created Kids on Scooters programme. Year 5 students will be asked to bring their own scooters (if they have one), helmets, and covered footwear on Thursday 9 November and Friday 10 November. The Kids on Scooters programme gives students the skills to be confident scooters riders. Students will develop capability, skills and ability to feel safe when riding out in the community and to and from school.

Year 6 - Kids on Bikes (KOB): 

Our Year 6 students will participate in the Hamilton City Council Kids on Bikes Grade One programme. Year 6 students will be asked to bring their own bikes and helmets and covered footwear each day from Tuesday 7 November - Friday 10 November, where possible. An obstacle course will be organised on Friday 10 November. The Kids on Bikes Grade One programme gives students the skills to become confident riders. Students will develop skills (or brush up on important skills) that will grow confidence and give them the capability/skills/ability to become safe on road riders. 

Below are the dates of the upcoming Board meetings this term:
1.30pm 27 November 2023
11 December 2023 - Data Meeting