Welcome to the last newsletter for Term 2. This newsletter is a little bit different this week - it is packed with lots of celebrations from our teams - you could say it's our very first digital school magazine!
A few notices from me before you dive into the team celebrations:
Lost Property: Please check the lost property in the hall. We will be donating any items left at the end of term to charity.
Sickness: Going to school every day is important for all school aged tamariki (children). It helps build their confidence and social skills, and to achieve their education and life ambitions. These sickness guidelines help you decide when it is okay to send your child to school, when you should keep your child at home and when you should contact a health professional for advice. The guidelines are also in place to protect other ākonga (students) and the staff at Rototuna Primary School School.
Lockdown Drill: On Thursday 4 July (tomorrow) we are having a practice lockdown drill at 11.00am. We talk the students through this drill so it isn’t a surprise and they know that we are just practising.
Term 2 Reports: We have published our Term 2 reports on Spotlight. I hope you have taken time to read your child’s report to get up-to-date information about your child’s progress. If you are having trouble accessing the report, please contact the school office for support.
Holiday Jobs: We are looking forward to the Middle School playground extension being completed over the holidays. We are extremely grateful to Mark and Ariane Ormsby of Ormsby Civil for their generous offer to complete the required excavation mahi (work) for the new playground as a donation to the school! How incredible is that! We are also getting our new signs for our buildings and room numbers for our classrooms installed over the holiday break.
Vision and Hearing Checks in School Date: Wednesday 24th July 2024 Time: 9:30amVision Hearing Technicians from Community and Southern Rural Health will be visiting our school. The objective of the test is to identify previously undetected vision and hearing problems. Which children are routinely checked? Children who have not completed vision and hearing checks as part of their B4 School CheckChildren absent from previous visit, require rescreens or follow upNew ImmigrantsYear 7 student’s vision onlyIf there is a genuine hearing concern, parents/caregivers or teachers may request a hearing check - NB parents must consent to this. The Vision Hearing Technician will only be able to undertake a maximum of 5 screens on any visit. If there is a concern regarding vision, parents/caregivers are encouraged to seek advice from an optometrist. A subsidy is available for families/whanau that have a Community Services card or High Use Health card.
What tests are carried out? Ears: Audiometry (hearing test); Tympanometry – middle ear function test (only carried out when hearing test is not within a normal range) Eyes: Long distance vision tests – not a complete visual examination, but a simple screening test. NB All of these checks are non-invasive, safe and should cause no discomfort. The Vision Hearing Technician will:Notify parents/caregivers of all test resultsEnter results on Ministry of Education database (Enrol)
The Vision Hearing Technician will obtain personal details from the school ie; names, date of birth. If the technician needs to contact parents/caregivers following the visit, addresses and phone numbers will also be required. Our Service may share this information with other health professionals involved in the children’s care. If any parents/caregivers do not want their child to be checked, or their child is currently under specialist care for their vision or hearing, they should let the school know.
Holiday dates: Term 2 finishes at the end of this week, with Friday 5 July being our last day of the term.Term 3 begins on Monday 22 July.
Thank you all for your incredible support over the past term 2. I hope you enjoy the holiday break and we will all see you back on Monday 22 July.
Ngā mihi Kylie
Kia Manawanui - Be Strong of Heart
Manaaki Stars
Ka mau te wehi to Week 8's Manaaki Stars! Well done to ..... Summer Rm34, Ishaan R21, Blake R23, Mehreen R12, Harper Rm 9, Madina R24, Aarzu R36, Alex R35, Mikel R6, James R33, Duruv R10, Ben R14, Emmy R30, Jordyn R13, Cadence R15, Samar R19, Anaya R18, Pou 40/41, Koen 40/41, Alex R39, Emily R38, Ellie R2, Karera Rm20, Umarraj R8, Pia Hapi R32, Indigo R35, Tāpahi R5, Odin R16, Parineet R31, Japman R11, Aaliyah R17. Congratulations to this lovely group of Manaaki Stars for Week 9: Kridha R13, Amreen R12, Claire R23, Sterling R36, Mason R33, Ricardo R21, Asher R19, Lucian Nuttal R35, Kelvin R16, Aarya R31, Theodore R8, Elodie R30, Ian Singh R32, Jordan R15, Zain R14, Jayden R6, Pilar R39, Angelus R38, Prisha R7, Janè R40/41, Alexa R40/41, Nivarna R22, Sagal R2, Shiloh R5, Maneet R9, Cooper R10, Jay R11, James R33, and Neriah R17.
Year 1: He Puna Manaaki
Room 5 went to see the tuna in the gully.
Room 6 were so excited to go for a walk to the gully and see the tuna and were very lucky to see several.
Room 8 has enjoyed learning about tuna and their life cycle on their gully walk.
Ngutuawa hub enjoyed a Matariki hot chocolate together with whānau last week on Thursday morning.
Room 30, 31, and 32 started the term with autumn based activities then we began learning about the Atua in our Mana Potential Pathway. We drew pictures (top right) to show what they meant to us.
Next we started learning about Koura and our Pou. We are proud of our pou paintings.
This led us to learning about tuna and how important they are to our school. We talked about tuna, wrote stories, drew tuna pictures and played in our tuna awa in Rm 32. We were excited to see Daisy the tuna yesterday!
We are always very busy in Te-Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa - here are a few pics of us at play during Mahi koakoa (learning through play) time.
Year 2: He Puna Tūkaha
Room 7 have loved learning about and designing a worm farm in a bath. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity of starting a new farm in the existing bath at school, and have enjoyed seeing how happy the worms are. We are caring for them by leaving them alone in the dark and not giving them too much food at once. Soon the baby worms will grow and we will have many more worms to care for in the coming months, and hopefully some worm casts and worm juice for the garden.
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Room 9 went to visit the Tuna at the Mangaiti Stream. We got to feed Daisy the eel and her friends. The children had lots of fun seeing the new art mural leading down to the gully.
Room 10 has really enjoyed learning about the Matariki cluster and what each star represents. Tupuānuku and Tupuārangi are the stars connected with food, to celebrate these stars Room 10 made their own fruit kebabs.
Room 11 has enjoyed learning about the importance of our school name and valuing how special it is to be at RPS. We enjoyed a wonderful visit to Mangaiti Gully early this term and we haven’t stopped talking about our precious Tuna ever since. We are also enjoying Wednesday morning Gymnastics.
Room 12 created a collaborative piece of art based on the Creation story ‘In the Beginning’ retold and illustrated by Peter Gossage. Students chose which child/Maori Guardian they connected with and created visual images to represent the Maori Guardian.
Year 3: He Puna Pūmanawa
Room 13 looking at change through making ice blocks and jelly! Along with planting and growing wild flowers for Mother's day.
Room 14 enjoyed their Topic “Change” this term by making jelly, making popcorns and growing vegetables from the seeds firstly in the greenhouses and then in the planter boxes.
Room 15 Growing vegetables from seed and planted in the planter boxes Science experiments looking at physical and chemical changes Sewing stuffed monsters with our buddy class.
Room 16 made jelly, toast and Orbeez as part of our science (change) unit. We have also led Team Celebration, had lots of fun at gymnastics and made crowns for the King’s Birthday.
Room 19 have been busy creating matariki kites made from skewers, popsicle sticks and for Samoan language week we created eel art and BFG dream jars. They also designed the shelves for the dream jars themselves!
Rm 20 have enjoying Gymnastics, growing plants and making jelly. We really enjoyed learning about change this term through growing our own plants and making jelly. We loved doing gymnastics and getting to practise all our skills.
Year 4: He Puna Ngāwari
Room 17 and 18 : We have been doing gymnastics this term in PE. The children have really enjoyed learning landing and balance techniques and getting to experience all the equipment.
Room 23 and 24 Planting in our school gully. It was so much fun spending time outdoors, enjoying a gorgeous winter day helping with this fabulous opportunity. For some students it was the first time that they had planted a tree.
Year 5: He Puna Pūmau
Room 21 has been learning about the difference between having a fixed and growth mindset. The children created their own posters on the chromebooks with important messages to remind us that it is okay to make mistakes. We also ‘posed’ for the camera showing us in a growth mindset position.
Room 22 is exploring Change in Science (Material World). They are currently investigating which bread will change the most over a certain amount of time and why. Here are some photos of the groups working together to set up their experiment.
Room 35/36 has been learning about living things and life processes. Here are some photos of dissecting bean seeds and a walk to the sensory garden to examine tree adaptations.
Here are some photos from Rm 35/36 dissecting an apple.
Year 6: He Puna Māia
Here are some Room 40/41 students who have been exploring the science of change and states of matter. We made some delicious ice cream.
Eight students from our team attended a Maths comp at RJHS. Ishan took away first place and one of our teams placed second.
We also had some students attend a young writers day at Berkeley Intermediate. They met several famous authors and perfected their writing skills.
Room 38 has been busy making Geometry Cities to show our knowledge of both 2D and 3D shapes.
Room 25 Learning Support
Steph Philburn and Anna Parkinson
In Room 25 we have created an amazing indoor space for play! Students have been getting creative making robots out of boxes, colouring and drawing, setting up train tracks, building with LEGO and blocks, playing board games and creating dinosaur settings! So much fun and great imaginations!
In Room 25 we have also been reflecting on our actions towards others. Sometimes we might make a mistake and need to think about what we could do differently next time. We talk about these, have restorative conversations and often write a little reflection note to remind ourselves.
Room 26 English Language Learning Support
Steph Philburn
In Room 26 some Year 4s and Year 5s have been using Learning Village English lessons on chromebooks. It has been so much fun learning English in a fun, interactive way! Our wonderful ELL Learning Assistants have also been hard at work this term working with groups of ELL students. They have been learning lots of new survival language! Things like days of the week, months of the year, the seasons, the weather and how to structure our sentences correctly.
Room 27 Te Ao Māori
Ngahuia Nuri
Te Rōpū Whai Mana and some Ako Whakatere ākonga had an opportunity to investigate the water clarity and quality in our school gully. They used water clarity tubes, kick nets, nitrate and phosphate readers, gee minnows and measuring boards. Using the equipment was exciting but the biggest excitement of all was finding a tuna in the Mangaiti stream in the gully. We are Rototuna!
This term Te Rōpū Karanga Maha have been busy creating iwi tags to be able to wear and identify themselves to each other. Kapa Haka has been focused on preparing for our upcoming performance in September.
Library
Fiona Hancock
Our Library started the term with a Book Fair Garden. Thanks to our community’s support we earned over $3000 to spend on new books and resources. What an amazing community of readers we have at our school. We hope you all enjoyed catching the reading bug!
Enviro Leaders
Sarah Hansen
Enviro Leaders have had an AMAZING term filled with new learning and experiences. They have learnt about bees, insects and water. They have continued our predator control, tested water quality and have helped plant in our gully.
Rototuna Primary School Has Got Talent!
Maddy Edwards and Georgia Robb
This term students have been able to share their amazing talents during lunchtimes. We have had many performances, from dances, soccer skills, art projects, comedy act, and musical performances. It has been amazing to celebrate all of the amazing talent that we have within our kura.
The Arts
Georgia Robb
At Rototuna Primary School, we enjoy participating in whole school art projects. Below are some of our art projects this term:
Rototuna Primary celebrated ANZAC day earlier this term. With great enthusiasm, every class created pieces of art to the theme of poppies.
In week 9 our kura celebrated Matariki. Every team contributed a star for the Matariki cluster and each student created a star to celebrate.
The Band and Choir
Morgan Lewis
The Choir and Band have both been practising hard every Thursday. They came together to perform a piece they have both been learning at celebration last week. What a fantastic performance!
House Competitions
Maddy Edwards
House Chant Competition
This term we have been busy getting into the house Spirit, and preparing for our end of term house chant competition. House meetings have taken place in weeks 4 and 8 to practice chants. On Friday, we are holding the chant competition, judged by our BOT chair, Matt Hansen.
Tug-of-War
This week, we are holding our first lunchtime tug of war competition. Year 5s and 6S started it off on Monday, with Rimu house taking out the win. Still to come are the Year 3s and 4 on Tuesday and the Year 1s and 2s on Wednesday… which house will take out the win in these events?
Media Team
Amber Mattsson
The Media Team have been very busy this term with lots of learning taking place. The team are now confidently able to run Celebrations and Team Time using the sound system. It is a stressful job, but they nail it every time! The Media Team have reset and installed updates on all the Year 2 iPads and they now offer in class support to help our younger students upload their learning to Spotlight.
Year 5 and 6 Lunchtime Football Tournament
Bethany Mitchell
The Year 5 & 6 students have been really engaged in each game and there have been many supporters from other year levels coming to cheer each team on. It is great to see each team encouraging the other team and saying “Well done” at the end of the match. Semi-Finals were played in Week 8 and Week 9. Finals are this week!
RPS Player of the Day
Congratulations Asher - Hockey Green Saavi/Viraj/Aanav - Hockey Silver Ava - Netball Diamonds Coco/Mikayla - Netball Magic
