Tēnā koutou katoa, Malo e lelei, Talofa lava, Bula vinaka
I hope you all enjoyed your Easter break. This week has been a very short week, but a busy one. Some of our school groups started this week: Kapa Haka, Pasifika as well as Choir and the Enviro group. Encourage your child to get involved in one of these activities. If they have not registered yet and they want to, ensure that you get in touch with your child’s classroom teacher.
Next week we will be hosting our second group of Client children (Rural schools technology programme), these students come into our school for a week of tech. As the year goes on, we have a number of different opportunities where we host other schools or groups of children. I will be talking at our Assembly about how we can be welcoming and supportive hosts. We look forward to them joining us for the week.
Sport - we have a large number of students who have already signed up to play netball, basketball and/or hockey for the school. Of course, without your support, we are unable to field teams. If you are available to coach or manage a team please get in touch with Sharon our sports coordinator. sharonw@oamaruint.school.nz
Does your child scooter or bike to school?
Bikes - we have a number of students who are riding their bikes on the footpath, it is important that you have a conversation with your child about biking the safe bike route to OIS. The safe bike track route is located in the back streets and not the main road. I am aware that some students use the bike lane along the waterfront. Please talk with your child about not biking on the footpath.
Scooters - a number of students scooter to school and we love this, however it is important that they respect the footpath and stop at corners. We have had a number of near-misses with students via cars, buses and trucks and also pedestrians.
Please if your child bikes or scooters to school I urge you to have a discussion with them about their safety and the importance of following the rules and being respectful to others that use footpaths.
OIS day timetable
Over the last 10 weeks, we have been monitoring engagement levels in class and behaviour in our playground. It has raised many conversations, concerns and questions! Research shows the importance of regular short sharp bursts of break times that allows for more productivity and engagement in the classroom. We have also noticed when reviewing our behaviour data that most of the conflicts that happen in the playground happen in the last 10-15 minutes.
Moving forward from the beginning of term 2, we are going to trial a 4 block learning timetable, we currently run 3 blocks in a day. We have consulted a number of different intermediates and schools, along with our contributing high schools.
Our timetable that we are going to trial is as below. Please note that we will be starting at the same time BUT finishing at 3.00 pm.
- Block 1: 8.55 am - 10.15 am
- Block 2: 10.35 am -11.45 am
- Block 3: 12.05 pm - 1.05 pm
- Block 4: 1.40 pm - 3.00 pm
We will be talking with students about how this will look for them.
Year 8 Camp Fundraisers
Pies & Fries fundraiser - all order forms MUST be received by TOMORROW at 12 midday. The order is being put through tomorrow. All Year 8 Fundraising orders for Pies & Fries are to be collected from our school hall from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm on Thursday 6 May.
Cheese Roll Fundraiser - information will be sent home for this fundraiser next week.
He waka eke noa - We are in this together
Rebecca Meek