Kia Kitea ToikakaNothing But The Best

Raising Achievement; Realising Potential; Encouraging Excellence

Phone: 03 315 8233Email: principal@amuri.school.nzNEWSLETTER NO 3

Fax: 03 315 8476Web: www.amuri.school.nz

Week Ending 19th February 2016

Tēnā koutou katoa

The end of what has been a very busy week here at Amuri. We started the week with students entering the Hurunui Primary Triathlon event in Hanmer Springs. A very hot day with some great competition and a first place for Angus Gardener in his age group. I would love to see more year 7 and 8 girls involved in this next year as across our whole cluster participation at this age group was very low.

Tuesday was a scorcher for swimming sports with temperatures into the 30’s. What a day with 10 records broken. Congratulations to these students on an outstanding effort. It was also great to see so many students swimming on the day to gain points for their house. Thanks to Mr Cate for a very well organised day.

Today a small group of students represented Amuri at the official opening of the new learning space at Hanmer Springs school. It was wonderful to see these new facilities in our community. Given our current roll of 320 I have requested the Ministry of Education to review our current property and start the process for a new building here at Amuri. The Hanmer project took 3 years from start to completion so it is never too early to start!

As you may be aware Mr Luff will be leaving us in March to take up a new positon in Central Otago. This week we have appointed Robert Bain who will be starting with us in term 2. Robert comes to us from Ellesmere College and has some wonderful skills to take our digital technology and computing curriculum to the next level. Robert will be living in the township and I am sure he will be made welcome.

We have had some interest in becoming a Board Member. Elections are coming in May and we would love to have

the very best possible people with a real focus on students to contribute to the operations of the school. If this is you there is still time to contact Viv Gray our Chairperson and express your interest.

Have a wonderful weekend!

James Griggs Principal

TIMEBANK HURUNUI LEARNING EXCHANGE

MAKING SENSE of SCHOOL MATHS

with SUE GRAHAM

Thursday, 6 – 7.30 pm

March 3rd

Amuri Area School, Culverden

This presentation will help you understand the teaching of maths in schools today, so that you can help your children (or grandchildren) and improve your own maths skills.

Sue Graham is a former principal and specialist maths advisor to local schools. She has a passion for helping children learn by reinforcing positive experiences and building on these to increase their confidence, in maths and in all subjects they approach.

Many people, adults and children, have a belief that they are not good at maths, and so it will always be a challenge. This need not be so, in Sue’s experience. The key to successful maths teaching is to help students use what they already know, take their time, recognise patterns, apply their maths understanding to real-life contexts, and to learn from mistakes. Equipping students with a basic grasp of maths concepts and a practical “numbers sense” is the goal.

Once students have gained confidence in maths, they can apply such a “can-do” approach to solving all sorts of problems and to other areas of learning, throughout their lives.

The presentation cost is 1.5 TimeBank Hurunui hours or $10 suggested fee. Please register to confirm your place, by emailing tbhlearningexchange@gmail.com or calling Belinda on 314 3406. For the full Learning Exchange programme, go to http://hurunui.timebanks.org/page/learning-exchange-programme

It is easy to join TimeBank Hurunui, and there is no charge. If you are interested, contact our coordinator on 314 7332 or email: hurunui@community.timebanks.org

DATES FOR YOUR DIARYICAS International Competitions and

Assessments for SchoolsHPSSA Hurunui Primary Schools Sports

AssociationCCHS Canterbury Country High SchoolsCASA Canterbury Area Schools AssociationFEB22 BOT 5.30pm23 CCHS Swimming24 Primary Swimming Display26 Year 12 Photography to YooBeeMAR1-4 Year 9 Camp - Windy Point1 HPSSA Swimming2 CCHS Athletic Champs

Assembly 8.50am3 HPSSA Swimming Postponement Day5 Amuri A & P Show15 HPSSA Softball16 HPSSA T-Ball

Assembly 8.50am16-18 Year 7 Camp17 T-Ball/Softball Postponement Day25 Good Friday - SCHOOL CLOSED28 Easter Monday - SCHOOL CLOSED29 Easter Tuesday - SCHOOL CLOSED 30 Assembly 8.50amAPRIL5 Primary Parenting Evening6 Secondary Parenting Evening11 SCHOOL PHOTOS11-12 Gateway Health and Safety Course13 Assembly 8.50am13-15 CASAfest15 Term 1 EndsMAY2 Term 2 Begins

Secondary School NewsOn Monday the Year 11-13 students spent the day working with David Garb who runs communication and relationships training both nationally and internationally. The themes of the day were:• practical communication skills - how we listen, the effect this has on others and ways of communicating that avoids conflict• pressures in life – exploring perceived pressure and expectations and finding different ways of working with them• connection and conflict – exploring ways to work with conflict where it arises in different areas of life.

The feedback from the students was extremely positive and David was able to engage every one of our students in the programme for the whole day which reflects on the quality, purpose and relevance of the workshop. David commented to me that our students were some of the best he has worked with which reflects well on our senior students. There is no doubt that the teenage years are challenging for our young people (and parents at times!) so having an opportunity to explore effective ways of positively managing challenges is time well spent.

Well done to all the students who participated in the swimming sports on Tuesday and what a fantastic effort from those who students who broke records, some of which were longstanding. Mr Griggs talked about the importance of participation at assembly on Wednesday and I hope those students who did not make an effort to participate on Tuesday think carefully about the connection between what you get out of life and what you put in. Next year we will look at providing a classroom based day of learning for non-swimmers.

Today Ms judson and the Year 12 photography students are attending the first of their two days of Photoshop workshops at the Yoobee School of Design in CHCH, a fantastic opportunity to develop these skills in a tertiary environment.

The first day of the Trades and Hospitality Course at CPIT last Friday went smoothly and well done to all of the students for being on time for the 7.15 departure. Traffic issues on the arterial roads and two drop offs have meant a slightly earlier departure. Again please a reminder that if your child is not attending their course you must let CTC know and ensure Jenny knows you will not be on the van. A contact number for Jenny has been given to all students.

We have welcomed additional new students to the senior school in the last couple of weeks and we wish them every success as they join and integrate into our learning community.

Finally if for any reason a student feels they want to change

I would love to have for ART

1. ice cream containers

2. old rags suitable for painting wipes

3. willow branches

4. newspaper

Please deliver them to The Studio #19 or drop in to the school office. Most appreciated, thank you

denise judson

LIBRARY NOTICEThere are a lot of library books that were issued at the end of last year that have not been returned. They are now very overdue. We would appreciate if you could all have a look at home for any books belonging to our library and return them ASAP, as if they are not returned the cost to the school to replace them is very high.Many thanks.

BUS LOADINGS - EARLY NOTIFICATION

1) Please be aware that 4 of our buses are really full!

2) There can be NO extra students on the Hanmer Bus on Monday afternoons

3) Any students wanting to use a bus MUST put in a REQUEST to the school office the DAY BEFORE a change of bus is wanted. Ideally this should be done with a letter from a parent.

4) Unfortunately Cheddar Valley and Leslie Hills buses are absolutely full and requests may be denied.

5) The reason requests need to be made the previous day is so we can check the bus loadings.

Thank you

Elizabeth TeulonBus Controller

a course please contact Mrs Mossman at school to discuss the rationale for change before any move can be approved. Some courses have pre-requisites which may exclude entry and others may already be full. Course changes after week 4 are not recommended.

Ko te manu e kai ana I te matauranga, nona te ao – The bird that partakes of the power of knowledge has access to the world.

Penny Mossman

SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIP Results - 2016

SENIOR GIRLS 1st Emilee Hickey 55 pts 2nd Tayla Moriarty 43 pts 3rd Isabella Neill 37 pts

SENIOR BOYS 1st Caleb Allison 55 pts 2nd Ma’son Simpson 37 pts 3rd Luke Parkinson 28 pts

INTERMEDIATE GIRLS 1st Caitlin Harding 55 pts

INTERMEDIATE BOYS 1st Jordan Stark 55 pts 2nd Hamish Gray 45 pts 3rd Drew Topp 35 pts UNDER 14 GIRLS 1st Jazmine Cuff 55 pts 2nd Celine Barnes 45 pts 3rd Grace Moriarty 23 pts

UNDER 14 BOYS 1st Troy James 55 pts 2nd Ben Hartnell 43 pts 3rd Matthew Maxwell 33 pts

UNDER 12 ½ GIRLS 1st Zoey Cuff 55 pts 2nd Samantha Moriarty 45 pts 3rd Lucy Florance 29 pts

UNDER 12 ½ BOYS 1st Callum MacDonald 49 pts 2nd Sam Kinney 33 pts 3rd Logan Topp 28 pts

PRIMARY GIRLS 1st Madacin Archbold 55 pts 2nd Caitlin Bosson 49 pts 3rd Meg Habgood 29 pts

PRIMARY BOYS 1st Devon Clarke 55 pts 2nd= Eli MacDonald 41 pts Francis Mones-Cazon 41 ptsWHANAU POINTS

1st Mitchell 2nd Caverhill 3rd Hamilton

1618 pts 1178 pts 1117pts Most colourful Whanau – HamiltonMost colourful individual – Tyler Batchelor (Caverhill)

Records Broken

Age Group Event Name TimePrimary Open Girls 50yds Freestyle Madacin Archbold 36.75s 50yds Backstroke Caitlin Bosson 48.51s (Heat) 50yds Backstroke Madacin Archbold 45.37s (Final) 50yds Butterfly Caitlin Bosson 53.05s 100yds Freestyle Madacin Archbold 82.72s

Primary Open Boys 50yds Freestyle Devon Clarke 36.09s 50yds Breaststroke Devon Clarke 50.19s 100yds Freestyle Devon Clarke 81.52s

Under 14 Girls 50yds Butterfly Jazmin Cuff 33.25s

Intermediate Girls 50yds Backstroke Caitlin Harding 37.30s