Newsletter No. 3 Term 1, Week 4

Week Ending 21st February 2020

Tena koutou katoa NZ Hockey Awards Finalists!

Our community has been nominated and are now in the final running for the Community Initiative of the Year Award through New Zealand Hockey. This is such a positive recognition of the many people who contributed to this project. We will be sending a small delegation to the awards night in Auckland on the 24th April to see how we get on and will let you know!

Ti Kouka Adventure Camps for 11 and 12 year old’s and their Parents! These programmes are run through the parenting place and staffed by the team from Attitude who come into schools to do Health Based presentations to our students. Last weekend I had the privilege of participating in one of these camps with my 11 year old son. It was a great opportunity to spend positive time with him, to work through issues of puberty, self-image, risk taking and participate in a pretty full on programme of adventure based activities. The food was also top notch! I highly recommend this to any parent with a child in or around the 11-12 age range. These programmes are heavily subsidised and are

often undersubscribed so follow the contact details below and register for one of the upcoming camps. If you want to talk about this in more detail, please feel free to give me a call.

Upcoming Events Next week we see Year 7 heading away to camp, our swimmers heading to CCHS Champs in Rangiora and the Primary Swimming Display is scheduled for Wednesday 26th Feb. Also, a reminder that MONDAY 2nd March school is closed for our regional development training with our Community of Learning Schools.

Raising Achievement; Realising Potential; Encouraging Excellence

Phone: 03-315-8233 E-Mail: office@amuri.school.nz Web: www.amuri.school.nz

Property Projects for 2020

Quite a bit going on outside of the redevelopment this year. By the end of 2020 we are anticipating the completion of:-

Joining and redesign of Rooms 5 and 6 on the Primary side;

Addition of a full-size outdoor basketball court to the school sporting facilities;

Asphalt the front of the junior school play area and the bus driveway;

Removal of old primary sheds;

Removal of primary boiler and redevelopment into a workspace;

Relining of all playing courts;

Heat pump installation to admin block;

Electrical loading upgrade for new development;

This is all in addition to the redevelopment plan for the Secondary side which is in the initial phase of creation.

Policies up for Review this term is: Recognition of Cultural Diversity

Follow the instructions below to access the schooldocs system if you wish to contribute.

School Docs Login Details for School Policies and Procedures 1. Visit the website

http://amuri.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm 2. Enter the username (amuri) and password (area). Have a great weekend.

Kia Kitea Toikaka

James Griggs Principal

Senior School newS

As we complete week 4 it is great to see and feel a very positive and engaged atmosphere throughout the school. All the staff have felt the year has got off to a very good start and are really enjoying working with their well settled classes. We are also extremely grateful for the air conditioning units that are in all our classrooms plus, with the hot temperatures outside, the classrooms are even more appealing places to be. Our two Year 9 classes have settled well, and the Year 10 group have quickly adjusted to all being together and working as a team. Year 10 takes on a new focus as it is the final year for laying down good learning foundations for Year 11 and NCEA. To help in this preparation we assist students to understand themselves as learners – strengths and weaknesses - so that any weaknesses can be addressed before it is too late. Year 11 is the first year of NCEA and for many families this will be their first experience of this qualification so we understand that there is quite a bit you will not know about how it works and how best to support your child as they progress through the senior years at school. Soon every student in Year 11 will be given a paper guide called Introducing NCEA – I suggest you read this as it is a very good summary. All schools are also bound by NZQA policies and procedures for NCEA so we will also be giving students a copy of this booklet to bring home, read and keep in a safe place. For students with serious learning difficulties, NCEA Level 1 can take two years to achieve but for most it is easily achieved in one year and must be actively failed. The reasons students do not achieve Level 1 or demonstrate success as learners is because they have too many absences, won’t engage positively with the learning or fail to complete or hand work in for assessment. Absence is the biggest handicap to achievement - not only does it directly impact on the student concerned, it also impacts on the other learners when teachers are trying to catch them up. At the senior levels of the school, absence should only be for serious reasons so please support your child by avoiding non urgent absence during school time. There has already been a flurry of activity this term with swimming and athletics still to come. Congratulations to our senior students who successfully completed their Dive Certificates with Dive HQ and a group of Akaroa Area School students and to Mr Cate for his organisation and assistance with this fantastic opportunity for the Year 12/13 PE students. Penny Mossman

Hash supervising Kapa Haka practice

SISS South Island Secondary Schools

HPSSA Hurunui Primary Schools Sports Association

CCHS Canterbury Country High Schools

CSS Canterbury Secondary Schools

FEBRUARY ‘20 24th – 26th Year 7 Camp – Hanmer Springs

25th CCHS Swimming Champs – Rangiora 26th Primary Swim Display 26th Caverhill Assembly @ 10:00am 27th Primary Swim Display - Postponement 28th HPSSA Swim Sports - Waiau

MARCH ‘20 2nd COL Day – SCHOOL CLOSED 3rd Senior Amuri Athletic Sports 4th HPSSA Swim Sports – Postponement 9th HPSSA Duathlon

10th HPSSA Duathlon – Postponement 11th CCHS Athletic Champs, Christchurch 11th Ara Presentation for Year 11-13 at 2:00pm 17th CSS Athletic Prelims, Christchurch 18th BOT Meeting @ 6:00pm 19th Hamilton Assembly @ 10:00am 21st CSS Athletic Finals, Christchurch 24th 11SGA Field Trip P1 and 2

24th – 27th Year 9 Camp, Windy Point 26th CSS Swimming Champs 31st HPSSA TBall / Softball

APRIL ‘20 1st CDEM Quake Roadshow – Years 7-10 1st HPSSA TBall / Softball – Postponement 2nd CPS Swimming Champs - Rolleston

4th – 5th SISS Athletic Champs, Christchurch 6th Te Kooti Museum Trip

7th – 9th Life Education Visit – Years 1-6 9th End of Term 1

28th Start of Term 2

More Able and Ambitious 2020 Conference

YEARS 10-13 WEDNESDAY 13TH MAY 2020

ST. ANDREWS COLLEGE CHRISTCHURCH

Run by Academy Conferences in association with Oxford and Cambridge Universities UK.

The aim of this study day is to help students to: • Improve their thinking skills • Begin to be able to identify what is fundamental from

what is trivial • Become intellectually creative • Identify assumptions and distinguish between good

and poor arguments • Think systematically and rigorously about relevant

modern-day issues

Topics this year include: Oxford Interview Question: Here’s a cactus tell us about it;

• A Slow Strange Death- The failure of Environmental Economics;

• Aristotle 384-322BCE, His Big Idea; • Social Physics • The Big Debate: This house believes that ‘enthusiastic

consent’ is not enough.

For further information visit https://www.academyconferences.com/index.php/gifted-and-talented-students/au-nz-programme Cost $43 (Early bird ticket by end Feb) per student plus travel costs. $53 in total. If you are interested, please email susan@amuri.school.nz before the 25th February. Places are limited. Permission should be sought from subject teachers by students to attend this day.

Susan Ibbetson Extension Coordinator

NETBALL ANNOUNCEMENT Hi Everyone, it's that time again! Registrations open from Monday 24th February and close Sunday 1st March. If you would like to register, Laura Lilley and Hayley Frame will be outside the Amuri school office from 1500 till 1630. Otherwise, please email culverdennc@gmail.com and we will email you a registration form and a newsletter.

Looking forward to another great season of Netball!!!

A Te Kooti group working on team building skills with Mrs Shanks

Year 8 2020 School Based Vaccination Programme – Consent forms out now

Canterbury DHB is offering School Based Vaccination Programme to Year 8 boys and girls, who have not completed their eleven year old vaccinations in General Practice.

As part of the School Based Vaccination programme, your child will be offered HPV and Boostrix vaccinations.

* HPV offers the two dose HPV vaccinations to protect against genital warts, cervical cancer, throat and mouth cancers and other types of cancers later in life.

* Boostrix is a one dose vaccination to provide protection against Tetanus, Diptheria and Whooping Cough.

Please check your child’s school bag for the Year 8 School Based Vaccination consent form. Please complete it, whatever your decision about the vaccination, and return to school by the date requested.

Thank you Public Health Nursing Service

Do you want to play soccer this year?

Hurunui Rangers Football Club are holding information and registration afternoons at local

schools in the last week of February.

Please note, as per last year, Rangers will not be offering any first kicks or fun football this year. However, for the ten weeks of Term 2 there will again be a Hurunui Schools competition for ages 4 - 8 inclusive. Registration details will be sent out in March to parents of last year's players and to all the primary schools in the district; contact your school in early April for more information.

For those turning 9 or older in 2020, we will be holding registration opportunities on;

- Wednesday 26th Feb at Amuri Area School from 4.30 to 5.30

- Thursday 27th Feb at Amberley School from 3.15- 4.30

- Friday 28th Feb at Hanmer Springs School, Tui Room from 3.05-4.00 pm.

Club fees (which includes Mainland football fees) remain the same as last year ($120 Juniors).

As with last year, practices will be on Thursday’s at Amuri Area School in Culverden, along with home games on Saturday’s. Away games will be in Christchurch / Kaiapoi / Rangiora / Amberley.

Current club members and those who played in the Hurunui Schools competition will be emailed details of how to register online in the next few days. We need registrations to form teams in the first week of March so please put your name in asap if you are keen! Also, Hurunui Rangers are still looking for a Junior Administrator to help with the junior side of the club - please contact us if you can help.

We look forward to seeing you during the 2020 season.

Any questions please drop us a line president@hurunuirangers.org.nz or look us up on Facebook.