Week 6 Term 1 8 March 2017

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou, The last month has been busier than usual for our junior school as they prepare for the Oderings School Garden Show that opens this Friday 10

th March and runs through to Sunday 12

th March. Last year we won the People’s Choice Award and

Vanessa and her team have been planning and preparing since last year for this event. We are driven, focussed and enthusiastic about being involved! A media release by the Canterbury Horticulture Society (CHS) yesterday stated “there are 12 schools competing this year, from primary and intermediate schools from all over the city. And while they may be young, there are a great range of ideas on show, with no one garden similar to the next. The Wizard of Oz has inspired two schools, and Hansel & Gretel and The Three Little Pigs also feature, but other themes are widely divergent from English Cottage gardens to Amazon Rainforest to Maui & the Sun.

Participating schools include: Ashgrove, Oaklands, Ōpāwa, Sockburn, St Albans Catholic, St Albans, Sumner, Waitakiri,

West Melton, West Spreydon, Westburn and Shirley Intermediate.

Vanessa Adams from Ōpāwa School says, "The junior children at our school have loved getting to know the characters of

'The Wizard of Oz' and creating our version of the story using flowers. We have practised sharing, turn taking and

demonstrating responsibility for looking after our plants. We are looking forward to walking down to the Woolston Club to

see all of the displays on Friday.”

The School Gardens Show originated from one of the country's biggest garden shows, Ellerslie. After it was cancelled the

CHS looked for ways to bring garden competitions back into the community, and decided engaging the city’s youngest

gardeners was an excellent way to do so.

The show will be held at the Woolston Club, 43 Hargood St, Woolston

Friday 10th - Sunday 12

th March, 10am - 5pm (Friday & Saturday) 10am-3pm (Sunday).

Entry by gold coin donation.”.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible both at the Garden Show and also at our working bee this Sunday

from 9-12 noon. Our school focus is currently on showing respect to our environment. These two events clearly demonstrate

our commitment to this and we appreciate your input and support with these.

Have an environmentally friendly week everyone!

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou, Sally

30 Ford Road, Christchurch

Telephone: 332 6374

Cell: 022 3191181

Fax: 332 6137

Email: admin@opawa.school.nz

Website: www.opawa.school.nz

A couple of Reminders

The 3 minute drop of/pick up parking zone located on Ford Road is regularly monitored by the Christchurch City Council traffic wardens. Please stick to the 3 minute time limit, not only to avoid a parking ticket, but also for the convenience of others who just want a quick drop off or pick up of their children.

It has been noted that quite a few children are arriving at school before 8am in the morning. The classrooms are often locked at this time and as it is getting noticeably colder outside in the mornings, it’s just too cold for the children to be playing outside for this long before the school day begins. We ask that children are not dropped off until 8.30 at the earliest.

Please check that your children’s school uniforms, including hats, are clearly named so that all lost items are quickly returned to the rightful owners. Sometimes the names fade after many washes and need to be re-written.

CSM (Christchurch School of Music The band for Year 5-8 students who are new (or fairly new) to playing music has started off

extremely well.

What: Weekly 30 minute lesson plus an hour band practise all within the school day. Instruments include flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet and trombone.

When: Weekly for 32 weeks of the school year Where: Ōpāwa School Who: Qualified tutors employed by CSM

How: For more information, please speak with Sally or Wendy about this wonderful opportunity or visit the CSM website – http://www.csm.org.nz/

Cost: $20/week ($590/year) or $10/week ($245/year) with a Community Services card

Students can hire instruments for an additional cost, or provide their own instruments. We can assist with this if necessary.

Tabloids 2017

The Ōpāwa Student Council will be running Tabloids on Friday 31st of March, 11.45-12.45/1pm. Students are encouraged to wear their house colours.

(Heathcote – Green Waimakariri – Blue Rakaia – Red Avon – White)

All students will be made aware of their houses by the beginning of next week.

Because some activities involve water, there is a possibility that students may get wet. Please ensure they have their school

uniform to change into for after the event.

Families are invited to come and watch and after the event, join us for lunch on the lawn.

Zone Swimming Representatives

Last week we held our School Swimming Sports at the Waltham Pool. This

included some fun activities as well as competitive events. It was great to see

the swimmers enjoying themselves and encouraging each other. We have

selected 17 students to represent Ōpāwa School at the South Zone Swimming

events next Tuesday 14th of March. We wish the following students all the

best:

Logan Small Aaliyah Mitchell Fenella Chittock Kayden Davie Lachlan Jansen Max Best Jesse Newton Zane Nuttall Jack Utteridge-Davie Harriett McClimont Alice Mussett Tabitha Scottorn Milly Mussett Angel Cocks Maiko Graham Stephanie Webby Campbell Lucy-Rose McClimont

ICAS

(International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) 2017 Dates and Fees

ICAS provides an opportunity for Year 4-13 students to gain a measure of their own achievement in an external testing situation. All students who participate will receive a certificate and individual student report indicating which questions they answered correctly and their score compared with the rest of the students tested.

If you would like your child to participate in any or all of the exams listed below, please complete the table below by writing your child’s name, ticking the appropriate column and return it, together with the correct money into the office red posting box as soon as possible.

For any further information please do not hesitate to contact Helen, Room 17 by calling into the office or emailing her on helen@opawa.school.nz

REMINDER: School Activity Fees are now due for payment Our Ōpāwa School Bank Account number is 12-3147-0419969-00. It may be worth considering

an automatic weekly or fortnightly payment into this school account to cover any school costs. Worth remembering is that our year 6’s, have camp between the 18

th and 22

nd September. Starting

regular payments into our school account now, will make this large payment less stressful.

Te Ara Tika O Ōpāwa (The right path for Ōpāwa)

Children can earn vouchers for demonstrating our school values. This term’s value is Respect- Manaakitanga and each fortnight six children

are selected to have a pizza lunch with Sally in the Boardroom. The pizzas are generously sponsored by Cassels and sons - The Brewery. The

following children enjoyed a pizza lunch with Sally this week: Tom and Nate from Room 4, Eve B from Room 7, Kadin and Caezar from

Room 8 and Ben from Room 9.

WORKING BEE THIS SUNDAY

This Sunday the 12th March 9am-12pm

Please bring along with you:

wheelbarrows, gardening tools etc ...

Please check our school facebook page at 8am for a decision regarding the weather

Senior Kapahaka Wananga (Rooms 11-19) Sunday 6

th August , 10am – 3pm in the school hall

(ALL children must attend, so please put this date in your diary now)

Child’s Name: ___________________ Room No: _________________

ICAS Subject

ICAS Sitting Date

Prices

Tick

Digital Technologies

Tuesday 17th May $9.50

Science Tuesday 31st May $9.50

Writing Monday 13th - Friday 17

th June $20.50

Spelling Wednesday 15th June $11.50

English Tuesday 2

nd August $9.50

Mathematics Tuesday 16th August $9.50

Total Paid

Code Club 2017

Thank you for the positive response to Code Club 2017. Due to high demand we have decided to group the students. This will allow us to include everyone that has shown an interest. The groups are as follows:

8/9 year olds: Term 1

10 year olds: Term 2

11/12/13 year olds: Term 3

Term 4 Code Club to be confirmed

The day and time of Code Club each week in Term 1 for 8 and 9 year olds is

Wednesdays at 3.15 - 4.30 (From the 1st March) in Room 13

The day and time of Code Club in Term 2 and 3 will be confirmed closer to the time.

Regards

Nick Jorgensen

Become a Book Buddy

At

Ōpāwa School! Kia ora/hello Families/Whānau. We are looking for volunteers to help with our Book Buddy reading programme. This involves coming along to school and listening to children read. It gives the children the opportunity to further practise skills and build fluency. In fact, research has shown that it really does make a difference!

Please return this note to the office or your class teacher if you, or a relative have a spare 30 minutes to offer. Please indicate which day(s) of the week you would be available and also the time of day that would suit you best. I am available (please circle) Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday at ________ Name: ______________ Phone: _______________ Thank you Jeanette and Robyn Junior Team Leaders

STATIONERY All children should now be using their stationery packs. If for any reason your child is still at school without stationery, then please come down to the office to arrange an alternative method of getting stationery to your child. If you have not yet paid for the extras that are required to be paid directly to school, then please make this payment as soon as possible, either via our school bank account number 12-3147-0419969-00 or via the school office.

New Entrant = $25.50 Year 1 = $32.50 Year 3 = $32.50 Year 4 = $30.50 Year 5 = $30.50 Year 6 = $80.50 Year 7 = $125.50 Year 8 = $134.00

Our Ōpāwa School Bank Account number is 12-3147-0419969-00. It may be worth considering making an automatic weekly or fortnightly payment into this school account to cover any school costs. Worth remembering is that our year 6 children have a camp on the 18th September and regular payments into our school account starting now, will make this large payment less stressful. Statements will be sent out by the end of this week.

Term Dates for 2017 TERM 1 TERM 3 Thursday 2

nd February – Thursday 13

th April Monday 24

th July – Friday 29

th September

TERM 2 TERM 4 Monday 1

st May – Friday 7

th July Monday 16

th October – Tuesday 19

th December

Uniform Purchases

Stephanie from Distributors Direct, will be here tomorrow the 9th March between 2.45 and 3.30pm in the Library foyer, with a good supply of our uniform items available for families to make purchases. Our suppliers of uniform are:

* Distributors Direct productquery@gmail.com - 021 559383 Distributors Direct have an excellent website where you can purchase uniforms online now. Go to www.distributorsdirect.co.nz to use this facility.

* The Warehouse, Eastgate Mall, Linwood (short supply of orange polo tops at the moment though)

Subway – available for lunch every Tuesday. Please put the correct money ( Subway does not give change ) into one of the Subway envelopes available from your child’s classroom or the office display stand then put it into the plastic envelope kept in your child’s class before 9.00am each Tuesday. (Please note school office staff cannot change money).

PLEASE REMEMBER SNACKS ARE STILL REQUIRED WHEN YOUR CHILD HAS LUNCH ORDERED

Our school lunches can be ordered using Lunchonline. This is an online service where parents/caregivers set up their own account, order lunch and pay online. The lunch is then delivered to school in time for our lunch break. Our Food Provider(s) offer healthy choices along with some treat options. So to view the menu or to set up an account and/or place an order, just go control + click below: www.lunchonline.co.nz

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