Kia ora koutou,
Over the last few weeks children have been working on our Math-a-thon. Hopefully, at home, you have been having fun practising Basic Facts and collecting sponsors. If you haven’t returned your sponsorship sheet to school, please send it in on Monday. Children will complete their basic facts tests on Monday, and the results will be sent home later in the week with a copy of the sponsorship sheet so you can collect the money. The testing process will be fun and friendly, focusing on celebrating personal progress and new learning. We appreciate your support with our focus on basic facts and fundraising for the school.
New sKids Team
You may notice a change in the sKids Team that leads the before and after-school care programme in the school hall. Minette Soekoe and Anna Solich are now heading up the on-site care, with fresh programmes and systems being put into place. Allan Swamy is the sKids Regional Manager and will support the new team in their transition to Matua School. If you are interested in finding out more about the services that sKids offer, pop into the hall and say hello, or follow THIS LINK to visit the website.
Key things to note:
Teachers are currently working on assessments and writing school reports. These reports will be sent home to you via Hero at the start of Term 3, and will be followed by Parent/Teacher/Student meetings on Friday, 26th July. There are a few key dates to note over the next few weeks of school. They are in the school calendar, however, please be aware of the following:
- School Photos: 20th and 21st June
- School Hāngī: Thursday 27th June – more information to come next week
- Matariki Public Holiday – Friday 28th June (School Closed)
- Visual Arts and Matariki Celebration – Thursday 4th July, 4:30pm – 6:00pm
- Parent/Teacher/Student Meeting – Friday 26th July (School closed for normal classes)
Roads, Cars, and Crossings
The installation of new pedestrian crossings and speed bumps in the area has had a positive impact on the safety of our tamariki. Please support your children to make good decisions when crossing the road by modelling the use of crossings when you are with them. Choosing to take a shortcut across the road and bypassing the use of a pedestrian crossing teaches them and others that the crossing is just an option that you don’t need to take.
Sadly, neighbours are reporting that parents dropping off children at school are often choosing to park illegally. We have been sent photos of cars on yellow lines, in the accessible parking spaces, and even blocking driveways. Tauranga City Council wardens monitor the roads from time to time and will be sending out parking tickets over the next few weeks. Please support our community by parking legally and respectfully.
Ngā mihi nui
Marcus Norrish
Principal
TŪĪ TALKS – EPISODE 11…Follow, Like & Subscribe on Spotify!
Join us for our latest episode, where we dive into the topic of leadership. We are joined by Sam Uffindell, our local National MP, who came to visit Matua School and has some great things to share. We also had our fab Principal Mr Norrish in the hot seat for the Quick Fire 10. PUSH PLAY!
REST HOME READERS
MATHS PARENT INFORMATION EVENING
ART ROOM SUPPLIES NEEDED
Mrs Scott is on the hunt for donations for her art room.
Please can you save old CD’S, cream containers or small plastic bottles and cardboard rolls from glad wrap.
These can be dropped at the office.
Many thanks.
SPORT
Cross Country is such a fun event and our 48 strong team who represented Matua School at the East Cluster event did not disappoint!
We had 12 qualify to move onto the WBOP event which will take place in week 8. Congratulations to all those who ran their absolute best. You guys are legends!
Special congratulations to our podium finishers, of which we had 4!
We had a super team of 12 chess players take part in the East Cluster Chess Tournament last week. One of our teams placed 3rd in the competition and Matua School placed 2nd overall. There were some expert moves taking place with some games lasting only 4 moves! Congratulations to our stealthy Chess Teams.
Next week our Girl’s and Boy’s Rugby Teams will be participating in a tackle 5’s qualifying tournament, and our Year 3&4 Basketball Team will be competing in the annual World Cup tournament.
This week we have had Graeme and Jonesy in to take some Flag Football sessions. Flag Football is like a Kiwisport version of American Football. Our tamariki have had a fabulous time learning some new skills and transferring old skills from Rippa Rugby. Hopefully this is something we will be able to offer in the future if we can get enough schools involved.
The Junior Tough Guy and Gal event is taking place on Wednesday 3rd July which is in Week 10 of this term. I will be running this event similarly to the Weetbix Kiwi Kids TRYathlon where parents register their own child and will need to get their own child to the event, but once there I will have the school gazebo set up and can arrange to collect all the race bibs. If your child is interested in competing in this super fun and mucky event, please click here to register.
Good luck to all our participants taking part in upcoming tournaments and events!
Stacey Sutherland
POOL KEYS
UPCOMING MOBILE DENTAL VISIT – TERM 2
The mobile dental unit will be onsite at school from Monday 29th April to Friday 24th May
Our dental team will be seeing the most overdue tamariki/children during this visit.
The dental team will notify the parents and families prior to their child’s dental appointment.
When you receive this notification, please contact the team to update any contact details, confirm medical details or renew permissions for examination and dental x-rays.
Current service demands and delays weigh heavily on our teams and your kindness and support is appreciated.
If you have any queries or urgent dental concerns, contact (07 576 6752) or 0800 TALK TEETH for further help and advice.
SCHOOL HOURS
A friendly reminder that school is not open until 8.30am. If you require childcare before these hours, please contact SKIDS either by email – matua@skids.co.nz, phone – 027 586 0408, or book online – www.skids.co.nz/Matua.
SCHOOL INFORMATION
LUNCH ORDERS – EVERY FRIDAY
Lunch orders are available for delivery to Matua School each Friday.
SUBWAY
Simply order your SUBWAY lunch online through you myKindo account by CLICKING HERE
Order (or cancel) any time before 9:00am on the day or schedule in advance.
Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or call 09-869 5200 Mon-Fri, 8:00am to 4:00pm.
TERM DATES 2024
Term 1, 2024 – Wednesday 7th February 2024 – Friday 12th April
Waitangi Day – Tuesday 6th February
Learner Conferences – Friday 1st March. School will be closed for instruction.
Easter Weekend – Friday 29th March until Tuesday 2nd April
Term 2, 2024 – Monday 29th April – Friday 5th July
Teacher Only Day #1 – Friday 31st May
King’s Birthday – Monday 3rd June
Matariki – Friday 28th June
Term 3, 2024 – Monday 22nd July – Friday 27th September
Term 4, 2024 – Monday 14th October – Friday 20th December (12:30pm finish)
Teacher Only Day – Friday 25st October
Labour Day – Monday 28th October
First Day Of Term for 2025 – Monday 3rd February 2025
SETTING UP KINDO
Setting up with Kindo
Kindo is our prefered payments system. To help you learn how it works, we’ve added their new help sheet and video. We hope it helps.
KINDO VIDEO HELP
COMMUNITY NOTICES
MATUA PLAYGROUND UPDATE
An upgrade for the Matua Park playground will begin on Monday, 29 April.
In addition to swings and a slide for toddlers, the new play space will include a large basket swing and a timber climbing frame with a slide. It also features bike and scooter racks, a new picnic table and built-in seating around the play area. It’ll be great for children of all ages!
The playground is scheduled to be completed in mid-July, weather-dependent. If you have any questions, please call 07 577 7000 or email kylie.sisley@tauranga.govt.nz .
CAPE EGMONT VIRTUAL HALF MARATHON 2024
Want to walk or run in your own time, but also be part of a fantastic event? Then we would love you to join us.
The Cape Egmont Virtual Half Marathon offers three distance options – 5 km, 10 km and 21 km. Which can be completed any time anywhere from the 1st to the 31st of July 2024. Simply record your time via Strava, Map my run, Fit Bit or screenshot and upload through our website. Every finisher receives a medal and all money raised goes to the Taranaki Cancer Society and the Taranaki Men Can Exercise Group. To help those in our province affected by cancer.
ENTER AT: www.capeegmonthalf.com ENQUIRES capeegmonthalf@gmail.com
POCKET SIZED PLAY ACTIVITES
Free pocket-sized play events for kids in Tauranga city centre previously held in Red Square is moving indoors to Te Ao Mārama – Tauranga Library for the cooler months. There’s a different free hands-on activity for tamariki to enjoy every Saturday from 10.30am – 1.30pm. Check out the upcoming sessions and head along to join in the fun!
- May 25 – Facepainting
- June 1 – Bookmark making
- June 8 – Ozobot robots coding
All parking in the city centre is free on weekends. Proudly brought to you by Tauranga City Council. Head to: mytauranga.co.nz/citycentre for all the details.
