Heron Herald Term 1, Week 7, 2025

2 weeks ago

Kia ora koutou,

Life in the Rākau Team has been action-packed over the last few weeks. I have the privilege of visiting the classes while out on camp, and what a fantastic time they had. We all love seeing how children rise to new challenges and grow in resistance and character as they step out of their comfort zones! Although school camp these days is pretty much ‘glamping’ compared to what many of us experienced as kids, the activities our children get to try are well-designed to stretch and challenge. I want to thank our fantastic teaching team for the massive effort that goes into making camp happen. Andy Cochrane leads this process for the team, but the whole group commit hours of prep in the lead-up and takes time away from families over the camp days. While our team loves it, the effort required must be acknowledged. Thank you also to our parent volunteers who attended the camp. Feedback to me from teachers is that you were a group of ‘rockstars’! You will find more on camp, including extra photos further down in the newsletter.

Turning Five?

As a growing school it is important that we continue to plan well for future class sizes. Knowing about children that are planning on coming to Matua School 12 months ahead of time helps us to manage the school well. If you have a child who is turning 5 within the next 12 months, we’d love for you to complete an Intention To Enrol Form by clicking on the following link.

https://www.matua.school.nz/enrolment/

This form only takes a few minutes and registers your child in our system. Thanks!

Term 2 Sabbatical

New Zealand principals can apply to the Ministry of Education for a Sabbatical every five years. I have been awarded a sabbatical for Term 2 this year, and so I will be away from school from the end of this term until the beginning of Term 3. We have a strong Leadership Team at Matua School that extends beyond our SLT and so are well-positioned to move through this time in a strong and healthy way. Angela Barlow will be the Acting Principal, and Scott Pratt will step into an Acting DP role for Term 2. Together with our DP, Sara Lambert, they will make up the SLT.

Ngā mihi nui

Marcus Norrish
Principal

SCHOOL CALENDAR

The school calendar is also available in Hero. Please use this calendar to stay in touch with upcoming events.

Please take particular note of the TEACHER ONLY DAY. This is in Term 2 on Friday, 30th May, attached to King’s Birthday weekend.

Helen is Matua School’s Premium Sponsor

Want to buy or sell a house? Give her a call – she’s really nice!

MĀHURI STUDENTS

Some of our wonderful Māhuri students were awarded with certificates for spectacular learning and enthusiasm in their classes, this week. In addition, some Room 13 students showcased their art and written language efforts. We love our team celebration time!

ROOM 22

Room 22 have been busy creating clothes for their Barbies out of recycled materials.

They enjoyed showing off their amazing master pieces.

RĀKAU TEAM CAMP ADVENTURE

The Rākau Team had an unforgettable time at camp, where students stepped out of their comfort zones and embraced new challenges. They built friendships, supported one another, and showed resilience throughout the experience.

From tackling the High Ropes Adventure Course to racing down the Flying Fox, every activity brought excitement and growth. Students put their teamwork skills to the test in Raft Making, aimed for success in Archery, and pushed their limits with Abseiling and the Climbing Wall. Evenings were filled with fun and creativity, especially during Skit Night and the thrilling Burma Trail.

A huge well done to all our campers for their enthusiasm and determination—we’re so proud of you!

RĀKAU TENNIS LESSONS

This term, Rākau students are incredibly fortunate to receive tennis coaching from Paul Bell of the Otumoetai Tennis Club. Under his expert guidance, they have been developing essential tennis skills, including hand-eye coordination and footwork. To further support their learning, Paul has generously donated a full class set of tennis racquets, ensuring students can continue practicing at school. We would like to give him a huge thank you for offering up his time and sharing his expertise with us!

SCHOOL DONATIONS

School donations are an important part of how we can add extra value to our school and learning environment. We are excited to have opened up a new fitness trail, which is a direct result of donations from last year. This year, we are working towards extending outdoor play areas for our growing school and would love to see a new play-space developed near the Clivedene boundary. Your support with donations will enable this to happen. Full and partial payments of school donations can be paid now through Kindo.

An important note: School Donations are tax-deductible, so if you pay your donation soon, you can claim a one-third rebate from the IRD at the end of the financial year! Check out the flyer below, which has more information about why we have School Donations.

SPORT

Top School

Matua entered 2 Teams in this year’s TOP Schools competition, which was held at Omokoroa No 1 school, last Friday.It was a stunning day and fantastic competition with 24 teams from schools right across the Western BOP. Our students gave it everything, and did their best, and looked like they had a lot of fun. Matua A finished in 18th place and Matua B came home in 16th place. Thanks so much to all the parents and whānau that helped with transport we couldn’t have got there without you! Special thanks to Ian, Cali, Harper and Jennie for giving up so much of your time to coach/manage/organise the teams on the day!Finally and very proudly, the students won the best sportsmanship award! just the best! We can’t wait to do it again next year.

Waikato BOP Cross Country Mountain Bike Champs

On Wednesday 12th March a small team of year 5 and 6 riders had an early start for a drive to Te Miro for the Waikato BOP XC Mountain bike champs. It was a fantastic event held in a beautiful spot. We had Nick and Austin in the the year 6 Boys event and Georgia and Jacob in the year 5 events.

The races were 2 laps of the track that went around the lake, and up and down in the forest. Our riders did exceptionally well.

Nick came home in an impressive 6th place and Austin placed 15th in his first big MTB race. Georgia also came home in 6th place in her age group. Special mention for Jacob who had a tough day, a bleeding nose on the drive over, a couple of crashes around the course, but he never stopped trying AND he stopped twice to help others in need! picking one rider up and helping another get their chain back on. Well done everyone!

Ngā mihi nui Nicks dad Craig for driving all of us (and the bikes) over the kaimais for the day.

The super smash cricket event took place on Friday the 7th March at Blake Park

Matua entered 2 teams, The Matua Brave and the Matua Knights, with a number of schools from around the WBOP being involved.

Each team had four matches of 8 over cricket, with the idea of the tournament to learn a new sport or hone your skills, get lots of game time and to have a go at all aspects of cricket.

Our teams both did really well. It was great to see all the kids competing hard, learning new skills, making friends, playing as a team and supporting each other.

Thanks to Kim, Rob, Nick and Kate the parents who helped with transport and coaching.

LIBRARY

Our librarians have been working hard assisting library-goers. They happily read books to our younger library members as well as to larger groups. Librarians also promote great reads through library book displays. Sara and her team (Amelia, Abigail, Zara and Otto) shared a display on Dyslexia and how this influences reading. Sara, Amelia and Otto shared their favourite books as well as identified types of books that they have found have kept their love of reading going. They are namely; Quick Picks (what we call quick reads or short early chapter books), Sophisticated Picture Books (picture books which use pictures for support but explore themes for older readers using more sophisticated text) as well as popular Graphic Novels (books which presents sophisticated ideas or content for older readers in speech bubbles and cartoons). They are all alternatives to our traditional chapter books. Sara, Amelia and Otto also identified chapter books such as the treehouse series, which has illustrations and a great font size to engage its readers. They also enjoyed following a book series through talking books or being read to by family members. A big thank you to Sara and her team and all their insights. The love of reading is contagious especially when your peers are the promoters!!

Books are…mirrors, windows, sliding glass doors, stepping stones, overcoats, anchors, springboards, escape hatches, quiet corners, warm blankets, flying carpets and beacons to new readers. Grant Snider

Following on from the Summer Reading Challenge, Te Ao Mārama – Tauranga City Libraries has another event up their sleeves to encourage tamariki that books and reading are cool! Any cricket fans at your school will love this one.

https://library.tauranga.govt.nz/whats-on/event-details/tctl/24327_eventdetails/event/a1d7a2a4-43b7-419e-8771-8833cffa08ca

Join the BLACKCAPS and WHITE FERNS for a special community event ahead of the international cricket double header at Bay Oval.

Come along on Saturday, 22 March to hear some of the players read a range of favourite children’s books, have a bowl on our mini cricket pitch, and get their autographs!

Free. No booking necessary.

Te Ao Mārama – Tauranga Library
Saturday, 22 March
2.30 – 3.45pm
(BLACKCAPS from 2.30 – 3.30pm, WHITE FERNS from 2.50pm)

PTA

Our PTA are selling ice creams and ice blocks from the hall kitchen window again this coming Friday. Cash only.

2nd hand uniform will also be available to purchase. Gold coin donation.

SKIDS

ROLL GROWTH CLASS

We are in the process of looking at our roll growth classes.

If you have a child who is turning 5 within the next 12 months, please can you complete an Intention To Enrol Form by clicking on the following link.

https://www.matua.school.nz/enrolment/

ART SUPPLIES NEEDED

Our wonderful Art Teacher, Mrs Jenni Scott is on the look out for supplies for the art room.

If you have any of the following, please can you drop them into the school office.

An old sewing machine – In Good Working Order
Old Pieces of felt
Baking paper or kitchen towel cardboard rolls
Wooden cotton reels
Newspaper – without staples

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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.