WELCOME TO WEEK 5!

WHAT'S HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
The middle of the term is approaching and it feels like we have just started! This week was a big week in Matawara, with our EOTC activities to Adrenalin Forest and Learning to Surf. As you can see from the photos below, it was a FABULOUS time! 

Here is the link to the very (UN)professional photos taken by us over the last couple of days, if you care to see them!

MATHS NO PROBLEM - 

This week we also began the Maths - No Problem programme in our team. We started this on Monday, with Alex (one of the National Facilitators of the programme) coming in to run a learning session with us. This programme really dives into the key competencies of Maths, these being:

1. Communication (sharing your methods and justifying your choices)
2. Visualisation 
3. Generalisations (using what you know help solve a problem)
4. Metacognition (the ability to talk yourself through a problem)
5. Number Sense 

We look forward to continuing with this and stretching some of exisiting ideas of our team! 

PODCAST LIBRARY - 
Many of you will know I am a big podcast fan, and I do try to share any that I listen to, that I think you as parents will benefit from! 

I am keen to develop a bit of a 'pod library' where if you have a great episode that is interesting and addresses everyday issues, then send it to me, and I will have a listen, to add it to our Blog for the week. 

This weeks episode was sent to me from Chelsie Boltar, and it is simply far too good not to share! It is titled 'Why you can't pay attention and how to reclaim your focus' and it is a deep dive into how Technology is effecting the lives of all of us, including, you guessed it, your children. 

Caution - there is some coarse language, but it adds to the message! Also, there is a fair amount of chit chat for the first 20 minutes or so, but bear with it (or skip it) as the remaining two hours are literally EXCELLENT! Let me know what you think! 

The Apple Version is HERE 
The Spotify Version is HERE

YEAR 8 PROJECTS - 

All of our Year 8's should have finalised their project focus for 2022 by now. As a group, we went over the expectations for the 'Goal and Purpose' part of their project, and they should be starting to write this now. They all have a paper copy of the project in their Leadership book, and all information they need is in there or on their student dashboard. Please get them to show you either of these resources, so you are able to support them through this.  

Have a super weekend!

Kristie, Linda, Jenny and Helen. 

LOOKING FORWARD... 

WEEK 5 - 

* TUESDAY - Matawara Swimming Sports

* FRIDAY - Tech - ALL DAY - Bus leaves at 9:15am SHARP!

WEEK 6 - 

* FRIDAY - Year 8 Goal and Purpose DUE. 

WELCOME TO WEEK 4!

What a WEEK! 

We have just completed our annual Leadership Week in Matawara and it has been a BLAST! We have had the most wonderful experiences and conversations regarding this topic, and you will see a reflection of the week come out in your child's kete on Hero, soon! On this reflection you will find the link to one of the Inspirational clips we viewed as a team. It is worth watching as a family and discussing too! 

Our Year 8's deserve recognition for their outstanding Leadership Speeches that they presented to our Team on Thursday. It is no small expectation from us that they write these in a short time, as it forces focus, and thoughts around the immediate learning they have been participating in. Each Year 8 has had their speech videoed and it is up in their 'Learning Kete' on Hero. 

Our Team are just blowing us away with how quickly they are settling into the routine of being in Matawara! We are celebrating each day, the development of their independence, and thinking skills, and we hope there are some wonderful conversations coming home - although let's face it, they are adolescents! 

TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES in LEADERSHIP - The Electric Fence! 

Planning and Strategising 

Putting a plan into ACTION! 

Enabling Others to Act

LEADERSHIP - Build and 'cook' on a Solar Oven - 

Our solar ovens FINALLY got off the ground on Wednesday, when the sun was able to poke out of the clouds for the afternoon. Amazingly some ovens got up to 60 degrees plus! We may not be cooking chicken in them, but we will experiment with some other foods in there over the next week or so! 

SWIMMING - Fun in our pool!

Our swimming pool is the most wonderful resource in our school! We have had some super swimming sessions, and although our school swimming sports will not be going ahead this year, we will be running our Matawara Swimming Sports in Week 5! Children will enter the usual championship / non championship level (depending on swimming ability) and we will run timed heats in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. That way, IF (and it is a big if) Zone Swimming Championships go ahead, we will be ready! 

WEEK 4 ACTIVITIES - 

Here's hoping the weather plays the game, and we can attend our two days of fun on Thursday and Friday! Here is a reminder of what we are doing, and what each child will need to bring each day. 

* Surf School - THURSDAY 24th FEBRUARY (Leave school at 11:30pm and return at home time) 

* Adrenalin Forest - FRIDAY 25th FEBRUARY (Leave school at 9:00am and return at 1:00pm)
 
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED in school bags - 
Surf School - note ALL equipment including wetsuits is provided. 
- Warm clothing
- Towels and togs 
- Sunscreen and sun hats
- Masks to wear in cars, and during classroom briefing 
- A snack and a drink bottle 

Adrenalin Forest - 
- Masks to wear in cars, and during briefing
- Clothing appropriate for physical activity 
- Jacket in case of a cold wind
- A snack and a drink bottle
- Footwear that encloses the whole foot (sneakers)
- ALL long hair MUST be tied back securely

Thank you to the following parents who will be transporting our team for the two days - Andrew Spencer, Marie Ambrosiussen, Chris Miller, Brent Long, Craig Pascoe, Hannah Leary, Phillip Kraal, Nick Dench, Jaz Hazeldine, Kim Parry, Maurice Payton, Maree Breen, and Steph Fletcher.

The cost of these activities is $52 inclusive. If you have already paid for camp, this cost will be deducted from this,  and you will be credited the balance, after the activities have taken place. 

Have a super weekend!

Kristie, Linda, Jenny and Helen. 

LOOKING FORWARD... 

WEEK 4 - 

* THURSDAY - Team Matawara are off to LEARN TO SURF! 

* FRIDAY - Team Matawara off to SWING FROM THE TREES! 

WEEK 5 - 

* TUESDAY - Matawara Swimming Sports

* FRIDAY - Tech - ALL DAY - Bus leaves at 9:15am SHARP!

WELCOME TO WEEK 3!

Welcome to Week 3! 

What an amazing beginning to our term in Matawara. Our team are HUMMING, and it is lovely to see how well they have all started to mix together, with our Year 8's providing support and leadership to our Year 7's. We have developed our copilot programme in our team, and these are the identified benefits of this programme, that our team outlined this week... 

We are so proud of how Matawara are reacting to wearing masks in our team - they are AMAZING! No questions or complaints - they literally are just getting on with it! If I am honest, I think they cope better than the teachers! Clearly they have had some wonderful instruction from you as parents around this, so thank you. 

MATHS... NO PROBLEM -
You will have read in the newsletter regarding the Maths programme we are delving into this year. There is a link in that newsletter that gives you the background to this programme, if you are interested. 

Part of the lesson structure involves working in a Maths - No Problem workbook. These will cost our team around $18.00 each, and will be added to your child’s account as they receive them.

ICT SAFETY - 

In both Hōpara and Matawara we utilise the Hapara service which allows us to keep fairly accurate tabs on what each child does on their device during school time. There is a small cost of $7.00 that will be added to each child's account. 

TECHNOLOGY DAYS - 

Technology is at Kaiapoi Borough School, and our team attends for the whole day. On these days, the children board the bus, and it leaves by 9:15am sharp. We like the team to be at school no later than 8:55am on these days, so we can complete the roll and discuss any notices etc. 

Our Tech days are as follows for this term...

• Week 3 - February 18th - THIS WEEK!
• Week 5 - March 4th 
• Week 7 - March 18th - NO TECH KBS have a Teacher Only Day
• Week 9 - April 1st

CAMP CANCELLATION - 

All of you have hopefully heard by now that our beginning of year camp has been cancelled. We are working hard to have some of the activities go ahead on the days we would have been at camp, namely our Adrenalin Forest fun, and Learn to Surf. Please URGENTLY look to the HERO app to read the update, and fill in the JOTFORM HERE, granting your permission for your child to participate. There are a few of you who have not done this - your child knows if they still need it done. 

MATAWARA LEADERSHIP WEEK - 

Our Leadership week will be this week. This is the time when our team are immersed in our Leadership Challenge Model and will develop their understanding of what it is to be a Leader in our school. We will do some activities together as a team, and there will be times when the Year 7 and Year 8 groups learn separately. 

Part of this week is our team building and cooking ('smores') in a solar oven... if the sun will shine! We would love all children to bring their equipment on Monday please. We will shout the ingredients for the smores. All children have worked out what it is that they will bring within their groups. 

YEAR 8 LEADERSHIP - please note that part of this week is for the Year 8 Leaders to write and present their speech. This will be presented to the team, and we will record each speech to put up on HERO. 

The Year 8's will be given class time to write their speech, but this won't be enough! Please support your child to write and practise their speech at home too. 

A FINAL NOTE - (This is an across school announcement) 

Now that your children have had the chance to settle into the school as of next week we are making it an across school expectation that parents are unable to come into classes without the necessary appointment. Please understand that this is also really difficult for us as we want to get to know you all and build relationships, however, this will help to keep our school a safe place. 

Have a super weekend!

Kristie, Linda, Jenny and Helen. 

LOOKING FORWARD... 

WEEK 3 - 

Team Matawara Leadership Week! 

* FRIDAY - Tech - ALL DAY - Bus leaves at 9:15am SHARP!

WEEK 4 - 

* THURSDAY - Team Matawara are off to LEARN TO SURF! 

* FRIDAY - Team Matawara off to SWING FROM THE TREES! 

WELCOME TO WEEK 2!

THANK YOU! 
It was wonderful to connect with most families on Thursday and lovely to see our Team looking so ready for school! 
If you have not already sent your child's stationery to school, we would appreciate this on Tuesday please. Also it is a good idea to check sun hats are good to go.  

Kristie and Linda travelled to Tech at Kaiapoi Borough this morning to check in on our Team, and it was super to see them all so settled and enjoying this programme. No doubt there will be many observations that come home to discuss tonight. 

WHAT IS COMING UP IN WEEK 2?
Next week we will begin to form our Team, and how we will be this year. This is always a time of getting to know each other and making decisions about how we will operate as a Team. We have lots of fun activities planned from getting to know your 'copilot', learning the routines of our team, a Tech challenge, a new serial story and more! 

Children will be part of a group for some of these challenges, and just a wee heads up they will need to provide some of the following items (not all as it will be shared through the group!) 

• Tin foil
• Gladwrap 
• A box (similar to a shoe box) 
• A plate (paper plate or similar) 

SWIMMING - 

This will begin next week! We are so lucky to have such an amazing resource in our pool, and we like to utilise it as much as possible at this time of year. Our swimming times vary, and at this age provides a wonderful excuse for a brain break and some physical exercise. If your child is unable to swim, we appreciate an email to all three teachers letting us know. 

It is a good idea to make sure your child comes armed with their own roll on deodorant to reapply after swimming, and on hot days in general. No aerosols please - it will irritate those who are asthmatics. 

PCT COMPETITION - 

This is run by the NZ Police and we have a Year 7 and a Year 8 team booked for this event. Two boys and two girls in each age group will be eligible to compete, and we have time trials booked for FRIDAY 11th FEBRUARY here at school. Fastest times win! 

At this time, the competition is set for 10th March, however it will not be run under the red setting, and may be postponed to a later date.  

CAMP CANCELLATION - 

All of you have hopefully heard by now that our beginning of year camp has been cancelled. We are working hard to have some of the activities go ahead on the days we would have been at camp, namely our Adrenalin Forest fun, and Learn to Surf. Please look to the HERO app to read the update, and fill in the JOTFORM HERE, granting your permission for your child to participate. 

LEADERSHIP WEEK - 

During week 3 our team will develop their understanding of the Leadership Challenge components and participate in other leadership appropriate tasks and activities which will encourage them to explore the Leadership Challenge Model. We will have times when we work as a Matawara Team, and we will split into Year 7 and Year 8 for other parts of the week. 

All Year 7's will come away from this week with - 

- An understanding of 'Emerging Leadership' at Clarkville

- Roles and responsibilities of a chummy leader

- A clear understanding of what it means to be a leader

All Year 8's will come away from this week with - 

- Their Leadership Project Focus locked in

- A solid understanding of the first TWO parts of the Leadership Project that will be handed in this term

- A realisation of the Leader that they will Aspire to be in 2022 and... 

- They will have written their Leadership Speech, which they will present to our team - (NOTE - we will video each Y8 speech and children will upload this to their Hero Kete for you to see). 

We hope you all have a lovely Waitangi weekend planned, although, shockingly it is looking like the weather is not going to cooperate! I am thinking it might be a nice time to get stuck into a good book! 

Have a super weekend!

Kristie, Linda, Jenny and Helen. 

LOOKING FORWARD... 

WEEK 2 - 

MONDAY - Waitangi Day Holiday 

TUESDAY - School as usual :)

WEEK 3 - 

Team Matawara Leadership Week! 

FRIDAY - Tech - ALL DAY - Bus leaves at 9:15am SHARP!