Term 1 2014

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

 Welcome back to school for 2014! Hopefully everyone had a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday. Melissa, Lisa, Ruth and myself are really excited to be back and looking forward to the year ahead. We welcome Anand Ranchod to our Senior School team. Anand has come from Fergusson Intermediate and has several years experience teaching intermediate aged children. He has a real passion for learning with strengths in Literacy, Numeracy, Physical Education and I.C.T.

 The students in the Senior School will be working within 1 of the three classes but our intention is to create a strong team culture. There will be many opportunities throughout an average week for students to work and interact with others in the different classes. This of course means your child will also be working with other teachers within the team. Below is a run down of the structure of each class:
• Room 22: Melissa Coton.
• Room 23: Anand Ranchod
• Room 24: Lisa Allen works 4 days a week with Ruth Hooke teaching every Wednesday.

 As you can see, I am not based in a classroom this year. I am still leading the Senior School and still have a significant teaching component. I will be releasing the classroom teachers twice a term for their scheduled CRT (Classroom Release Time) plus working with our students that need additional support in literacy and numeracy. Other components of my role are developing the team culture, leading behaviour management and additional school wide management.

 We have an exciting term planned. Here is an overview of how it will unfold.

  Integrated Studies / Inquiry: 
Our Inquiry big idea for this term is: “WAR: What is it good for?” To start this unit we will be focusing on the events of World War 1 to mark the 100-year anniversary of it commencing. Each class will then focus on various aspects of war and conflict throughout the last century. This will lead into each student completing their own personal inquiry into an aspect of war they are interested in discovering more about. There are several strong individuals from war time who portrayed essential values of quality leadership.
While studying these leaders we will endeavour to make connections with how we can act in order to be an inspiration to others at Muritai School. This of course ties in nicely with us choosing our school leaders for 2014. Students will be asked to apply in writing for these positions in the first couple of weeks of school. This unit is also set up to create a positive environment where children understand, appreciate and support one another.

  Literacy:
  The focus for Term 1 is looking at report writing and biographies. As always, we try to integrate our literacy programme with our integrated studies. These two topics fit nicely into learning about the past and individuals who made a difference. We will also be studying a variety of novels throughout the year, either in small groups or as a whole class.

  Maths: 
We will continue to cross group for maths throughout the three classes based on ability. This will commence in the middle of the term once testing is done and the swimming programme finishes. We start the year looking at Number, looking at place value and addition and subtraction then move into Measurement.

Muritai School is continuing to use online maths maintenance programme www.mathletics.co.nz. This will be used in class but predominantly used for homework and will support the work being done at school. We found this programme extremely worthwhile last year. Many students achieved excellent results from the regular maintenance and it is a great way for parents to see what learning is happening in the classroom.

  Swimming. 
Swimming is well underway. For the first 2 weeks the scheduled times are as follows:

 Monday: Room 23 & 22
 Tuesday: Room 24 & 23
 Thursday: Room 22 & 24
Friday: All classes

 Weeks 3 & 4 all classes will be swimming everyday except Wednesday. These sessions will be run by Hutt City swimming instructors. Our annual swimming sports are scheduled for 13th March at Huia Pool. We would love to see you all there to cheer on your child!

  Art and Sports Rotations: Our Sports rotation will continue weekly on Wednesday afternoons starting in week 2. We also plan on running a ‘Sparks’ rotation on Thursday afternoons for 8 weeks in every term. This term we have scheduled it to start in week 2. During this programme every student will have an opportunity to take part in additional Sport, Visual Art, Science and Dance/Drama lessons.
Things to note:

 • Technicraft: This programme starts on the 12th of February. This year we have 6 groups. 3 groups will travel to Wainuiomata Intermediate by bus for either Food, Fabric or Wood Technology. The 3 groups remaining at school will either be taking part in music with Ruth Hooke or Computer Coding with Melissa Coton or Japanese with Anand Ranchod.

 • Cell Phones: We understand students may require the use of cell phones before or after school, so they are permitted at school, but they are not to be used during school time. If your child needs to contact you throughout the school day they must use the school phones and ask permission from one of our staff members first. If students bring their valuables to school they are responsible for them. Our advice is to keep them at home.

 • Parent Interviews: These are scheduled for Tuesday 11th February. This is an opportunity for you to come and share information about your child with us. We look forward to meeting with you all. 

* Information Evening: A reminder that you are welcome to join us in Room 21 on Wednesday 19th February at 6pm. The purpose of this meeting is to give you a better idea of ‘how we roll’ in the Senior School as there are a few differences from the main school. I’m envisioning that the meeting should take no longer than 40 minutes.

 • Blogs: As always, we will continue to share our learning with you using the blogging platform. You are welcome to visit the class blogs anytime and we would love to hear your feedback.
 Room 21: www.misscoton.blogspot.co.nz
 Room 22: www.muritaiallen.blogspot.co.nz
 Room 23: www.room23muritaischool.blogspot.co.nz/

 • Portfolios/Learning Journeys This year we are making a few changes to the way we share your child’s work with you. Your child will have two platforms for collecting/sharing their work. Firstly, an online folder that can be shared with you which will contain all completed work they have created electronically. This folder may also contain images of your child throughout their year at school. Secondly, each child will have a clearfile presentation folder which will contain any work that has not been completed electronically. This may be copies of assessments, art, handwritten stories.

 If you need to contact your child’s classroom teacher please feel free to drop by the classroom before or after school. The easiest way to touch base with us is email:
 Melissa: coton@muritai.school.nz
Lisa: allen@muritai.school.nz
Anand: ranchod@muritai.school.nz
Stu: devenport@muritai.school.nz

 Thank you again for your support

Stu Devenport
Associate Principal