Issue No 6, 30th June 2021 Member of Parliament Visits Owairoa

We proudly welcomed local MP Simeon Brown to Owairoa Primary School a few weeks ago, to discuss some current issues affecting the educational space in at the present time.

Our Choir were excited for the opportunity to perform two songs for him during his visit, which they will sing at their upcoming choir festival next month.

Simeon commented…

Recently I visited Owairoa Primary School to hear how the year is going and to discuss issues facing the education sector. I am always impressed when visiting schools in , seeing the dedication of teachers, staff and leaders such as Owairoa Primary School Principal, Alan McIntyre.

We are very fortunate to have such great schools in , which is one of the reasons so many families choose to call East Auckland home.

During my visit to Owairoa Primary School we discussed a range of issues currently facing the education sector, including the need for additional support for students with special needs. As MP for Pakuranga it is important to hear what the issues are facing our local schools – so that I can advocate for these issues to ensure our schools have the resources they need.

I wish everyone at Owairoa Primary School all the best for the remainder of 2021. Thank you again for the opportunity to visit.

Simeon Brown MP for Pakuranga

to our Owairoa “family”

• Lucy McIntosh • Urwah Haider • Aarohn Dhayaharan • Connor Grant • Jayden Liu • Michael Underhill • Claire Cleaver • Harley Clubley • Hugh Berrington • Naysa Solanki • Jacob Frigault Feeding the Community Our Pataka Kai monitors understand the importance in supporting our community. Ten keen Year 6 students have been selected to be Pataka Kai monitors. They have designed and created their own badges to recognise their commitment and responsibility to our school. These students have been rostered on to complete their duties once a week. This term, the monitors have been busy collecting the fruit harvested by the Kaitiaki group. The excess produce is placed in the Pataki Kai.

Their duties include:

• check items donated is within its expiry date • food packaging is not opened or damaged • to ensure food that has passed its ‘use-by’ date is thrown away • to clean and tidy up the pantry store and the surrounding area • daily update of the Pataka Kai register

Our Pataka Kai is located on Nelson Street, outside the school carpark.

We accept the following donations of:

• fresh fruit and vegetables – they must be mould free • tinned and dried goods – all items must be unopened • breads, sandwiches, biscuits, eggs and baked goods – this food can only be accepted if it is less than two days old and is labelled with the date and time it was made • long life milk • toiletry items • baby powders and packaged foods Please support our community by donating and making our Pataka Kai a huge success. Netball Fun Day

The Year Five and Six students attended the Netball Fun Day at Lloyd Elsmore Netball Association on Tuesday 1st June, on a glorious sunny day!

The four teams played a total of six twenty-minute games against players of other schools. The players all experienced the different positions of Future Ferns netball and applied their lunchtime training sessions.

We won some, we lost some but we had so much fun attacking and defending. The students were exhausted by the end of the day, but still managed to play their sixth game with 100% enthusiasm!

Special thanks to Miss Kennard and Mr Basson for coaching our Netball Teams, and to Mr Shaun Davidson, Mrs Kelly Exeter and Mrs Sharleen Brown for supporting us on the day. Caitlin Rice – Tokomaru House Leader

My name is Caitlin and I am 10 years old. I have a passion for dance and learn jazz and contemporary. Over winter I play football for Fencibles, my preferred position is defence. In my spare time I love to read books, listen to music and go shopping.

I love Owairoa Primary School and the opportunities to develop leadership skills, the great playground facilities and our weekly musical theatre lessons. I also love the school library filled with new and exciting books, the fun-filled annual School Gala and the chance to learn how to sail in Year 5 and 6.

There are so many positive opportunities offered to us - we get to develop our leadership skills through Young Leaders Day, learning to sail, Tip Top Fun Day, the Hilton Cup interclass netball competition, Rave Readers, Dance Festival and Kaitiaki including trees for survival.

One of my favourite schooling memories was the Pirate Book Week. Our school attempted a Guinness World Record for the most pirates having a sword fight. Each class had to design and make a 3D Pirate Ship which we sailed onto the field armed with our foam swords. The rest of the week saw us dressed as pirates, complete pirate related activities and bouncing on a pirate bouncy castle.

I am grateful for the teachers we have at Owairoa Primary School because they make learning fun and enjoyable, they are kind and caring and they spend a lot of their time preparing our work. My advice for other students at Owairoa Primary School is to have fun, to try new things and to make the most of the opportunities offered.

Hamish Ward – House Leader

My name is Hamish and I am in Room 26. I am 10 years old and have a brother and sister. I enjoy rock climbing. I also like basketball and tramping.

At Owairoa, I really like all the basketball hoops and our library. I also like the playgrounds and the swimming pool.

We have a lot of opportunities while we learn here, including Rave Readers, House Leaders, Kaitiaki and sports events. Rave readers is really cool and you get introduced to some awesome books. House Leader gives you opportunities to speak in front of the public and Kaitiaki gives you a chance to protect the environment. Getting to do a lot of sports is also fun.

My favourite memory so far is playing fun games on the astroturf, writing in class and all the swimming events. We have very nice grounds and classrooms here and the Teachers at Owairoa are great. I am proud to be a House Leader because I get to earn some house points for my house.

My advice for other Owairoa students studying at our school is to respect the environment and to always have good behaviour. Little Free Library Our learners and whanau are lucky enough to have access to books from our three ‘Little Free Libraries’ around the school. This excellent initiative has been set up to ensure that our learners are able to enjoy books at their level whenever they wish. The libraries are located around the school with each one being aimed at the different areas of the school – Junior (Years 0 – 2), Middle (Years 3 – 4) and Senior (Years 5 – 6) however, the learners are more than welcome to enjoy the books from any of the libraries.

Our Owairoa family can borrow the books, take them home to read and share and then return them to the Little Free Library when they have finished with the book. The learners are also able to enjoy them at lunchtimes where we often see our older students reading to our younger students.

Happy reading! SweetOur recent Chocolate Fundraiser Success was a resounding success. A total of 318 cartons of chocolates were sold by our eager student salespeople and money raised for the school totalled $8624.00

In addition to these sales, we were so grateful to receive an additional $4050.00 donation from families who chose to make a donation rather than sell the chocolates, giving a total promotion figure of $12,674.00

Congratulations to the top sales people;

1st place Sophia Woskett 13 Cartons 2nd place Malachai Brown 7 Cartons Shacago Kiwara 7 Cartons 3rd place Tangulu Family 5 Cartons 4th place Ema Costa 4 Cartons

Top sales person Sophia Woskett Twisting the Night Away!

Disco fever took over the school on Friday 11 June, with an impressive turnout of 621 students across our 3 Discos. The black and white theme looked very effective and some students got incredibly creative with their wardrobe and hair styles – it was amazing to see.

Neons lit the room and squeals of delight pierced the ears of all in the hall (and quite possibly the Howick ward) as the lights were dimmed and the music turned up.

The prepaid online ordering of tickets was well received with the vast majority parents obtaining their tickets through the Kindo App. It is because of this success, Kindo will become the preferred method of payment in the future.

To all the Parents who bought tickets, to the Parents who gave up their time to help, before, during and after the disco with set up, selling goods and cleaning up, and to the teachers who spent Friday night boogieing with the best of them, thank you! If it had not been for you and all your help and support our Disco fundraiser would not have been the success it was – so a massive THANK YOU to you all from the Owairoa PTA. Seeds in Space!

JAXA, the organisation representing the Japanese Space Agency have been growing seeds on the International Space Station to determine how the effects of gravity affect plant growth.

To help with their research, Owairoa Primary School was gifted 100 basil seeds, identical to those being grown in space. 15-20 of these seeds have been distributed across all year groups. The planting began on June 1st with the experiment concluding on June 30th.

To make the experiment a fair test, the conditions aim to be the same as those in the space station. Seeds will have been growing for the same duration of time, inside mini greenhouses where the conditions are moist and warm. Pictures have been taken daily to monitor the progress of the seeds’ growth.

At the conclusion of June, the results will be submitted and compared to the basil plants grown in space. We’re excited and grateful to have this opportunity to contribute to the scientific community.

Publishing our Annual Report Online

You are welcome to view our latest Annual Report for the 2020 academic year, which has been uploaded to our school website www.owairoa.school.nz/our-school/annual-report/

Our Annual Report contains the audited annual financial statements for the year. It shows how our Board of Trustees has applied the financial resources of our school, to achieve the goals set out in our Annual Charter. Boards of Trustees are required to make their Annual Reports available to the public, on an internet site maintained by or on behalf of the Board. This ensures parents and the wider community can access information about school achievements and how the Board have managed school finances. Bucklands Beach Intermediate

BBI will be taking Year 7, 2022 enrolments online this year. Please follow the details on the school web site www.bbi.school.nz The online enrolment form will ‘go live’ from Monday 2 August 2021 for both in zone and out of zone students. All enrolment forms will be submitted directly to their student management system through the web site link. Please provide your end of year 2020 school report, if you have not yet received your mid year reports.

The enrolment zone and in zone street names are shown on their website in the Enrolment section.

Enrolment Dates

Enrolments open online Monday 2 August 2021 Due date for in zone applications Wednesday 1 September 2021. Closing date for out of zone applications Wednesday 1 September 2021. Ballot date for out of zone enrolments Wednesday 8 September 2021. Parents will be notified by email of the ballot results by Friday 10 September 2021.

New Parents’ Evening

A meeting for parents of 2022 students will be held in the BBI delete space hall commencing at 7.00 pm on Wednesday 17 November 2021. Here they will outline the school’s goals and objectives and clarify issues related both to programme and policy. They will be speaking about the Digital Device Policy and any questions regarding this.

BBI encourage all parents to attend even if you have had other children pass through their school.

Positive Puberty Plus Programme

During Term 2 our Senior school students participated in a Positive Puberty programme with Educators from Nest Consulting. Parents were invited to an information evening where they were given a comprehensive overview of topics covered throughout the day. We appreciated the positive reviews we received about such an important topic for our learners.

The programme was suitable for the age of our learners in Year 5 and 6 and included discussions on health and well- being. The main topics included information about how bodies and emotions change, the importance of exercise and nutrition, sleep, and digital awareness. The educators were engaging and made the children feel at ease giving some of them the confidence to ask questions when the opportunity arose. The attitude and maturity level of our students was impressive, and they happily contributed through the day.

Classroom Teachers will be continuing a similar theme for the rest of term by including learning about friendships and self-esteem. Ohuiarangi Pigeon Mountain Tree Planting Day

On Friday 18th June 28 very excited Year 5 & 6 Kaitiaki from Owairoa joined forces with students from Ormiston Primary, Willowbank, Point View and Sunnyhills School to plant native seedlings in a wetland area of the Ohuiarangi Reserve.

The weather leading up to the planting morning was rather wet but luckily the sun came out and we enjoyed perfect planting conditions. On the plus side, the soil was soft and easy to dig, however we did have some very boggy patches to plant in and had to retrieve the occasional student from some glorious mud pools!

Much fun was had by all and by the end of the morning the area had been totally transformed from a bare paddock to a sea of healthy-looking plants, which will not only beautify the wetland area but also improve it as a habitat for our native plants and animals.

After all the hard work we were treated to a sausage sizzle before making our way back to school. We were entertained by a very enthusiastic ‘Bus choir’, ably led by some of our Kapa Haka and Choir singers.

A huge thank you to Mrs Parkes for leading the day, to our parent helpers Mrs Matulis, Mrs du Pisanie, Mrs Barrett and Mr Moody and also to Mr and Mrs Small and Mr McCallum for generously giving up their time to accompany us on the trip. Thanks also to Mrs Maas for her organisation Persuasive Writing

Dear Animates,

It goes without saying, that you guys have been working so hard to provide Aotearoa with happy pets since 1995. Surely you want to keep the momentum going, right? Without a doubt you want to keep your customers happy. This can be easily done by giving me a Border Collie puppy. It’s proven that when people receive a puppy their happiness blasts up by 66%! You can’t tell me seeing people is horrible. Right now my parents are not very happy as there is no one to energize them. They really want a puppy to cuddle, take to the beach and sleep with. Our whippet passed away a couple of months ago and since then they aren’t as happy as they used to be and I think a puppy would be the perfect gift for them and me and my sister. Just imagine seeing a happy family walking out the doors with their new best friend.

Yours Sincerely, Sam De Brito Vale - Year 6

Dear Mum,

You are an outstanding mum and a blessing to the entire family. But you are even more special than you think, you are the best mum in the world. You have worked hard to turn this household into a loving caring environment and you have succeeded. You dedicated your life to raise us well and I thank you for that. I am writing to you today to put a stop to all the whining and begging for one big thing… A dog. I know you hate us asking you to buy something for us but did you know that it is proven that kids that have a dog watch 57% less television than kids that don’t have a dog? Surely you would want us to spend less time in front of a screen. Have you ever considered if you get a small enough dog you wouldn’t have to walk it because it would just walk around the house? I would clean up after it and help train it. Buy us a dog and it would pull the family together instead of us playing all alone. Do you really want bored, annoying kids walking around the house or would you rather have healthy, energetic kids playing and laughing outside? All of the kids would be thankful and delighted. Say goodbye to bored, annoying kids, but say hello to fit, energised kids. You are always saying to go for walks with Dad, and getting a dog will encourage all of us to go for walks because I love going for walks with dogs so I would always go.

Love Lucy Burgess - Year 5 On hot sweaty days… Remembering Winter my feet remember the warmth of my fur boots, my legs remember warm pants wrapped around them, my body remembers the warmth of the second blanket on my bed, my arms remember stretching down to pickup sticks and light fires on camping days, my hands remember picking up dry twigs to make huts on concrete paving near the parkway, my face remembers the cold pinching as I run through alleyways of wide streets, my mind remembers that winter will be back soon

Pihu Upadhyay, Year 4

On hot, summer days… my feet remember the cold freezing ice on the ground, my legs remember sliding, on my super-fast sledge down slippery hills, my body remembers the cold, frosty breeze that makes me shiver, my arms remember a warm cosy jacket, my hands remember warm gloves I wear on cold days, my face remembers snow as it falls from the clouds, my mind remembers that winter will be back again very soon

Alexander Ross, Year 4

July 5th Junior Celebration of Learning 9.00 am 6th Years 4~6 Cross Country 9th Last day of Term Two 26th Start of Term Three 27th Board of Trustees Meeting 7.00 pm August 3rd PTA Meeting 7.30 pm

With kind regards from your “family” Alan McIntyre PRINCIPAL BEFORE SCHOOL CARE: 7.00AM - 8.30AM AFTER SCHOOL CARE: 3.00PM - 6.00PM SCHOOL HOLIDAYS: 7.30AM - 6.00PM ENROL VIA OUR WEBSITE OR POP INTO THE PROGRAMME, IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUERIES CALL OUR OFFICE: 09 530 9020 OR THE PROGRAMME: 021 837 051

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Call Now 274 7744 /thegateauhouse

www.gateauhouse.co.nz

HOWICK & ST HELIERS ACADEMY OF JUDO TAC SCPL CTL A CC T J

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Specialist Orthodontics for Children and Adults Contact Lester Harris 4 Bleakhouse Rd, Howick, Auckland 2014 021583654 W: www.derekbarwoodorthodontist.co.nz [email protected] P: (09) 535 4311 | E: [email protected] www.howickjudo.com

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