Roscommon School Whakapono ki a koe ~ Believe in yourself NEWSLETTER 3 July 2017 Week 10, Term 2

2017 Annual Theme I wander/ wonder about our world...

Kia ora, Talofa, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Namaste, Bula vinaka, Fakalofa lahi atu, G’day, and Greetings to all our families.

The end of the term is upon us. We are all feeling of school, that we can forget to keep you posted ready for a holiday. Teachers have been busy about what our core school business is all about: summing up the first half of the year writing their LEARNING. Mid Year Reports, and students have been pre- paring for our Student Learning/Led Conferenc- es (SLC’s) next week. We look forward to shar- ing some updates here in our newsletter and Some of our classes celebrated the beginning of also when we see you this week at our SLC’s. Matariki this week. The Juniors will be using this op- portunity to build on their unit around Planet Earth and Beyond (learning about the , moon, night JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER... and day, etc). Others also visited the Stardome and FoNP attended a Matariki celebration per- Tomorrow Tuesday 4th July formance at Aotea on Friday. We thought we’d School will finish early share some information about Matariki and also at 12.30pm some of the work from our Juniors. For Student Learning/ Led Conferences Matariki (the ) Friday 7th July School will finish early at 2pm Last day of Term 2

Matariki is the Maori name for the cluster of KEEPING UP stars known as the Pleiades. When it rises in the north-eastern skies in late May or early June, it sig- WITH THE CURRICULUM nals to Maori that the will begin. In one A regular feature in our newsletters will be Curric- tradition, Matariki is the mother surrounded by her ulum or learning updates for parents/ whanau. six daughters, Tupu-a-nuku, Tupu-a-rangi, Waiti, Sometimes we get so caught up in the busy-ness Waita, Waipuna-a-rangi and Ururangi. For many , 31 December means Ancient Maori kite flying traditions have a highly parties and celebrations to welcome the New symbolic connection to Matariki – the two were Year. These celebrations are an important way of historically inseparable. Kites were seen as con- marking the passage of time as well as heralding nectors between the heavens and earth. new beginnings.

Depending on your religion or ethnicity, New Year can come at different times of the year and be celebrated in many ways. For example, there is the or Spring Festival, the Muslim of Muharram, and , one of the most important religious holidays in the Jewish calendar. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means the ‘head of the year’.

Maori also have their own New Year, which is marked by the rise of Matariki (the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster or The Sev- en Sisters) and the sighting of the next new moon. Matariki Star Art Like Chinese New Year (and the Christian festival by Room 22 of Easter), its exact timing varies from year to year, but it usually occurs during the month of June. Traditionally, Matariki was used to determine the coming season’s crop. A warmer season, and therefore a more productive crop yield, was indi- cated by how bright the stars were.

Matariki provides an ideal opportunity to explore the ways that people pass on and sustain aspects of their culture and heritage. The beginning of the 21st century has seen a revival in Matariki celebra- tions. It is becoming an increasingly important part of the New Zealand calendar. Some have com- pared Matariki to the American holiday of Thanks- giving or Halloween. Matariki this year began on June 24. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/classroom/matariki-mao- ri-new-year

MATARIKI WORK DONE BY JUNIOR SYNDICATE STUDENTS Matariki Kites by Room 20

STUDENT LEARNING/LED CONFERENCES (SLC’S) We are looking forward to our students sharing their progress with whanau at this weeks Student Learning/ Led Conferences. Most of the Mid Year Reports were sent home last Friday. If not, you should receive your child’s report today, in readiness for the SLC’s. The Student Learning/ WINTER BOOST PROGRAMME Led Conferences will be an opportunity for you to touch base from our previous Student Learning Conferences, where you will have discussed your child’s learning goals. This will also be a time to re- flect on their progress and to set any further goals for the remainder of the year.

Every Tuesday and Thursday for the past couple of weeks, Roscommon students and staff have been enjoying the hot lunches provided by our Winter Boost Programme providers. We’ve been treated to pasta dishes, casseroles, and soups, all with a bread roll. All we can say is “Yum!” Thank you to Ms Lunjevich and team for ensuring this has been an ongoing provision for our kids. We’ve added the word ‘Led’ to the Student Learn- ing/Led Conferences. This is because some of our teachers and their students have worked on the FAGASA SAMOAN LANGUAGE students themselves ‘leading’ these learning con- versations. Eventually we anticipate that our con- SPEECH COMPETITIONS ferences will be truly ‘student led’, and a reflection of what we are trying to do to promote student’s taking increasing responsibility for their learning decisions and outcomes. STAFF CHANGES Last week, we farewelled Whaea Desiree Donald- son, our previous SWIS (Social Worker in School). Whaea Desiree went on maternity leave. When she returned earlier this term, she was reassigned to another school within our Manurewa area. We thanked her for her awesome work she carried out with our tamariki and their whanau. Whaea A couple of weeks ago some of our students from Desiree has also won a practice leader role within FoNP attended the FAGASA Samoan Language the organisation, so we may still well see her as she Speech Competitions held at Sutton Park and provides leadership for the SWIS team. Thank you Ferguson Intermediate. The students found this to again Whaea Desiree for all you did for our school. be a very valuable experience, and although we didn’t place this time around, we learned what we At the end of this week we will also be saying could improve on for next time. Well done to all goodbye to Ms Tali Mamea. Ms Tali came to us as our FoNP students who participated in this event. a beginning teacher, having trained at Auckland University as an adult student. Ms Tali proved to be a great hit with her students and colleagues, often ROSCOMMON’S GOT TALENT Roscommon’s Got Talent will now be at the end creating lots of laughter with her sense of humour. of next term, Term 3. Mrs Patea will send home a Ms Tali was also an enthusiastic promoter of reading, notice about this, this week. We will be encourag- so it was fitting that she spent her last terms at our ing students to consider and then practice their school having the library as a temporary classroom items ready for auditions sometime in the first half while we await the refurbishment of that block. Ms of next term. Last year we really enjoyed the vari- Tali is going to be missed dearly by FoNP and many ety of items and we are hoping to see the same others around the school. We wish her well as she and more this year. We especially hope that we flies off to Aussie and takes care of her family. have a few more students in the instrumental cate- gory…so if your child plays an instrument, or if they We have advertised for another teacher for FoNP. can sing or dance, solo and/or in a group, then Mr Terry Televave will now teach our Year 6 and 7 please encourage them to have a go next term. students in FoNP, taking over Ms Tali’s class and the temporary library classroom. Miss Gillian Kiripati will be taking the remainder of Mr Televave’s Year 5’s. TERM 2 HOUSES EVENT COMMUNITY NOTICES This week we will be having our Houses Event. This term it’s ball games. All age groups will have their own way of running these events, with the playoffs on Thursday. We are encouraging our kids to wear their house colours this coming Thursday, which are:

Hauraki- Yellow Join our exciting School Holiday Programme com- Kaipara- Green ing up during the July School Holidays between 10- Manukau- Blue 21 July! There will be lots of fun activities and trips Waitemata- Pink (including going to the MOVIES and XTREME EN- TERTAINMENT) based from the Roscommon School PARENT/ TEACHER APP Hall from 8am-6pm daily. If you are working (full time, part time, shift work, studying, receiving CDA or sickness benefit), you may qualify for a Work & Income NZ Oscar Subsidy and your child /children can potentially come for FREE (Conditions apply).

To find out more, please ring 022 56 75437 or Rush de Silva on 0800 386 543, (09) 392-7874 or email- [email protected] or visit us in the Skids room between 3.00-6.15pm on school days

Last thoughts Lastare quotes Thoughts that relate to our Annual Theme, leaving you with something to think about, or be inspired by...