Coroglen School: Newsletter, Term 1, Week 3

Hello and Kia ora tatou.

Community BBQ

It was nice to catch up with some of the old families of the school as well as some of the new ones. The school put some sausages on the BBQ and families kindly brought along some salads and other nibbles. Great to see you all.

New Timetable

We are still tweaking our new time table however all the children seem to be coping well with moving through the different rooms and getting used to working in the different spaces with different teachers.

We did find on Friday that going back to our original timetable works better when the Y7&8s go to manual. Fridays is a 10.30am morning tea and a 12.30-1.30pm lunch hour.

Funding Application for New Technology

We have submitted an application for funding for new technology in our school. This will include chrome books, ipads, flat screen TV etc. They will be used by the children throughout the school if we are successful. We will keep you updated with the progress.

Country Swimming Sports Y4-Y8

This year the Country School Swimming will be held next Wednesday 22^nd February commencing at 10am. If you are taking your child directly to MBAS please let us know prior to the day so we can adjust our transport schedule.

It is advisable for children to bring two towels as these doe get very wet as well as a hat, sunscreen, water bottle and a packed lunch. We will also be erecting a gazebo for shade. This is the area children need to be in whenever they are not in the pool.

Further information will come home for parents who are assisting with supervision. If you can provide transport and supervision, please fill out and return the slip at the end of the newsletter.

Thames Valley Sports Events

Whenuakite, Coroglen, MBAS and Te Rerenga Schools belong to the Peninsula Central Sports cluster. We choose children from our schools to take part in Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics events. Increasingly our cluster has found it extremely difficult to select and organise teams for Swimming and Athletics.

This year the Country School Swimming will be run following the TV format but we will not be using the day to select possible entries for Thames Valley.

Next year we will be able to schedule our Country Swimming later in the term when we have had ample time to enjoy lots of quality swimming coaching and aquatic experiences.

If there are any children who see value in entering the TV Competition they will be able to do what the Thames Clusters are doing— sending their best swimming club times to a Google Docs site and going in the ‘draw’ for team selection from there.

If children do not have swimming club times but want to try out for the TV team, they will need to let Whaea Shelley know what events they are keen on and we will take their times next week.

Their parents will need to be committed to help with transport and management on the TV Swimming day.

Year 7&8s will still be able to enter the Waikato Full Primary swimming and athletics if they meet the event standards. These events are always later in the terms and usually don’t put too much pressure on school programmes.

Assistance in the Waiwawa room

We are looking for parents to help in the Waiwawa room between 9am and 11am with the Y1 & Y2 children. If you are able to, please talk to Jenny Upsall and she will explain what is needed to assist with reading and writing.

Electrical Appliance Check

The B-Safe technician has been through the school and passed all our electrical appliances as being deemed safe for another year. Part of his procedure is to check that all our electrical points are being earthed properly and all the cords are not shorting out.

Friday Assembly Awards

Myah, Samantha, Isobel and Hayley received awards for the way they worked on their ultimate swimming pool complexes; Bodhi and Marama for their effort and attitude in reading and Dekota for good listening and co-operation. Congratulations to you all.

Busy Fun Days

Isobel and Samantha's pool complex.

Myah’s pirate ship themed complex.

The Year 5-8 group produced these projects and explored how they can best express their ideas, how well they work together and how they are able to problem solve.

The whole school has also been working on Geometry in Maths.

Ashlee, Dakota, Owen and Slade, and Bear and Luciano are showing they can name and sort shapes

We enjoyed making healthy smoothies today – “Berrylicious!” said Luciano.

And it was great to see Miho back sharing more of the Japanese language and culture with our Y5-Y8 students.

And of course everyone has been enjoying the pool.

Murphy Buses

Last Friday all schools serviced by Murphy Buses in our region received a letter informing us that Murphy Buses management have decided that they will no longer let new passengers, from outside our school zone, travel on the bus. (These passengers are called ineligible passengers and either live outside a school zone or too close to a school).

Children travelling from Whitianga who are already paying $100 per term, per child can continue travelling but only as long as there is space on the current bus.

Children who are travelling daily but have not yet received an invoice from Murphy Buses will receive an invoice soon and will be able to continue travelling on the bus.

Murphy Buses have made a company-wide decision not to carry any new ineligible students. Individual cases will be considered and some children may be allowed to travel under certain circumstances.

Unfortunately new travellers also include brothers and sisters of children already enrolled at Coroglen School. The letter also says that only eligible passengers can use the bus.

We have enquired to see if children can still occasionally go to a friend’s place and have been told this is ok. Please to not take this privilege for granted by regularly travelling. This should be occasional travel only when other options are not available or too difficult to organise.

All of the schools in the Mercury Bay area have families who for some reason, choose to by-pass their local school and send their children to another school. None of the schools put obstacles in the way of these families.

We want children and families to be at the school that best suits their needs. From now on parents will need to contact Matt Juby at Murphy Buses (868 6265) and request that he consider their circumstances. He will then grant an exemption if there is space on the bus or he will decline the request.

Murphy Buses is a private company and has every right to run its operations how it wishes. The company also has to operate according to MOE policy and the MOE is always trying to run the buses in the leanest and most efficient way it can. Thankfully the Bus Companies are able to use some discretion to soften the effects of MOE guidelines. In our case this means exemptions may be available.

Juicies

Juicies are available from the school for $1. All money made from the juices will be put towards school camp for both classes.

Thanks to Kale for donating some spare clothes for emergencies!

School Logo

Hazel has been drafting an updated version of our school logo. Any feedback would be appreciated.

2017 DATES TO REMEMBER

Wed 22 Feb	Country Swimming Sports At MBAS
Tue 7 March	Life Education Trust visit
Wed 15 March	Thames Valley Swimming
Fri 31^st March	Free ear clinic - Whitianga
Thur 13 April 2017	End of Term 1