From the Principal's desk …
Another great school event with the recent Triathlon! The students gave 100%...and it's always heartwarming to see the support of parents/whaanau. It means a lot to the children.
Interviews
Thank-you to those of you who took time to meet with your child's teacher last week. If you missed this opportunity, please know you can contact the teachers to make an appointment at another time that's mutually convenient.
Kapahaka for Boys
We are still keen to locate a male who might be interested in supporting Kapahaka for the boys. (Our girls' group is going well.) The boys would also be supported by our Cultural Leader and teacher, Kayleigh Albert. If you, or anyone you know, could be interested please reach out to us. We have flexibility about when practices would be.
Lunchtime Volunteers
We are able to offer several lunchtime clubs thanks to the current generosity of staff, some of whom are working voluntarily at that time. Going into next term we would also love to have someone from the community run an organised sports game, or perhaps offer a 30-40 minute hands on activity like woodwork. Even if you can only offer it for a limited period, eg pre-calving, please let us know. The children really benefit from having a variety of activities on offer. (Note that all Volunteers working with children at school or assiting with out-of-school events are required to be Police Vetted. We will be updating our Police Vetting for all volunteers early in Term 2.)
ERO
The Education Review Office will be back in our school in the coming weeks, after the interruption of the process last year. We will keep you informed about any opportunities for parents/whaanau to meet with the reviewers and, of course, the ultimate outcome of their involvement with our school, staff, BOT and community.
Review of Devices/Phone Rules
Due to changes initiated by the new Coalition Government, all schools are required to have rules in place for phone use by the start of Term 2, ie the 29th of April. As part of this our BYOD Policy (Bring Your own Device) is being reviewed. In the next week or so you will be sent a draft copy of the revised policy and we would appreciate any feedback you'd like to offer.
Our Heart goes out to Tyler
Tyler is one of our Year 4 students who has experienced considerable trauma over the past few days. He had an unexpected medical event that required brain surgery. Thankfully, he came out of it well but his road to recovery is likely to be slow. Tyler's Dad is happy for me to share this with you. 
Tyler is already missing school and his friends. Visitors at Waikato Hospital will be welcome, subject to medical approval. Tyler's health and wellbeing will be the primary consideration on any given day. Please check with Tyler's Dad before visiting.
All of us, staff, students and community send you much heart, Tyler, and also to your Dad, Mum and sister. We look forward to when you're able to be back at school again, fit and strong. 

Ngā mihi nui,
Phillippa

Important reminders to all parents;-
SCHOOL HOURS - 9am - 3pm Mon - Firday
Please have your child/ren at school no later than 8.50am daily so that all bags, bookbags etc are sorted before the first bell at 9am.
LATE STUDENTS - If you child is arriving at school after the first bell at 9am please go straight to the school office with your child to sign them in on the electronic device located at the school office. Your child will them be given a late pass.
ABSENT STUDENTS - If your child is not going to be at school due to illness, appointments etc please notify the school office before 9am via School Loop App, Phone Call 07 873 2887 follow the voice prompts.
BUS - If your child is a regular bus pupil but will not be on the bus due to parent picking them up etc please ring the school on 07 873 2887 follow the voice prompts and leave a bus message.  If your child has a regular swimming, dance, sport lesson then please let the office know so that it can be recorded for the term. 
MONEY - Our school is now running a cashless system so please make ALL payments via Direct Credit.
Ref - Student Name    Particulars - What it is for ie Lunch, Uniform, Sport, RDA etc
BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS
ASB - Te Awamutu
Maihiihi School
12-3134-0049006-00

What a fantastic and busy start to the year we have had. It is hard to believe we only have one week left of the term. We have had another few busy weeks. We have continued to work on our market day products. For this we have melted beads in metal rings to create our sun-catchers. The students thought carefully about which coloured beads to select and place in the rings to create a fantastic effect. Last week we begun to make our coasters using melting beads. This was a challenging task for the students and required a lot of resilience and patience. We can't wait for you to all see what we have made at our school market day next Wednesday the 10th of April.

Over the last few weeks we have been learning about how to say and write a sentence that makes sense. We have learnt that our sentence needs to have a who and a do. We made some popcorn which was very exciting. This was a great way to develop the students vocabulary for their writing.

A couple of weeks ago we had our annual school triathlon. For most of room 1 this was their very first triathlon. I am so proud of their fantastic effort. It was great to see everyone giving it their best and not giving up. 

Last week as a part of our science learning we explored liquids and solids and how we can add ingredients to them to change their state. As a part of this process we made cheese. This was very exciting and the students had lots of fun touching the cheese.

As always feel free to contact me through email or class dojo. 
Charlotte Ferguson
cferguson@maihiihi.school.nz

Well here we are at the end of Term 1. The last 10 weeks have really flown by and we have had so many great learning experiences in and out of the classroom. Last week we began making our group projects in preparation for Market Day on Wednesday 10th April. The mahi that has gone into all of these items has been outstanding, and they should all be very proud of the products they have made to sell. 

Thank you to all parent/grandparent helpers who have given their time to helping our ākonga for their Market Day projects. We really appreicate your help!

Last week we made an Easter Art creation. Using shaving foam, paint and a toothpick we created a swirly pattern and pressed our card down onto the pattern. We had to make sure we completely covered the card in order for it to work. Once we lifted the card, we used a ruler to scrape off all of the extra foam. Our Easter Egg designs will be coming home soon!

 

2 weeks ago Tango joined our Maihiihi kura whānau. Tango is here to support children emotionally and offer comfort to those who may be needing it. This is also an opportunity for our students to show care, kindness and respect for an animal, two of our core school values. He has already made a great impression on everyone at school with his friendly and bubbly personality! 

Our Wheels Day and Triathlon were both fantastic days for our kura. It was great to see our older students helping out our younger tamariki. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa!

I wish you all a long and restful school holidays and I look forward to see you all back for Term 2!

kalbert@maihiihi.school.nz

Ngā mihi nui.
Kayleigh Albert 

Term 1 has flown by, with only one week left before the school holidays start. The last few weeks have be very busy as we get ready for our Market Day. The tamariki have been working hard on the products they will be selling and it has been exciting to see how well they have done. Their enthusiasm for this project has been great. We can't wait for Market Day next week (Wed 10th April 11:00am - 2:00pm) and look forward to seeing you all buying some very special things.
In Maths this term we have been looking at Measurement. We have measured things, weighed things, worked on telling the time, counted money and learnt to give the correct change, and talked about days, weeks, months and years. We had a fun lesson outside where we measured in litres and millilitres and trying to estimate how many cups of water would fill different containers.
Well done to all the tamariki who participated in the school Triathlon. It was so great to see how each child tried so hard and were so proud of themselves for completing the event. Well done to Tyler, Cove, Beau, Olivia, Heidi, Elisabeth and Lucy, who all placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in their age group event.
I hope you all have a lovely school holiday. See you in Term 2.
Roz Crotty
rcrotty@maihiihi.school.nz

 

 Roz Crotty
 rcrotty@maihiihi.school.nz 

Wow! Only 1 week left to go! We have been working hard towards our market Day. Thanks to Carey, Kayla, Alice, Karyn, Claire and Michelle for being able to give up your valuable time to help with some of our Market Day - we really appreciate it! We are very excited to share with everyone what we have been working hard on. Don't forget to come check out our stalls next Wednesday 10th April.

In writing, we have been focusing on using specific words and sentences to create a certain mood in our writing. We have been focused on writing using our five senses - hear, see, smell, feel and taste. Check out some of our work so far:

Well done to all our students that participated in our Maihiihi School Triathlon. Here are Room 4s year 6, 7 and 8 top 3 place getters. 

I hope you all have a great holiday break - and are ready for another action packed term of learning!

Katie Robinson - krobinson@maihiihi.school.nz

To view the Maihiihi School Policies please click on the link below, this will take you to Schooldocs where you can find all our school policies.

Holidays and other days off during term time will affect attendance & learning. 

 Ministry of Education require all students to have at least 94% attendance 

 Please download the Skool Loop App to your phone.  From this app you can see all notices, newsletters and important information as they are downloaded. Plus you can leave absentee messages at any time of the day.