SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

Wednesday 3 August, 2016

Issue 11, 2016 PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGES

Inside this issue:

Principal’s Messages

PTA Events

Room 21

Room 20

Community notices

Tasman Drive

Papakura 2113

Phone (09) 298 5410

PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE NOT LATE FOR SCHOOL.

STUDENTS MUST BE IN CLASS BEFORE 8.25AM

office@opaheke.school.nz

www.opaheke.school.nz

Fax (09) 298 0739

THE CHANGING FACE OF OPAHEKE

The developers for the Bellfield Special

Housing Area have submitted a ‘qualifying

development’ application with Auckland

Council. All the housing to be built is within

the Opaheke School Zone. With 500 homes

planned this will have an impact on the school,

requiring some remodelling by the Ministry of

Education. With no public green space for the

Opaheke community the proposed Opaheke

Park will be a major asset for the community

and school which is currently space poor.

Further information can be found at

http://www.bellfieldroad.co.nz

I also advise you to view the maps on the

unitary plans which will have an impact on

some areas within the school zone.

SCHOOL WIDE SURVEY AHEAD

In the coming weeks the new Board of Trustees will be surveying

parents for feedback on various aspects of school. This will

include feedback on the recent Student Led Conferences and also

ideas which will form the future direction of the school and form

a major aspect of its self review. Some of the questions will be the

same as the survey in 2013 to measure any shift in attitude.

This survey will be electronic but those who wish to complete the

survey on paper will be able to do this. You will be notified when

the survey becomes available.

Last week the students in Years 5-8 completed a survey on

wellness. Together with a teacher wellness survey, this will give

me an overall picture of Opaheke School Culture, areas where we

are doing well and other areas where we could do better.

OPAHEKE’S GOT TALENT

This Thursday, 4 August, the School Councillors will be holding

auditions for the Opaheke School Talent Show. Either individually

or in groups the students will perform for a panel of judges and will

be informed later if they will be in the final to present their item in

front of the whole school next week. There are two competitions

Year 1-4 and Year 5—8. Parents are invited to attend if their child

is in the final.

Please ensure that your child is

prepared. Some students bring along

a memory stick with music or a CD.

Some students also like to dress up.

The talent show is all about giving it

a go and being a Challenge Taker.

The Opening Ceremony for the 2016 Olympic Games

is only a few days away on Saturday 6 August. The

classes and school are planning activities to

celebrate this momentous sporting event.

PALS

55 PALS (Physical Activity Leaders) have been

training in preparation for running games and

sporting activities for students at lunchtimes. They

will also help to run school wide sporting events such

as the upcoming school Olympics Day. They have

another day of training this week then they will

prepare activities and a roster.

PALS have been learning how to give clear

instructions, how to manage younger students and

how to come up with games using no equipment.

Once students have completed the training and run

their first activity they will be awarded badges.

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

Opaheke School Newsletter ©

Opaheke School Netball Results Well done to the Opaheke Storm and the Opaheke Diamonds. At the end of Championship Round 1, they have won

all their games and are winning their respective sections. Keep up the hard work girls, we are proud of you all. 2/7/16

Opaheke Magic vs PR13 lost 1-6. Player of the Day Madelliene E. and Jamie L. Opaheke Diamonds vs Ardmore School Magic 26-4 Player of the Day Kesaia S

9/7/16

Opaheke Magic vs St Anne's Turquoise lost 3-9. Player of the Day Sienna-Ri TD. and Amelia T.

23/7/16 Opaheke Magic vs Rewa Jnr 4 lost 2-5. Player of the Day Jamie L. and Andrew O.

Opaheke Stars vs Alfriston Purple won 21-1 Player of the day - THE WHOLE TEAM!

Opaheke Diamonds vs St Mary Silver 8-4 win Player of the Day Kyla N

30/7/15 Opaheke Stars vs Aztec Jnrs lost 17-10 Player of the day Allison H and Eta S.

Opaheke Magic v Ardmore School Ferns won 7-5. Player of the Day Saeus K. and Addison T.

Opaheke Storm v Alfriston won 16-13 Player of the day Briar K. Diamonds vs Alfriston pink Won 12-8 Player of the Day, Kate-Lynn DK

Opaheke Book Week is coming up

in Week 5, which is the 22nd to

26th of August. This year our book character parade will take place

from 9am on Wednesday 24th.

Students are encouraged to dress

up as a book character for the

parade.

Parents and family members are

invited to watch the parade and

then join us for

buddy reading.

More details to

come closer to

the time.

One outcome of making learning visible is having students who can talk about their learning as clearly as their

teacher. Getting this right has been one of two significant goals for this year. The second goal we have all been

working on is around strengthening powerful partnerships with our parents. Student led conferences provided us

with an opportunity to do both. We are on a journey to have learners who self-regulate, set goals, monitor progress,

and reflect on strengths and areas for improvement. These skills will help our students to be life-long learners.

Our student led conferences were held during the last week of term for students in years 4 – 8. Students talked

about their assessment data, their goals, what they needed help with and work that they are proud of. Teachers were

able to see the clarity and pride with which their students talked about their learning. Most students used a

combination of digital and paper information to help support their conversations. Some students took ten minutes to

explain their learning and some took 45 minutes. The new structure of the conferences easily allowed for this

flexibility.

Members of the Senior Leadership Team visited classrooms to soak up the atmosphere, and gather an informal

impression of how things were progressing. Our students shone. One of the highlights was that many of our second

language learners delivered their conference in their home-language, enabling their parents to better understand the

learning. Leading their own conference enabled students to demonstrate our learner dispositions - challenge taker,

self-regulator, innovator, thinker and collaborator. Our next step is to gather feedback from students, teachers and

parents. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on our conferences. The board is preparing a parent survey

which will be distributed shortly.

Student Led Conferences 2016

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

Opaheke School Newsletter ©

OUT OF ZONE ENROLMENTS

Out of zone enrolment applications for 2017 open on Wednesday 10 August and close on

Wednesday 14 September. Out of Zone enrolments will only be for a limited number of New

Entrants. Siblings of current students who are out of zone must also apply. If a ballot is

required this will be on Wednesday 21 September. Application forms are available on the

school website or from the school office.

BLUE LIGHT DISCO

OPAHEKE SCHOOL

HALL

THURSDAY 11TH AUGUST

5.30-6.30 = NE—Y4

6.45-8.00 = Y5 –8

BRING $3 PLUS YOUR

PERMISSION SLIP

ON THE NIGHT

My Mobile Learning Programme Year 4—You may have already read recently Minister of Education

Hekia Parata’s announcement about how digital technology is to become a part of the New Zealand

Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Formally integrating digital technology into the curriculum

is intended to support young people to develop skills, confidence and interest in digital technologies and

lead them to opportunities across the IT sector. At Opaheke School we welcomed the announcement as

we have been on this journey for some time. One component of this work in our school is our successful

My Mobile Learning programme. As part of this ongoing development we are currently investigating the

most effective ways we can use digital devices to support learning in our Year 3 and 4 area. In response

to feedback we have decided to create a trial class to help us better understand the digital learning needs

for students and teachers at this level.

Aim: To find out what ‘My Mobile Learning’ might look like in Year 4.

How can we use digital devices to motivate and engage students while enhancing and extending

students’ learning and increase progress across a range of curriculm areas?

How can it help us personalise learning for students by offering different pathways towards similar

outcomes?

Which areas of digital citizenship need to be developed to best support learning at this level?

What are the issues we might encounter with larger numbers of devices in a classroom at this

particular level?

Can Year 4 students demonstrate the necessary responsibility for looking after a device?

Next term teachers will be invited in to see this class in action and in Term 4 parents will be invited to a

series of open afternoons to see and hear the kids in action. Room 24 and their teacher Ms Howell are

thrilled to be the trial class—here they are in action.

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

Room 21– Year 3

Room 21’s Inquiry Topic in Term 2 was Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We have been researching materials such as plastic,

glass and metal that we use at home and at school. We have been finding out if products made from these materials can

be reused or recycled. Room 21 have worked out a plan to help our planet by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling products.

Here are two of our ideas.

During Matariki and Maori Language Week Room 21 children learnt to greet others in Maori and ask and answer ques-

tions. We also enjoyed singing and moving to Maori action songs and using the rakau sticks.

Litterless Lunch boxes are a good way to reduce

the amount of

Parents use a recyclable bag when shopping at the supermarket because plas-tic bags take many years to

This term Room 21 will be setting goals and

working hard to “achieve personal best.”

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

Our collaborative art project expresses peace in the world. You can see all the

different symbols and images representing different cultures mixed together to

become a whole, kind of like the countries of the world that fit together in peace and

harmony. Suhkleen

With Mrs Chatterton to

guide us, each of the 63 students in the hub

created a piece of art. We

thought carefully about

how we could include symbols and patterns that

reflect our individual

identities.

When joined together,

our individual pieces form

a landscape of Auckland mountains.

Here at school we work in teams or syndicates. The

four teams are:

Maungakiekie

Maungarei

Mangawhau

Rangitoto

We wanted to show that

although we are all

different, here at

Opaheke School we all fit together.

These are OUR maunga.

Taku Maunga Collaborative Art in Room 19 and 20

Collaborating together is good because everyone has their own ideas and if we share

our ideas we can achieve a whole lot more. Shae

Doing art collaboratively is a way of showing how we are all different. It shows that

we are all from different places, and like different things. It is almost like we are the

tiny squares. Each square has different patterns and colours, but they all fit into the

same big picture; just like us. Amy

I enjoyed collaborating with others to make this art. Everyone has a different culture and this is a way we can share it with others. When we joined the pictures together it looked incredible with the different ideas that are important to others. Ben

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

Opaheke School Newsletter

Upcoming Events

4 August Talent Quest Auditions. League trials Y7/8

6/7 August PTA Family Photo Weekend Fundraiser

9 August School Cross Country Year 7/8, BOT Meeting 7pm

10 August Out of Zone Applications Open

11 August Talent Quest Finals 10.30am

11 August Try Outs for Opaheke v Drury Rugby, Blue Light Disco in the Hall

12 August Zone Boys Netball

13 August Kaiaua Night

16 August Counties Boys Rugby League Y7/8, Junior Poetry Recital 12.50pm

17 August PTA Meeting 7pm

TERM DATES FOR 2016

Term 3: Monday 25 July - Friday 23 September

Term 4: Monday 10 October - Friday 16 December (Labour Day: Monday 24 October)

Assembly

Certificates:

Acieving

Personal Best

1 August

R1 Owen E.

R2 Wannasa T.

R3 De-Jay O.

R4 Jonathan M.

R5 Cliodhna S.

R6 Maddison W.

R7 Caira-Jade F.

R8 Chanelle K.

R9 Alyx M.

R10 Andrew P.

R11 Kaylee P.

R12 .Reuben L.

R13 Olivia V.

R14 Skylah S.

R15

R16 Albert K.

R17

R19 Zoe W.

R20 Shae F.

R21 Sophia B.

R22 Mama P.

R23 Mahara H.

R24 Kate-Lynn D

R25 Lara O.

R26 Hawaiki H.

Achieving personal best

(This is the focus for STAR Certificates this term)

Welcome to new students at school: Rico and Sophia R2, Iris R3,

Jaylyn R7, Kaylee R11, Borislav R13, Olivia and Avah R14, Jasmine R21

PAPAKURA JUNIOR BASKETBALL Register for Term 3. Registration and coaching times: 5:30 - 6:15pm: For all 6 years olds to year 5 and 6 year old boys/girls 6:15 to 7:00pm: For all intermediate and High School aged boys/girls Friday nights – Papakura Recreation and Fitness Centre No experience needed. Visit www.sportsground.co.nz/papakurajuniorbasketball

Class Photos: These were taken last term and have been distributed to all children who ordered one.

TERM

1

Wednesday 1 February

to Thursday 13 April

Holidays:

Waitangi Day

Monday 6

February

TERM

2

Monday 1 May to

Friday 7 July

Holidays:

Queens Birthday

Monday 5 June

TERM

3

Monday 24 July to

Friday 29 September

Holidays:

Nil

TERM

4

Monday 16 October to

Thursday 14 December

Holidays:

Labour Day

Monday 23

October

2017 OPAHEKE SCHOOL TERMS AND HOLIDAYS

HOT

CHOCOLATE

AVAILABLE

EVERY

WEDNESDAY

AND FRIDAY

7.45AM TO 8.10AM

IN THE QUIET

AREA BETWEEN

ROOMS 9 AND 5.

$1 BRING YOUR

OWN CUP

CROSS COUNTRY

Students in Years 5 to 8 are busy

training for cross country this term.

In addition to the regular class cross

country over 40 students have elected

to do some extra training at luchtime

with Mr Valvoi and a number of other

staff members.

It’s great to see students who are

aiming to ‘achieve their personal

best’.

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER

SELF REGULATOR

THINKER INNOVATOR COLLABORATOR CHALLENGE TAKER