Monday 30 January 2017

Middle Team Kahikatea Weekly Notices

Welcome back all Middle School pupils and their families for what will be an exciting year of learning at St Mary's in 2017.


Please read the notice 'Information for Parents' posted on this blog, which will answer many general questions you may have about St Mary's School.


We would like to welcome Mrs Athlene Wallbank to St Mary's. Mrs Wallbank will be teaching in Room 15 alongside Mrs Nielsen. Mrs Hall has shifted to Room 17 and will work alongside Mr Bach. Mrs Bye has said bye to Room 17 and will now team teach with Mrs Dinniss in Room 12.


On Wednesday 1st February, the first day back at school, there will be a Welcome Liturgy in the hall at 10:00am.
On Friday 3rd February there will be a Waitangi Day Liturgy at 10:00am.


Thanks to Mrs Strathern and Jamie for the work they have done in readying the school for the start of the year. The grounds look magnificent. Thanks to Jelish too for cleaning the carpets over the holidays.


MONDAY 30TH JANUARY.
Auckland Anniversary weekend.


TUESDAY 31ST JANUARY.
Teacher only Day JPC.


WEDNESDAY 1ST FEBRUARY.


Term 1 Day 1. Children will come to classes at the start of day. New children to hall at 8.30 and they will be brought to the classes.
10.00am    Welcome Liturgy.


THURSDAY 2ND FEBRUARY.


MLA powhiri.
Swimming Rooms 14, 15, and 17 please bring togs, towel, and goggles (not required )


FRIDAY 3RD FEBRUARY.


10.00am  Waitangi Day Liturgy
11.00am  School Band practice.
2.05pm   Assembly


With the start of the year we will be using Maori names for our teams.


1. Ko te Whānau Kākano (Kakano Yr 0/1)
E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea - I will never be lost, for I am a seed sown in Rangiātea
2. Ko te Whānau Mānuka (Manuka Yr 2)
Whakapūpūtia mai ō mānuka, kia kore ai e whati - Find Strength in Unity


3. 4. Ko te Whānau Kahikatea (Year 3/4)


He iti te mokoroa, nāna te kahikatea i kakati - Even the small can make a big impact


4. Ko te Whānau Tōtara (Totara Yr 5/6)
He tōtara wāhi rua he kai nā te ahi - Stand Together


Swimming Roster Term 1, 2017


Swimming Time
Odd Weeks
Even Weeks
9-9.30
Room 1

9.30 - 10.00
Room 5
Room 11
10-10.30
Room 7
Room 12
Interval


11.00-11.30
Room 17
Room 2
11.30-12.00
Room16

12.-12.30
Room 3
Room 4
Lunch


1.30-2.00
Room 14
Room 6
2-2.30
Room 15
Room 18A
2.30-3.00
Room 13
Room 18B

Room 16 Notices

Rooms 16 and 17 will still be operating as one class, Ruma Weta, to quite a large extent this year and increasingly so as we progress through the year and Mr Bach and Mrs Hall learn to work with each other. We will not, however, be learning together 100% of the time as one large class from day one as Mr Bach and Mrs Rush trialled in 2016.

Sunday 22 January 2017

Information for Parents

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Information for Parents 2017
Contact Details   Phone 3481701  Fax 3481209  
Email: admin@stmarysrotoruaschool.nz
Staff email details can be found in the “Our School” section of the school website

Office Hours 2017: 8.30am - 3.00pm

School Website http://www.stmarysrotorua.school.nz. We have an A-Z Guide on our school website - check it out via the Quicklinks or Our School section. There is a great deal of information in the A-Z Guide which we hope you will find useful. We also have a calendar on the website for parents to know about upcoming events. Click on the date to view events.

Blogs - all our classes have blogs and a quick and easy way is to visit these via the class blog link on our school website. In 2017 we are moving away from having different tabs on the homepage. Instead, each blog posting should have a label assigned to it (eg weekly notices eg homework eg reminder eg RE eg student work etc). The reason for this is that we have a new school phone app. It will provide links to the blog but it does not easily provide links to the tabs that we have used on blogs in the past. Teachers are expected to post weekly notices to parents on their class blogs and are encouraged to also share some examples of what students are learning via the class blogs. Please check your child’s class blog each week. If you don’t have access to a computer please feel free to come and check the blog before school on a classroom device.

School Times -  Classes start at 8.45am and finish at 3pm. Children should not be at school before 8.15am. It is recommended they arrive approximately 8.30am so they have time to greet friends and get organised before class starts. Students are expected to have left the school grounds by 3.15pm, unless they are being supervised by an adult. Please ensure your child is at school on time as latecomers disrupt the whole class. Children who are at school unsupervised after 3.15pm have to sit on the office steps. We cannot take responsibility for students at school after 3.15pm and we request that you look at after school care options if your child is unable to leave by 3.15pm.

After School Programme - a programme is available at Glenholme School. Contact Maryanne Roling ph 3470709 or 0211215599 for further information.

Term Dates 2017     
Term 1 Wednesday 1 Feb - Thursday 13 April                                                        
Term 2 Monday 1 May - Friday 7 July  
Term 3 Monday 24 July - Friday 29 September
Term 4 Monday 16 October - Friday 15 December

School will also be closed on these Public Holidays - Waitangi Day 6 February, Good Friday 14 April, Queen's Birthday 5 June, 23 October Labour Day
Teacher Only Days - We will advise you of any Teacher Only Days as early as possible,
Swimming -  each class is assigned a swimming time and students swim each day in either the odd or even weeks of term ie week on, week off. Swimming is part of our curriculum and all children are expected to swim each day.
Attendance  - It is very important that children are at school each day, unless they are unwell. Please let the school office know by 9am if your child is not going to be at school. Our wonderful office lady is Maggie Dalton. She can be contacted in the mornings on 07 3481701  or fax 07 3481209. Absences can also be notified via the absence notification link on our school website ( found under Quick Links) or via our School App.

Parking  - Most parents use the Church carpark on Seddon Street ( please be considerate and respectful, particularly if you can see there is a funeral on at the Church). Some parents  use street parking on Carnot Street, Grey Street and Ranolf Street. Please don’t use the staff carpark at the Carnot Street entrance.

Newsletters - We have a weekly school newsletter which is issued on a Wednesday. The newsletter is sent out via email. If you are not already receiving a copy of the newsletter, or if you wish to add another address for it to be sent to please go to the bottom of our website home page to the sign up for newsletters section

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Twitter - We have a school twitter account that is used to communicate brief reminders or messages. You can view the information posted on this via the twitter feed on our school website or by going to www.twitter.com and following @StMarys_Rotorua.  

School App - We have a school app which is available from the App stores. It is called St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, It can be found in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store or via the link on our school website.

Lost Property It is very helpful to have all items of school uniform and sandals/shoes named. We have a lost property box if your child is missing something - it is located outside Room 6.

Library Books You child’s class is allocated a time to visit our school library each week. We encourage parents to also take their children to the Rotorua Public Library on a regular basis. Our librarian, Ruth would love to hear from you if you have an hour or two to spare.

Signing Students Out  Adults taking children out for any reason during the school day MUST sign their child out and in at the school office.  

School Bank Account for Online Payments
Bank and Branch: ANZ Rotorua   Account number: 06 0209 0229658 00
Please ensure you put the child’s surname in the reference section and include particulars what the payment is for.

Sport -  Trudy James is our part-time sports co-ordinator and we are blessed to have many willing, skilled and enthusiastic parents who assist with coaching and managing our teams. Most of our children play in  summer and/or winter sports teams. Trudy can be contacted on sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz

We hope that you enjoy being part of the St Mary’s learning community.