20 May 2016

KA IK OR A I P R I MA R Y
SCHO O L
N

A very special welcome to Gregory Rowe, Jedd Hill, Paige Croker,

Theo Richards, Bradley Escueta, Sophie Wellington and their families
to Kaikorai Primary School!

PRINCIPALS MESSAGE
Dear Parents,
This is the first newsletter for Term 2 and we hope
all the children have had a great start to the term as
we explore the concept of systems.
As discussed at the Meet the Teacher night, one of our many
research projects being conducted by our teachers this year has
obviously started in Rooms 7 and 9. The wall has been
removed between these two classes as we look into how a more
collaborative approach to learning can be beneficial for
students. Many of our teachers will be traveling locally,
nationally and internationally visiting schools and looking at
best practice throughout the year. The staff greatly appreciate
the support and the opportunities the Board of Trustees are
providing to ensure our teachers are up to date with current
educational theory.
Kind regards,
Simon Clarke

Wright St, Roslyn

4640065
www.kaikorai.school.nz

Important Dates
23 May - BOT
meeting cancelled
23 May - BOT
Voting papers are
posted
24 May - PAL
Leadership Day
(ST)
24 May - Room 2 at
OBHS (ST)
27 May - Juniors
going to Forsyth
Barr Stadium (ST)
31 May - Room 2A
at OBHS (ST)
1 June - Kaikorai
Kiwis
3 June - BOT
elections close
3 June - Pizza
Lunch
6 June - Queens
Birthday(School
Closed)
10 June - Next
Newsletter

SYN D ICA TE N EWS

Junior News
After 2 weeks of Keeping Ourselves Safe we should all know how to stay safe in a variety of situations.
Thank you to Constable Ross Greer for his lessons and support. Your child should be able to recite their full
name, phone number and address by now. Keep practising if they are not confident.
Our two-week maths focus is really under way and it is good to see how hard the children are learning their
basic addition and subtraction facts. We talk about having to recall the facts within 3 seconds using no fingers.
Keep up the good work.
For the next 3 weeks, we are fully immersed in the story and music of Peter and the Wolf. The children have
responded well to this focus and no doubt you will hear a lot about it in the coming weeks. There are lots of
Youtube stories to watch about it if you want to share.
We are off to the stadium next Friday 27th for a skills based hour of fun activities. Thank you for returning the
notices.
Happy learning from the Junior Teachers.

Middle News
The term has started well and we have begun learning about systems.
Children have shown enthusiasm for learning about what classrooms
around the world look like and how school systems might differ from
our own. Systems of transport has been another interesting point of
discussion as children have been looking at how children get to school.
Some modes of transport looked quite fun, while others brought up
lots of discussion about safety and why children might risk their own
safety to get to school. We look forward to beginning our inquiries into
school systems and using these ideas to create our own school system.
A lot of hard work has already been done by children who are trying
to learn their words for our Middles Spelling Bee. Children have been
finding sponsors and the money raised will go towards our Term 4
overnight stay at Tirohanga. We have been working hard on also
understanding new vocabulary and learning the meanings of our
spelling bee words. Some tricky ones are fiefdom, philately, portcullis,
gaudy, petulant, and dynamic.
This term, time will be a focus for our children in mathematics. We are
currently confident in reading digital time but need lots more practise
at reading analogue clocks as many of us do not have these at home!

Senior News
The senior classes have all started the term with lots of interest and enthusiasm for learning about our body systems. We
have all started with finding out what they already know about the digestive system, and have started to extend those
understandings into describing the organs and functions, comparing the jobs they do and creating ways to share these
ideas with others. We are all using a learning system called SOLO Taxonomy to share with the children what levels they
are working at, and showing them how to get to the next level. It has been very successful in motivating and clarifying
what steps we can take to get even better.
All classes have now started learning about the circulatory system using images, songs and video clips. We have even used
a virtual heart app where they have seen the heart at work, including its electrical impulses, changes of heart rate and the
valves in action.
Room 1 has visited Otago Boys High School this week where they performed dissections of chicken hearts and sheeps
hearts. In each heart they were able to see the 4 chambers, major arteries and veins and the valves. The teacher who
took the lesson in the laboratory was Mrs Pru Casey. Thank you Mrs Casey. The children were very excited with this
visit and learnt a lot. Rooms 2, 2A and 4 look forward to their visits over the next few weeks.

SCHO O L N EWS
Enrichment Programmes
We have a number of enrichment programmes running in 2016. Our Te Reo extension
programme continues to run on a Thursday afternoon and for the next 10 weeks Courtney Dunn
will be working with 10 student artists to create some fantastic pieces of art. Our Flipped Class is
operating again with 10 students. These students were selected based upon teacher observations
and testing. This term they are working at the Hatch studio further developing their creative
thinking.

Google Docs

All students have been set up with a google account this year. For junior students this will largely
be controlled by the teacher and as the children progress through the school you will find it being
used as a working space by your child. A number of folders have been set up for your child, one
of them being the WOW folder. We are at stage 1 of replacing the traditional portfolio. The first
stage of development is to share with you a variety of pieces of work that they create throughout
the year. You can login at anytime to see what your child is doing. We have been very lucky to
have Elliot Gill who is volunteering his time to help set the junior classes up with their login names
and passwords. Room 8, 12 and 10 are still to be set up but should be in the near future.
The second stage starting in 2017 will be to have clear, easy to understand next learning steps in
writing and mathematics for parents to see.

Kaupapa Maori and Kapa Haka

During Kaupapa Mori this term, classes will each
be working through different activities such as
weaving, poi, taonga puoro, string games, and
some artworks and looking at the significance to
Matariki. We look forward to learning new skills
and sharing these at the Matariki celebration later
in the term on June 24th.
To begin the term the Kapa Haka group had the
opportunity to contribute to our community by
putting on a performance at the Red Roofs
Retirement Home. The children shared some
outstanding waiata. They gave a polished and
moving performance which was very well received
by an enthusiastic audience. The children should
be proud of the way they represented our school.

Board of Trustees Election

Our current Board held their final meeting this week.
The staff would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board for their service over the past
three years. During their period in office the Board has overseen the successful completion of our
backfield development, the implementation of the school values and helped the school achieve a
very positive endorsement by the Education Review Office. All are very significant achievements
and reflect highly on the quality of governance provided. Our sincere thanks to 'Chair'Barb Long
and Dougal McGowan and members:Simon Hornal, Mel Black, Gene Ollerenshaw and
Margaret Galbraith.
Nominations for the Board of Trustees have now closed. We are pleased to announce the
following parents have put their names forward for election.

Aiden Young, Dougal McGowan, Gene Ollerenshaw, Kelly Macknight, Kristen Townsend,
Malcolm Couling, Neil Gemmell, Ros Allison, Simon Hornal, Todd Gordon

Voting papers will be posted on Monday and your papers need to be back at the school office by
12pm Friday 3rd of June.

Snow Days

Sharon Fitzgerald
Returning Officer

School Ski Trips

Save the date! This year we are
organising two ski trips. These will run as
they have in the past where the school will
organise subsidised lift, lessons and rental
equipment and parents can organise their
own transport, food and accommodation.
More information will be available next
month.
The dates that we have set aside are
Aug 6th & 7th / Sept 17th & 18th.

Although the weather remains mild for this time of

year it wont be far until we have our first snow storm.
Decisions to close the school or opt for a 10am start are
made by the Otago Primary Principals Association. It
would have to be a very extreme situation before we
would close the school while others remained open.
The best way to get this information is to download the
school app. We will also post a notice on our website
and cancelations can be heard on Classic Hits. Their
facebook page is also very good for cancelation
updates. Finally you can find out first by going to
@oppasnow on twitter.

Parent Group
Hopefully you have seen the email that was sent out recently from the Parent Group. If you missed it you can
click on this link to see all of the necessary information. https://hail.to/kaikorai-primary-school/publication/
HsZPTOc
The following are some highlights from the newsletter;s
Our first bringing week is the week beginning May 30th.
We will be asking for goods for the Tombola and we would like all children to bring a new item with a value of
no more than $10 for this. Tombola ideas: stationary, body lotions, soaps, scented candles, small toys, drink
bottles, mugs, lunchboxes -- no food items at this stage. We will send a reminder notice nearer the time.
Finally the Term 2 pizza lunch is set down for 3 June. Orders will be done online again and the link can be
found in the email this was sent from. Orders close on 31st May.

PLEA SE SUPPO RT O UR SPO N SO RS

www.sortedpm.co.nz
Ph: (03) 467 7204
Mob: 021 277 5554

Shona Cumming
Business & Property Lawyer

03-477-2262
www.downiestewart.co.nz

CO MMUN ITY N EWS

Karate Club
New fitness class for kids ages 5 and up!
Recreational martial arts class taught by two
teenagers (ex Kaikorai Primary students) who have
been training and competing in karate for 6 years.
We travel a lot and compete nationally and
internationally. We would like to fundraise for our
trips and also share our love of karate with kids in a
fun, relaxed environment. We will be running one
hour a week recreational karate classes at John Mc
Glashan College gym Sundays at 11am. No
experience or commitment necessary, just come
along and have fun. $5 drop in session, $40 10
session punch card. All classes will be supervised by
our mum who is a registered teacher and karate