Week 8 Home Communication

Welcome to Week 8! 

It's Maori Language Week! Keep practicing your words for the Te Reo-Athon! 

In Matawara, we will be testing towards the end of this week. Remember - the expectation is that Team Matawara will know how to say the words, understand what they mean, in addition to knowing how to spell them (don't forget the macrons!)

KAPAHAKA - 

Well done to our Kapahaka group who performed in the Christchurch Cultural Festival last Friday! It was a HUGE event to prepare for, and you have all done our school proud. We now put our focus towards the North Canterbury Kapahaka Festival which will happen on the last Wednesday of the term. 

FISH AND CHIPS - 

We have our termly fish and chip lunch on Thursday. Remember to order online EARLY! 

HIGH SCHOOL ENROLMENTS - 

Kaiapoi High School are requesting that parents let them know confirmation of children attending for 2019. If you have enrolled your child, and you have made alternative arrangements, please let Kaiapoi High School.

KAIAPOI HIGH SCHOOL INTERVIEWS - Year 8 Students

Each Year 8 family was sent an email this week, to book an interview time with Kaiapoi High School early next term. Please ensure you have done this as we need to close this off this week, and send it to Kaiapoi High. 

SEXUALITY EDUCATION - 

This week we will begin Sexuality Education in Aspire. This programme will run until the end of the Term and will occur most days. For this we will split into a Year 7 group and a Year 8 group, as the two programmes are a little different. Thank you to those of you who attended the Parent Meeting earlier in the term, and participated in the discussions regarding the content and why this is a valuable part of your child's education. 

CAPPING - 

We have started Capping for 2018! The Year 8's are able to submit their reflection books to us if they think they are ready to be capped. This is a part of what we look at, but until they are submitted, capping won't happen. Have a discussion with your child about this, and have a nosey at the reflections in the book too! 

TERM 3 - TO DO LIST... 

The rest of this term is an incredibly busy time with many deadlines for Aspire. Here is some of what your child MAY like to work on at home so they are feeling comfortable in their learning... 

1. Reflections - both Year 7 and 8 need to record reflections on Leadership Skills and Opportunities in their book - (YEAR 8: 40 - 45 reflections, YEAR 7: 20 - 25 reflections).  As well as capping for Year 8's, these reflections are used as evidence for Writing levels in assessment. 

2. Leadership Projects - Year 8

3. Emerging Pathways - Year 7 

4. Their persuasive essay for Literacy - this will be a seesaw post in Week 9

5. Their personal Inquiry focus - this will be discussed next week, and will form part of the Inquiry Sharing day, and will also be a seesaw post. 

6. Their Basics - maintenance learning (basic facts, quiz, etc)

7. READING! We are noticing that some children are not reading enough - this is something that they should be doing EVERYDAY for at least 30 minutes. Reading helps every other area of learning in so many ways - and of course at Year 7 and 8 level, the content should be complex, so they are accessing higher order thinking skills. 

ASSEMBLY - 

This week Matawara are presenting in assembly - feel free to come along and cheer for us! 

Have a lovely weekend! 

Kristie, Vikki, Lynn.