Wow, where has the time gone?

Julie Cronin from Te Mata School Home & School Committee

Only a month till the next school holidays, and I can't figure out where the last few weeks have gone.

We have had our first H&S meeting and AGM and elected our committee. We had a few new faces, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't welcome more. More people means more ideas, and more hands means less work. Please, if you can spare an hour or so one Tuesday evening a term, join us in the staffroom. You get to find out before anyone else what's happening and get to be part of deciding what will happen. Keep an eye on our FB page and here to find out when our meetings are. Every now and again someone sneaks in chocolates 😉! If you want to chat to one of us and find out, in person, about the committee, you'll find many members congregating around the staffroom door, or on the benches under the big tree, after school, or look for me with my big floppy hat. Feel free to ask the teachers to point me out, most know me, at least by sight. or the kids. I've taught most of them swimming or worked in class or maths club with them.

What a scorcher few days we've had, this past month, but now it's starting to cool off and the kids will need their jumpers soon. Unfortunately quite a few won't have them, as they are currently in the lost property.

We need to remind our kids that if they take their jumpers off, they need to put them with their bags, or on their chairs. They are getting left on the field and in the playgrounds. Teach them to tie them around their wastes, so they can take them to class when they go back in. Also, please, again I ask, make sure their clothes are clearly labelled. One of the biggest problems we have with lost property is that we don't know who it belongs to, and as it's all the same, we can't just assume anything belongs to someone in particular, without a name.

We also have lots of sports starting up. Remember to have named drink bottles and snacks for afterwards. Warm clothes are also a good idea. Kids heat up a lot playing sports and if they cool down too fast afterwards they can get sick.

Coming up in term 2 we have a new lunch program (as well as the Friday Treats). We will be introducing Lunch Online. Pita Pit will be providing a Wednesday lunch menu that can be ordered online in advance or up to a cut off time (usually 9am on the day). Pita Pit will be offering a $2 deal for the first day, and I for one intend to take it up.

All Pita Pit orders will be online with online payment, so no need to dig out cash or find order lost forms. You can order on your desktop PC, laptop, tablet/iPad or smartphone.
We will be sending out full details shortly, so keep an eye in your childrens' book bags and on our FB and Neighbourly pages.
Remember this will not be replacing Friday Treats, which will still be done the same way.

If you are wanting to send your kids to school with a warm lunch, Kmart has a great range of mini thermos containers for around $8-10. They can fit a packet of noodles or a cuppa soup, or re-heated leftovers, and they have a cup and spoon in them. Just break your noodles or tip your packet soup, into the container and add water, screw the lid on and pop it into their lunch bag or box. Make sure you re-heat the leftovers before you put them in the thermos. If you put the hot food in the thermos when the thermos is cold, it should be the perfect temperature at lunchtime. If you pre-heat the thermos, it could still be too hot when the kids open it and could result in burning. Suggest the smaller kids get the teacher to open it for them, to be on the safe side.

The new classrooms are nearly complete and the kids had a blast watching them be craned in to place. They used the construction work as a learning tool for maths, story writing, spelling and art work. I can't wait to see what they look like completed and I know the kids feel the same.

Thanks everyone who took part in the parents evening. It was a great success and we, parents, learned a lot, and the school got great feedback. It's a pity more of the seniors parents didn't come. I know many feel they've done it all before, but each year is different and each class is different, so I hope next time more of you do come. You might just learn something.

Have a great rest of the term.