Kia ora koutou

Wow, we have almost made it to the end of another year it has gone so quickly. 

As usual the end of year fills up with events so hopefully you have them on your calendar so you don't miss out on anything.  We have Maranui Market Day, Songs on the Beach, FoLBS Raffle Draw, Volunteers' Appreciation Morning Tea, Yr 6 Graduation Assembly and Yr 6 Graduation Dinner all coming up.  Please check out the Dates to Diary and extra information included in this newsletter.  We finish at 12.30pm on Tuesday, 19th December. 

Yesterday you will have received the curriculum levels that your tamaiti is currently working at.  In general, tamariki who are in Years 0-2 are working within level 1 of the curriculum, those in Years 3-4 are working within level 2 of the curriculum and Years 5-6 are working within level 3 of the curriculum.  Kaiako work alongside tamariki making anecdotal notes, they assess with observation, normed assessments, diagnostic assessments, and moderation of work.  These then form the OTJ or Overall Teacher Judgement of the current curriculum working level.  You will have received all reports on HERO, Literacy (Reading and Writing), Maths, and Ako.  You can comment on these or 'like' them.  You also have been sent the hub and the name of the Awhi Kaiako on HERO.  You can see which hub your tamariki are in by clicking on the three lines at the top left and scrolling the child's name and click the arrow, then click 'My 2024 class'.  Today your tamariki visited their new hub.  You are invited to meet the 2024 Kaiako on Wednesday from 2.30 pm, with your tamariki, in their hub for 2024.  The stationery lists are also on HERO and on the website.  If you have any questions please email principal@lyallbay.school.nz.

We have some amazing athletes in our midst!  Floyd, Paddy and Rosa made their way to the Regional Athletic Sports last week.  They all did fantastically well.   Huge whakamihi to them all.

Floyd - 1st High jump, 2nd Vortex

Paddy - 1st Vortex, 3rd High Jump

Year 4 boys - 2nd Relay (by a very small margin!)

Maranui have been working hard toward their Market day, which will be held on Thursday.  Whānau are invited to the Market Day from 3.00pm.  Tamariki in the school will be given the opportunity to go to the Market day during the school day.  Information for Maranui tamariki has been put out on HERO if you are unsure of anything.   

Huetepara had a wonderful trip to the zoo yesterday.  A huge mihi to whānau who came along and helped out.  It was the perfect day for a zoo visit and everyone had a great time.  Look at these smiling faces, they tell the whole story!  In the first picture you can see that some tamariki came back and built their own zoo, ka pai.

Many of you will have noticed that the renovation of Ahu is close to completion.  We are organising a ceremony to bless and open the building.  If you are a kaumatua and would like to work with us on this, or if you know a kaumatua who would be willing to join us, we would love to hear from you.  Please email principal@lyallbay.school.nz.  

The newsletter is published every two weeks on Tuesdays.  The newsletter is available on HERO and on our website.  In each newsletter, some kupu will be shared with you to help with all of our understanding.  In this week's kupu we are starting with a Christmas theme... anahera - angel, tōkena Kirihimete - Christmas stocking, Hana Kōkō - Santa Claus, mārama Kirihimete- Christmas lights, hīmena Kirihemete - Christmas carols. 

Every two years we receive a grant of $4000 from the Thomas George Macarthy Trust to support our library.  We use this grant to buy new library books or to update the library computer.  This time the grant will be used for a new library computer.  We are very appreciative of this generous grant. 

On Monday we have our Graduation Ceremony for our Yr 6 tamariki at 2.00pm in the hall.  At this ceremony, every tamaiti receives a graduation certificate.  Staff and Yr 6 ākonga have voted for which tamariki have shown our school values of pākiki, manaaki, whakapono and hiranga the best.  The tamariki who have the most votes will receive a certificate marking this achievement.  We have gathered academic marks over time at Lyall Bay School and we present an award to the tamaiti who has the highest marks of all Yr 6's.  This is the Dux.  Our school vision is Waihangatia ngā Ākonga Tino Pai Building the Best Learners.  We award one tamariki this prestigious award, this is for the one who has shown all school values consistently over time and is recognised by peers and staff alike for this. Real Aotearoa has donated a beautiful taonga for this and the tamaiti will receive the Waihangatia ngā Ākonga Tino Pai trophy which will be engraved with their name and previous winners. 

This week on Friday we have Songs on the Beach (if the weather is not ok we will have this at school and will let you know via HERO).  We would love to see you there.  Please remember to return Friends of Lyall Bay Raffle information slips and money - last day is Wednesday 13 December 2023 (tomorrow).  Many thanks for your contribution to school fundraising efforts, your time and energy is most appreciated.   A huge shout out to all the local businesses that have contributed to the amazing prizes on offer in the 2023 raffle.  If you didn't get the opportunity to sell any raffle tickets and would still like to contribute to the school fundraising efforts, please feel free to make a donation to:  Friends of Lyall Bay School, Account: 12-3481-0009279-00.  We will be drawing the winners at Songs on the Beach, Friday 15 December, 11.45 -2.45pm.  Winners will be called by Sunday 17 December.  Wishing you all luck for the draw. 

On Monday we have our Appreciation morning tea for anyone who has volunteered to help out in any way at school.  Come along to the staffroom at 11 am. 

All borrowed t-shirts are now due back at school.  Please hand them in to the office by the end of this week.

This is the last newsletter for 2023.  We wish you all a peaceful and relaxing summer.  May it be everything you want it to be. 

We wish our Yr 6 tamariki all the very best for 2024 and into the future.  You are amazing rangatahi and will make your whānau and Lyall Bay School proud.  

We look forward to seeing everyone back in 2024. 

Meri Kirihimete
Melanie