Principal’s Report - May ‘15 Where have we been… Since we last met our kids have been very busy at both a local and regional level. The following information is a snapshot of the success our school enjoyed in the classroom and on the playing fields of Canterbury during Term One 2015. Active Culture      Bubbles to Buoyancy… As part of our Active Schools’ focus Christina Clarkson was employed as an Aquatics Coach working with small groups of students in ability grouped swimming programme. The programme achieved huge gains in the swimming confidence and ability of children across the school and is an important element of our goal for all Yr 6 students to be able to swim four lengths of the Hororata Swimming Pool. The Hororata Swimming Sports were held in early March and once again we were joined by Greendale School, to boost our numbers and provide some valuable competition. Breaking from tradition, the day was split between two venues taking advantage of Greendale’s smaller pool for our beginners and our larger pool for the competitive swimmers. After a series of postponements, the Malvern Swimming Sports (2 length events only) were eventually held at the Selwyn Aquatic Centre in Rolleston mid-March. As a result of the changes to dates and venue, a smaller squad of only eight swimmers represented our school at the sports netting nine top three finishes, including three firsts and a second placing in the 9yrs Relay. A special mention goes to Ben Smith and Tom Freeman who were selected to represent the Malvern Zone at the Canterbury Primary Schools’ Swimming Sports held in late March. TRYathletes excel in multisport arena… In early March thirty two current and former Hororata Harriers competed in the Weet-Bix Tryathlon at Jellie Park in Christchurch. This was a big increase from previous years and notably all athletes competed as individuals Along with our Weet-Bix TRYathletes, eight members of our Harriers competed in the Darfield High School Triathlon - a big step up for our kids who competed in the Yr 7-8 course, and a small group competed in the Star City2Surf and the McDonald’s Youth Duathlon in Christchurch. Hororata kids are Tough kids… … Our Year 3-6 students joined hundreds of primary students from across Selwyn in mid-March, to test their mettle on Selwyn's Tough Kid urban assault course, at Rolleston's Foster Park. Our kids tackled obstacles on the 2.5 kilometre course including tyre runs, mud pits, container crawls and waterslides. World Cup Fever... twelve Hororata children were given the fantastic opportunity to attend an ICC Cricket World Cup game between England vs Scotland, at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, in February. Top Team Schools’ Challenge… Year 5-6 students travelled to Glentunnel School in late February to complete alongside students from other Malvern schools in a Top Team Schools’ Challenge. Modelled on the Top Town competition that first aired on New Zealand television in 1976, the event was a great opportunity for our kids to team up with children from other schools to compete against one another in a series of activity and obstacle based challenges. Learning Culture     Hororata leads the way… To foster leadership in our school, our senior students are involved in our ‘Lead Learners Programme’ run every Friday morning. The initiative forged from the strong relationship we have with the Hororata Playcentre, is an important element of our strategic goal to promote high levels of competency in basic Literacy & Numeracy, giving our senior students the opportunity to tutor local three and four year olds in reading, writing and maths. Year 6 students participated in Physical Activity Leaders (PALs) training, facilitated by Sports Canterbury, at the Lincoln Events Centre, in late February. Students learned about leadership, group management and planning. Learning for our future…. In early February, all students participated in the Life Education Mobile programme with a teaching and learning focus on relationships and being a good friend. Later in February, all students participated in ASB Financial Literacy workshops. The ASB GetWise Programme was a fun, engaging and interactive learning experience, giving our students the opportunity to work on their financial literacy skills. AgriKids… In mid-term, our school competed in the AgriKids competition held in Kirwee, in conjunctions with the regional Young Farmers Competition. Hororata entered three teams in the competition, which included general knowledge, first aid, animal care, physical obstacles, labelling vegetables, and guess what/who modules. A special mention goes out to the Hororata Gang (Hamish Thornley, Tom Freeman, Blake Booth/Ben Smith) who achieved notable success by qualifying for the Head To Head contest for the top seven teams. School flings open the doors… The Hororata Autumn Festival was held in early April. The festival, observing an ‘Insect’ theme (Science focus), showcased student work from a variety of essential learning areas and was part of an Open Day, whereby parents and friends of the school were invited into the school to view children’s art and to work alongside children in the classrooms as part of our ANZAC based art programme. Bealey Road, Hororata R D 2 Darfield  Telephone (03) 3180 803  Fax (03) 3180 682  E-mail: [email protected] Where are we at…    School Roll… The School Roll as at Wednesday 13 May 2015 is 59 children incl. Piwakawaka – 16, Kea - 19, Tui - 23, Families – 40 Classroom Modernisation Project… I am pleased to report that Stage III of the Classroom Modernisation Project is all but complete, with the painters about to make way for the carpet/vinyl layers who are due to install the finishing touches in the next few weeks. The area set-aside for the new sickbay is ready and awaiting the PTA designers to come on board and add their creative flair. Reading, Writing & Maths… This year teachers across Malvern are working on a collaborative writing project as part of a Ministry of Education learning community initiative. This has/will see our teachers attending workshops and conferences alongside their counterparts from other Malvern schools, with the aim of improving the student achievement in writing. At a school level we have been further unpacking the Mathematics curriculum and are working on getting the best out of the fabulous ICT equipment our school has acquired for teaching and learning. Where are we going…    Healthy, Confident and Competent Young People… Last year our school adopted the SportStart programme as the focus of our Physical Education Programme. This year all Malvern schools have adopted SportStart as their foundation PE programme. This sees teachers across the region working together to learning about the new programme. To complement this new way of learning there will be several amendments and additions to the traditional Malvern Sports Programme. Parents will see changes to the annual Winter Tournament, athletics and in the next few years the introduction of new events for younger students. New Beginnings… We are currently working with the Hororata Playcentre and their guiding body, the Canterbury Playcentre Association re the relocation of the local Playcentre from the Hororata Community Hall onto the school site. The proposal began in 2010 after the infamous Hororata Earthquake and is now picking up momentum and we seem to have agreement by all parties that this is a positive move. The Board of Trustees, Ministry of Education and Playcentre are currently working together to finalise details around the Playcentre’s footprint on our site, rentals/lease, access etc. It is my hope that the Playcentre will be onsite by the end of the year. Looking forward… The following events loom on the school’s horizon and have traditionally had a strong PTA involvement: Hororata Cross Country Friday 15/pp18 May 2015, Hororata Domain (11:00am onwards) Hororata Speech & Poetry Competition Friday 29 May 2015, School Library (1:30pm onwards) Points for Discussion  Classroom Modernisation Project – Sickbay  Healthy, Confident and Competent Young People  Hororata Cross Country Attachments  School Planner (T215) Bealey Road, Hororata R D 2 Darfield  Telephone (03) 3180 803  Fax (03) 3180 682  E-mail: [email protected] School Planner (T215) Subject Location TERM ONE (BEGINS) CURRICULUM - Bus Safety Date Mon 20/04/2015 Hororata Tue 21/04/2015 CANTERBURY – Duathlon (Entries Close) Tue 21/04/2015 ANZAC DAY Mon 27/04/2015 PTA MTG Wed 29/04/2015 CANTERBURY – Duathlon Ruapuna Raceway, Christchurch Thu 30/04/2015 PERSONNEL - Primary Maths Workshop (Foster) Christchurch Wed 6/05/2015 BOT MTG Hororata Thu 7/05/2015 CURRICULUM - National Young Leaders Day (NYLD) Air Force Museum, Christchurch Tue 12/05/2015 HORORATA – Cross Country Hororata Fri 15/05/2015 HORORATA – Cross Country (PP) Hororata Mon 18/05/2015 MALVERN – Cross Country (Entries Close) Tue 19/05/2015 MALVERN – Cross Country Glentunnel Domain Mon 25/05/2015 PERSONNEL - Primary Maths workshops (Foster) Christchurch Tue 26/05/2015 MALVERN – Cross Country (PP) HORORATA – Speech & Poetry Competition Wed 27/05/2015 Hororata Fri 29/05/2015 QUEENS BIRTHDAY Mon 1/06/2015 CANTERBURY – Cross Country (Entries Close) Tue 2/06/2015 CURRICULUM - ICAS (Science) Wed 3/06/2015 MALVERN – Speech Competition Sheffield Thu 4/06/2015 CANTERBURY – Cross Country Halswell Quarry, Christchurch Wed 10/06/2015 CURRICULUM - ICAS (Writing) Mon 15 - Fri 19/06/2015 CURRICULUM - ICAS (Spelling) Tue 16/06/2015 CANTERBURY – Cross Country (PP) Wed 17/06/2015 BOT MTG Hororata Thu 18/06/2015 ADMINISTRIVIA - School Reports (P) Hororata Mon 22/06/2015 ADMINISTRIVIA - School Reports (H) Wed 24/06/2015 PTA MTG Hororata Wed 24/06/2015 ADMINISTRIVIA - Parent Teacher Conferences Hororata Mon 29/06 – Wed 1/07/2015 HORORATA - Celebration Assembly Hororata Fri 3/07/2015 TERM TWO (ENDS) Fri 3/07/2015 Bealey Road, Hororata R D 2 Darfield  Telephone (03) 3180 803  Fax (03) 3180 682  E-mail: [email protected]