Kia ora e te whānau, 

We are now nearly halfway through the school term! It is hard to believe that the term has gone so fast. This next couple of weeks will be very busy as we have our Meet the Teacher afternoon, two Duffy Book assemblies, Super Smash Cricket, Science Road Show outing, just to name a few. Our teachers will also attend professional development regarding PR1ME Maths. Please keep an eye on our events calendar to stay on top of everything. 

We are fortunate to have our free school lunches from our normal supplier (Loxies) still operating this year. All tamariki are provided with a healthy meal at lunch time. It is important that they have breakfast at home and a snack for morning tea, as this helps them to focus, be tolerant and engage positively with each other.

It is amazing how the seasonal changes are happening so quickly. The mornings are cooler and our tamariki are snuggled into their winter hoodies on arrival. Due to the cooler weather and many of our students having coughs and colds, we have decided that this will be our last week of swimming. 

Make sure you bring your togs right up until Friday, 14 March to make the most of the last week. We will have our non-competitive swimming fun days during this week too. Due to the change in weather, the teachers will decide when to hold these. They will include some fun activities into the normal swimming times to finish the season on a high. 

In Room Pīwakawaka these past two weeks we have been working on our handwriting, counting and adding, reading and swimming skills. We have been having fun in the pool learning how to float on our backs and our fronts and how to pick things up from the bottom of the pool. The students have been enjoying dance and music classes and have really grown in confidence in both classes. All the students have been doing a great job so far this year and we have been working hard on learning a lot of new skills and practicing our school values every day. We look forward to seeing what the rest of the term will bring. 

A large wasp nest was discovered in our orchard last week. This lent itself to an inquiry into how wasps live and why we have them. Ruma Tūī students wrote questions and researched the answers before presenting their findings at assembly last week.  

A single pumpkin seedling was planted during the last week of school in 2024 by Mrs Baigent and some of the Ruma Tūi students. The pumpkin plant must have had enough sun and water as it has grown into a large vine with many orangey-yellow flowers. Little pumpkins are replacing the flowers and the insects, like bumble bees, are the pollinators. We are now seeing large pumpkins appearing everywhere. 

Our students were very excited to meet Ruth two Fridays ago to try their hand at playing guitar, ukulele, keyboard and the drums. If you would like your child to have music lessons run by MusiqHub,  you can contact them directly to arrange this. Remember that the lessons will be right here at school, during school time, so no rushing around after school to transport your child. Got to: musiqhub.co.nz

Here is an easy way to help Motumaoho School. Ask your friends, family, and neighbours to help you collect the Yummy Fruit Stickers. Bring your full sheets to school and you will be given new ones. It is that easy.

Shop at New World, Pak 'n' Save, or participating Four Square stores. Purchase Yummy apples, either bags with cut-out labels or individual apples with Yummy stickers. 

Ruma Pīwakawaka - Blake and Leah

Ruma Tūi - Huirua and Jack

Caught being Good: Ryan, Waiparemoa and Dylan

We continue to have difficulties with head lice appearing at school. Please keep checking your child/ren’s hair regularly to ensure that these persistent visitors are contained. Please see the information sheet attached.

If your child is turning five in the next six (6) months, please ensure you enrol them as soon as possible. If you know of any families looking to enrol their child/ren, please provide them with our contact details.

Please collect enrolment packs from the office, or email office@motumaoho.school.nz. We also have our enrolment details on our school website. Click here for online enrolments.

Happy birthday to the following students and staff. We wish you a wonderful year ahead.