Week 9 Term 1 - 2023
Kia ora koutou,
It is quite remarkable that next week is the last week of term 1 for 2023. This term seems to have gone so quickly with so many things happening here. We have had an interesting term with all our new students settling into our school routines and expectations, new teachers, new learning and new opportunities.
It is wonderful to see so many students getting themselves involved in the activities, sports and other opportunities we offer here at Maeroa. Participating in extracurricular activities builds teamwork, communication, relationships, and a sense of belonging, all of which help students develop socially and succeed in school. Participation in extracurricular activities demonstrates the importance of community involvement. This week alone, I have seen in our daily notices opportunities for - gymnastics, badminton, library competition, gully workshops, indoor cricket, sports break sports, chess club, water polo, Show Quest, futsal, table tennis, summer hockey, winter hockey, football, dance and drama, touch, EPRO8, basketball, indoor football, Great Barrier Island and Blue Mountain Adventure Camps, volleyball and Pasifika. What activities have your child signed up for so far this year?
The great news is that we have rebooked our school-wide camp to the Karangahake Gorge in Term 4. We will confirm class dates in August and contact those who initially volunteered to help to see if you are still available. We also have two extension opportunities for outdoor education with trips to Great Barrier Island and another to Tongariro in Term 4. Application for those trips is due back on Wednesday, 5th May, with applicants notified on Thursday, 6th May, of whether they have been allocated a space on the trip.
Next week is the last week of term, and we finish on Thursday, 6 April, at 3 pm as Friday is Good Friday. I wish you and your family/whaanau a peaceful and relaxing Easter break leading into the school break. We return for term two on Wednesday, 26 April, at 8:30 am.
We look forward to seeing all of our students return safely and ready for another great term of learning.
Ngaa mihi nui
Susan Wood - Principal
Online Safety Parent Evening
- Tuesday, 9 May at 7 pm
- All parents/whaanau of Maeroa Intermediate are welcome.
This is a very valuable opportunity for you to listen and discover new ways of managing online safety with your children. An opportunity not to be missed.
Teacher Only Day
On 24 April, we will be having a teacher-only day at Maeroa.
The 25 April is ANZAC Day and all schools in New Zealand will be shut that day.
Term 2 begins at Maeroa Intermediate
on Wednesday 26 April
Uniform
As the weather gets cooler we still expect our students to wear correct uniform to school. This means:
- correct school sweatshirt and/or school jacket, no non-uniform sweatshirts/jackets to be worn.
- correct footwear - completely black shoes not crocs and socks or sandals and socks but shoes and black or white socks. Not black shoes with white soles. Students may still wear sandals if they wish but not with socks.
- Students may wear long black or white socks if they find them warmer.
- Thick, black opaque pantyhose can be worn, not leggings but pantyhose.
- Singlets/thermals can be worn under uniforms as long as they are not showing or hanging out the bottom of shirts.
Vaping at School
We are noticing that a small number of our students think it is okay to bring a vape to school and invite their friends to join in.
This is definitely NOT okay at Maeroa Intermediate. Students who behave in this manner can expect consequences for their choices. These consequences will involve being stood down from school.
- 1st time vaping or bringing a vape - one day stand down
- 2nd time vaping or bringing a vape - two-day stand down
- 3rd time - will be a three-day stand down.
- If it happens again, the student and their parent must come before the Board of Trustees.
- It is illegal for people under the age of 18 years to purchase vapes.
- It is also illegal for vaping or smoking to take place on school grounds.
Vaping contains nicotine which can negatively affect adolescent brain development. Using nicotine in adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood and impulse control. Nicotine is highly addictive for adolescents as their brains are in a period of rapid growth and change. Adding nicotine into the mix is very dangerous.
You might be surprised that nicotine is just as addictive as heroin. Dependence on it is especially dangerous for adolescent brains, which are still developing.
Using nicotine impacts brain chemistry. It can potentially affect the parts of the brain responsible for the ability to focus and learn, make decisions and control impulses. Nicotine can also make teens more susceptible to other addictions down the road and lead to smoking traditional cigarettes as well.
Our students have all been working with the Life Education Trust this term, focused on making good choices. Our students all know about the toxins that are in vapes and the dangers they present.
Koru Badges
Congratulations to the following students who earned their Koru Badges over the last month.
Bronze: Korah Bellhouse, Alunga Seleti, Jake O'Hare, Anaya Reddy, Joshua Addatu, Madi MacGregor, Zoe Russell, Joshua Entwhistle, Zakariya Hassan, Aiden King, Harry Matson, Keaton Kitchen, Tyler Horscroft-Hughes, Javahn Leilua, Jakob Greig-Dickie, Archie Verry, Jade Mes, Hohepa Henry, John Talapati, Brodie Hoban.
Silver: Rylee George, Ruby McCluskie, Sadie May Muhlmann-Brown, Taylor Clark, Sasha Hands, Liam McLachlan, Tayla Gibbons, Ethan Sveistrup, Keiran O'Brien, David Saunders, Anaya Reddy.
Gold: Jessica Chand, Sadie May Muhlmann-Brown, Nevaeh Mathewson, David Saunders.
“People with goals succeed because they know where they're going.” — Earl Nightingale
EPRO 8
The EPro8 Challenge is an inter-school science and engineering competition. Every year over 25,000 students from throughout New Zealand take part. Students participate in a series of events: firstly within their school and then inter-school. These events are designed to promote science, engineering and problem-solving.
Two teams from our school participated in this event in our school gym yesterday. The thinking, problem-solving and necessary team work were fantastic by our teams. Our girls' team came 3rd, and our boys' were participating for the first time and did a great job.
EPRO8
Touch Rugby
A huge congratulations to both the Elite Boys' and Mrs Tawake's Maeroa All Stars mixed team for winning the finals for their division last night. I was particularly impressed with the All-Stars and the boys in the team, as they had no subs for the whole game.
Elite Boys' had another great 5 - 3 win against Fairfield Intermediate.
Well done to all of our other teams for representing Maeroa Intermediate with great sportspersonship. Touch will be happening again in term 4.
Thank you to Mrs Banks for organising and coaching and the parent/whaanau coaches who volunteered their time to support our students - you are amazing.
Kidscan Pork Pie Charity Run
Last week, Allan Bull, a man of many minis, visited our school assembly to discuss the Kidscan Pork Pie Run. Allan also brought along one of his minis to show our students. Allan will be participating in the Kidscan Pork Pie Charity Run next week.
Fifty teams will cram into MINIS and hit the road for one of our favourite fundraisers, the Pork Pie Charity Run for KidsCan. They'll travel from Paihia to Invercargill, following the route the Blondini gang took in the classic Kiwi film 'Goodbye Pork Pie', aiming to raise more than $325,000 for kids in hardship on the way.
We sold iceblocks/icecreams and chocolates last Friday at school, and our students raised $1000 to give to the Kidscan Pork Pie Run. Great work, Maeroa!
Kidscan is very generous to many schools across New Zealand, including ours.
KidsCan is Aotearoa, New Zealand’s leading charity dedicated to helping Kiwi kids affected by poverty. We help tamariki experiencing hardship by providing food, shoes, socks and health products to schools and early childhood centres across New Zealand.
Kidscan support is available to more than 200,000 tamariki in over 800 schools and 100 early childhood centres, with over 5 million items of food, clothing and health products being sent from our Auckland warehouse each year.
With these essentials, kids can participate in learning and have the opportunity for a better future.
Hamilton City School Travel Team
Transport Safety Week has been lots of fun and learning for our students. Working alongside Hamilton City Councils School Travel Team we have had all sorts of transport initiatives happening at school; Bike Skills session run by HCC, WOW (walk or wheel) Tuesday where students who got active coming to/from school went in the draw to win some awesome prizes (check out the picture of some of our winning students) and rewarded with ice blocks and popcorn on their journey home. On Thursday lunchtime, we had a visit from Busit promoting bus routes and HCC’s School Travel team engaging with students about how safe they find their journeys to and from school. The HCC’s School Travel team want to thank the Maeroa school community for being part of this week and have really enjoyed working with our polite and friendly students!
School Safe travel to School Team - Bike Safety
Gully Restoration Project
Thank you to the students and families who came to help in the gully last weekend. We had 60 people turn up - thank you so much for your support. The next working bee is Saturday, 29 April 2023.
Gully restoration working bee 25 March 2023
Bee Group - Honey Extraction
A fortnight ago, students from the Bee Group, Mrs Johnstone and Whaea Oriana, extracted the honey from our school bee hives. After being suited up and smokers ready, we checked the hives to ensure enough honey for us to take.
We use the smoker because bees release an alarm pheromone called isopentyl acetate when they sense danger. This chemical wafts through the air and alerts other bees to be ready to attack. Smoking a beehive masks this pheromone. It also calms the bees allowing us to work safely.
We also checked for signs of disease, what was happening in the hives and if the Queen is doing her job properly. Checking the hives also helps us determine what work needs to be done next time we work with the bees.
We must be careful when handling or removing the frames just in case we accidentally hurt the Queen or take her with us. We also leave some of the honey behind so that the bees have enough food for winter.
Once we have the honey-filled frames inside, we use a capping scratcher and fork to scrape the wax caps away to expose the honey. Two frames are scraped and placed into the honey extractor. Now it is time to crank the handle causing the extractor to spin. We check every so often to see if all the honey is spun off the frames.
The empty frames are then placed back into the box to be put back onto the hives. This process is repeated until all the frames have been spun.
When all the frames have been done, a container is placed at the bottom of the extractor to catch the honey.
The honey is then poured into a double sieve that catches pieces of wax and the odd bee. When all the honey is sieved, a sample is taken, and the rest of the honey is transferred into a large bucket and stored in a dark room until our results return.
Each time we extract honey, a sample has to be taken and sent to a lab to be tested for potentially deadly contamination.
All the equipment is washed down, dried and packed away, ready for us to use next season. The excess wax is left outside, away from the hives, where the bees clean up any honey left behind to take back to their hives. The wax will be cleaned and processed at a later date.
Later in the evening, when the bees have settled, Mrs Johnstone and Whaea Oriana return to school to return the boxes to the hives for the bees to make more honey. This is the final stage of "Honey Extraction".
The Bee Group
Honey Extraction - liquid gold
Basketball Coaches Needed
We have had a large number of students show interest in basketball for Term 2 and need coaches for 3 of our teams - two boys' teams and a girls' team.
Volunteer coaches are the backbone of the opportunities we offer our students playing in sports teams at our school.
We are mainly looking for someone to support our teams at games on Tuesday nights. If coaches wanted to run a mid-week training with their teams, then we have facilities and gear available at school. Referees are provided, and games are played at Fraser High or the YMCA.
This opportunity would also be great for senior high school students who are looking to add coaching to their CV.
If you are interested, please get in touch with Jacone Leslie at jleslie@maeroa.school.nz with your contact details.
School Attendance
Did you know?
- A learner who misses a week from school each term will have missed out on a year of schooling by the time they are 16 years old.
- Evidence shows that attendance is directly related to how well learners achieve in both primary and secondary school.
- Research shows that more frequent non-attendance is associated with worse well-being outcomes, including schoolwork-related anxiety, decreased sense of belonging, fewer friendships with peers, exposure to bullying and feeling like the teachers are being unfair.
- Poor well-being leads to poor attendance, and poor attendance leads to poor well-being.
- Establishing regular attendance routines early in children's schooling is essential.
From Te Ihuwaka Education Evaluation Centre NZ
School photos
