week 4 term 2 2023
Kia ora koutou,
Thank you to all parents/whaanau that attended our Online Safety Meeting last week. We had a large turnout for this and I am sure that parents learned a lot from our speaker. It was very worthwhile. Our speaker stressed the importance of parents being involved in what their children are doing online. It is your business to be as a parent, aware of what your child is doing online, what sites they are on, and who they are connecting with.
Netsafe NZ is a good source of information for parents as well.
Seven steps to help you
The seven steps from Netsafe’s Online Safety Parent Toolkit are designed to enhance your digital parenting knowledge and have been developed with parents in mind.
- Understand: Read about the potential online risks, challenges and sometimes illegal behaviour young people face to understand what may happen
- Learn: Ask your child about what they do, how they use devices and who they talk to learn about their activities. Check in regularly to see what has changed
- Explore: Take the time yourself to explore the sites, apps and technologies your child uses to improve your knowledge and understand their experience
- Agree: Create a family code with your child to agree on what they can do online including sites to visit, appropriate behaviours, privacy settings and limits
- Teach: Recognise each child has unique needs, but some online safety concepts are universal. Start by teaching yours the Five tips to help your child thrive
- Model: Be a good example to your child. Make sure you role model the sort of behaviours you want to see your child use online and offline
- Plan: Make a plan so everybody knows what to do if something goes wrong and where you will be able to get advice and support in challenging times
At school all students are to hand their phones in at the beginning of the day, they are kept in a safe place and given out again at the end of the day. If you know your child is not following that expectation then please speak with them about following the rule or keep their phone at home.
Our internet system is well monitored and locked down at school so students can not access online social media platforms, if your child is having difficulties with online issues then please work out a plan to support them at home.
There is a lot of information and sites that are published on our school facebook page to give advice and guidance to parents about social media. Many parents do not allow their children access to these sites until they are at an age where they are able to manage themselves and this is what was recommended by our speaker at our Online Safety Evening.
Ngaa mihi nui
Susan Wood - Principal
Technology and Arts, PE
Koru Badges
We congratulate our recipients of Koru Badges over the last two weeks.
“One part at a time, one day at a time, we can accomplish any goal we set for ourselves.” — Karen Casey
Bronze: Ethan Walker, Ella Hugill, Chahaana Swamy, Makua Moller, Joshua Stevens, Annabell Hardie, Braeden Crisp, Jorja Macdonald, Shayla Martin, John Ngatai.
Silver: Georgia Hall.
Gold: Hudson Hawkes, Ethan Trust, Malaya Guysayko, Kimberlee Taylor,
Platinum: Malaya Guysayko, Liam Saxton.
Rippa Rugby
On Tuesday, students represented Maeroa at the Tamariki Rippa Festival hosted by Waikato Rugby. Students competed in fast-paced games against other schools in our community. It was a great day for teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play. The teams really enjoyed their day and had a lot of fun. Thank you so much to our parents and whaanau volunteers that supported us on the day.
Rippa Rugby
Science Evening - week 6 - 31 May 2023 - 4 - 6 pm
This is a reminder to put aside some time to come to our Science Evening. Students from each class will be showing whaanau what they have learned in our Science Inquiry this term.
Our Inquiry has been "Right Before My Eyes" focusing on the changing states of matter and states of matter in our world.
Students who participate in this evening by coming along with their parent(s) or who are here speaking at their class display will earn a service koru flash.
I look forward to seeing you there for this evening, you do not have to stay for two hours just come along and have a look at the displays and talk with our students about the science they have learned.
Uniform
We have decided to permit plain black trackpants at school during term 2 and 3. These will be completely black without any logos on them. These are trackpants: not tights, not leggings, not cargo pants or black trousers.
Students that wish to wear opaque pantyhose (thick black) under their skorts may do that.
Next winter we will have trackpants available from NZ Uniforms for families to purchase, if they wish, for their children.
Our classrooms are extremely well heated so students are very warm on the cold days in their rooms.
Pink Shirt Day
Thank you to all of the parents and students that supported this day in our school. It was great to see so many of our students dressed in pink joining in.
Thank you to our Leo Club for organising this in our school.
It’s easy to assume everyone knows what bullying is. But often the term bullying is used to describe other aggressive behaviour. This can make it hard for schools, parents and whaanau, and the wider community to consistently identify and deal with bullying when it happens. Most widely-accepted definitions of bullying are based on four elements: bullying is deliberate, harmful, involves a power imbalance, and has an element of repetition.
Defining Bullying
Whether bullying is physical, verbal, or social (relational), four widely-accepted factors can be used to identify it:
- Bullying is deliberate - harming another person intentionally
- Bullying involves a misuse of power in a relationship
- Bullying is usually not a one-off - it is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated over time
- Bullying involves behaviour that can cause harm - it is not a normal part of growing up.
Bullying can happen anywhere, in person or online (cyberbullying), at any time, and can be verbal, physical or social (relational). It can be obvious or hidden.
Kids who bully use their power — such as physical strength, knowing something embarrassing, or popularity — to control or harm others. Bullying is when one student (or a group of students) keeps picking on another student, again and again, to make them feel bad. They say or do things to upset them, make fun of them, stop them from joining in, or keep hitting or punching them.
What is not bullying?
Bullying is a word often used to describe behaviour that is not actually bullying — not all verbal or physical aggression is bullying. For example:
- a one-off fight or argument, or difference of opinion between friends where there is no power imbalance and they can sort it out between themselves
- not liking someone or a single act of social rejection
- one-off acts of meanness or spite
- isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence
- using sexist or racist terms but doesn’t mean to cause harm
- theft: taking someone else’s things once is theft but not necessarily bullying.
These other behaviours may be just as upsetting and serious but may need to be dealt with in a different way. You will need to use your judgment to decide whether or not a specific incident is bullying.
At Maeroa Intermediate we take bullying of any kind very seriously. Please ensure that we are told about any incidents that occur at school.
Our school bullying policies can be viewed on our website under "About Us".
Pink Shirt Day at Maeroa Intermediate
Upcoming Events
- WIMS Hockey - 30 May Innes Common Turf Hockey
- School Science Evening 31 May Maeroa Intermediate Gym
- WIMS Arts Day - 1 June Hamilton Junior High
- WIMS Futsal - 13 June The Peak Rototuna
- WIMS Chess - 15 June Berkley Normal School
- WIMS 1st XV Rugby - 20 June Te Awamutu
- Mud Run - 22 June
- WIMS Basketball - 27 June The Peak Rototuna
Teachers in charge of these sports will be organising the teams for these fixtures.