Newsletter 2, Term 3 2022

Principal’s Message

Kia ora koutou katoa and warm Pasifika greetings,

Praise the Lord for the sun and warmer days and especially his covering over us as a community during the very cold and wet winter we have had. I can’t believe it is the end of week 6 already. Time flies when you are having fun! It has been an honour and privilege to take the lead in Sita’s absence. I want to thank the Board and staff for their prayers, and their faith in me, and I give glory to our ever-so-faithful Father above, for being with me and the team as we continue to paddle our waka forward. Over the last weeks, we have been working with

1. SHARP MINDS- As we continue to work through our Local heroes’ inquiry our students have been learning through interviews, research, questioning, video, and a wide variety of texts to develop a real sense of attributes and characteristics that are needed to start a business. This will lead nicely into our Term 4 Inquiry where students hopefully will produce products to sell at our Gala. Watch this space whanau! We look forward to celebrating Tongan language & Maori language weeks in the coming weeks & where we will visit the Library and Mangere Arts center to participate in Language activities with other local schools.
2. STRONG BODIES- A huge congratulations to our 6 families that participated in the Project Wy ‘Tough Mud Run’ last weekend in Rotorua! Well done for the commitment & efforts during the training sessions and for completing the run! This will be an experience that your child will never forget!
3. GOOD HEARTS- Both students and staff are enjoying the learning from our Bible and Local heroes and unpacking ‘characteristics’ that make them leaders and role models, don’t forget to continue to ask your child what and who they have been learning about and the impact the Leaders have made in the families and community.

Mask Wearing
Current COVID-19 case numbers emphasise the importance of everybody doing the basics well to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and winter illnesses such as the flu. Wearing a mask remains one of the best measures to reduce the transmission of infectious respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19. As such, the Ministries of Health and Education have strongly recommended that students Year 4 and above, wear masks indoors. Therefore, at school, we will continue with our requirement for students and staff to wear a mask during Term 3.
All the other health measures will be kept in place that slows the spread of COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette, appropriate physical distancing whenever we can, and, most importantly, please a reminder parents and caregivers, that if your child is unwell, they remain at home until they have recovered. Thank you for your support.
Pasifika Early Literacy Project (PELP)
We had our first PELP fanau fono this week. We have teamed up with Va’atele Consultants (MOE accredited) to participate in this project where we use Dual Language books (Ministry of Education) to further engage in reading and storytelling with our students. Room 3, 4 & 5 classes will be bringing some of these books home according to your Ethnicity with some supporting information on how you could use them if you were not at the fono. Please, do not worry if you cannot speak your own language, this could be a stepping stone for you to maybe start to use a few words with English at home. Have a go!
We have one more fono in Term 4 – Tuesday 23rd November in the evening. You can bring your children because we provide supervision for them and food! How cool is that? So look out for the reminder notice early next term.

I was reminded earlier in the week that‘ This God, our God, is the One we can trust. Theres no one like him anywhere, ever. He guides, comforts, supplies, strengthens and provides for us because we are his children, and he adores us. Lets continue to seek his counsel.

Have a blessed weekend, Alofa tele atu
Sisi Key
Acting Principal

Isaiah 54: 10
‘For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain, my covenant of blessing will never be broken’

The Calendar

Recent Events

Parent Partnership Meeting

Thank you to all our whanau who attended their child’s PPM interview either face to face or online through Zoom. This was an opportunity for you to ask questions and to know where your child’s learning progress is at and what next steps you are needing to do from home. We had a total of 76/91 children who were scheduled and attended for their PPM and that was a percentage of 84% overall. TINO PAI!!

Soccer

Another milestone was achieved with the entry of our first Rise Up soccer team. The inter-school tournament was played at Walter Massey Park gathering the best soccer players in our MOSA (Mangere, Otahuhu Sports Association) cohort; all striving for bragging rights.
Our team consisted of a mixture of Year 4 students with a few Year 5 & 6 students.
Year 4’s – Ulaiasi, Riley, Genesis, Knolan, Mosese,
Year 5’s – Bronze, Arthur
Year 6’s – Ayaan,
The boys played with pride and determination. Each game showcasing resilience and perseverance both on defence and offence. A massive thank you to the Samy, Tapuosi, Henry, Laulusa, Peauafi whanau who supported us on the day. Our coaching and management team Ms Debenham, Mrs Faga & Ms Laura – Ngā mihi.

Duffy Assembly

Rise UP tamariki were treated to the humorous theatre show ” Duffy in Bubble Trouble”; generously sponsored by Westpac. It delivered a message on the power of reading, especially during Lockdown life. Duffy and his kid sister Scruffy are sent to their Aunty’s farm. While they are free to roam and explore, the kids also have to deal with long-distance virtual learning; something that our Rise Up whanau can relate to. The show looked through the extra layers of frustration and disconnection; technology can add to learning. It was a light hearted reflection on a pretty trying time for Duffy kids. We appreciated the efforts of the 3-person cast and the message that was shared!

Bad Jelly

Last term all of our Rise Up students were very lucky to receive a free ticket to watch the Badjelly Witch – Live on stage held at the Mangere Arts Centre. It was based on a book by Spike Milligan which tells a tale of Tim and Rose’s adventure through the forest up to Bad Jelly’s castle to find Lucy, their beloved lost cow. A few crowd favourites were Mud Wiggle (the worm), Dulboot (the giant) and Jim the Eagle, adorned in gold and yellow outfit, disco dancing to help save the day. Many thanks to the Gift a Seat donations that allow the Tim Bray Theatre Company to offer free seats to our students.

Tough Guy/Gal Rotorua

Congratulations to the RUA Whanau who trained with Project Wy over 5 weeks, 2 mornings a week (Thurs 6am & Sat 7am). On Saturday 27th August these Champs took part in the TOUGH GUY AND GAL Extreme Off-road Run in Rotorua.
We entered 6 families and had 7 teams of 2; Aaliyah & Dad Luke, Thomas & Dad Tepare, Pedro & Big Cous Jerome, Onosa’i & Dad Pae, Jacob & Dad Josh, Josiah & Big Bro Lennox and Gideon & his mum Mrs Laura. The early morning trainings were not easy to attend especially on those wet and foggy mornings but they persevered and their commitment definitely paid off.

This event wasn’t just about the physical strength and endurance but also the mental toughness to push through even when you felt like your body had, had enough. They started the event together and finished together with the mentality inspired by Lilo and Stitch “Ohana means family – and no one gets left behind”. Well done to these Tough Guys and Gals!

We’d like to say thank you to the following whanau who drove to Rotorua in support of their loved ones; Papali’i-Tiria, Tiniteila -Seniloli, Martin, Titimanu, Lilo Tua-Akatea and the Fe’aos. Also a thank you to an old student Gabriel Fe’ao (Year 11) who volunteered to take part to support and encourage our students through the course.

Whanau Notices

Synergy

We have started our journey with our families in the Synergy programme. On Saturday we visited the Auckland Museum to learn about our culture & identity. We always enjoy our time with Ma’ara Maeva who is an archaeologist and teacher at the museum. We learnt a lot about the early migration, the vaka (canoe), the Marae and carvings, tukutuku patterns. An enjoyable day of learning about our cultural identity.

Support for Whanau:

The cost of living has put a lot of financial pressure on families. We have a partnership with CIDANZ -Cook Island Development Agency New Zealand. This organization is based in Mangere. They are able to provide support with food parcels and also advocate for people on WINZ benefits. If you would like more information then please contact either Grace or Cecily.

Enrolments

For our whanau who have children turning five next year please complete an enrolment form. We have spaces available for next year’s enrolment, so please let your whanau know. You can pick up an enrolment form from the office.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

The covid 19 lockdowns have prevented our community from having large gatherings and events. The AGM event was a great way to gather together as a community and celebrate our whanau engagement for the year 2021. Thank you to all our whanau for your continued commitment to our parenting programmes. Together we set up our children to succeed. Our children were so confident in singing acapella for their songs and the food was great from 275 Kai. We received lots of positive feedback and for many of our parents it was their first AGM meeting they had attended. We give praise and glory to God for His love and blessings.

ROAD SAFETY & CARPARK RULES

At Rise UP we consider your child’s safety our first priority therefore we ask that you adhere to the rules we alongside Sir Douglas Bader Intermediate have put in place. We have had a few close calls which is too many for our liking. We would like to ask that if you see any of our Rise UP parents/ caregivers parking where they shouldn’t be please kindly ask them to move along. We thank you for your cooperation.

CORRECT SCHOOL UNIFORM

It is important that our students take pride in their appearance. Please ensure your child wears the correct school uniform each day to school.

As you can probably feel the mornings are becoming a bit cooler and more crisp so we encourage you if your child doesn’t already have one please purchase them a school jersey. Size 6-16 $48.00 for Adult S-XL is $52.00 (no hoodies or printed jerseys to be worn at school) Your child can wear the summer uniform: polo and black shorts. If you wish to make an order please pay into the school account and email us proof of payment.

Rise UP Academy 12 3021 0016910 00 Ref: Childs name Code: Uniform Pref: polo or jersey e.g. Ref: SaaneH Code: Uniform Pref: sz14polo 

In winter (terms 2 & 3) they can also wear: long PLAIN BLACK tracks/pants (no prints on them) these can be brought from the Warehouse or Kmart (prices vary from $10-$20) Hats are not compulsory in terms 2 & 3 but we do encourage them to wear one if the sun is out.

Please support us by encouraging your child to wear the correct school uniform.

WATER BOTTLES ARE A MUST!!!

Your child must bring a labelled water bottle to school. We have taps available to REFILL bottles but not to drink from to avoid any spread of COVID. We thank you for your support in helping to prevent the spread of COVID in our school community. Should your child forget to bring a bottle the classroom teacher will be making contact with you.

Devotions

Whanau devotions:

Devotion topic: Heroes of the Bible – Leadership
Scripture for the term:

Matthew 20: 25-28
25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Scripture for the week:
Matthew 7: 12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

Bible Hero of the week: Ruth- service

We are learning how to serve others.
Success criteria:
• I can think of ways to serve others.
• I can help others

Prayer requests:
– Wellbeing for staff, whanau, board members.
– Enrolments- To reach our target numbers for 2023
– Sustainability plans-Rise UP Trust
– God’s continued love and guidance over us all.

Praise be to God for answered prayer