Tumuaki Talk
Kia ora koutou, Greetings to all parents, whānau, students, and staff
Firstly, welcome back to the fourth and final term of 2025. The year has flown by, and we have all been working hard. We hope that you all had some special time as whānau and cherished the memories.
During the break, the teaching team came together to review the HEARTWISE Values and how they relate to us as adults, ensuring that we, as staff, positively role-model the Values daily. We also unpacked our teaching and learning over the year in preparation for the Education Review Office's visit in December.
Later in the term, we will be visited by the Education Review Office. This is an essential time for us to reflect on what we are doing, and further identify ways to improve the school.
Board of Trustees:
Next week we have our first meeting for the newly elected Board. This will be held on Tuesday, 14 October at 6.30 pm in the staffroom. This will be an informal introduction to the role of the BOT, the school and various roles within the Board.
Holiday Works:
During the holidays, we have had several projects underway. Firstly, Mr Thomas has almost completed the outdoor learning space behind our meeting room. This is looking amazing and is already being utilised. Thanks, Mr Thomas, for the awesome mahi! We also had the team from Dream Builders tidying up areas of hazardous concrete and making the areas more functional and safe. These areas are looking awesome - a big thank you to the Dream Builders Team. Finally, we have the MOE and ARCO adding the new classroom. This promises to be a fantastic learning space as soon as it is ready. Please see the images in the newsletter later on for these spaces.
Ice Skating:
Unfortunately, the ice skating company has cancelled coming to Riverview School due to personal reasons. We will put this payment against the 2026 stationery for your child. If you wish to be reimbursed or your child is in Year 6, please send your bank account details to accounts@riverview.school.nz to arrange a refund. We are disappointed by this inconvenience.
PTA:
Thank you to the parents who attended the PTA meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Daniel Williams was elected Chairperson, Uta Claydon was elected Treasurer, and Judith Payton was elected Secretary. Their next meeting is Tuesday 18 November at 5.30pm in the staffroom.
Sporting Success:
Over the first week of the holidays, Jaxon Kruithof competed at the New Zealand Inline Hockey Championships in New Plymouth with his Auckland Vipers under-10 team, bringing home a silver medal in their division after a very close final game against the South Island Lions team. (Blake was also in this team)
Former students Blake Kruithof and Levi Wood also competed in the under-12 division, bringing home a gold medal with their Auckland Vipers team, thanks to an amazing final game in which they beat the Hamilton Devils.
Last term, we held a Poll to ascertain if whānau were interested in an evening of Learning about the Online World and ways to support our tamariki best. On 23 October, we have Rob Cope coming to talk with whānau. Tickets are free and very limited. Since advertising two days ago, 110 tickets have been booked. Please see the flyer below for further information on the event.
Yesterday, Steph, Uta, and Renee spent the mporning repairing student's sunhat for Term 4. Thank you to these ladies who did a fantastic job. Much appreciated.
Attendance:
Each fortnight, we will have a spotlight on attendance, sharing our data, trends and observations.
This week, being the first week of the term, we have 94% of children attending daily. For the year, we currently have on average 91% of children attending daily.
Regarding our tamariki attending regularly, the percentage of children attending at least 90% of the school year (this is 9 days per fortnight) is 64%.(ie. 64% of children are attending 9 out of 10 school days). Our data clearly indicates that the highest impact on this data is having a holiday during term time.
Poll: Our three Core Goals:
We have 3 strategic priorities that support and reinforce the National Education and Learning Priorities. These are our goals or focus areas and we refer to them as the 3Cs.
Connections:
Our first goal is to make Connections, and this is achieved through effective communication and engagement, leading to positive relationships that support learning.
Do you think think it is important that the school, staff, tamariki and whānau work hard to develop strong Connections (Relationships) to better develop strong and supportive learning enviroment?
Do you feel the school has held opportunities or events to support connections with parents / whānau e.g. learning nights, BBQ, sports events.
What other ways could we build stronger connections to support student learning and wellbeing?
Select up to 6 options
Does your child enjoy school?
Culture:
Our second goal is Culture, which involves developing and sustaining our school culture to ensure that we are HEARTWISE and actively strive to incorporate Tikanga, Te Āo Māori, and Te Reo into all aspects of our school culture.
Do you see HEARTWISE values being lived out in our school every day?
Do you feel that Tikanga and Te Āo Māori are respected and reflected in our school’s daily practices?
Do you think that the school values all cultures of tamariki?
Curriculum:
Our third goal is around the Curriculum. Riverview School learners will achieve their best through quality teaching, reliable data and targeted planning. Teachers will upskill in all areas of the curriculum and be well supported and resourced to ensure best practice across all class levels.
Do you think regular attendance is important to your child's learning?
Do you think that Structured Literacy has supported better understanding for your child in literacy learning?
Do you think that Structured Maths has supported better understanding for your child in maths learning?
Ngā mihi
Eamonn Kelly
Principal
We are considering revamping our HEARTWISE Values to make them more vibrant and child-friendly, to be displayed around the school. Our proposal is outlined above, and we are creating one for each Value as listed below.
Do you think we should make these into our HEARTWISE Values Poster?
OSCAR and OSCAR Holiday Programme
OSCAR Holiday Programme
OSCAR children from our local community enjoyed 2 fun filled weeks of school holiday fun. We began the holidays with digger viewing as the old concrete was removed from the school. Our kids were fully entertained in our action packed hall full of toys, games, baking sessions and arts 'n crafts, plus very well behaved as we weren't able to go outside for the first 3 days. Trioceans taught our children about the marine creatures and their adaptations to the marine environment and global warming.
We walked the hidden waterfall trail, went to the movies, and inline skating.
Our after school sessions are having a weekly 'super fun session' over the coming weeks. The first one is next Thursday 16 October for our first LEGO Challenge session. We have a $15 special for your first ever session at our after school programme. See the flyer below. Bookings essential.
Scholastic Book Fair - Week 5
This term we will be having our annual Scholastic Book Fair in Week 5. We close the library and set up a lovely selection of books, diaries, and stationery items for the children, yourselves, other family members, and friends to come along, browse and buy. This is a great time to get that Christmas/ birthday shopping started. Wednesday 5 November is 'Parents only night' from 4.00pm to 6.30pm. Thursday 6 and Friday 7 November sales will be available from 3.00pm to 4.30pm and final sales available on Saturday 8 November 10am to 12 noon.