MBAS Newsletter, Term 1, Week 3, 21st Feb 2025

MBAS Calendar

Kia Ora tātou – Greetings to you all

From the Primary Years

Mā pango, mā whero
Ka oti ai te mahi
When everyone plays their part, success is the result.

Kia ora rā e te whānau,

Nau mai, hoki mai - Welcome back:)
As you will have seen on my day 1 dojo post, we have had a great start to 2025!  While some of our students were a little anxious and may have shed a tear or two, for the most part everyone settled into their classes with enthusiasm and energy!  Our primary teachers were able to support those students that needed a little extra reassurance and now they have two weeks of school under their belts:)  

Growing Good People
Whanaungatanga/Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Relationships/Treaty of Waitangi

At this time of the year we think it is really important to spend time getting to know our teacher (especially if we have a new one), our classmates and the new routines and expectations.  The intention is for students to feel confident as a learner, to feel like they belong and they are valued:)  Every teacher has their own way of creating whanaungatanga in their classrooms.  Most classes will also create a class treaty - alongside learning about the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  This year all of our students are decorating a feather that will be added to their Primary House Kākahu.  These will be displayed in M0 alongside their tally of house points. I can’t wait to see them!

Growing Good Learners
Marautanga Hou - New Curriculum
We have been working hard to ensure we are able to implement the new curriculums for English and mathematics and statistics from day 1,  in order to meet the Ministry of Education expectations.  While we have been engaged in structured literacy for a wee while now, the English curriculum encompasses much more than this (with some changes:)  We are also engaged and positive about the learning for the new mathematics and statistics curriculum.  

Kauhoe - Swimming
Swimming programmes are well underway and students are preparing for the year 4-6 swimming sports on Friday 28th February.  You may be wondering why we are not having a year 3-6 swimming sports…over the past few years many of our year three students have needed a lot of adult assistance in the pool and some are not ready for the competitive nature of swimming sports.  This year we will be having a year 1-3 swimming carnival on Friday 14th March.  As always whānau are welcome to come and support.

Growing Good Leaders
Ngā Kaiarataki Tākaro, Ngā Kaiarataki Tuaono & Ngā Kaiarataki Whare - Play Leaders, Y6 Leaders & House Leaders
Mrs Lidgard has met with students who have volunteered to be play leaders in our primary years.  They will be on a rotation timetable each week ready to lend a hand and guide our tamariki during play times. 

Ms Bevan has also set up our year 6 leaders to support with different duties depending on their interests and strengths.  Duties include - raising the flag, running the daily notices for primary classes on Google Meet, activities in the wharekai during break times, supporting in house meetings and running primary assemblies just to name a few! 

He aha atu? - What else?

• Attendance:  Please let our attendance officer know if your child is going to be absent & a brief explanation for the absence i.e. Hira is going to be away as she is sick (has a medical appointment, is going to a tangi/funeral, we have family visiting).  The importance of the explanation is so we can apply the correct Ministry code.  Attendance is a high priority for the Ministry across Aotearoa. 
• Text: 021 0255 6802
• Email: attendance@mbas.ac.nz
• Phone: (07) 866 5916

Ngā mihi,

Hira & Pip

Attendance Matters!

Attendance Action Plan

The Associate Minister of Education has announced an action plan for attendance. The plan is an evolving set of initiatives that work together and support existing efforts to lift school attendance.

Recent initiatives include:

• introducing a Stepped Attendance Response to guide school actions for each level of absence
• strengthening accountability of school boards
• enabling information-sharing to support multi-agency attendance support
• a public awareness campaign on the importance of school attendance
• launching an attendance dashboard and regular reporting of daily attendance figures so we all know the number of students attending each day and keep focused on increasing regular attendance
• sharing with schools and parents refreshed health guidance to support good decisions about school attendance.

We will provide updates on further actions as decisions are made.

Host Families Required

MBAS is seeking interest from families to host international high school students (Years 11-13) in your home.  

Hosting provides your family opportunities to learn more about other cultures and enable your children to develop as global citizens through international connections.  Your family provides hosted students exposure to the wonders of New Zealand.

If you want to know more, please email (international@mbas.ac.nz); phone Jodie (Homestay Coordinator) on 0272489187.

Kindo - Now Live for all School Payments

M1 - Writing

Haze brought in a pet frog today and also some live bugs for our class frog Kahu. This added to our class focus around frogs. We have been extending our knowledge everyday. Today we wrote about frogs in our writing book.

M3 - Self Portraits

Our self portrait art pieces are coming along beautifully, they will hopefully be fully complete and up on our wall by the end of this week for you to come and see. We have worked really hard to portray our faces in proportion, we have experimented with mixing paint colours using a palette.

Room 31 - Reading

Fluency reading on Wednesday, and then ending the day with a story by Stu in the library 😊

Y7/8 Technology Paper Tower Construction

Year 7 & 8 Technology students progressed through a design process which involved; investigation, design sketching then testing their prototype design ideas before competing in a tallest tower competition.  Points are generated by supporting a bottle of water and by using the least amount of paper.  Limited to 10 pieces of A4 and 1 meter of tape, students worked in pairs or groups of three, combining the best features of their design sketches into one prototype.  Testing uncovered design flaws including; support, structural integrity and poor geometry.  The winning tower measured 800mm.

Hei 7 - Migration

The year 7 and 8 classes are learning about Migration. They are learning about the migration of the Godwits. Here are drawings of Godwits that Hei 7 have done.

Y7/8 Swimming Sports

The Year 7 and 8 Swimming Sports Day was a fantastic event filled with excitement, competition, and school spirit.

Cheering from the sidelines created an electric atmosphere as friends and teachers encouraged each competitor. Whether racing for first place or simply giving it their best shot, everyone played a part in making the day memorable. The event wrapped up with fun relays and the house winner was Buffalo.

You can find full results here.

Y7-8 Swimming Sports Records Broken

Y9 and 10 English

Knowing who you are as a learner is important... letting your teachers and friends know who you are as a learner is also important. So this year the Year 9 and 10 English classes have started out by exploring who they are, what their dominant personality traits are and what their success word is. They have then worked hard to create their own 'high five' which will be displayed in their classroom as a reminder of their character and strengths as the year goes on. 

Y13 Outdoor Education - Surfing

Mr Butler and Miss McLean's Outdoor Ed class enjoyed being in the water this week learning the safety around surfing for their Outdoor Education program.

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Latest Plane Build Log 19.2.25

Wing Skins, Mid Fuselage Section, Firewall. Open the photos to read the full log.

Y10 Automotive Class Request

The year 10 Automotive class is on the lookout for donations of old 2 and 4 stroke engines to pull apart and reassemble. If you have an engine lying around that is going or not going and you no longer need it, get in touch with George Fletcher  fletcherg@mbas.ac.nz These could be anything from lawn mowers, weed eaters, chainsaws, outboard motors, generators. If in doubt, let me know what you have got!

Wood Tech Request

Kia ora all.

It's that time of the year again when I am on the hunt for any donations of native wood or other types of untreated wood for the Wood Technology department at Mercury Bay Area School. This wood allows students to add visual interest to their learning outcomes. If you have anything around we would greatly appreciate it. Please contact Dean Spyve using the following email address:

spyved@mbas.ac.nz
Or leave a message with the office and I can call you back.

MBAS Netball Muster

MBAS NETBALL MUSTER/TEAM ALLOCATION

All keen MBAS netball players, coaches, umpires, managers and parent helpers are required to come together. 

When - WEDNESDAY 5th MARCH
Where - Moewai Sports Centre Netball Courts

Times - Years 1-8 - please meet at the courts 3.30pm sharp
Years 9-13 - please meet at the courts 4.30pm sharp

Purpose - Meet and greet, explain how things will work this season, allocate & organise teams, organise managers/coaches, organise umpires and have some fun on the courts.

What to bring - Sports shoes, clothing suitable to run around in, water bottle, and hair tied up (if required). 

If you have a team already organised or mates you want to play with bring them all along and we can get your team sorted.
 
Any questions or queries please email MBASnetball@outlook.comThanks and look forward to seeing you all!

Nurses Notes

Ki ora Kura Whanau

Please check your young people for scabies, it is often around at this time of year and loves heat and young skin !!

Please contact me if you have any concerns or need the treatment cream.

Thanks for reading the info below

Community Notices

MB Junior Rugby AGM

Expression of interest - Potential IRANZ Development Course for the Thames Valley Rugby Football Union

Ref: Expression of interest - IRANZ Development Course for the Thames Valley Rugby Football Union. 

The proposal from IRANZ is a 2.5 day event with the Intermediate Coaches Course running from Friday 5pm and all day Saturday and Sunday (with a break on Saturday afternoon for Club Rugby commitments). They would be running the players course concurrently, Saturday and Sunday, with a focus on individual skills, positional coaching, and game understanding. It would also include presentations on HP Mindset, Planning & Preparation, intro to Nutrition, and areas to Maximising their potential. 

There is an option to give a presentation to parents as well, to discuss the key messages we are giving to their son/daughter, and how they can assist to “Maximise their potential”. This can be scheduled for Sun am when they drop off at the course, while the players are on the field with coaches. 

They can also run a kiddies skills clinic from 4:30pm - 6:30pm on Friday evening if there is demand. This would be for the 10 - 13 age group.

The concept is that IRANZ brings courses out into the community, to make them more affordable and accessible, especially to clubs and schools. They will be a progression toward our IRANZ courses that we host at their base at NZCIS in Wellington, for any that would like to then progress their careers further. 

Per person pricing would be as follows: 
Children $35 (2 hours) – 50+ Kids
Player $495 (2 days - Sat & Sun) – 30+ players
Coach $525 (2.5 Days – Fri pm, Sat & Sun) 15+ Coaches

All course material and IRANZ resources are included in the price. Players and coaches will be responsible for their own lunch and accommodation. IRANZ would bring their top resource coaches, such as Colin Cooper, Aaron Mauger, Nehe Milner-Skudder, to name a few.  

To show an expression of interest, please fill out this 30 second form https://forms.gle/39sKHZ3PCg5hGs9U7 . Please understand if we do not get the numbers, this will not be achievable. 

More about IRANZ here https://www.iranz.co.nz/

Please note this is not a TVRFU facilitated event. We are simply testing the waters to see if there is appetite for this opportunity. If this can be shared wide and far that would be awesome. 

DOC Presentation for Seaweek at the Cinema

Mercury Bay Library

Football Registrations 2025

Boys Brigade Kuaotunu

April Holiday Programme - Hockey

Skool Loop - One Stop School Information App