Busy Times

Like most years, 2016 is proving to be busy and hectic for Merivale School's community. We are at the beginning of Term 4 wondering how we got three quarters of the way through the school year so quickly.

The last term of the year is always an extremely busy term. The start of the warmer weather brings a return of swimming and athletic lessons and a general desire of pupils and staff to escape the four walls of the classroom to explore the outside environment. We also prepare to farewell our departing Year 6 students who are ready to enter into the next phase of their educational journey.

This term sees the introduction of the Merivale School Rock Band. We are excited to see how this progresses. Six of our students have started sailing lessons again and shortly we are about to participate in touch rugby competitions and an inaugural Summer Basketball League. I have a funny feeling Term 4 is going to fly by faster than the rest of the year!!

Getting Excited

Wow I can't believe we are back to the start of another year. It is very exciting to be thinking about all of the children coming back next week. I'm sure there are a few parents out there who are also quite excited as well :)

This year we are starting with seven classrooms -five in the mainstream and two in Ngā Hau e Whā. However Room 7 will be starting the year in the library as work after the fire last year is not yet complete.

I hope to see you all back next Tuesday on the 2nd of February.

Welcome Back to 2015

It's always an exciting time of the year when school starts back. It's wonderful to welcome the children back and to hear all about what they have been up to over the summer. This year has been no different. We started back for 2015 on Wednesday and many new children and families joined our team.

There was one change in our staff team. Whaea Amber won a position as an RTLB in Rotorua so sadly won't be coming back to Merivale. The silver lining for us, however, meant we are delighted to welcome Whaea Bonnie to our team. 

We are really excited about what 2015 is going to bring for us.

Launching The Vale Way

Next week is a big week in the life of Merivale School. We are formally launching the "VALE Way" to our community through our production. The meaning of the "VALE Way" will be cleverly told through a story involving song and dance. We hope many people can come to the launch at 5.30pm on Thursday 30th of October. 

Basketball Success

All the best to our Chiefs and Warriors basketball teams who play in the finals of their respective basketball finals tonight. It's been a fantastic season for all three of our basketball teams who all made the finals - definitely a first for Merivale School.

Connecting With School Leaders

I am currently attending the New Zealand Principals Federation Conference in Invercargill. It's great meeting so many wonderful school leaders from throughout New Zealand and hearing of all the exciting learning opportunities happening in our schools.

Wow Term 3 has gone by super fast. It has been an exciting term for Merivale School with cultural, sporting and academic achievements being celebrated throughout.
We were very proud of our choir who performed with much passion at the Tauranga Primary Schools' Festival earlier in the term. The theme this year was stars and the performance of our children showed just what stars they are.
Our netballers and basketballers have had an amazing term with our netballers reigning as the inter school champions within our cluster. The basketballers won the Western Bay 7s competition and all three of our teams made it through to finals in their Friday night competition.
We have been working hard for our launch of our VALE Way behaviour programme early in Term 4. This stunning programme will be launched through a school production and we hope many of our wider community can attend to celebrate this stunning launch.
We are really looking forward to a fantastic Term 4 and continuing with the fabulous successes we have seen already this year.