Bombay School Newsletter 11 February 2021 (#2)  ~ Our Best Always ~  Ake Runga ~

Dear parent(s) and friends of the school

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the home 'n school team and the pool committee for coming to our rescue by paying for the sandblasting and the repainting of the pool.  We are thankful to you for your support of these committees, which enabled them to have the funds to support us.  We know that it looks like a backward step to refurbish the current pool while trying to raise funds for a new one, however, our prime goal is to ensure that our swimming programmes can continue uninterrupted. By refurbishing the current pool we have bought us more time to fundraise for a new one.  The pool committee will be meeting 17 February at 7pm in the staffroom. All Welcome.

We had a great start to the school year. The students are settled and they are learning the routines in their new classrooms.  Thank you parents for providing the stationery and in some cases new chromebooks.

We are always keen to hear how parents feel about way school started and we welcome any ideas/ suggestions or tips for improvement that you may have. Kindly use this link if you have anything to share with me.

Meet the teacher

The Lions Club have graciously offered their BBQ for families to cook their own food on.  Bring your meat and feel free to use the BBQ.

Home and school will have 300 sausages on sale for $2 each.  (Please don't rely on this for dinner because it could be sold out quickly).

The games will be loosely structured.  Feel free to organise a team. Dads v Mums. Kids v Parents etc etc. We are looking forward to catching up with you then.

18 Feb 3pm It would be great if we could all gather on the field, have a byo picnic and play some games. Bring the family - everyone is welcome. Stay as late as you wish. Let your hair down, team-up and challenge each other to some awesome team building games. All teachers have been asked to stay on site from 3 to 5pm. Some may have family commitments after that and others may wish to stay later as well. The hope is that we can put faces to names and establish connections in a relaxed environment. Let's kick the year off to a good start.

Apanui School in flames.

 Apanui school in Whakatane suffered a devastating fire recently.  We were very saddened to hear about the loss of 8 classrooms and their staffroom.  At our assembly this week we spoke with our children about having compassion.  This is one of our school values.  We spoke about Nathaniel, a boy who was born with treacher-collins and how he felt when people did not treat him compassionately.  We spoke about putting ourselves in someone's shoes so that we could understand how they felt.  At our next assembly on 23 February we would like to hold a coin trail for Apanui School.  We would like to show them that we are compassionate and that we know they must be hurting at the moment.  It would be wonderful if your child could bring a coin (any colour) to lay down in a trail on the hall stage.  We will take a picture of it and then send Apanui a beautiful card, signed by all of us, together with a cheque.  We would like them to know that we care.

What does the school spend the school donations on?

I was recently having a good chat with one of our dads about what we use your school donations for.  He was alarmed to hear that decile 9 schools receive less funds from the government than a lower decile school.  For example our school receives $530k per year, while a lower decile school in Pukekohe gets $1 million plus.  We thus turn to our parents for donations and to home and school to help us fundraise, so that we can run our school to the standard that we can best afford.  All the money, from the government, from parent donations and fundraising are put into our operations budget.  Home and school holds an amount of funds to spend on subsidising camps and the occasional requests from teachers for extra support.  What follows is a list of the things we spend that money on.  No doubt you will see that your donation is stretched far and wide. Your donation, your help on camps and trips, serving on various committees and helping out in the classroom, all helps. We are truly grateful for your role in keeping our ship sailing. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Paul & Team

House T-Shirts are available to order again this year. These are not compulsory but do look great at sports events. $16 each. Orders close next Wednesday 17 February. Order forms are available from the school office or print off the attachment sent home with this newsletter.

Yummy Hot Cross Buns available to order every week until Easter.  We will continue to do hot cross bun orders each week until Easter. Please get your order in by Wednesday morning, commencing Wednesday 17 February. The hot cross buns will be delivered to your eldest child’s class on Friday afternoon. Order forms will be sent home weekly with your eldest child. Next weeks orders close Wednesday 17 February and will be delivered to school on Friday 19 February.

BOMBAY NETBALL 2021 Registrations have been extended until Saturday 13th February 2021 Click here to find Registration form:   https://www.sporty.co.nz/bombaynetballclub/ Senior Trials start 22nd Feb Junior/Intermediate Trials  are 3rd & 4th March FutureFern season will start later in the year Any queries please contact: Future Fern Co-ordinator (Year 3 & 4) – Kelly Jones kellyj@franklinlaw.co.nz Junior Club Captain (Year 5-8) - Ruth Bodley ruth@bodley.co.nz  or Sarah Mataroa  sarahm.personaltraining@gmail.com Senior Club Caption (Year 9 and up) - Jo Tilyard   troyjoteah@gmail.com Bombay Junior Rugby

CLEANER NEEDED - Do you love making a home look clean and beautiful? Say 3 hours a fortnight in a rustic, elegant, eco-earth home in the Bombay Hills. Phone Esther - 236 0393 or email esther@estherkivi.com to find out more.

GARDENER NEEDED - Do you love making gardens look tidy and beautiful? Choose your own hours to suit while your children are at School? I need someone creative to help with weeding and pruning in my peaceful paradise in the Bombay Hills.  Phone Esther - 236 0393 or email esther@estherkivi.com to find out more.