Dear Parents and Whānau,

We are excited to share the final details for our upcoming Bike-a-thon on Thursday, May 14th (Week 4). This is a whole-school event where our tamariki will connect with our local curriculum and challenge themselves on Te Awa cycle path.

The Purpose
The primary goal of this event is to get active and have fun while raising funds for technology upgrades across the school. Please do your best to fundraise and help us source new technology!

Event Logistics & Goals

Students have set personal distance goals for the trek:

3km Challenge: Pickup at Checkpoint 1. 
6km Challenge: From the Adult Riding Club to Karāpiro Domain.
12km Challenge: A return trip from the Domain back to the Adult Riding Club.

Sausage Sizzle Lunch

We will be holding a celebratory sausage sizzle at the Karāpiro Domain.

Cost: $2.00 per sausage (Pre-orders only—more information to follow).

Local Learning: While at the Domain, students will learn the local story of how Karāpiro received its name.

What Students Need to Bring
Dress to be Seen: 
Please wear bright colours or your Roto-o-rangi school shirt for high visibility on the track. 
Covered shoes must be worn.  
Include a raincoat and warm gear in case of a change of weather.
Equipment: A safety-checked bike and a well-fitting helmet.
Backpack: A small, comfortable bag containing a raincoat and a large water bottle. (Juniors will have their bags transported on the bus!)
Food: Please pack extra snacks as the students will be burning plenty of energy!

Parent Help Required
To make this day a success and ensure the safety of our students, we are calling for parent volunteers to assist.

If you can help, please complete this form and we will be in touch soon. 

Timeline for the Day (Guide Only)

9:00 AM: Students dropped at school for the bus OR students to meet directly at the Adult Riding Club. 
9:30 AM: Staggered start beginning with Juniors, followed by Seniors.
10.10 AM: Students with a 3KM goal collected and taken to the lake. 
11:00 AM Arrival at Karāpiro Domain for lunch and storytelling.
11:30 AM-12.00 PM: Students with 3km/6km goals collected by bus to return to school.
12:10 PM: Tamariki with a 12km goal begin their trek back to the Adult Riding Club.
1:30 PM:  12KM goaled students are collected from the Riding Club by bus and return to school for a late lunch. All bikes will be returned to school via trailer for afternoon pick-up.

Weather Contingency

In the event of a poor weather forecast, we will inform families and share a postponement date via our school communication channels (Facebook/Email) as early as possible.

Backup Postponement Date: Thursday, May 21st (Week 5).

Please ensure all Permission Slips are completed and returned to the school office by Tuesday, May 5th. Thank you for your continued support in helping our students reach their goals!

Kind regards,

Roto-o-rangi PTA

Zach Mercer-BoottenDeputy Principal/ Room 5 Teacher
Roto-o-Rangi School
 
 

Tena koutou katoa te whaanau o kura Roto-o-Rangi

Launchpad Term 2 starts on Wednesday 6 May at 1pm (in the break after lunch) and runs for six weeks. This term we are presenting stories about David and other kings from the Old Testament.  These sessions promote values of integrity, respect, and participation.

The programme is specifically designed Christian based curriculum delivered by trained volunteers. As it is not a MOE programme, it is purely voluntary and families must opt-in to participate. 

To attend these sessions parents need to opt in by completing this form. Those children will be reminded on a Wednesday and can choose whether they attend. If you do not complete the form and give permission for your child they cannot attend. If you have already completed the form you do not need to do it again.

Ngaa mihi mahana

Your Launchpad Team

Rachel Diprose, Mags Johnson, Gillian Diprose

Kia ora e te whaanau, 

Mr Mercer-Bootten and our PTA have been beavering away in the background, organising the Roto BIKE-A-THON!

As a whole school, we'll be hitting the Karaapiro section of Te Awa Cycleway on Thursday 14th May! Mr D would love to see all students from our school giving this a good go and showing just how much Resilience we all have!! 

Whilst we are still waiting on a few details to be passed through, we are able to ask all parents to complete the permission form here to let the PTA know just how many children will be taking part, and who will be in need of a bike to borrow. We would expect there to be a call out for parent help shortly too, so watch this space. In the meantime, please speak with your child about how far they would like to cycle, and use the form sent home before the holidays to gather donations from friends, neighbours and family! There are spare copies of this at the office too.

Week 2 - What's On

Moorena e te iwi,

There isn't much in the way of additional activities to think about this week - we do have our Bike-a-thon coming up on the 14th and have a permission form for that, but we will send/post that separately to make it easier to find.
 
Wednesday
- Kapa haka
- PTA Meeting 7pm (unsure of location so please check with PTA if you are planning to attend pta@rotoorangi.school.nz)
- Hot Food Day (see below for details)

Thursday
- Lucky Book Club orders due

Friday
- Assembly 2.10pm all welcome

Hopefully you have all read last week's newsletter. Remember, you can find the latest copy, and our school calendar, on the website and the Skool Loop app. Don't forget we have a Teacher Only Day on Friday 8th May.
 
Hot Food Wednesdays Term 2 & 3

Along with Milo Mondays, another Roto tradition is Hot Food Day during the cooler months. Every Wednesday from tomorrow, students can bring in a lunch item suitable to be heated in our pie warmer. This is purely optional, so please don't feel obligated.

A couple of senior students will organise the heating and distribution of the hot food, so it does need to meet these requirements to make it easier for them:

1. It must be able to be put directly into the pie warmer, so it must be wrapped in either tin foil or baking paper, or a glass container without a lid. The pies/sausage rolls that are bought in their own heatable plastic bag are fine.
2. It must be pre-cooked as it is only going into a pie warmer. It's being heated, not cooked, so we don't want to give our children food poisoning!
3. It must be clearly marked with the child’s name and room number. The food is put into the pie warmer at morning tea and distributed at lunchtime, so we can't expect our seniors to remember which pie belonged to which child.
4. Examples of suitable foods: pie, sausage roll, pizza, toastie, samosa, quiche, hotdog.

and just to reiterate....

• No plastic containers, no plastic wrap, no paper bags.
• No uncooked food.
• No 2 minute noodles!

Kia ora e te whaanau o Roto-o-Rangi, and welcome back to school for another fun-packed term!

We have a nice week of settling back in, so not too much in the way of additional happenings. Here's what's on:

Wednesday - Kapa Haka
Thursday - Newsletter comes home
Saturday is Anzac Day. We will have some students representing our kura at the dawn service, laying a wreath on our behalf. 
The Cambridge Cycling Festival is taking place in the centre of town on Saturday afternoon. There is still time to enter the fun, either as an adult or for your child! Click here for more info.
Monday - Anzac Day is observed with a public holiday.

A couple of additional notices: 

Milo Mondays The weather is cooling, so Milo Mondays have made a welcome return! For our newer families; our amazing PTA serve up a nice warm cup of Milo for our tamariki every monday at morning tea. In order to keep up this long-standing Roto tradition, we'd like to see them have some volunteer support to help make and serve the milo each week. If you are able to do even one Monday please email the PTA pta@rotoorangi.school.nz to hop onto the roster. They have secured plenty of Milo for the term, but would appreciate donations of marshmallows please. You can send these to the office via your child/ren.

No Hats - no need to wear a sunhat for the next two terms!

Miniball - Primary School basketball or 'miniball' registrations for Years 5 & 6 are closing this week. Miniball is played at Cambridge High School on Monday afternoons, starting on Monday 4th May and running through to September. The fee is $55 per term. Click here to register. We had a Roto team last term and would love to have a full team again, so come along to training tomorrow at 4pm here at school if your child is keen.

School photo order envelopes will be coming home with your child tomorrow, along with a complimentary wallet sized pic of your child. To order photos you will need to complete the details on the envelope, pay online or put the correct cash into the envelope, and return it to school no later than 13th May 2026. Please make sure you do return your orders in time this year, as it can be a headache for all concerned if they are late. If your child is likely to leave it in the bottom of their bag you are welcome to drop it into the school office instead.