21 February 2025

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WELCOME

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to Remuera Intermediate. For those of you returning to RI, welcome back. 
We have had a great few weeks getting settled into new classes and getting acquainted with peers and teachers. Here at RI our mission statement as shown below plays a major role in guiding our decision making.

Remuera Intermediate School will provide a rigorous and enriching education in an environment that supports the unique social, emotional and academic needs of emerging adolescents. The aim of this education is to develop resilient, compassionate and responsible members of a global community.

As you can see, our aim is to cater to the unique needs of this age whilst maintaining a strong focus on academic growth and achievement. 
To achieve this aim Remuera Intermediate has built a solid reputation for being a school that encourages strong relationships with everyone involved in your child’s learning including families, staff and the wider community. 
We consistently encourage students to get involved in the many opportunities on offer here at Remuera Intermediate whether it is in the art studio, on the stage, on the sports field or in one of the many academic enrichment and extension programmes.

We believe that this is a time of life when young people start figuring out their place in the world and where their passions lie. It is these early experiences that often begin to set them on a future path, whatever that may be.

We encourage you to take every opportunity to get involved in your child’s journey. We enjoy the support and involvement of an active PTA and an experienced Board of Trustees. Our doors are always open and we look forward to partnering with you as your child embarks on another successful year.

YOU AND YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER

The most important relationship with your child after your own is the one between your child and their teacher. 

Don’t be a Stranger – take a moment to introduce yourself to your child’s teacher, and stay in contact.

Learning doesn’t stop at 3.00 pm – support the teacher by encouraging your child to talk about the school day and what they are studying.

Help keep your child organised – check newsletters, notices, reminders, student diaries, alerts etc. Encourage your child to have a timetable displayed so they know when PE gear is needed and when they have specialist classes.

Teachers are on your side so give them support – some parents go into ‘attack mode’ when their child complains about a teacher. Try to get the full story by contacting the teacher in a positive way, and working together to solve the issue.

Let your child make mistakes – teachers want students who try hard and not all students are going to get everything right all the time. Support your child but don’t put too much pressure on them to be perfect. Our greatest lessons often come from the mistakes we make.

If the teacher is doing a good job let them know – working with a large group of young people is highly demanding. It’s incredibly uplifting and appreciated when someone takes the time to say thank you.

HOME AND SCHOOL EMAIL COMMUNICATION

These days the use of email allows us to communicate more efficiently. To ensure we all (staff, students, parents and the wider community) find that email continues to be a productive form of communication, we have developed school guidelines around its use. We thank you in advance for working with us in following these guidelines.

General Guidelines

• Decide if you are sending this email for the purposes of information sharing or requesting information or some other reason. Organisation of events, meeting requests and information giving is the best use of email as a form of communication.
• Try to keep emails brief and include a clear subject line as a header so people can identify swiftly if it is relevant to them.
• Make sure that it is clear in your email what the purpose of the email is - do you require specific action or is the email for information only?
• Avoid using email for complaining or venting - this is not an appropriate use of the medium. If you have a sensitive issue or challenging situation, please do not hesitate to make time to speak to your child’s teacher or one of our school leaders in person. Face to face is always a far more positive and productive approach to any problem solving especially when it is of a sensitive nature.
• Avoid using email as an excuse to avoid personal contact. 
  A simple ‘rule of thumb’ is to ask yourself if you would say what you have written if you were face to face with the person.

Community Guidelines

• If you have anything you would like to discuss regarding your child, please contact your child’s classroom teacher to make a time to meet to discuss your concerns. This can be done via email. Please inform your child’s teacher of your concerns before the meeting to support a positive outcome.
• Please do not expect a reply from a teacher immediately as our expectation is that they will be working with children during the school day. Teachers will reply to emails within 48 hours during normal working hours.

ROAD SAFETY

The school has safety rules that our staff strictly enforce, particularly at the end of the school day. We are very aware of the dangers the students face crossing the road at the Ascot Ave/Greenlane lights, and there are concerns about the traffic congestion along both Ascot Ave and St Vincents Ave. 
We ask that you support our Safety Rules:

• Parents should not call out to their children to run across the road at points that we consider extremely dangerous.
• PARENTS ARE NOT TO DRIVE INTO THE SCHOOL or block driveways to pick up or drop off students unless authorised.
• We do our best to ensure your children leave our school safely. During school hours if children have arranged to leave the school, they must be picked up from the school office and signed out.
• Make arrangements to meet your child nearby to avoid the school congestion. Places such as the BP/Mobil stations or on Ascot Ave by the hospital are great places to meet your child away from the chaos.

Kyle Brewerton
Principal/APPA President​​​​​​​

IMPORTANT DATES ​​​​​​​

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE ART ROOM

Year 7’s have hit the ground running this year, diving into several forms of printing and painting techniques.

The technique you see here is called monoprinting. 

The students created this with ink plates and sketches taken from their observational drawings from the garden.

MULTI MATERIALS NEWS 

These Year 7 Multi Materials students have "Reached for the sky" with their fantastic paper tower creations. All students participated in a paper tower challenge which involved exploring geometric forms, dealing with compressive forces and constructing within time and material limitations. Co-operation, communication and plenty of perseverance were required to be successful. 

In Year 8 Multi the laser cutter has been humming as students began designing and manufacturing their plywood coaster sets. A fantastic and focused start to the year.

RIPPA TAG 

On Saturday 15th February a team of 9 Remuera Intermediate athletes were selected to play a curtain raiser game of Rippa Tag for the Blues at Eden Park. The players were able to experience running out onto Eden Park and play an intense 20-minute game. All of the athletes played with determination and great skill and we are so proud of them.

We were then invited to come back out onto the pitch and be there to cheer on as the Blues ran out of the tunnel to play their first game of the Super Rugby season. 

A special congratulations to Azariah L. who was named Player of the Match.

Mrs Buckley 

WATER WISE - ROOM 23 

On Friday the 14th of February, Room 23 went to Orakei Basin for Year 8 Waterwise. There we got to do a variety of fun water-based sports and activities. The sports that we did included sailing, stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking and windsurfing. 
When we first arrived, we were introduced to the Orakei Basin facility. 
We then got ready and were split into four groups. 
Each group got to do three of the four activities that were presented to us by talented instructors from Youthtown. 

For sailing, we got into pairs and “rolled” the boats down to the edge of the basin. One by one, we set off on the Basin, doing our best to control the Optimists. Kayaking was a fun, independent activity. We all got into our own kayaks and paddled around, playing fun games and interacting with the jellyfish (in rather brutal ways). 

For windsurfing, we had two awesome instructors teach us how a windsurfing board worked and how to navigate the basin using the wind, our sails, and our wits as our guides. 

Stand-up Paddleboarding was equally entertaining. We had to sit, stand, or crouch on a paddleboard and paddle around. Though it was an independent activity, we got to do many entertaining group games.

With not much wind to power us, we struggled greatly, yet we all had a pleasant adventure. 

Thank you to the helpful instructors there and our amazing teachers for helping us enjoy Year 8 Waterwise! 

Written by: Anahita and Shanvicka, Rm 23

GIRLS CRICKET NEWS 

Our Year 8 girls played their first game of cricket for the year in a wet and windy afternoon. The girls played Baradene, who set a target of 122 off their 16 overs. With half the team played cricket for the first time we weren’t sure how the run chase was going to go but with some natural ability and our experienced players coming through, we managed to chase down and score 130 runs from our overs.  

CZ GIRLS TENNIS 

A very hot day but after 6 games each Cleo made it into the finals and came away with a Year 7 singles 2nd place overall. Alina and Kiara made it into the finals and came away with a Year 8 doubles 2nd place overall also. 

Mirra had tough competitors and played extremely well also. 

All 4 girls represented RI with pride.

REMURA SCHOOL APP

You can download the free app from the App Store or Google Play. It works on both android and Apple phones. It sends important school messages and forms a big part of our school communications.  If you have not downloaded the App, please click this link http://remueraint.apps.school.nz/share/ 

Features of the App:

• You can subscribe to alert groups of interest to you and your child
• You can access the school calendar, news and events directly through the App
• We can send out targeted alerts to everyone with the App or to specific groups

ABSENCES

All absences need to be reported by 8:45am at the latest. To report an absence please:

• Use the 'Report an Absence' link in the top right corner on the school website homepage http://www.remint.school.nz
• Use the school app or phone the office on 09 522 9890 Option 1 
  Please do not email absence notifications to classroom teachers
   

ABSENCE NOTIFICATION

Your children’s safety is of paramount importance to us.  To ensure the safety of all our students, at 9:30 am if your child has not been marked as Present we will send out a text notification to alert you of his/her absence.  

We are aware many parents are simply very busy people and forget to notify the school so please respond with a Y and a reason for the absence/lateness.  Respond with an N if you have dropped your child at school or know that he/she was coming to school and we can investigate this promptly. 

Should your mobile number change, please notify the school immediately so that we can update our records accordingly.
 

PARENT PORTAL

Parents are able to use our portal to pay for their child’s donations and fees. We encourage anyone who has not already signed up to do so.  The address is https://parent.edgelearning.co.nz/

CONTACT US