Month: May 2026

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou, (Warm greetings to you all) Getting in to you all a day earlier than usual with tomorrow being our Staff Only Day and school is closed for instruction. We appreciate your support in advance giving us this day together as a whole staff to engage in a day of learning around supporting the needs of our tamariki.  Last Sunday, we were incredibly proud of our Year 3-6 rōpū (group) for their outstanding performance at the Whānau Success Day at West End School. They represented us with mana (pride), turning heads and drawing such high...

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou, (Warm greetings to you all) We couldn’t have asked for better weather this week! Check out the amazing photo of the sunset that Trish took after school on Wednesday… Just gorgeous! It set the stage for an awesome day today and there’s nothing quite like a rural Cross Country when the sun is shining and the air is crisp. Ngā mihi (Thanks) to Julie, Meryl, and Tim for all of their mahi (work) behind the scenes to make this event such a success. A huge thank you also to the parents/whānau who stepped up...

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou, (Warm greetings to you all) Didn’t Hannah do a great job with the pānui last week? Between her fine linguistic skills and Anna making a video with her cute kids to replace my weekly wrap-up videos, I was starting to feel a bit redundant in my absence! It’s great to know the ship sails so smoothly (maybe too smoothly?) when I’m gone. This week is Support Staff Week, and we want to recognise our amazing Julie in the office, magnificent Meryl in the gardens, Dani does everything and the outstanding Aimi, Mitzy and Kirstin...

Kia ora e te whānau, With Troy away, I’ve been entrusted with writing this week’s pānui. What a perfect week to be asked as it means I get to share the special news of a new arrival, I’ll happily take this one Troy! I’m delighted to share that Cameron and Olivia have officially become parents after welcoming Fletcher Alastair Schaw into the world yesterday. Cameron has shared some beautiful photos with us and stated he is ‘just perfect’. A huge thanks to Trish who stepped into Pōhutukawa this week and we look forward to welcoming Carwyn on Monday for the next three...

Kia ora e te whānau, Today is the last day for Cameron, as he starts his paternity leave for the next four weeks. He and his wife Olivia are heading down to Wellington Hospital on Monday to have their baby boy. Our amazing staff put on a surprise baby shower for him on Wednesday and this afternoon, his lovely Pōhutukawa whānau gave him a beautiful gift bag that they all put together. As you can tell he is feeling the aroha (love)! Trish (the reliever, not OG Trish) will be in Pōhutukawa next week for him and Carwyn will be...