Category: News

This will be the last pānui I write to you for 2023 and I’m getting in a day early ahead of our last day tomorrow as I know it will fly by. I want to thank you all for such a positive year here at Turitea. I am really proud of our school and all that happens in and around the place. It has a beautiful vibe with happy children and friendly parents. I’ve been feeling spoiled too with so many whānau writing beautiful cards and giving me lovely and thoughtful gifts. I appreciate you all and am lucky to...

And just like that we have finished the penultimate week of the school year! The common conversation around the place at the moment is ‘How is it already December?’ as it does feel that this year has flown by. Our end of year trips have begun with Mataī and Pōhutukawa visiting the Wildbase Discovery Centre yesterday and Rātā and Rimu going to Memorial Park today. I’m joining in on the fun with them, hence why I’m getting this to you earlier than usual. Yesterday, Iti and Manawa from Kahikatea took our last class assembly for the year and they did...

If you are reading this via Hero, you might have noticed that the Hero interface has been freshened up and looks a little different. They haven’t changed where things are though, so hopefully you are still able to navigate this easily enough. Today we welcomed Lihmé (said La May) to Pōhutukawa. Her whānau have moved from Cape Town, South Africa to Palmerston North via Auckland first. It is a delight to have you join us here at Turitea, we know you will love the community feel we have here. 

This week marked the last day for Lucy, who has been a student teacher with Cameron and the team in Tōtara. Her teaching programme at Waikato University gives her one day a week in school placement for the whole year. We will all miss her as she has felt like part of our team and it’s been great to witness her growth in the role of a teacher since February. This week we welcomed Caleb to Turitea School. He is Matthew’s younger brother and is our last 5 year old to start for 2023 in Rimu with Meagan and Hannah....

I’m getting in one day early with my Friday Pānui since tomorrow is our Staff Only Day and I thought I’d start with a staff story for you. Since Cameron started here at Turitea, he has made it part of our morning tea routine that we collectively do the Stuff Quiz. We love it because it models our school ngā uara (values) of whanaungatanga and mātauranga and since February 2022, the best we have ever done was a 14/15. But on Monday that all changed as we scored our first ever 15/15, so either the quizzes are getting easier or we...

Thank you to those who have given us feedback about our recent Lamb, Calf and Pet Day. As expected, we received a wide range from those who loved the evening event to those who preferred the Saturday morning. It is hard to please everyone, but we all we aim to do is our best. If you haven’t given feedback and would still like to, you can do so here until next week. This week, we welcomed Philip to Rimu with Meagan and Hannah. He is Ivor’s younger brother and it is lovely to have the last member of the Baldie whānau...

Huge thank you to you all who came and supported our Twilight Lamb, Calf and Pet Day last Friday. We had a lot of positive feedback about the event, but would love your thoughts on how to improve this day. If you have any ideas, please let us know through this quick survey. Our kids all took home their certificates from the indoor exhibits. Today was Gumboot Friday and we had plenty of tamariki put on their kamuputu (gumboots) to support this worthy cause pictured below. We appreciate your support and collected nearly $150 to donate to the cause.

That buzz is in the air around our kura this morning in preparation for Lamb, Calf and Pet Day this evening. Although the weather hasn’t been the nicest, the forecast is looking clear for our 4.30pm start. A separate post about all the logistics of the day went home on Wednesday and this was also emailed to you, so hopefully you have had a chance to read so you know what is going on. Massive thanks to Julie, who has just got back from the UK and jumped straight into making sure everything is sorted for this. As promised, here...

Thanks to those of you who came and used our kura as a polling booth last weekend. We went from nearly 80 people using it in the 2020 election to over 200 people this time. Whenever the government changes, all too often changes will happen in schools as a result. I am unsure what this will completely look like for us going forward, but all passionate Tumuaki across our country will continue to fight for our kura and our tamariki to make sure that any changes we have to undertake, are for the better. We are the professionals with vast...

Nau mai, hoki mai (welcome back) to our final term of the year. Just like we do on the first day of every term, we had a fantastic mihi whakatau (welcome) on Monday for our new whānau who have joined the school in the last term. A special mihi to Thatcher who joined Meagan and Hannah in Rimu for his first day of school. His proud big brother Parker made him feel very welcome. On Thursday, we had something occur that I’ve never had in any school I’ve ever taught in over my many years of teaching - we had...