Category: News

And just like that has brought about the end of another awesome term. I was blown away with our turnout and support for our Matariki event last Friday at school. As I sat on the floor in Tane Mahuta eating our delicious hangi talking with Whaea Tūrehu, both reflecting on what a special place this is and the amazing supportive community we have here at Turitea. As I mentioned on the night, I was beyond proud of our kids on the night and then they stepped it up another level on stage on Monday at Pae Tamariki! Thank you to...

Today we had marae-like vibes at our little kura. The hangi fire was blazing away. The sounds of our kapa haka waiata were echoing throughout the school in the hype of their evening performance. People involved in peeling/cutting vegetables, ripping up bread for the stuffing, packing kai into trays for our hakari (feast) this evening. A strong sense of coming together for the collective good. The whakataukī (proverb) ‘He rau ringa, e oti ai’ is evident, which means ‘With many hands, the job is done.’ Thank you to those who came along and supported us with the preparation that goes...

Isn’t it crazy that it seems we are having more sun in June than it felt we had in all of January? Hey I’m not complaining one bit. Yesterday we had a double whammy of adults coming to work with our kids and it made me proud hearing feedback from them about how nice a place our school is to come and visit. Coach Kahu was in taking Rippa Rugby yesterday with the whole school and commented on the noticeable difference between city and country kids and their ability to muck in and give things a go, even if it...

Thanks for your support around us having our staff only day on Tuesday. It was great for us as a team to get out of our own school and go and look at two other schools which are of a similar size and are on the rural outskirts of town just like us. The pics below are of us at Kairanga and Newbury Schools. It gave us plenty of discussion points and things to consider as we look to make Turitea an even better place for our tamariki.

Our love and thoughts again are with Trish, whose dear mother passed away peacefully on Wednesday night, with her funeral being next Thursday. She wants to thank you all for your understanding at this tough time and appreciates all your support. Faye will be in the Mataī all of next week and we expect Trish back the week after. This week we welcomed a new whānau made up of Jonah and Kaea who have moved into the area and from Masterton. Jonah is in Pōhutukawa with Shane and Kaea joins Hannah and Meagan in Rimu. We also welcomed Ariki to...

Our thoughts are with Trish today as she has had to go back to Hamilton to be by her mother’s side, where her situation has deteriorated quite rapidly. She has appreciated all your messages of support at this challenging time for her and her whānau. Huge thanks to Faye, who has slid across to teach in that space for all of next week to keep the routine for our tamariki in Mataī. We have been lucky to have our Massey Teacher Ash in Rimu for the last seven weeks and today marks her last day with us. The whakataukī (proverb)...

There was a nice sea of pink throughout the school today as our kids joined the Pink Shirt movement to show that we are upstanders, not bystanders when it comes to bullying. As a school, it is hard to commit to all the different days and weeks raising awareness for charitable trusts, even though they are all massively important, so thanks to those who got involved. Nau mai, haere mai to Mason, who has moved to us from Bainesse School to join Cameron and the crew in Tōtara. Grace is our newest 5 year old in Rimu with Meagan and...

Kia ora e te whānau, Thank you for your support with our power outage situation yesterday - what a shemozzle! The age old saying ‘You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t’ massively came into play here when making the tough call to close the school. This is why I gave all the information to our MoE team to make the call for us. It was good learning for us however (and hopefully for you also) as to what to do in the event of an emergency situation here at school. Because we had no power/internet, we had to...

Arohamai (sorry) I forgot to let you know that last week we sent just over $3,000 to Twyford School, just out of Hastings as our contribution to their flood relief from the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle. I know the principal Sam is very appreciative of your generosity with our swimathon and coin trail. Extra special welcome this week to Maya who joined the team in Mataī with Trish. It is so cool that she has finally joined her little brother Dylan at our school. Nau mai (welcome) Maya! 

Well the vibe around the place after the holidays is really positive, so we’ve started off the new term in great shape! This week we welcomed lots of new whānau to the school. We did this with a Mihi Whakatau (informal welcome) to set the tone for what Turitea School is all about for our new families. A huge thanks to Shane Hutson from Te Whānau Māori who did the whaikorero (speech) on behalf of our new whānau. It was also nice to officially welcome Hannah who joined our teaching staff this week working alongside Meagan in Rimu.