Yay for the sun today! Doesn’t it just make you feel happier? Unfortunately it is always sad when we lose a whānau from our community. Today marks the last day at Turitea School for Eli and Lachie as they relocate to the UK. I know you both will be missed by many here. Kia noho haumaru (safe travels) boys, along with parents Andrew and Alice on the next chapter of your journey. Hopefully we see you all when you come back home. You will always be part of Turitea.
Nau mai haere mai to our three brand new 5 year olds who joined Rimu with Hannah and Meagan this week. Labeebah is the first of her family to join us here at Turitea and Ben and Hazel are both the younger siblings of Harry and Lily in Mataī. It is always a special time when we have whānau at school together like this. Last term we asked for your voice around six key questions about our kura. These were: what you love about our school, what opportunities we should consider, what cultural values and beliefs you’d like to see...
Thanks again for your support yesterday around collecting your child early so we could get started on our learning conferences. I always try to avoid inconveniencing you as I know it is tricky to arrange this sort of thing around your work commitments. We had an 80% turn out to these which was great to see, as we place a lot of emphasis around connecting with you personally to discuss your child and their progress. If you were unable to meet up with your child’s kaiako, please do get in touch with them.
Nau mai hoki mai ki te Wāhanga Toru! (Welcome back to Term 3) Thank you to those who came to our Mihi Whakatau on Monday to welcome our new whānau to Turitea. We hoped that you felt the awhi (love) from now being an official part of our community here. I hope my post around the ‘why and the how’ behind this provided you with some clarity to help you understand its significance. It was Marnie’s first week at school, our first of a few newbies to join Rimu this term with Meagan and Hannah. Haere mai to you and...
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)...
