Pānui (News)

Tēnā koutou katoa, (Hello everyone) What a fantastic day we had last Saturday for our Turitea School Fest. It is always special to see the way our hāpori (community) comes together in such a positive way to support our kura. Mihi atu (thank you) to everyone who played a part in making the day such a success. Whether you were busy in the kitchen baking treats, running a stall, directing traffic, selling raffle tickets, or turning snags on the barbie, your tautoko (support) is what makes events like this possible. We appreciate our beloved PTA and their efforts to make events like this happen....

Tēnā koutou katoa, (Hello everyone) It has been all go here today hosting a Liz Kane Literacy conference here today in Tāne Mahuta for 37 kaiako from around the Manawatū rohe (region). Tammy from Roslyn ran the day, sharing ‘pearls of wisdom’ from her New Entrant classroom, hence all the cars at school this morning when you arrived. Don’t fret, they will be gone by pick up. Excitement is also brewing for our Turitea School Fest tomorrow from 10am-2pm. Mihi atu (thank you) to those who have sent in a can, bottle and a packet for the raffles, baked for...

Ngā mihi mahana e te whānau (Warmest of greetings to you all) We have certainly managed to squeeze a lot into this week! As you may have seen on our Facebook page and seen above, we had our Japanese visitors on Tuesday and shared a bit of their culture with us, while we reciprocated and shared ours with them. Also on Tuesday, Cameron took a group of ten Year 5/6 students to the Māori Culture Festival at PNBHS (below) along with 8 other local kura. It was a great day of culture, connection and a strong showcase of our uara...

Ngā mihi mahana e te whānau (Warmest of greetings to you all) Tuesday marked the start of Chinese New Year - 新年快乐 Xinnián kuàilè (Happy New Year). We wish all those celebrating a joyful and vibrant year ahead filled with good health, happiness, and prosperity. As we welcome the Year of the Horse, we hope 2026 brings energy, adventure, and success for our tamariki and whānau. It was great to share this by dressing up today to mark the occasion as you can see below. We also had Sue, Catie’s Pawpaw (Grandma), come and teach the kids how to make...

Tēnā koutou katoa, (Hello everyone) Thanks for your support in giving us Monday for our day of learning, as we did a ‘deep dive’ into the changes to our Maths curriculum and how we implement these, as seen below. We know that it might have been an inconvenience for some of you to arrange care for your tamariki. Please know it was appreciated to give us that time to learn from Dr Jo Knox, alongside our colleagues from Tokomaru and Newbury schools. Next Wednesday evening from 5.30pm, we would love to see you as we will be hosting an information evening...

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou, (Warmest of greetings to you all) Getting in to you all one day earlier than usual with the Friday pānui, with tomorrow being Waitangi Day. Just another reminder that school is closed for instruction this coming Monday 9th February for a Staff Only Day, hopefully giving you all a four day weekend! We will be hosting Newbury and Tokomaru kaiako (teachers) for a day of maths learning with Dr. Jo Knox from The Learner First.  Hopefully Wednesday 18th February from 5.30pm is on your wātaka (calendar) as we will be hosting an information evening to keep you...

Ngā mihi nui o te tau hou Pākehā e te whānau (Happy New Year everyone), Nau mai hoki mai ki a koutou (Welcome back everyone). We had our usual mihi whakatau yesterday to embrace our new whānau members to the kura. As always, it was nice to set the tone for the year with this process and ‘live and breathe’ our uara (values) of whanaungatanga (relationships) and manaakitanga (kindness) by doing this important ceremony in Te Ao Māori (The Māori World). We welcomed six new rangatahi (students) to our whānau as Tia, Ollie, Kevin, Honor, Henry and Ariyan all joined Anna in...

Ka nui te mihi mahana kia koutou, (Very warm greetings to you all) This will be the final pānui I write to you all for 2025, coming at you nice and early, as I know it’s going to be an incredibly busy day! Today marks the end of my fourth year as your tumuaki (principal) here at Turitea and I still wake up excited to come to school every single day. Steve Jobs once said "The only way to do great work is to love what you do" and I feel lucky to have that here. Our kura has a wonderful...

Tēnā koutou katoa, Yesterday's annual Turitea tradition, the PTA Pool Party/Water Fight, was a huge amount of fun, as seen below. Before I could join in on the action though, I had the rather large, yet enjoyable task of reading every single End of Year report for our ākonga (students). I appreciated the window they gave me into the learning journey each child has been on in class and how they are progressing toward achieving their academic goals. The student voice sections were certainly a highlight and made me laugh out loud one minute, then feel deeply touched the next!...

Tēnā koutou katoa, What a crazy week of weather we’ve had, but luckily the sun was shining on Tuesday for the Interschool Athletics competition at the Massey Track. Ayla, Blake, Elisa, Finn, Harriet, Henry, Ihaia, Ivor, Jackson, Kazuri, Kyerin, Mackenzie, Munroe, Riley, Rory and Ruby represented our kura and the competition bar was raised for them with 22 local schools taking part. We have some very ‘bouncy’ kids, with Ayla and Ihaia both coming 2nd= in Year 5 High Jump. Ayla also came 2nd in Year 5 Girls 100m Sprint and Kazuri came 3rd in Year 6 Girls Long Jump....