Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai hoki mai ki a koutou (Welcome back everyone) We had our ‘first day back’ mihi whakatau to embrace our new whānau to the school on Tuesday, which I found really special. It was nice to set the tone for the year from this and ‘live and breathe’ our uara (values) of Whanaungatanga (Positive Relationships) and Manaakitanga (Kindness and Hospitality) in doing this important ceremony in Te Ao Māori.
We welcomed 9 new rangatahi (students) to the Turitea whānau taking our school roll to 149. Brothers Logan in Pōhutukawa and Quinn in Rimu had their first day with us, but their big brother Caleb used to come here, so it is nice to have a returning whānau. We had two sets of sisters join us with Ayla and Zali joining Kahikatea and Pōhutukawa and Mila and Isla joining Rātā and Rimu. Finally joining their older siblings who are already here at Turitea are Lilou, James and Harvey who all joined Rimu. It is wonderful to have you join us and we know you will be embraced by our community as we are like one big family here.
Sometimes situations change for the current whānau over the holiday period and this has been the case for Nixon and Mia who have moved to Hiwinui. Carlos and his whānau have moved down to Wellington and Felix has moved on to Hokowhitu School. We wish our former students all the best at their new kura and hope they hold onto the good memories they had here at Turitea.
School Finances – Hero:
If you are connected to Hero, you will see a Finance tab on your Home screen. If you click on it you will see a School Donation and an Activity Fee for Term 1 has been added. Like every New Zealand school, School Donations are not compulsory, we do heavily rely on these to help us pay for the extra things that we’d love to have, that our operations grant we are given from from the Ministry of Education doesn’t cover. We ask for $100 per year if you have one child at school, $150 if you have two or more children at school.
The Activity Fee is there to help create less work for Julie in the office who used to deal with little bits of money coming in and then she’d have to bank it as well. This also gives the teachers a budget to stick to when they are planning excursions or bringing experts on site to work with our children. Payments are preferred online; either through the Hero app directly or through Internet Banking; Westpac – 03 0726 0572091 00 and please include your child’s name and surname in the Reference and Donations/Act Fee in the Particulars.
Updated Contacts:
Did you or anyone in your whānau who is listed as a school contact shift house or get a new phone number or email address over the holidays? If your contact details have changed, please let Julie know at the office.
Overnight Camp:
Full information for this was on a separate Hero post earlier today. It is on Friday 16th February so please fill out the form here if you want to join in this Turitea School tradition. If anyone has spare tents, please let someone from the PTA know, as we would hate people to miss out on this event if they don’t have a tent.
Swimming Pool:
Huge thanks to Ben James and Wei Chua who have kept up our swimming pool maintenance over the last few weeks. We couldn’t have opened the pool over the summer without your service, so whakawhetai koe! (we are grateful for you) With the beautiful warm weather at the moment, I know the pool has been getting a lot of use by our tamariki in and out of school, which we absolutely love!
Uniforms/Hats:
Julie has been making sure that all our new tamariki have a Turitea School sports uniform consisting of a shirt and pants. Just a reminder that this is to be worn when representing our school offsite or when they play a sport for the school, it is not for ‘day to day’ wear at school. On Tuesday, everyone was issued their Turitea School hat for the year also. Our tuakana (seniors) in Year 6 are proud of wearing their new ‘Red Hat’ which helps identify them to our teina (juniors).
Absent from School:
Just a friendly reminder that if your child is going to be away from school to let the office know, rather than the teacher. Julie is the one who handles making sure everyone is accounted for. You can let us know through Hero by clicking the three lines up the top left hand corner and then going to Report an Absence.
School Gate:
We are very lucky to have our school fully fenced ensuring safety for all our tamariki. During the hours of 9-3pm, our gate must stay closed. We open it after then, but usually close the gate overnight so sometimes those who come to school before 8.30am find this shut in the morning. Could you assist your tamariki in opening the gate for them rather than letting them climb up on the outside to try and open it?
Staff Only Day THIS Monday:
Just a reminder that school is closed for instruction on Monday 5th February, hopefully giving you all a four day weekend with Waitangi Day on Tuesday. Our whole staff are doing a day of learning with Jon Procter, Dad of Sophia. He is taking us on a hikoi (walk) along the river helping us understand the significant places to our mana whenua – Rangitanē (Māori people of this region). We will then come back to school to unpack our Te Reo Māori language learning tool that we are using this year called Te Reo Tuatahi.
Sport @ Turitea:
Dani, our fantastic sports coordinator, organizes all the sports and the teams for us. She has sent out a previous Hero post about what is on offer for your tamariki in Term 1. If you have any queries, you can contact her at sport@turitea.school.nz. Make sure you check this out as the turnaround period for registrations is quite short.
Kelly Sport Afterschool Programme:
Issy and the team are back running their after school sports clinics again like last year for our Year 0-4 students. For more information and registration, click here. They run for an hour and start on Tuesday 13th February. Plenty of spaces are still available, so get involved!
Triathlon Series:
The Palmy Kid’s Tri Series returns starting on Monday 12th February for 5 weeks. These events are aimed at children aged 4-12 years. More information can be found on this flier. Triathlon Manawatū also sponsor our local Manawatū Principals Association, so another good reason to get your tamariki involved in this cool event.
Yeah Girls Cricket:
Sarah and Jess are excited to come back and run this programme again for our Year 4-6 Girls on Monday 12th February. If your tamāhine (daughter) is keen to be involved in this, sign them up here and they get a free goodie bag. Bjorn is also coming out that day too, running a session for everyone promoting the Manawatū Cricket new initiatives Smash It!
Rugby League:
Linton Cobras Rugby League are having their final muster and first preseason training at Linton Camp on Sunday 11th February. They are looking for tamariki aged 7-8 born (2016-2017) and a few extra 10-11yr olds born (2013-2014) to fill the teams.
Marist Hot Shots Tennis Programme:
Beginner skills development programme for 5-12 year olds run by experienced coaches.These 50 minute sessions run on Saturday mornings over Term 1 and will focus on improving strokes, footwork and court work. All levels catered for and equipment provided. For more info contact Big John on 0274 808 808
Epic Music:
Does your child love music, want to learn an instrument, play in a band and perform on the big stage? To check out all the info, highlights video and to sign up, click here. Lessons start next week on the new day of Thursday 8th February and Oscar is back taking the Drums, Guitar and Foundation classes. Oscar used to attend Turitea School, so it’s cool for him to give back to his local school and community.
Music with Heather:
If your child would like to learn the piano/keyboard this year, please contact Heather de Ridder on 027 245 2780 or email harmonyhouse@xtra.co.nz. Children receive their weekly lesson on Monday during the school day, Keyboards are available for hire.
Donation to the Turitea School PTA:
Turitea Childcare Centre which is located on the AgResearch campus ceased operations in 2022 after 30 years serving the local community. Over the years, many former tamariki who attended there have gone on to Turitea School and some are here currently. On behalf of the former community of the centre, they are making a $6000 donation to the Turitea School PTA to benefit these tamariki and their school mates. Wahoo! We look forward to putting this money back into improving the school.
Subway Lunches:
These started back up again today and you can order every Friday for the year through Lunchonline or clicking the Food icon in Hero.
Triple P Positive Parenting:
The Triple P staff at ACROSS Te Kotahitanga O Te Wairua are excited to be able to offer parents free 2-hour ‘Positive Parenting’ courses in Term 1 2024. Read their letter they sent us here for great courses on offer.
Meryl and Kathy have been in our gardens today with the kids from the garden club and they have harvested some lettuce and beetroot. If you would like some for dinner tonight, it is outside the office.
Don’t forget that Scholastic Book orders are due by Monday 12th February and you buy these through the Loop App or online.
Bit of a long one from me sorry whānau, hope I held you till the end. Enjoy the long weekend and we look forward to seeing you all back on Wednesday 7th February.
Ngā Tauwhirotanga,