Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou (A warm greeting to you all),
It is nice to be writing you the pānui for today, after letting Karen and Trish have a turn last week while I was away at a conference up in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland). I wonder if you could tell the difference in ‘writer voice’ when you read it and could tell it wasn’t me? I felt really lucky working with a different rōpu (group) of tumuaki (principals) in a beautiful part of our country that has rich spiritual and historical connections and soaking that all in (as you can see below). I urge you to make it up that way one day, if you haven’t already. A tumuaki I was talking to told me ‘coming to this region really fills up your soul bucket’ and he wasn’t wrong. We were enlightened by our keynote speakers; Melanie Riwai-Couch, author of Niho Taniwha, a book that we are unpacking as a staff to enhance our cultural competency practices. Also Nathan Wallis, a profound NZ neuroscience educator, who you may have heard on TV or the Radio. He was engaging and easy to listen to and check out some of his short YouTube clips as he makes understanding the complexities of the child and teenage brain really easy to understand.
Last week, we said ‘haere rā’ (farewell) to George from Rātā, as he and his whānau moved to Australia. I know we will miss his knowledge and passion for lizards. But this week, we said nau mai, haere mai (welcome) to Gemma and her whānau, as she joins Rimu with Meagan and Hannah. It is always sad when we lose a member of our Turitea community, but nice to have new faces join us.
School Strategic Goals:
At our last BoT meeting, we finalised our Turitea School Strategic Plan for 2024-25. If you are interested in reading any of our documents around this then you can check out our website. You might remember that last year, we conducted surveys with the three main parties of our school hāpori (community) – our whānau (families) in June, our kaiako (teachers) in August and our ākonga (students) in October. This provided us with everyone’s say about what you felt was important. My job was to look for common threads, patterns and ideas to come up with a clear direction for our school to head. We narrowed this down to five main goals that we hope reflect some or all of the voices we collected:
1. Give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and promote a diverse and culturally inclusive environment.
2. Grow excellence in teaching, leadership and governance across our kura.
3. Strengthen our localised curriculum ensuring balance, relevance and puts learners at the centre.
4. Expand on our connections with whānau (families), mana whenua (Rangitanē) and external partners.
5. Bring to life our school vision and values by embedding these further across our kura.
eHaus Competition:
Wow, what an amazing community you all are, with 24 hours notice, we had 48 entries in the eHaus Lend a Hand competition! Today is the day that we find out if we are successful, so fingers crossed. Absolutely blown away by how supportive you all were of this.
Kōrero Mai – Learner Conferences:
We had our first day of these on Wednesday after school and it was great to see so many of you making the effort to attend. We have our final day of these next Wednesday 10th April. If you haven’t already booked a time, there might be limited spaces still available. You do this through Hero by clicking the home button in the bottom left corner, then going to School Bookings. If the times don’t suit, please connect with your child’s teacher at any time to arrange another appointment, they are only too happy to make time for you.
Firewood:
We still have plenty of firewood for sale at $120 per cubic metre. You can arrange with us if you would like some help filling your own trailer one afternoon or we can offer a delivery option for up to 5 cubes for a small fee. Fill out the form if you would like to order some. We have also had a bunch more logs that we need to ring and split for the second round of this. If you are interested in helping us out one weekend soon, please let us know. Many hands, make light work!
Pool Keys:
We are starting to put our pool into hibernation mode as the weather is getting a bit cooler and are finding that the pool isn’t being used much. If you hired a pool key over the summer, could you please return it to the office next week. Whakawhetai koe (thank you).
From the PTA:
You might have seen in the Hero post earlier today that we are running SPRING FLING at school on Saturday 14th September. This is a brand new event with more information to come, but for now we are looking for stall holders. Are you a small business owner? Do you have a side hustle? Or are you interested in having a stall of your own? Register your interest here.
Now that it is starting to get cooler, we are doing a Turitea School Hoodie order. Orders can be made here and paid for into the Supporters Club bank account (not the schools account) by Friday 3rd May (First Friday back after the school holidays)
Cricket – Smash Yard Festival:
Next Wednesday, Karen is taking three teams to the Smash Yard Cricket Festival at Ongley Park. One of these is our Yeah! Girls team that has been working with Sarah from MCA over lunchtime. The day is designed to focus on fun rather than competition and our kids will be putting their skills on show against 6 other schools from around the Manawatū. Here’s hoping the weather plays nice for us.
Cluster Swimming:
Next Thursday, myself and Cameron are taking Ada, Amelia C, Antonio, Blake, Elias, Elisa, Finn, Leo S, Mackenzie, Natalie, Rory and Ruby H to Cluster Swimming at the Kupe Pool at Linton Army Camp. We are in charge of running the event, so thank you to the parents who have offered their time to assist with lane timing, transport and supervision – it really is appreciated! Please make sure you send Cameron your number plate of the vehicle you are taking so we can give you entry at the gate.
What’s on in Palmy:
- Car Enthusiasts Head down to Tokomaru School tonight from 6pm as they are having a Hot Rod & Car Display.Gold coin entry and $10 to show your car. Raffles, Burgers, Music, Spot Prizes. Check out the details here.
- High School Old Boys Rugby still needs more members to make their teams for the upcoming rugby season. They particularly need Year 3 and Year 6 students, but will take anyone. More information can be found here.
- Give Squash a Go – The first round of the junior squash season kicks off on Friday 10th May from 4:45pm- 6pm at the Squash Gym on Linton Street. All ages and abilities are welcome. Equipment is provided, you just need some indoor shoes and a drink bottle. The fee is $5 per session or $30 per term. More information here.
- Ngā Manu Nature Reserve – If you want something to do over the holidays, head along on Tuesday 23rd April at 11am for a puppet show by the extremely talented String Bean Puppets. On Thursday 25th April at 1pm, they have a story telling session with local author Bianca Begovich. They are open every day during the holiday break from 10am to 5pm. More information can be found here.
- Central Football have their Holiday Programmes on offer. The first is for Girls only and is on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th April at Palmerston North Boys High from 9am – 3pm for 6- 12 year olds and costs $65. They also have a three day programme for anyone from Monday 22nd – Wednesday 24th April with the same venue, time and age range for $95. Register here
- Netball Manawatū have a Holiday Programme on offer. The sessions will have lots of NetballSmart activities, developing skills, umpiring and gameplay. This programme is for anyone aged 5- 14 years. Registration details and information can be found here.
- True Hoops have their Basketball Camps running at the CET Arena. Register for the 2-Day Camp here on Monday 15th & Tuesday 16th April from 9am-3pm. $60 per day or $100 for both days. Register for the Littles Camp here on Wednesday 17th April from 9am-1pm for $45.
- Bounce Academy also have their Basketball Camps on Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th April at the Massey University Teaching Gymnasium from 9-3pm each day. More information here.
- Are you going overseas for the school holidays? When you return, you can now complete a digital New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD) before you fly back into New Zealand, replacing the need to fill out a paper declaration card on the plane. Everyone coming into New Zealand needs to complete an NZTD. You can complete it at a time that suits you on the NZTD website or by downloading the NZTD app and submitting it 24 hours before your trip back to New Zealand.
Only 5 more days of school to go…
Kia pai tō rā whakatā (Have a great weekend)
Troy