Tēnā koutou katoa,
Getting in to you all a whole lot earlier than I would normally with Waitangi Day āpōpō (tomorrow) and our Staff Only Day on Friday. I don’t think I’ve ever written a pānui during term time on a Wednesday before! Well the team from C&H Concreting certainly don’t muck around as you can see above considerable progress on our Bike Track since last week when they started. Heath and his team have put in the mahi (work) to get this ready for our kids despite the extra hot days we’ve had this week. Huge thanks to them, as well as Tony from Firth who donated a couple of extra cubes of concrete to make the track a bit wider along the wooden fence line for us. We look forward to opening this officially with our fantastic PTA next Thursday, where we are having a ‘wheels day’ to encourage everyone to get involved. More information to come.
At the end of last year, we farewelled Liam, Niki and Hannah from our School Board of Trustees; We made the decision to appoint two new members to replace them to get us through until our triennial board elections which come up in September this year. We were extremely grateful to have a group of parents who were willing to fill these seats, which shows that community contribution is strong here at Turitea. We are delighted to announce that Sarah Shannon (Finn and Lachie’s Mum) and Fraser Ponsford (Mackenzie, Lincoln and Harvey’s Dad) will join our Board of Trustees for 2025 and hopefully beyond. We know that these two will be known to a lot of you already, so will add a lot of value to our already strong team.
Last week our fantastic Year 6 leavers from last year had their first day at PNINS. I was quite impressed to receive a message from a staff member there who was blown away by the whanaungatanga shown by them to all meet at Burger King and walk to PNINS together as a group – how cool right? That Turitea bond runs tight… Don’t they all look sharp above in their new uniforms? We hope they all have a fantastic year.
School Finances – Hero:
Ngā mihi (Thank you) to those who have already paid their school donations and activity fee. If you don’t know where to look for this, in the Hero app you will see a Finance tab on your Home screen. If you click on it you will see a School Donation, Additional Donation lines and an Activity Fee has been added to your eldest child’s account. This gives you the option to set how much you’d like to give as a donation to the school, as well as pay the activity fee, which covers all school incursion and excursions. Payments are to be made online; either through the Hero app directly or via Internet Banking; Westpac – 03 0726 0572091 00 and please include your child’s name and surname in the Reference and Donation/Act Fee in the Particulars.
School Stationery:
By next Monday, we expect all our tamariki to have their school stationery at school ready to go, so they can get their learning into their books. Remember, you can purchase this directly from Office Max as a pack. Each class has a slightly different one, so you can order these through the MySchool page. If you don’t want to buy through them, you can print the list out and shop elsewhere, but they give us a rebate for all the packs that are ordered, so it makes it easier for you and helps the school out too…A win-win situation!
Wildbase Video:
As you may know, we have had a long running partnership with the Wildbase Discovery Centre at the Espanade. At the end of last year, the ākonga (learners) from Mataī and Pōhutukawa visited the centre and our friends from Powerco made a cute internal promotional video about their association with the Wildbase, as well as being a new supporter of our school. They donated our tunnel house at the end of the courts, some gardening tools and loads of native seedlings to plant in our microforest.
Epic Music:
Alistair and the Epic crew came and put on a concert for us, so we spent Monday afternoon rocking out with them as pictured above. Lessons start with our tutor Matt, on Thursday 13th February, taking Drums, Guitar, Keyboard and Foundation classes. You may have been given a signup sheet or head to their website for further information.
Libre Loteria Night:
I hear that Libre is almost full tonight for our Lotteria (Mexican Bingo) evening from 7.30pm. You might have to ring them if you still want to book a table on (06) 222 3555 to see if they can squeeze you in somewhere. I’m looking forward to a great evening with you all, so thanks to our PTA for organising this event.
Parenting Support:
Parentline Manawatū has some amazing services on offer to help parents this term. Check out their mailer they sent out to us here for what is available.
Sport @ Turitea:
Dani has sent out previous Hero posts about what is on offer in Term 1 in the way of after school sports. If you have any queries, you can contact her at sport@turitea.school.nz. Get in quick before registrations close.
Kelly Sport Clinics:
Gina and the team are back every Tuesday from next week, running after school clinics for those keen. Check out the poster or head to their website for more information about this.
Activate Tutoring:
Andrew is an ex-RTLB (Resource Teacher of Learning/Behaviour) who is offering a unique tutoring service for those who require additional support. Check out the poster here or the website here for more information.
Firewood:
Thanks to Peter from our BoT, we have a bit more firewood for sale at the reduced summer price of $100 per cube if you need to fill the woodshed up. You can order here and he will come and deliver it to you.
Scholastic Books:
Orders are due next Wednesday 12th February. You buy these through the Loop App or online.
This is your final reminder that school is closed for instruction this Friday 7th February for our Staff Only Day. As mentioned last week, we will further unpack our new curriculum, debrief over our Te Tiriti learning and rollout our Aotearoa NZ Histories Road Map. Thanks for your support around giving us this day together.
Kia pai tō rā whakatā, hei te Mane (Have a good long weekend, see you Monday)
Troy
principal@turitea.school.nz