Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou (A warm greeting to you all),
There has been a different āhua (feeling) around school this week as our Year 5/6’s departed for camp on Tuesday. The school has felt a little empty and has been a lot quieter without them. On Monday, we welcomed Abigail, joining Meagan and Hannah in Rimu. She is the first member of her whānau to come to Turitea School, Nau mai haere mai to your new family here Abigail. Unfortunately ‘one came in and one went out’ though, as yesterday we farewelled Ava from Pōhutukawa. Her and her whānau are on the next chapter in their life as they relocate to Switzerland – How exciting! I know many of her friends and teachers will miss her and all her hugs. Don’t forget, this Monday, you are invited to the unveiling of our amazing mural at 9am sharp. If you are around, nau mai haere mai (come join us) and see what our Year 6’s have created for us.
Year 5/6 Camp:
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking our Year 4’s from Kahikatea and Tōtara out to Highland Home to join their classmates at camp. They got a taste of that ‘camp life’ and joined in on the activities including Air Rifles, Earth Boards, Team Initiatives, Indoor Sports and BMX riding. The pics above and below show how much rekareka (fun and enjoyment) is being had by those out there. Huge shout out to Cameron and Karen for organising the week and to Simon, Maitlin, Brian, Callan, Anne, Hannah, Kathy, Ali and Hayley, who were our amazing parent helpers. We expect them back this afternoon about 2.30pm if you want to come pick up some pretty exhausted kids and hear all about their experiences.
Cluster Athletics:
Our Junior team had a fantastic day at Linton Camp School yesterday for their Junior Cluster Athletics Day. The picture below show the fun that was had. Thanks to one of our own parents, Sandi (mum to Charlie and James) who works there and organised the day for all the kids from our Fitzherbert Cluster. I know the highlight for some kids was the bus ride, the juicy and the sausage and they might have done a running race, but a really cool day nonetheless. Whakawhetai koutou (Thank you to many) to all the parents who came and supported or supervised our tamariki. Our Senior team will get their turn at Massey Track on Thursday 21st March.
Giant Pumpkin Competition:
Feedback tells us that we will have to bring forward the judging of our Giant Pumpkin Growing Competition to accommodate the paukena (pumpkin) that are starting to get past their best. Check out Jen’s ginormous one she grew for the competition below. If you have one growing and want to take part in the fun, send in your pumpkin that you have grown for the ‘Great Weigh-In’ next Friday 15th March. We will judge them during the day and present the winners at our Hui ā Kura (Assembly) that afternoon from 2:15pm.
Cycle Safety Year 5/6:
Erin and Phil from Sport Manawatū are coming back to work with our Year 5/6 students in small groups from 18th-20th March teaching them cycle safety. If your child has their own bike and helmet, we ask that you please bring it in for them on one of those days. More information will come out about this through Hero.
Year 5/6 Interschool Triathlon/Weetbix Tryathlon:
Last chance to sign up here for this event next week on Wednesday 13th March at Skoglund Park. Entries close this afternoon. There are 6 days left to get the entry price at the reduced rate for the upcoming Weetbix Tryathlon on Tuesday 19th March at Ongley Park. Sign up your child here if they want to have a go!
Teachers Union Meetings:
If you are a parent that has kids attending other schools in Palmerston North, you might have heard that on either 19th or 27th March, there are NZEI (Teachers Union) meetings on and schools are closing early to send their kaiako to these. Our staff have chosen to release each other to attend these meetings separately so that we don’t need to close the school. We try to minimise inconveniencing you where we can.
Cloud 9 Trampoline Park:
We are participating in a fundraising programme that is also raising awareness of plastic bottles and sustainability within our community. We have teamed up with a scheme that is operated by Cloud 9 Palmy Trampoline Park. Cloud 9 is locally owned and operated and wants to support local schools. 100% of all online booking transaction fees will be donated to local schools. They have also made the decision not to sell or profit from any single use plastic drinking bottles. Instead, they have invested in a refrigerated bottle filling station and customers are encouraged to bring their own reusable drink bottles. If customers forget, they can pay for a small paper cup to use instead. 100% of the purchase cost will be donated to local schools by means of a token voting system. Cloud 9 will be supporting schools on a bi-monthly rotation basis. They will post on their Facebook page when Turitea will be available for voting. The more tokens we put in the voting booth, the bigger the donation to our school. Please get behind this fundraising idea and vote for Turitea when visiting Cloud 9 to get some money back to our kura.
Firewood:
Peter from our Board of Trustees is trying to generate some putea (money) for our school and has had a contact deliver a whole bunch of unprocessed logs for us to turn into firewood to sell. We are looking at splitting it tomorrow morning if you are interested in getting a workout in, come down to the field opposite school on the right as you come down our slip road and give us a hand. We’d appreciate all the support we can get. Don’t forget to bring gloves, boots and old clothes.
AA Big Little Sponsorship:
For the past few weeks, I have advertised the AA Big Little Sponsorship, so please nominate our school for the chance to win one of two $10,000 sports grants. It takes a couple of minutes to do it here.
What’s on in Palmy:
- Rural Games starts today and runs through until Sunday 10th March at Te Marae o Hine (The Square) from 9am – 4.30pm. More information can be found here.
- Blokarting – Have a go at this fast growing sport at the Sanson Domain next Sunday 17th March at the Sanson Domain. More information here.
- Heybarn – Have a shed on your property that you aren’t using and want to make some money off? Check out Heybarn and their current offer.
- Matilda is coming to town from April 12-27th. Check out one of our past pupils Manawa, as he takes the stage. More information can be found here.
Karawhiua (Give it heaps) Whaea Tūrehu, as she is competing tomorrow at Te Kāhui Maunga, which is the Kapa Haka Regionals in New Plymouth. Her rōpu (group) is called Te Reanga Morehu o Ratana and they are set to take stage at 4.25pm. Māori TV is livestreaming the entire event from 8.30am if you want to watch her perform.
Kia pai tō rā whakatā (Have a great weekend)
Troy