Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou (A warm greeting to you all),
Thank you to those who came up to school for our big mural reveal on Monday. If you missed it, we tried to capture it here. We are so happy with the end result and think it looks ataahua! (beautiful) and the kids all approve. Whakawhetai koe (Thank you) Carolyn for your passion, leadership and commitment to supporting our Year 6’s to make this dream become a reality. We are finalising the full ‘Mural Diary’ to share with you and hope to have this completed soon. In the meantime, there are a few posters with the process in the Mataī window if you are interested in reading what they went through to get there.
This week has presented many sporting opportunities for our kids with Logan from Manawatū Cricket taking Boys Cricket on Monday, Mikaela from Central Football taking Girls Football on Thursday and Sarah and Abby from Manawatū Cricket taking Yeah Girls! Cricket today. The cherry on top was on Wednesday where Blake, Natalie, Kerian and Antonio represented our school at the Inter School Triathlon at Skoglund Park. A massive congratulations to Natalie, pictured below, who is a back to back winner of this prestigious event winning the Year 6 Girls event. Kei reira Nat! (Awesome!)
Hui ā Kura (Assembly):
This afternoon we had our second fortnightly Hui ā Kura (assembly) for the year and from Neve, Harper and Olivia from Kahikatea were our Year 6 hosts. We expect each of our Year 6’s to show hautūtanga (leadership) within our school and one of the many ways they do this is to lead our assembly. They also showcase our school uara (values) and lead by example. Those demonstrating our uara consistently and getting their tiwhikete (certificate) are:
Rimu: Mackenzie – Mātauranga and Kaea – Mātauranga
Rātā: Patrick – Mātauranga
Pōhutukawa: Katara – Mātauranga
Mataī: Michael G – Mātauranga
Tōtara: Amelia C – Mātauranga
Kahikatea: Cooper – Mātauranga
Tumuaki: Maya W – Manaakitanga
Giant Pumpkin Competition:
This morning our foyer looked like we were preparing for Halloween with all the giant paukena (pumpkins) that littered the place as you can see above. What an amazing competition proudly supported by our very own Nathan Mooney from Property Brokers and run and led by Meryl, our wonderful caretaker. We had the ‘Great Weigh-In’ and judging this afternoon and the Garden Club and kids from Mataī did lots of learning around weight and circumference, as well as used good descriptive language describing how different they all were. Oh the learning you can do with paukena (pumpkins)…
Our winners were:
Heaviest and Biggest Pumpkin was Harper (It weighed in at 73.2kg with a circumference of 179cm!)
Weirdest Looking Pumpkin was Finn
Best Looking Pumpkin was Jacob
Brightest Coloured Pumpkin was Elisa and Marissa
Roughest Pumpkin was Jackson
Smoothest Pumpkin was Kazuri
Scariest Pumpkin was River
Roundest Pumpkin was Makenna
Best Named Pumpkin was Neve with ‘Fritter’
Cluster Athletics:
Next week 40 of our tuakana (Year 4-6) are heading to Massey Track to compete in our Fitzherbert Cluster Senior Athletics on Thursday 21st March. All the information has gone out if your child has been chosen to represent Turitea School at this event. As always, we would love your support, so if you are able to help us transport kids, cheer on the team or assist in any way, let us know on the form you would have been sent.
Kapa Haka:
Last week, you might have read that Whaea Tūrehu’s Kapa Haka rōpu ‘Te Reanga Morehu o Ratana’ competed at Te Kāhui Maunga, the Kapa Haka regional tournament in New Plymouth last weekend. Well they blew the competition away and took first place! Ka rawe koutou! (Awesome everyone). They are now eligible to compete at Te Matatini, which is the nationwide Kapa Haka festival in 2025. A huge honour, so we showed her some tautoko (support) with a haka before she came to take us for Kapa Haka on Wednesday.
Kōrero Mai – Learner Conferences:
You may have seen these on the Events calendar for Wednesday 3rd April and Wednesday 10th April and you would have received a notification that I have opened up the booking form through Hero for these. Although we encourage you to connect with your child’s teacher at any time, Kōrero mai is a time to meet with the teacher (and your child if you wish) and hear how their first term has gone and set some goals moving ahead. We urge you to take this opportunity to connect and share. If you can’t make the times we have set, please email your child’s teacher.
Firewood:
Whakawhetai koutou (Thank you) to Peter, Fraser and John for your awesome mahi last Saturday turning our logs into firewood. We are looking to sell this as a school fundraiser for $120 per cubic meter. 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. Please fill out the form if you would like to order some and we will be in touch.
Cycle Safety Year 5/6:
Our tuakana (Year 5/6) are involved in this awesome programme through Sport Manawatū next week. Please see the separate post about this for all the finer details. They need their bike and helmet dropped off to school on either Monday or Tuesday if they are a Year 6, or on Wednesday if they are a Year 5.
Weetbix Tryathlon:
This event is next Tuesday 19th March at Ongley Park. Sign up your child here if they still want to give it a go! If your child is doing this event, please report their absence using Hero.
Front Gate:
Please can you remind your child not to climb on the gate to open it. If they need your support to get into school before 8.30am, can you please let them in yourself. We don’t want to encourage them to do that as the purpose of the fence is to keep our tamariki in and safe. The weight of kids climbing on it has warped the rails and we’d prefer to not have that happen. Thanks for your support.
Choir:
Great to have Dani starting our School Choir back every Friday. They had their first session this afternoon with those in Year 2 and above. We know that she has found some cool songs to sing with the group and will have them ‘performance ready’ in no time!
From the PTA:
It’s Hot Cross Bun time again! We have the lovely team at Rose Bowl Bakery taking hot cross bun orders again so get your orders in before Tuesday 19th March at 5pm for pre-Easter delivery! Round up your friends and family orders because the biggest order this year will receive an extra special treat from the PTA easter bunnies!! CLICK HERE to order!
The PTA are also hosting a FREE Fun Family Event for Easter next Saturday 23rd March at 1pm here at school. Bring along your picnic rug + lunch and enjoy some free and fun activities with your children! A great way to get to know other families and get excited for Easter. Bring along that loose change to try and win an epic easter hamper too!
You can also LIKE our page on FB too! CLICK HERE
Turitea Continuing Excellence:
It is always nice to hear our former students going on to do great things at their new kura after they leave Turitea. Congratulations to Dayna, Theo, Izzy, Rosalie and Bachir who were chosen to be Class Councillors at PNINS this year. We know they learnt all those great leadership skills here!
What’s on in Palmy:
- Festival of Colours – Head on down to Te Marae o Hine (The Square) for this Holi-inspired event tomorrow from 3pm – 7pm. Cover your friends and whānau in paint powder, and there will be some Bollywood entertainment, food trucks, craft stalls and more.
- Blokarting – Have a go at this fast growing sport at the Sanson Domain this Sunday 17th March at the Sanson Domain. More information here.
- Awapuni School is having their annual School Gala next Saturday 23rd March from 11am – 3pm. If you are interested in having a stall, fill out the form here or head along for a bit of fun!
- 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.
- True Hoops have their April Basketball Camps running at the CET Arena in the upcoming holidays: Register for the 2-Day Camp on Monday 15th & Tuesday 16th April from 9am-3pm. $60 per day or $100 for both days. Register for the Littles Camp on Wednesday 17th April from 9am-1pm for $45.
Kia pai tō rā whakatā (Have a great weekend)
Troy