Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou (A warm greeting to you all),
Hasn’t there been a temperature drop the last few mornings? Luckily the sun has been shining lately giving us some gorgeous days at kura. Hopefully you noticed our new sign on the post out the front of the office? Darian deRidder, a former parent of the school made the original version underneath, so Julie got in touch with him to make a new version to show our name correction from ‘Tiritea to Turitea’. His son Hunter, who works for him, came and personally delivered it and enjoyed having a look around at all the changes since his time here. If you were unaware, the name correction even made the news! Check out the pic below. We want our tamariki to start learning about this as it is an important part of our kura history.
Unfortunately, we have had a lot of sickness ravage our staff recently with Cameron and Anneliese being the latest ones to fall quite ill to either Covid or Covid-like illnesses. Another reminder to please keep your child home if they are unwell. We are hoping that come winter, our immunity will be at an all-time high! Today it was cool to have Miles from True Hoops (as you can see below) back in our kura working with our Year 4-6 students trying to get some more keen people to join our Poitūkohu (Basketball) teams. Sign them up here if they enjoyed today and want to play.
Congratulations to our last weeks Giant Pumpkin Competition winners and their enormous paukena! Thanks again to Meryl for running this and Nathan Mooney for supporting this awesome event.
Cluster Athletics:
Yesterday 40 of our tuakana (Year 4-6) competed at Massey Track for our annual Fitzherbert Cluster Senior Athletics. It was a brilliant day weather wise with lots of great sportsmanship being shown and some pleasing results as you can read below, as well as some cool pics above. Thank you to Cameron and Graham (Xavier and Kazuri’s Dad) for running the Discus event, the team at Aokautere School for running the whole day and all the parents who came down to assist with transport and supervision. Ka rawe to Ayla who was the Year 4 Girls Overall Champion and Natalie who was the Year 6 Girls Overall Champion. Talk about Wahine Toa! (Strong Women!) Here are all the other amazing athletes who took a podium:
Year 4:
Ayla – 1st in Shot Put, 1st in 80m Sprint, 2nd in High Jump, 2nd in Discus.
Munroe – 1st in Discus and 3rd in Shot Put.
Harriet – 2nd in 400m and 3rd in 80m Sprint.
Mackenzie – 3rd in Discus.
Kyerin – 2nd in Shot Put.
Rory – 3rd in High Jump.
Year 5:
Kazuri – 2nd in Discus.
Finn – 1st in Discus.
Year 6:
Natalie – 1st in Long Jump, 1st in 80m Sprint, 1st in 400m.
Harper – 1st in High Jump.
Charlee – 2nd in Long Jump, 3rd in 80m Sprint.
Sophia – 3rd in Discus.
Ada – 3rd in 400m.
Tahu – 1st in High Jump.
Billy – 2nd in Shot Put.
Antonio – 2nd in Discus.
Ezekiel – 3rd in Discus.
Board Meeting:
On Wednesday evening, we had our second Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting for the year. We meet twice every term to go over the ‘behind the scenes’ things that go at a school. One of their main jobs is to ask me questions to ensure that we are ‘putting kids first.’ The reports I write for the board can be quite long and require a lot of reading, so I know a highlight for a lot of people is seeing the Class Reports slide that Whaea Anneliese, our Staff Representative on the BoT prepares for them. These are to give our BoT a chance to see all the cool stuff that happens in other classrooms around the kura. If you are ever interested in attending a BoT meeting, please reach out to myself or Liam, Joeli, Hannah, Niki or Peter to find out more.
Kōrero Mai – Learner Conferences:
Thank you to those of you who have already booked these in on either Wednesday 3rd April or Wednesday 10th April. 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. 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.
Firewood:
You might have seen the pile of firewood outside the school on Monday that we are looking to sell 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. 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!
Cycle Safety Year 5/6:
Massive thanks to Erin, Phil and Rebekah from Sport Manawatū who have taken our tuakana (Year 5/6) for their cycle safety sessions this week as you can see above. They had nothing but great things to say about their behaviour, ability and support for one another. We look forward to having them back in our school next year.
Weetbix Tryathlon:
Well done to those who gave this well organised event a go on Tuesday. The smiles on all the kids’ faces who did this, showed that being active is not only good for you, but great fun too. Ka rawe koutou (Well done everyone) to everyone who did this.
From the PTA:
Kia ora Turitea whānau, Thank you for all your hot cross bun orders. You can collect them on Monday 25th March from the staffroom from 2.30pm. Please bring bags to put them in. The lucky winner for the most packs sold is Eddie in Rimu – Ka pai (Great job) Eddie! Don’t forget our free easter event tomorrow from 1-3pm where we have lots of fun lined up! Exciting Easter Scavenger Hunt, face painting, colouring competition and other crafts. Bring your loose change for a change to win one of our two easter hampers kindly donated by Aaron and Claire from Aokautere New World.
What’s on in Palmy:
- Hurricanes, HURRICANES!! Head on down to CET Arena tonight for the Super Rugby Aupiki – Hurricanes Poua vs Chiefs Manawa @ 4:35pm and then watch Super Rugby Pacific – Hurricanes v Rebels @ 7:05pm. Tickets are still available here and get two great games for the price of one.
- There is a Girls Get Golfing event on Wednesday 3rd April from 4pm – 5.30pm at Orlando Country Club. This is for girls aged 5 to 18, where you will have an introduction to Golf. No experience necessary and equipment will be available to use. For more information or to register please contact Janette Smith.
- 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 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.
- Bounce Academy also have their Basketball Camps running in the April Holidays 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.
On Monday next week I am heading up north to Waitangi to attend a Tumuaki (Principals) conference called Ka Nukunuku, Ka Nekeneke (Shifts and Changes) so you won’t see me at the gate in the afternoon. Karen and Trish will be standing in for me and they will also take care of next week’s pānui for you on Thursday. I will see you back at kura on Wednesday 3rd April (No School on Tuesday 2nd April) after Te Aranga (Easter). If you are travelling away, be safe and see you back then.
Kia pai tō rā whakatā (Have a great weekend)
Troy