Tēnā koutou katoa (Hello everyone),
Firstly, I want to apologise to our incredible support staff for not acknowledging them in last Friday’s pānui, as we celebrated Support Staff Day last week. We are very fortunate to have a group of incredible wahine; Aimi, Julie, Dani, Kirstin, Meryl and Mitzy. They are the unsung heroes of our kura, always there to give extra support in the classroom, helping out wherever needed, having their role change on a dime and doing those jobs that often go unnoticed. Thank you for being on Team Turitea!
On Monday, We welcomed Thomas to Rimu on Monday morning, joining Anna and the other ākonga (learners) in their space, Nau mai haere mai (welcome) to you and your whānau! Kristin, our newest member of the team, that we let you know about last week, came for a visit to this space on Tuesday as she makes herself familiar with everyone, before she officially joins us next term.
We had another successful round of Garden to Table on Monday with our tuakana (seniors) cooking a delicious meal and carving our giant paukena (pumpkins). Don’t they look neat? Meryl whipped up another of her short movies showcasing what they get up to. They also continued the Wonder Project with Dr. Amal and launched their test rockets as you can see here. This morning, they hit the road early as they embarked on their trip to Pōneke (Wellington) to visit Ngā Reo Whanake (He Tohu at the National Library), Parliament and Te Papa Museum. We can’t wait to hear how it all went when they get back late this afternoon.
Cameron and Anneliese, not only represented Turitea School, but teachers nationwide as they were asked to be part of Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga (The Ministry of Education) stand at the Tāhatu Careers Expo NZ on Wednesday. They used their persuasive skills to entice lots of rangatahi (young adults) to consider one of the best professions in the world. Tau kē e korua! (Awesome, you two)
Yesterday afternoon, we had potentially some kids’ ‘best day ever!’ as the excitement overflowed with trucks and cranes attending school to drop off our newest storage facility. This is in the way of a Shipping Container, which was put on the other side of the fence parallel to the courts. A huge mihi (thanks) to the PTA for funding the cost of this to give us much needed storage for outdoor projects, so watch this space…
Cross Country:
Our Cross Country is next Thursday 29th May. Please refer to the separate Hero notices that Julie posted, with more detailed information, but here are the approximate race times:
- 11am – Year 5/6 (approx. 3 km/3 laps of the paddocks)
- 11:25am – Year 3/4 (approx. 2 km/2 laps)
- 11:45am – Year 1/2 (approx. 1 km/1 lap)
Hopefully you are able to join us for this to support your tamariki. Our staff will park up on the courts on the day maximising our external parks for you all to utilise. Please stick to watching from the designated parent zones which are labelled on the map above. The course is very similar to last year if you were here.
Pae Tamariki:
Hopefully Wednesday 4th June is already on your calendar to see your tamariki on stage at the Regent on Broadway at 11.40am. Please bring a gold coin entry if you can come and watch our kids shine!
Matariki Event:
We are working with the PTA to bring you our annual Matariki event, so please put Friday 13th June from 4.30pm – 7pm on your calendar, as we’d love to celebrate this event with you. Our tamariki will be showing off their mahi toi (artwork), sharing some kemu (games) and performing their Kapa Haka Bracket for you to enjoy. We are also getting The Real Deal Frybread and Hāngi truck to give us that cultural fix of yummy kai. Orders for this will come out soon.
Reporting to Parents:
As I mentioned last week, we’ve updated our student reporting to align with Te Mātaiaho (our refreshed curriculum), which means the previous progress graphs in Hero won’t be available this term. You will still have a written comment by the kaiako (teacher) for English and Mathematics with a Overall Teacher Judgment (OTJ) on where your child sits in relation to the goals of the new phases of learning. There will also be a comment about Ngā Uara o te Kura (School Values), as well as Student Voice that is written (or transcribed) by your child. These will be available to you in the last week of the term via Hero, or will come home in an envelope to those in Rimu. As previously mentioned, the Parent Portal is designed to provide ways to further support at home. If you’ve had a look, I’d be keen to hear if this hits the mark for you.
Attendance:
The Government has recently announced an investment of almost $140 million over the next four years to improve student attendance. Luckily this isn’t a huge concern for us here, like it is in other kura across the country. But it is my job to inform you all of the Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) that they have rolled out to achieve their goal of 80% of tamariki attending for 90% of the year.
Mulch Moving:
This morning, we had 9 cubes of mulch delivered in our staff car park that is to be spread over the new drip lines from our septic system. This will provide much needed irrigation for all the trees in our microforest. Over the next few weeks, our goal is to spread as much of this as possible, as this is the first of 7 deliveries! Our tamariki will help us do this, but if any members of our hāpori (community) would like to come and lend a hand at any stage, please BYO Wheelbarrow and spade/rake, it would be really appreciated.
From the PTA:
Thank you to those of you who came to the PTA Pool Party on Saturday evening. The parent feedback we received about the new venue this year was really pleasing, so massive thanks to Lynden and Justine (Beckett’s parents) for arranging this for us. It was great to see so many parents joining in on the fun, even if it was in the Adults Spa as you can see above… (LOL). We are lucky that Monday has been the only day this week to make use of our latest Turitea merch, our umbrellas, they are pretty snazzy!
From the Community:
- Former NZ Blackstick Michaela Curtis is offering private hockey coaching for students in Year 5/6. Check out the flyer or get in touch with her on 0273359172 to register your interest.
- Support the Red Cross Book Sale over the King’s Birthday Weekend (May 30th – June 2nd) Books, jigsaws, DVDs, records, music, comics, games and more.
Just one final friendly reminder that we have a Staff Only Day next Friday 30th May before the King’s Birthday Long Weekend. Our day is centred around implementation of Te Mātaiaho (our refreshed Curriculum) and PB4L, which is a school wide focus around improving consistency of expectations.
Ngā tauwhirotanga (With the kindest of regards)
Troy
principal@turitea.school.nz