End of Term 2 Week 7 Pānui

Tēnā rā koutou, 

Another busy week here with lots of things happening in and around the place. On Monday, we welcomed Caelum, who has joined us in Rimu with Meagan and Hannah. He and his whānau live in the area, but have just returned from a long trip to China. Nau mai haere mai ki te kura o Turitea (Welcome to Turitea School). 

I was invited to Mataī class on Wednesday to see the finished product of their mahi toi (art), where they have represented their whānau members with the popular koru which symbolises life in Te Ao Māori (The Māori World) Don’t they look ātaahua (beautiful) pictured below?

Hamish (Dad to Quinn and Logan) and his team from Stumped Services came and took down the enormous Liquid Amber tree out the back of the school near Tanē Mahuta. This will let a lot of light through to where we are planting up our microforest, letting it thrive. 

Over the last weekend we had some of our keen table tennis athletes compete in the Manawatū Table Tennis Residential Championships. Henry was crowned the U11 Singles Overall Champ. Xavier & Kazuri were the U11 Doubles Runners-Up. Henry & Dad Jonathan were the Generation Doubles Div 2A Champs. Blake & Dad Brian were the Generation Doubles Div 2B Runners-Up. Ka rawe (Well done) to you all! Anyone know what you call a lady standing in the middle of a table tennis table? Annette.

Thanks to those who indicated that they would find value in us organising a parent evening around Internet Safety for our tamariki. I have had 69 responses of support for this, so that shows this is something you would find of value. As I seek to get this organised for the future, there are a few recommendations from Rob Cope from Our Kids Online which you might be interested in watching in the meantime if this topic is of interest to you: Our Kids Online, Childhood 2.0, The Social Dilemma on Netflix.

Cluster Cross Country:

Quite glad that this event was yesterday where we had a perfect day, weather wise. If it were today, our children (and potentially our adult supporters) would be quite wet, muddy and cold. We are awaiting the finalised results from the team at Tokomaru who organised the event. So a huge mihi to them, Anneliese, Aimi and all the support team that went out there with the team of 50. I even had a parent message me to say that Ryleigh and Ruby Hazlitt were such amazing supporters, showing our uara (value) of manaakitanga (kindness) to others and cheering on the team. That made me really proud, so mihi atu (acknowledgement) to you both. Must run in the whānau huh?

Boys Netball:

On Tuesday our Year 4-6 Boys went with Cameron to the Boys Netball festival at Vautier Park. Lots of fun was had as our boys did some skills and drills before playing some fun games against other kids from Hiwinui, Taonui and Riverdale Schools. Thanks to those who came and supported us. Mihi atu ki Michaela and the team from Netball Manawatū for organising this for our boys.

Pae Tamariki:

Hoping you can all join us next week at the Regent on Tuesday 18th June. Our students are on stage at 11.40am. We will be travelling to/from the Regent via bus. This year, we will be coming straight back to school afterwards. If you are able to come and watch, it is a gold coin entry on arrival. They have been practising lots this week, as you can see below, in preparation for their moment on stage. 

Linton Camp Matariki/Puanga Event:

If you can’t make Pae Tamariki, hopefully you can come and learn about Matariki and Puanga at the Linton Army Camp next Thursday 20th June from 9.30 – 1.30pm. We will be at the Cultural Centre and the Gym inside the Linton Army Camp, performing in the Gym at approximately 11.30am. If you would like to come to this event to watch and learn, please fill out this form to gain entry. You need to bring your ID and produce upon arrival. 

School Garden: 

Our wonderful Meryl is always working with the kids in our garden club planting vegetables and harvesting them. Have a look at the boomer of a crop from the mara kai (garden) that they pulled out on Tuesday pictured above. So they turned it into soup and invited the tamariki from Pōhutukawa to come and enjoy it at their ‘restaurant’ below, what awesome learning about our uara (value) of Kaitiakitanga. 

From the PTA:

Great to see all the new hoodies being worn about the place – Love seeing our ‘brand’ out there. We definitely get noticed! Another reminder to get your team together for the Quiz Night on Saturday 6th July at the Manawatū Hockey Pavilion at 7pm. Register your team here. We have a PTA meeting on Wednesday 26th June in the staffroom at 7pm. All are welcome to join us. 

Turitea Merch:

We now have cute little school keyrings available to purchase! They will be $4 each or $5 each with initials on them. Half of the proceeds will go back to the school too so every one sold helps The keyrings are 3.5cm in circumference and are made out of plastic. Perfect to pop on your keys and/or your child’s school bag. Please fill out the form to order. Last day for orders is Friday 21st June.

School Choir:

Dani has been working hard with our school choir every Friday afternoon from 1.40 – 2.10pm. On the even school weeks where we have assembly, could we please ask that parents don’t enter the hall until the choir has finished, as it disrupts them. We will let you in at 2.15pm when it is all wrapped up. Thanks for this.

Holiday Programmes:

It seems a little bit too early to start advertising these, but here they are for you to start to consider for the upcoming school holidays in early July:

Not a holiday programme, but if there are any train enthusiasts, Tim at Ohakune Train Stays wanted to let you all know about the unique accommodation they have based in two railway carriages if you’re looking for something different to do in the school holidays.

Hei te Rāhina (See you on Monday)

Troy 

principal@turitea.school.nz