Tēnā koutou katoa (Hello everyone)
It’s great to be back at kura after attending my conference in Brisbane last week. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to develop my leadership skills and contribute to positive change at our kura. Whaea Anneliese did an excellent job writing the pānui in my absence, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did. It must have been a pleasant change to hear from a different voice on a Friday! As she mentioned, it is one of my favourite things to do as I feel communication is a vital part of a successful team and I hope that by reading the pānui each Friday, you stay well-informed about what’s happening at Turitea.
On Wednesday night we had our final Board of Trustees meeting of the term. Our fantastic team of kaiako keep them updated through their class reports which you might also like to read here. With only five days left to cast your vote in electing our five board members, please make sure you have your say as only 42% of eligible voters have done this. We are extremely lucky to have seven strong candidates to choose from. I do apologise for misinforming you about the collection of paper votes though. I had previously stated that we needed to collect these prior to Wednesday 10th September so we can post them off to Election Pilot. We can accept paper votes up until 4pm on this day, so please do have your say.
Production preparations are in full swing! Tickets for the shows next Friday 12th September are selling fast, so order here to avoid missing out. Please pick up pre-ordered and paid for tickets from the office before the day of the event and the seating is all general admission. On the day of production, Rimu, Rātā, Pōhutukawa, and Mataī will have a normal school day until just before lunch. Tōtara and Kauri leave by bus at approximately 9:30am for a technical run-through at the Speirs Centre. The rest of the school also arrive by bus at around 1pm for the full dress rehearsal. Subway will be delivered to the Spiers Centre at lunch time if you still wanted to order that for your tamariki. We will not be returning to school on this day. Tamariki will stay with us and have an early dinner before the first show, please email Julie with any dietary needs. All students will remain at the Speirs Centre for both evening performances at 4:30pm and 6pm and then you can collect them from the stage just after the second show ends at approx 7pm.
Mihi nui (Big thanks) to those of you who have been engaging in our weekly pātai (questions) about gathering your voice about “What qualities, dispositions, skills, and knowledge do you think our tamariki need to thrive?” Here were the responses to last week’s question: Looking at the Knowledge areas that were listed, which ONE do you believe is the MOST crucial for our tamariki to hold right now?
-18 people chose Knowing who they are (culturally and personally)
-11 people chose Understanding the world around them
-7 people chose Awareness for others
-5 people chose Real-life experiences
–3 people chose Awareness of the environment in NZ and the world
-3 people chose Hauora (holistic well-being)
-No one chose Strong connection to local place and community or Understanding different cultures
This will be the last of these that I will ask you, as I don’t want you to get ‘survey fatigue’ as early next term we will be sending home our more formalised questions that we’d love your input on so we can build our Strategic Plan for 2026-29.
This week I have loved that lots of tamariki have come and shared their mahi (work) with me. I especially enjoyed the poetry that came from Kauri. As you can see above, big kids still love getting stickers! I would love to share Grace’s with you:
Bed Time Rain:
Drip drop singing their song.
Splishing,
Splashing,
Dishing,
Dashing.
Gutters eating the silver liquid.
Rain seated in their spot
Splish
Splosh.
On the rood top rain swayed along
Pattering a bed time song.
You might have seen the article in the Manawatū Standard yesterday about being left out of the speed limit plans for schools. Here’s hoping a bit of media coverage might help bring about some change to make our pick up/drop off time a bit safer.
Hui Ā Kura:
This afternoon we had our second to last Hui Ā Kura (Assembly) of Term 3 led by Hugo, Eli and Leo B from Kauri. As usual, we recognised those who model our school’s uara (values) consistently, through our fortnightly tiwhikete (certificates). Those people were:
- Rimu: Harley – Whanaungatanga
- Rātā: Philip – Mātauranga
- Pōhutukawa: Hazel – Mātauranga
- Mataī: Lincoln – Manaakitanga
- Tōtara: Olly – Kaitiakitanga
- Kauri: Ella – Manaakitanga
- Tumuaki: Maia C – Manaakitanga
Matilda The Therapy Dog
Hopefully many of you know that every Thursday morning, we have Matilda or Tilly come to visit us. She has been carefully trained by owner Hayley (Amelia’s Mum) to help reduce student stress, anxiety and create a calming learning environment. Tilly’s presence also promotes empathy as they learn to interact with and care for her by giving her lots of pats. Hayley wrote a piece here to share with others the impact she is having. We are grateful for both Hayley and Tilly for their time at our kura.
Holiday Programmes:
With only 10 school days remaining in the term, thought I better share what is on offer these upcoming school holidays if you need care for your tamariki. Check out the options below:
- Kelly Sports Holiday Programme – See their information here
- Bounce Basketball Academy – See the poster here
- Epic Music Academy – Check out their poster here
- Massey Kids Club – Here is their information here
If you have any Yummy Fruit stickers at home, please can you bring them into the office as we will be sending them off early next term to turn them into sports gear.
Ngā mihi me te aroha nui mō te Rā o Pāpā – Big love and best wishes to all our Dads on Father’s Day this Sunday. Also the iBike4Kids is on this weekend at the Esplanade this Sunday if you feel like being active. More information can be found here.
Ngā manaakitanga (Best wishes)
Troy
principal@turitea.school.nz