Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou (Warm greeting to you all)
Huge thank you if you came along to our annual Lamb, Calf and Pet Day last Friday. This is one event that helps us retain our ‘rural school’ status. Also a great showcase of some of our students’ commitment outside of school to our uara (value) of kaitiakitanga by looking after their animals. Pictured below are some of my favourite photos from the day. Our winners were celebrated this afternoon and best of luck to those competing in the Oroua Boys & Girls Championship Day with them tomorrow in Rongotea.
Unfortunately yesterday we said ‘Haere Ra’ (Farewell) to Jonah and Kaea as their whānau have decided to move back to Australia after nearly 18 months with us at Turitea. We know they both leave behind a lot of friends they have made here. We hope the move goes well and e hoki mai rā… (come back one day)
This afternoon, we had our first Hui ā Kura (Assembly) of the term, a bit late I know, as we have had a string of busy Friday afternoons the past few weeks. Carmen, Charlotte, Neve, Wid and Indi were our Year 6 hosts. It was a busy one as we handed out the trophies as mentioned above. We also recognised those who demonstrate our school uara consistently. Receiving their tiwhikete (certificate) this week were:
Rimu: Caleb F – Mātauranga and Ivy-Rose – Mātauranga
Rātā: Azriel – Manaakitanga
Pōhutukawa: Freddie – Manaakitanga
Mataī: Pippa – Mātauranga
Tōtara: Henry – Mātauranga
Kahikatea: Ben – Mātauranga
Tumuaki: Kazuri – Whanaungatanga
The Lamb Calf and Pet Day trophy recipients were:
Junior Lamb: Caleb with Bouncy
Reserve Champion Lamb: Natalie with Smudge
Senior Lamb and Overall Champion Lamb: Rory with Bo
Junior Calf and Overall Champion Calf: Jack with Rosie
Senior Calf and Reserve Champion Calf: Billy with H2R
Junior Pet: Hazel with Ash
Intermediate Pet and Reserve Champion Pet: Matthew with Tea
Senior Pet and Overall Champion Pet: Jack with Tui
Indoor Exhibit Cup: Amelia with her hand crafted wooden chopping board
Cluster Touch:
Today, Anna and Cameron took four teams of Year 1-6 students, pictured above, to our annual Cluster Touch tournament at Monrad Park. We came in as the ‘Reigning, Defending, Undisputed Champions’ holding the Cluster Touch Shield looking to retain it for another year. Unfortunately, today belonged to Aokautere School, who just proved that they were worthy champions this year by winning the majority of their games. Massive thanks to all the parents who came and supported our kids by coaching, managing or cheering them on!
Interschool Events:
Next Tuesday some of our seniors are heading to the Manawatū Striders Interschool Road Race or the Interschool Table Tennis Competition. Thanks heaps to our parents who are supporting these events and Jonathan (Henry’s Dad) for coming in at lunchtimes to train our Table Tennis players. Karawhiua! (Go hard!)
Little People, Big Feelings:
On Tuesday, we had Ruby, Te Paea and Noah from I Am Hope present at our school. They are ambassadors for Little People, Big Feelings which is a movement to help tamariki better understand their emotions. Their aspiration is to normalise ‘seeking help from a counsellor’ in the hope that rangatahi (young people) in Aotearoa will become more comfortable talking about their little problems, before they become big problems.
School Donations:
We are interested in gathering your voice around school donations. To give you some background, these have been set at $100 per child or $150 per whānau since 2010. Obviously the cost of living has gone up in this time and we haven’t adjusted this to reflect these changes. Like every New Zealand school, school donations aren’t compulsory, but we do rely on them to help us pay for the extra things that we’d love to have or do at our school, that our operations grant from Te Mahau (The Ministry of Education) doesn’t cover.
From the Office:
Please can you remind your child to let Julie know at the office window if you drop them off to school late. This saves her heaps of time when she is sorting the attendance each day. Thank you to those of you who are up to date on your school finances (Donations, Activity Fee, Sports Fees etc). This information is easy to find in the Finances tab on the Hero app.
From the PTA:
On Monday, your child should have brought home a notice about our Art Fundraiser. This year we are using The Online Printer and each child has a unique code and this can be used to order a range of products featuring their amazing artwork on the front. Orders must be made here by Sunday 17th November. A few days left for the Pepper & Me fundraiser. Thank you to those who have already ordered some tasty treats!
School Pool:
If you would like to help the team and take shifts in the daily testing of our swimming pool over the summer period, please get in touch with me ASAP. This is so we can lock in a date to get Shaun from Atlantis Pool and Spa (Formerly Shaun’s Pools) to train us up. We will give you a free pool key to use to entice you.
Important Event Dates:
Here are all our End of Year dates: (They can also be found in the Hero App in the Events tab or our website) More information will come out about these in coming weeks.
-Year 5/6 Interschool Athletics: Monday 18th November
-Year 5/6 Cluster Kī o Rahi Competition: Friday 29th November
-Mataī/Pōhutukawa Wildbase Trip: Monday 2nd December
-Kahikatea/Tōtara Awa Bike Trail Trip: Tuesday 3rd December
-Year 6 End Of Year Excursion: Tuesday 10th December
-School Reports/2025 Class Placement Live on Hero: Wednesday 11th December
-End of Year PTA Pool Party for Everyone: Thursday 12th December @ 12.30pm
-Year 6 Graduation: Thursday 12th December @ 5.30pm
-End of Year Prizegiving/Final Assembly: Friday 13th December @ 12pm
-School finishes for 2024: Friday 13th December @ 1pm.
From the Community:
- We have 12 bales of hay for sale at $10 a bale, if you are interested, talk to Julie.
- One of our parents, Danny owns Palm Accommodation and wanted to offer it to our community if you know someone who needs fully furnished, short or long term accommodation in Hokowhitu. He will donate one week’s letting fee to the school for every referral connected to us, shot Danny!
- Taiopenga ā-Rēhia (Palmy Play Festival) is a free community event celebrating games from around the world this Saturday 9th November from 11am-1pm at Te Marae o Hine.
- Brent Boddy Prestige are running a colouring competition to celebrate the release of their new BYD vehicles and are offering cool prizes for those who are keen.
- ACROSS Te Kotahitanga o Te Wairua have free 2-hour online or in-person parenting workshops on various topics like handling disobedience, creating bedtime routines and managing screen time.
We look forward to welcoming Whaea Anneliese back next week, who got married on Wednesday. Whakawhetai ki a korua (Thanks to both) Shayna and Lucy for being in Pōhutukawa in her absence.
We are appointing our new kaiako (teacher) this afternoon, so I look forward to letting you know who will be joining Team Turitea next year. This will complete the class outlook for 2025, which we will share with you in next week’s pānui.
Kia pai tō rā whakatā (Have a great weekend)
Troy
principal@turitea.school.nz