Kia ora e te whānau,
Well the vibe around the place after the holidays is really positive, so we’ve started off the new term in great shape! This week we welcomed lots of new whānau to the school. We did this with a Mihi Whakatau (informal welcome) to set the tone for what Turitea School is all about for our new families. A huge thanks to Shane Hutson from Te Whānau Māori who did the whaikorero (speech) on behalf of our new whānau. It was also nice to officially welcome Hannah who joined our teaching staff this week working alongside Meagan in Rimu. Building ‘Fairy Houses’ have become a popular pastime, here is one pictured below that Sarah and Elisa built.
New Whānau:
Nau mai haere mai to Deane and Katara who have joined Anneliese in Rātā. A big welcome to Lea who joins her Mum Meagan in Rimu and Scarlett who is the last of four siblings who have all attended Turitea. Griffin, Azriel and Archer are new five year olds who are the first of their whānau to come to our school. We are also lucky to have Jacqueline and Celeste joining our kura for 6 weeks all the way from Colorado, USA.
Learner Conferences:
We had a steady stream of parents come in for Learner Conferences yesterday which was awesome to see. I know this made pick up slightly more congested than normal. If you forgot about these, you can always book a 15 minute session for next Thursday 4th May between 2.15 – 7.30pm. School will finish early that day at 2pm, but we can supervise any kids in the playground who are unable to be picked up until 3pm. You can book these through Hero in the School Bookings tab. Please note that the system only allows for one booking per child. These are designed to bring your child along to reconnect with the classroom teacher and talk about any assessments conducted, goal setting and aspirations you might have. Please remember to avoid the four orange parks out the front of the school unless you are doing a quick pick up.
Ngā Takaro Taonga:
Next Wednesday 3rd May, I am taking 12 Year 5/6 tamariki to a Traditional Māori Games festival at Whakarongo School. Here they will be mixed up with kids from 10 other schools from across the Manawatū to learn these old and new kēmu (games). We look forward to them coming back to kura and sharing their knowledge and teaching these kēmu to their classmates.
Cluster Singfest:
The choir will be performing at the Cluster Singfest next Thursday 4th May at Linton Camp Community Hall. The 34 children participating will be travelling by bus, leaving at 9.20am and returning about 10am. We are after some parent helpers to come and enjoy the show. If you can help out, please let Shane know.
Kelly Sports After School Programme:
Craig and his team are continuing this next week on a Tuesday afternoon from 3.10pm. More information found here and you can still book online here.
From the PTA:
The PTA AGM is on Thursday 11th May at 7pm in the Staffroom. It would be great to see some new faces, particularly if you are new to our school whānau and are looking to join in and help out. We have tentatively set a date for the PTA Pool Party at Freyberg and it is looking like the evening of Saturday 27th May. This term we will look to do another Turitea Hoody run, so keep an eye on Hero if you need a new one.
Lucky Books:
Just a reminder to get your orders completed by Monday 8th May and this is all done online now through the Loop App on Google or Apple or online.
New Bike Rack:
Big thanks to Meryl who installed our new bike racks, pictured above, which are next to the front fence outside Rimu. We encourage any of our students who can ride to/from school safely to bring their bikes and park them there. She will eventually concrete them in, but for now they are just chained there.
Year 5/6 Interschool Orienteering:
You may have already seen the post from Dani about this on Hero. We only have one person signed up for the Interschool Orienteering event on Friday 12th May, we’d love a few more. In the meantime, you could give orienteering a go as a family and check out the Knottingly OY event that Red Kiwi runs this Sunday 30th April.
Hoping you all manage to have a relaxing weekend.
Ngā manaakitanga