Kia ora e te whānau,
Thank you for your support with our power outage situation yesterday – what a shemozzle! The age old saying ‘You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t’ massively came into play here when making the tough call to close the school. This is why I gave all the information to our MoE team to make the call for us. It was good learning for us however (and hopefully for you also) as to what to do in the event of an emergency situation here at school. Because we had no power/internet, we had to do it all from our mobile phones to keep communication lines open with you all, so we rely heavily on all parents having the ability to connect to Hero and receive messages from us.
Hero Notifications/Contact Emails:
This is a timely check for a couple of things. Firstly, whether or not you are receiving notifications from Hero. If you aren’t, please let us know ASAP, so we can inform Hero and they will hopefully be able to solve this issue for us. Secondly, a check to whether we have more than one parent/caregiver connected to Hero to contact. All you need for this is an email address to get an account setup on the app. Julie has made contact with you if you only have one main contact to ask to provide the details for another.
Welcomes:
Nau mai, haere mai to Hazel who joined Meagan, Hannah and the team in Rimu, finally joining her big sister Lily M at school. Also a big welcome to Mila who has also joined Rimu, but she is the first in her whānau to attend Turitea. We hope you enjoy being part of our community.
Stranger Danger:
This week, a school in central Palmerston North had a member of the public try to coerce one of their students into their vehicle with lollies and saying that their parents had arranged to pick them up. Luckily the student knew exactly what to do and ran straight home to alert the authorities. We are lucky with our community being smaller and knowing everyone, but a timely reminder to have those chats with your child.
Cross Country:
Our School Cross Country/Fun Run is set for Friday 26th May. We will hold it here at school and in our neighbouring paddocks with a similar course to last year. We will advise you the times closer to the date. After this, we have 2 other Cross Country events. The Palmerston North Year 5/6 Interschool Cross Country will be held at Massey on Wednesday 7th June. The Fitzherbert Year 1-6 Cluster Cross Country will be on Thursday 8th June at Stewarts Farm in Tokomaru again. We usually send the top 5 runners of our school event to Cluster and you can choose if you would like to go to Interschool as well, but it is not compulsory.
Orienteering:
Today a handful of kids represented our school at the Interschool Orienteering event at the Esplanade today. They did really well with Callum coming 7th, Antonio coming 11th and Olivia coming 31st. Thanks to the parents for taking them to and from the event and waving the Turitea flag!
From the PTA:
Earlier in the week, a post went out about the Pool Party at Freyberg Pools on Saturday 27th May. Please fill out the quick survey on that post if you are coming to give the PTA an idea of numbers.
Hoodies:
The PTA are arranging a hoodie run before it gets too cold. Please fill out the form here if you’d like to order a kids one or an adults one
Interim Speed Management Plan:
Hopefully you’ve had your say on the PNCC Interim Speed Management Plan, which proposes to lower speed limits around schools. Through New Zealand’s national road safety strategy Road to Zero, the Government requires all councils to reduce speed limits on roads around schools. Have a look at the proposal that affects us at Turitea.
Rugby with Coach Kahu:
Coach Kahu who plays for the Manawatū Cyclones and works for Manawatū Rugby was supposed to be coming to promote Girls Rugby with our Year 3-6 yesterday. Unfortunately, due to the closure she was unable to come, but will be here next week instead.
Flu Vaccines:
If you are interested in getting your flu vaccine for your child this winter season, check out the information here from Kids Health.
NZ Blood Bank:
A reminder that NZ Blood Bank are opening their doors tomorrow 8am – 1.30pm if you are interested in giving blood. There is a quiz on the website to check eligibility.
Garden Club:
Meryl and her team have got Worm Wee; $1 per litre and some plants for sale. Meet them at the entrance after school today. They are taking IOU’s or online banking if you don’t have any cash on you.
Staff Only Day:
Just a reminder that on Tuesday 6th June, the day after Kings Birthday (Still feels weird calling it that) we are giving you an extra long weekend.
Ngā manaakitanga