Kia ora e te whānau,
There was a nice sea of pink throughout the school today as our kids joined the Pink Shirt movement to show that we are upstanders, not bystanders when it comes to bullying. As a school, it is hard to commit to all the different days and weeks raising awareness for charitable trusts, even though they are all massively important, so thanks to those who got involved. Nau mai, haere mai to Mason, who has moved to us from Bainesse School to join Cameron and the crew in Tōtara. Grace is our newest 5 year old in Rimu with Meagan and Hannah. She is the first in her family to attend our school. Welcome to both of you to the Turitea Whānau.
School Evaluation:
Te Ara Huarau is the evaluation approach that the Education Review Office (ERO) has used in our school over the last 12 months. You might remember in pānui last year that I shared this news with you. They were last here in 2017 and were due to come back in 2020 to conduct their review. I’m sure you can remember what occurred in that year, so a welcomed change to their system was formed. Their new approach works with a school over a period of time, rather than one off reviews that happened in the previous format. Our evaluative partner Rochelle Thorn got to know our school intimately over this time period and has crafted our school Profile Report which reflects our strategic goals and focus areas that are important to us as we work together to improve outcomes for all our learners. ERO, like us, has a strong focus on equity and excellence. We welcome you to have a read of the report as I feel it reads beautifully and captures the essence of our school.
Cross Country:
Our School Cross Country is set for next Friday 26th May. We will hold it here at school and in our neighbouring paddocks with a similar course to last year. We have decided to postpone the Fun Run until closer towards the end of the term. This is based on feedback from you about the event last year where we tried to squeeze the two events into one day.
At this stage, the day will look like this:
9.45am – Year 5/6 approx 3km (3 laps of paddock, then the field circuit)
10:10am – Year 3/4 approx 2km (2 laps of paddock, then the field circuit)
10:30am – Year 1/2 approx 1 km (1 lap of paddock, then the field circuit)
This year, we have made the decision that all students will do Cross-Country, however there will be a competitive and non competitive event for each year group. For the competitive racers, they will do the whole course and the top 5 finishers will be eligible to compete in the Interschool event (Year 5/6 only) and the Cluster event (Year 1-6) The non-competitive racers will do a modified version of the course, but will not be eligible for the Interschool or Cluster event. Please talk to your child over the week to ensure they compete in the correct event. We encourage them to karawhiua (give it a go)
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.
KTT Time:
Cameron and Karen want to collaborate more often and give their kids a range of cool experiences together. So KTT( Kahikatea, Totara, Tane Mahuta) time was born and it kicked off with a bang today. The offerings were Japanese Culture, Coding, Basketball and Friendship Bracelets. Check out the action in the pics above. Thanks to Karine (and the IPU team she brought) Jo, Niki and Janelle who came and gave us their time to help this happen.
Hero Notifications/Contact Emails:
Thanks to those of you who have got in touch with us regarding adding a secondary email address for another parent to have access to important notifications through the Hero App or those who alerted us that they weren’t receiving notifications properly as these have been fixed!
Stranger Danger:
You might have read last week, a child was approached by a stranger who offered them lollies and tried to get them into a van outside a Palmerston North school. The child acted smartly by refusing, running home, and informing an adult. We have heard that this has happened again outside a different school closer to home this week and it further highlights the importance of discussing stranger safety with your tamariki.
Chess Club:
A reminder that this is on every morning from 8am in either Cameron or Trish’s classroom. They are also running some morning tea/lunch sessions in preparation for Cluster Chess at Ōpiki School on Thursday 1st June. All are welcome to come along and learn the game.
Rugby with Coach Kahu:
It was so great to have Coach Kahu from Manawatū Rugby work with our Year 3-6 Girls yesterday. Awesome for our kotiro to have a strong Wahine Toa (Strong Female Leader) come and try to grow the sport.
From the PTA:
Earlier last week, a post went out about the Pool Party at Freyberg Pools on Saturday 27th May. It is free and we’d love to see you there. Please fill out the survey on that post if you are coming for an idea of numbers.
Hoodies:
Lots of orders are flowing in for the hoodie run as the temperature starts to drop. Please fill out the form here if you’d like to order a kids one for $45 or an adult one for $50. Orders need to be in by Thursday 1st June.
Interim Speed Management Plan:
Don’t forget to give your feedback for the Interim Speed Management Plan that affects us at Turitea. The more of our voice we add to it, the safer we can make Old West Road.
Garden Club:
Meryl and her Garden Crew have used the vegetables that we have grown in our school garden (and some from home) to learn about making soup. They used the old folk story Stone Soup as motivation if you remember that from your youth.
Staff Only Day:
Just a reminder that on Tuesday 6th June, the day after King’s Birthday (Still feels weird calling it that) we are giving you an extra long weekend. I am taking the team on a ‘Rural Road Trip’ to look at a bunch of rural schools around Palmy to gain insight into what they do and cool ideas that we can use.
Ngā manaakitanga