Kia ora whānau,
Just wanted to commend you all on your compassion and empathy in getting through this current world climate, as it hasn’t been an easy time for a lot of families. I have had whānau reach out to me to see if there are any families in our community who need support in any way through these times with Covid ravaging our community. This is a massive showing of one of our school values of manaakitanga, which encompases caring for others and demonstrating selfless acts of kindness. If you are in need of support, please reach out to me and we can help. As I have said to you all before “He waka eke noa” – We’re all in this together.
Covid Update:
We have had a steady stream of our school whānau being affected by it, reducing our roll quite significantly. Today we had 69 of our 144 students away. It has also started to affect our teaching team here too as we have had four staff members affected by Covid illness or Covid isolation requirements. Relievers are hard to find and we are lucky to have our part time teachers Faye and Kate stand in where they can. Looking ahead to next week, we will have to merge classes together to cover absent staff to get us through until they are allowed back on site. So learning at Turitea School will be a little bit different for those who are healthy. As always please keep your child home if they are sick or showing any Covid like symptoms.
Beautification Day:
Hayden Hazlitt made a start on our project a few weeks early by putting in a new retaining wall and seating on the lower playground and leveling out the raised area by the newer playground giving us a bit more field space. Thanks Hayden, it looks fab! We will be organizing the job list for our day on Saturday 26th March.
Board of Trustees Meeting:
Next Tuesday 22nd March at 6pm, we have our second Board of Trustees meeting for the year. Please let me know if you might be interested in coming along to see what they are like. We have Board Elections in September, so would love to think about starting a succession plan for those members who we will lose then.
PTA Meeting:
The day after, we have our second PTA meeting on Wednesday 23rd March at 7pm in the Hall. All are welcome. A reminder that juicy’s will move to only Wednesday/Friday lunchtimes and they won’t be selling cards anymore, just $2 at the office in the morning on those days. Raffle tickets will be due back to school on Friday 1st April which is the same day as the Monster Dress Up Day.
Support Local:
With my move away from a paper pānui to the more environmentally friendly approach, it does mean that we don’t see who our local supporters are like last year. I’m big on supporting our community and want to add those businesses who help our school to our website in the Community tab. See it as a bit of free advertising, flick me your business logo and we will get your name out there for everyone to see and use.
Sports:
Well done to those who have signed their child up for sports for next term. Our Netball team is already full, which is fab. We still have lots of space in the Year 3-6 Basketball teams. Register here if you still haven’t. Registration will close 25th March. Hockey will also be on next term too. We are yet to hear the days they play etc, but will pop up registrations for that when we have all the information. In the meantime, you might like to sign them up for Kickstart Hockey which is a 4 week programme designed to boost Hockey skills.
Interschool Triathlon:
On Wednesday, Bachir, Abigail, Ruby and Grace competed in the Interschool Triathlon at Skoglund Park. They represented our school with pride, grit and determination. Check out their pic on the front page of our website looking proud as punch after completing their event.
Online Enrolment:
We are keeping up with the times and have set up online enrolments on our website now. Thanks to those of you who have filled this out if Julie emailed you about your child starting here in the future. It gives us a handy database and opens it up to those who don’t know about our awesome little school out here who might be looking.
Pool Closure:
With the temperature drop over the recent weeks, we have made the decision to close the pool for the year on Sunday 27th March. Some classes have stopped swimming already. If you purchased a pool key over the summer, could you please arrange to drop it back into school at your earliest convenience.
All Day for Arohanui:
Arohanui Hospice are grateful for the support they receive from the community. Over the last couple of years, their fundraising efforts have been disrupted by Covid. In an effort to help them raise money, Mike and Gareth at MoreFM will be hosting a special ‘All Day for Arohanui’ show. Check out this flyer for more info.
Kia noho haumaru – Stay safe everyone!
