Kia ora e te whānau,
We’ve been hit pretty hard by the winter illnesses with up to 30% of our tamariki away over the past weeks. Unfortunately our lovely Julie has been out with Covid this week and a few staff members have been ravaged by this flu going around. Our relief teacher pool is empty meaning some of your kids might not have their usual class routine on some days. Thanks to those of you who are letting us know when your child is sick. Remember this is really easy to report via the Skool Loop App in the Absentee tab. The Ministry of Health has announced that flu jabs will be free for kids from today, with more information here. To offset the spread of the winter bugs, some classes have communicated to you that the wearing of masks again in class is encouraged. We appreciate your support and understanding on this.
Commemorative Tree Planting:
Yesterday we had Susan Baty from the city council come out to present a beautiful Rimu tree to mark Palmerston North City’s 150th commemoration. Theo and Maggie shared some research they had done about Rimu with us. Then we had our eldest and youngest students Dana and Nixon and our 5th generation Turitea School attendees in the Perry whānau line with Emily and Jack leading the procession of every other child putting in a scoop of soil to the tree. A beautiful showing of our school value of Kaitiakitanga.
Board Elections:
Last week I mentioned that we have created a form to request a phone call or schedule a meeting if you might be interested in nominating yourself to stand for our School Board in September. NZSTA (NZ School Trustees Association) has launched their ‘Get on Board’ campaign and their first promo video is worth a watch if you are interested. Some further information about Board Members can be found here.
Excess Furniture:
We have had a clean out at school and have some excess furniture that some of you might want for the garage, the bach or the office. Have a look here and come and grab it from Tane Mahuta from this arvo.
Details Update:
Today a form should be in your child’s bag to check that we have all your contact details up to date. This is just with your eldest if you have more than one. We especially need an up to date postal address and email address ahead of our upcoming Board Elections. But it is a timely check to see we have your correct contact numbers etc. Please send these back to the office ASAP with any changes that need to be made.
Turf:
On Monday morning we ‘officially’ opened our turf. It has been a long time coming and it was nice to get out there and use it as a school. The fence for it is still coming, but it is a neat new spot for our kids to play.
Skool Loop Out – Hero In:
Over the holidays, we are moving to a new Student Management System (SMS) called Hero. Some of you might be familiar with it if your other children are at different schools that use it. This will take over the need for using the Skool Loop app. Next term, I will send you all instructions on the app to download and how to create an account (You must have an email address listed with the school to do so. Please make sure you add it to the details form if it isn’t there). All of our communication to you will go through Hero from then on. It has many other amazing features that will make all of our lives easier which we will unlock next year.
Mid Year Reports:
These come home next Friday and are in a new format. We welcome your feedback about if it ticks the box for you or not. One thing to remember is that 2022 has unintentionally been quite the disjointed year for our kids and some may have not progressed in academic areas in the usual fashion due to absenteeism. We are aware of this and hope that the rest of the year provides stability to try and make up some lost ground.
PNINS Transition:
I know it feels early for this sort of thing, but Vicki from PNINS has provided all the dates for those intending on sending your child there next year. These are on the School Calendar but are all in one document here.
Skateboards:
Steve from OnBoard Skate has donated 10 skateboards and helmets to get our kids into skateboarding! We are getting a storage unit for them built and then they will be out for lunchtime play next term – Way cool! He’d love to run an afterschool programme too in Term 4, similar to the Kelly Sport one if there is interest.
Holiday Programmes:
Check out what Onboard Skate, aPlus or Alliance Francaise offer in the way of holiday programmes.
Summerhill Farmers Market:
If you are interested in heading there this Sunday to grab some yummy kai or produce. More info here.
Sports @ Turitea:
Netball Draw – Saturday 2nd July – (Please note the draw has changed from earlier in the week)
Pulse vs Riverdale 10.30am ct 5
Ferns vs St James at 9.00am ct 7
Hockey Draw – Sunday 3rd July
Yr 5/6 Lightning vs Ashhurst at 11:30am 1A
Yr 3/4 Avalanche vs Riverdale at 8:30am 2B
Yr 1/2 Flame vs Milson at 8:30am 2H
For those interested in giving Orienteering a go, there is an event this Sunday at Panieri Park. This is good practice as the Year 5/6 Manawatū Championship is coming up early Term 3 and we will send a team.
Have a fab weekend everyone. Just a reminder that school closes at 3pm next Friday 8th July and resumes on Monday 25th July for Term 3.
Ngā manaakitanga,