News

Nau mai, hoki mai (welcome back) to our final term of the year. Just like we do on the first day of every term, we had a fantastic mihi whakatau (welcome) on Monday for our new whānau who have joined the school in the last term. A special mihi to Thatcher who joined Meagan and Hannah in Rimu for his first day of school. His proud big brother Parker made him feel very welcome. On Thursday, we had something occur that I’ve never had in any school I’ve ever taught in over my many years of teaching - we had...

Today we farewelled Shane (AKA Mr. Brown) from Turitea School. He started his teaching journey here in 2009 and has taught nearly 350 children and taken almost the same amount of school singing sessions. We know he will love the next chapter of his life as he follows his passion of music and theatre with New Stage Productions. As you can see below, he donated a beautiful Pōhutukawa tree that we planted next to the sandpit as a way to remember him. The following whakataukī comes to mind with his new endeavour - ‘Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu...

While Troy has been away this week at a principal conference and visiting student teachers from Massey University at Te Kura o Take Kārara in Wānaka and Andersons Bay School in Dunedin, I have had the pleasure of writing this pānui. The Past, Present, Future Production on Wednesday night was a fabulous and heartwarming experience! To see our tamariki come together to deliver such a wonderful performance was a proud moment for all of us. It certainly shone a light on our school values of Manaakitanga (showing kindness to others), Kaitiakitanga (showing guardianship of the environment), Mātauranga (setting goals in...

Today I was treated to a full dress rehearsal for our school production and I can tell you that I got quite emotional during their waiata (singing) Our tamariki all sing with such mana (prestige) and passion, I found myself glad I was wearing sunglasses. Unfortunately for me, last year I booked to attend the annual NZ Principals Federation (NZPF) Conference in Queenstown long before the date for production was set and it just so happens that the two events clash. But there was limited availability for hiring the Regent and the date we chose suited everyone best, so sadly...

This week we welcome Isaiah Pritchard, a Massey teacher to Rimu in with Meagan and Hannah for the next 7 weeks. We know the tamariki in there have made him feel at home already. We look forward to watching you grow as a teacher over this time Isaiah. Mabuhay to Leonel who joins us in Mataī with Trish. His family have moved to Aotearoa from the Philippines. Nau mai haere mai to you both… In other personnel news, it was with regret that we received a resignation letter from Bridgit this week. As some of you may know, Bridgit has...

Yesterday was another sad day for our Turitea whānau as we lost Letti and Kaiya from our kura as their move down to Wellington today as shown above. It is quite the commute, so we can understand why they have had to leave our school. Thanks for being part of our community too James and Elise, you will be missed. Mā te wā (see you again) Earlier in the week I went on a bit of a ‘roadie’ with six of my fellow Manawatū tumuaki to look at some kura in rural Taranaki. We were all inspired by what we...

This week we welcomed two new students to our kura. Charlotte is a Year 5 and joins the team in Tōtara with Cameron. She’s come to us all the way from Germany, so Willkommen in der Familie. Eddie is the first in his whānau to come to Turitea School and joins Meagan and Hannah in Rimu. Nau mai, Haere mai e te whānau.

Yay for the sun today! Doesn’t it just make you feel happier? Unfortunately it is always sad when we lose a whānau from our community. Today marks the last day at Turitea School for Eli and Lachie as they relocate to the UK. I know you both will be missed by many here. Kia noho haumaru (safe travels) boys, along with parents Andrew and Alice on the next chapter of your journey. Hopefully we see you all when you come back home. You will always be part of Turitea.

Nau mai haere mai to our three brand new 5 year olds who joined Rimu with Hannah and Meagan this week. Labeebah is the first of her family to join us here at Turitea and Ben and Hazel are both the younger siblings of Harry and Lily in Mataī. It is always a special time when we have whānau at school together like this. Last term we asked for your voice around six key questions about our kura. These were: what you love about our school, what opportunities we should consider, what cultural values and beliefs you’d like to see...

Thanks again for your support yesterday around collecting your child early so we could get started on our learning conferences. I always try to avoid inconveniencing you as I know it is tricky to arrange this sort of thing around your work commitments. We had an 80% turn out to these which was great to see, as we place a lot of emphasis around connecting with you personally to discuss your child and their progress. If you were unable to meet up with your child’s kaiako, please do get in touch with them.