Pānui (News)

This week marked the last day for Lucy, who has been a student teacher with Cameron and the team in Tōtara. Her teaching programme at Waikato University gives her one day a week in school placement for the whole year. We will all miss her as she has felt like part of our team and it’s been great to witness her growth in the role of a teacher since February. This week we welcomed Caleb to Turitea School. He is Matthew’s younger brother and is our last 5 year old to start for 2023 in Rimu with Meagan and Hannah....

I’m getting in one day early with my Friday Pānui since tomorrow is our Staff Only Day and I thought I’d start with a staff story for you. Since Cameron started here at Turitea, he has made it part of our morning tea routine that we collectively do the Stuff Quiz. We love it because it models our school ngā uara (values) of whanaungatanga and mātauranga and since February 2022, the best we have ever done was a 14/15. But on Monday that all changed as we scored our first ever 15/15, so either the quizzes are getting easier or we...

Thank you to those who have given us feedback about our recent Lamb, Calf and Pet Day. As expected, we received a wide range from those who loved the evening event to those who preferred the Saturday morning. It is hard to please everyone, but we all we aim to do is our best. If you haven’t given feedback and would still like to, you can do so here until next week. This week, we welcomed Philip to Rimu with Meagan and Hannah. He is Ivor’s younger brother and it is lovely to have the last member of the Baldie whānau...

Huge thank you to you all who came and supported our Twilight Lamb, Calf and Pet Day last Friday. We had a lot of positive feedback about the event, but would love your thoughts on how to improve this day. If you have any ideas, please let us know through this quick survey. Our kids all took home their certificates from the indoor exhibits. Today was Gumboot Friday and we had plenty of tamariki put on their kamuputu (gumboots) to support this worthy cause pictured below. We appreciate your support and collected nearly $150 to donate to the cause.

That buzz is in the air around our kura this morning in preparation for Lamb, Calf and Pet Day this evening. Although the weather hasn’t been the nicest, the forecast is looking clear for our 4.30pm start. A separate post about all the logistics of the day went home on Wednesday and this was also emailed to you, so hopefully you have had a chance to read so you know what is going on. Massive thanks to Julie, who has just got back from the UK and jumped straight into making sure everything is sorted for this. As promised, here...

Thanks to those of you who came and used our kura as a polling booth last weekend. We went from nearly 80 people using it in the 2020 election to over 200 people this time. Whenever the government changes, all too often changes will happen in schools as a result. I am unsure what this will completely look like for us going forward, but all passionate Tumuaki across our country will continue to fight for our kura and our tamariki to make sure that any changes we have to undertake, are for the better. We are the professionals with vast...

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...