Pānui (News)

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.

Nau mai hoki mai ki te Wāhanga Toru! (Welcome back to Term 3) Thank you to those who came to our Mihi Whakatau on Monday to welcome our new whānau to Turitea. We hoped that you felt the awhi (love) from now being an official part of our community here. I hope my post around the ‘why and the how’ behind this provided you with some clarity to help you understand its significance. It was Marnie’s first week at school, our first of a few newbies to join Rimu this term with Meagan and Hannah. Haere mai to you and...

And just like that has brought about the end of another awesome term. I was blown away with our turnout and support for our Matariki event last Friday at school. As I sat on the floor in Tane Mahuta eating our delicious hangi talking with Whaea Tūrehu, both reflecting on what a special place this is and the amazing supportive community we have here at Turitea. As I mentioned on the night, I was beyond proud of our kids on the night and then they stepped it up another level on stage on Monday at Pae Tamariki! Thank you to...

Today we had marae-like vibes at our little kura. The hangi fire was blazing away. The sounds of our kapa haka waiata were echoing throughout the school in the hype of their evening performance. People involved in peeling/cutting vegetables, ripping up bread for the stuffing, packing kai into trays for our hakari (feast) this evening. A strong sense of coming together for the collective good. The whakataukī (proverb) ‘He rau ringa, e oti ai’ is evident, which means ‘With many hands, the job is done.’ Thank you to those who came along and supported us with the preparation that goes...

Isn’t it crazy that it seems we are having more sun in June than it felt we had in all of January? Hey I’m not complaining one bit. Yesterday we had a double whammy of adults coming to work with our kids and it made me proud hearing feedback from them about how nice a place our school is to come and visit. Coach Kahu was in taking Rippa Rugby yesterday with the whole school and commented on the noticeable difference between city and country kids and their ability to muck in and give things a go, even if it...