Thanks for your support around us having our staff only day on Tuesday. It was great for us as a team to get out of our own school and go and look at two other schools which are of a similar size and are on the rural outskirts of town just like us. The pics below are of us at Kairanga and Newbury Schools. It gave us plenty of discussion points and things to consider as we look to make Turitea an even better place for our tamariki.
Our love and thoughts again are with Trish, whose dear mother passed away peacefully on Wednesday night, with her funeral being next Thursday. She wants to thank you all for your understanding at this tough time and appreciates all your support. Faye will be in the Mataī all of next week and we expect Trish back the week after. This week we welcomed a new whānau made up of Jonah and Kaea who have moved into the area and from Masterton. Jonah is in Pōhutukawa with Shane and Kaea joins Hannah and Meagan in Rimu. We also welcomed Ariki to...
Our thoughts are with Trish today as she has had to go back to Hamilton to be by her mother’s side, where her situation has deteriorated quite rapidly. She has appreciated all your messages of support at this challenging time for her and her whānau. Huge thanks to Faye, who has slid across to teach in that space for all of next week to keep the routine for our tamariki in Mataī. We have been lucky to have our Massey Teacher Ash in Rimu for the last seven weeks and today marks her last day with us. The whakataukī (proverb)...
There was a nice sea of pink throughout the school today as our kids joined the Pink Shirt movement to show that we are upstanders, not bystanders when it comes to bullying. As a school, it is hard to commit to all the different days and weeks raising awareness for charitable trusts, even though they are all massively important, so thanks to those who got involved. Nau mai, haere mai to Mason, who has moved to us from Bainesse School to join Cameron and the crew in Tōtara. Grace is our newest 5 year old in Rimu with Meagan and...
Kia ora e te whānau, Thank you for your support with our power outage situation yesterday - what a shemozzle! The age old saying ‘You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t’ massively came into play here when making the tough call to close the school. This is why I gave all the information to our MoE team to make the call for us. It was good learning for us however (and hopefully for you also) as to what to do in the event of an emergency situation here at school. Because we had no power/internet, we had to...
Arohamai (sorry) I forgot to let you know that last week we sent just over $3,000 to Twyford School, just out of Hastings as our contribution to their flood relief from the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle. I know the principal Sam is very appreciative of your generosity with our swimathon and coin trail. Extra special welcome this week to Maya who joined the team in Mataī with Trish. It is so cool that she has finally joined her little brother Dylan at our school. Nau mai (welcome) Maya!
Well the vibe around the place after the holidays is really positive, so we’ve started off the new term in great shape! This week we welcomed lots of new whānau to the school. We did this with a Mihi Whakatau (informal welcome) to set the tone for what Turitea School is all about for our new families. A huge thanks to Shane Hutson from Te Whānau Māori who did the whaikorero (speech) on behalf of our new whānau. It was also nice to officially welcome Hannah who joined our teaching staff this week working alongside Meagan in Rimu.
Kia ora e te whānau, And just like that, we have nearly finished Term 1! This week we welcomed Patrick to Rimu, who finally joins his big sister Quinn at school. Unfortunately this afternoon we farewell Angus and Penny as they are returning home to Dunedin. We know they will be sorely missed by their friends here and the PTA appreciated all the mahi you’ve helped with Sonia. Safe travels to you and Shanon! Learner Conferences: We have locked these in for Thursday 27th April from 3.15 - 5.45pm and Thursday 4th May from 2.15 - 7.30pm. School will finish...
Kia ora e te whānau, Happy last Friday of the term everyone. Isn’t that a crazy thought? Lots on at the moment… Strike in Schools: Not that kind of Strike! They are a percussion group that came and performed for us on Wednesday. Check out the pics above or video here. Hopefully it inspired our kids to get into a bit of drumming or maybe sign up for Epic lessons with Oscar next term. Te Whānau Māori: Whakawhetai to the whānau who came and shared a kai and a korero last night at our first Te Whānau Māori hui of the...
Kia ora e te whānau, Thank you again to all of you who braved the rainy weather and came and helped make our annual Monster Garage Sale a huge success. After not being able to have it last year, it was a reminder for me of what rural schools are all about, which is where the school is the ‘beating heart’ of the community. Massive shout out to the PTA Members and others who gave up their time to run a stall, sell raffle tickets, turn a snag on the barbie or donate goods for the white elephant stall. We...
