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Kia ora e te whānau, Lovely to be back on deck for our final term of the year. Sadly, our Friday Pānui has lost a reader. My beautiful mum Barb was an avid reader of this pānui, passed away over the holidays. I appreciated those of you this week who checked in and asked of her, it meant a lot. Some of you may not know, but I attended a rural primary school that Mum was a teacher at called Harrisville in South Auckland. Just recently she reminded me of an embarrassing story, that I had tried to erase from...

I’m back on deck after having last week home in Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland with my dear mother Barb, who hasn’t been very well. Being a proud former tumuaki/principal herself, she sent me back to finish the term out. Didn’t the weather treat us well yesterday? Having looked at the weather forecast and waking up to the early morning rain, I have to admit ‘My head said no, but my gut said go!’ so I was really glad that I trusted my gut, because the weather was the ideal condition for a day of athletics.

Whakawhetai koe (Far-car-fear-tie-kwear: Thank you) to Craig Kawana, the original carver of our pare (pah-rear: lintel) from 2001 which lives above the main office door. Keeping it in the whānau, his son Mahina Scott-Kawana, under Craig’s tutelage, lovingly helped restore it to its former glory. Look up the next time you pop in and see for yourself how good the whakairo (fa-kai-roar: carving) is as a first impression to our school.

I am writing you this pānui from Ōtautahi (Or-toe-tar-he: Christchurch) as I am currently attending the NZPF (New Zealand Principals Federation) annual hui (who-e: conference) down here. I’ve felt privileged to be able to connect with almost 800 tumuaki (too-moo-ar-key: principals) from around the motu (more-too: country). I've also been able to listen to some amazing speakers including former Black Fern legend Dr. Farah Palmer, Crusaders Coach Scott Robertson, Renown Scientist Dr. Siouxsie Wiles and NZ Māori Academic Prof. Russell Bishop.

Thanks for all the love you showed me on Tuesday for my ‘big birthday’. Sounds like some things can’t be kept secret around here. It wasn’t all treats, cards and presents though (however they were really nice, see the photos) my office did get quite the makeover! Have a laugh at my expense here to see what some of the staff did for me... Hope that some of you took on the wero (weah-roar: challenge) of using some Te Reo Māori in your daily life this month. I’d love to hear how you’re getting on. With next week being Te...

Yesterday marked the start of Mahuru - Māori Language Month. I challenge you to Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori - Have a go at using Māori Language. Sadly, we only have 3% of fluent speakers of Te Reo, a language that is native to us here in Aotearoa. You could start small; even if it is just changing from saying Hello to Kia Ora (Key or-ra) or See you later to Ka Kite (Car key-tear). I’ll try and support you with the pronunciation and give some phonetic pointers to help you out. One cool site I’ve stumbled across is Māori...

I’m getting in a day early on the pānui action as I am off site tomorrow. Thanks to those of you who booked Learning Check In’s for today and yesterday. We hope you found this process useful. Remember you can arrange to meet with the teachers anytime via email. This is what they do and value meeting with you.

Proud principal moment for me to watch our two Basketball teams compete in the finals last night at the Arena. Our Year 3/4 team shot the ball extremely well and passed as a team and beat Winchester 12-4 making them champions of their division! Our Year 5/6 team showed so much grit, resilience and physicality but lost to North Street School 12-4 making them runners up of their division. Thanks to Ali and Beth for their coaching, as well as all the parents who came and waved the Turitea Flag. Ka mau te wehi! - Awesome!

Hoping this pānui finds you all doing well on this glorious spring day! Hero is telling me that I am reaching almost three quarters of you which is amazing. A reminder that all you need is an email to get yourself an account and we can grant you access to the app or have the pānui emailed to you if you prefer. 

I can tell from how intuitive Hero is, that nearly a quarter of you are connected through the app. It tells me that two thirds of you have received and read communications from us too via email. So we are getting there. If you haven’t made the shift yet, it is pretty simple. Apple users click here or Android users click here to download the app. If you have any questions, come and ask us for help, that is what we are here for.