Kōrero ō te Tumuaki

Principal's Update

8 August 2025

Staff Update

You will be forgiven if you think you have been seeing double in the office this week, as our new office administrator and sports co-ordinator, Emma Gray, is learning the ropes by working alongside Emma Goble. The two Emmas will be working together until Emma Goble finishes on the 22nd of August.

Emma Goble took over in a fixed term role at the start of the year when Tenielle finished, and has done a fantastic job at keeping the front desk running over the past few months. She is looking forward to getting back to the UK next month to see her family, and we hope that she won't be a stranger to our school upon her return.

Emma Gray comes to us with a wealth of experience, having most recently worked for Whenua Iti. Emma will be in the office from 8:45 to 2:15 each day, so make sure you help her feel welcome when you call into the school office.

Last week we also welcomed back Samantha onto our LSA team, who will be working Wednesday and Thursday mornings in Room 5.

Term Dates and Staff Only Days

A reminder that we have our first of four Math Curriculum Staff Only Days on Friday 29 August.

The Staff Only Day in Term 4 will be on Tuesday 28 October (the day after Labour Day).

We have two more in Terms 1 and 2 next year. Once we have confirmed dates for these we will communicate with you so that you can plan ahead.

We have updated the Term Dates page on our website to include 2026 dates. You can see these here.

Puāwai

This week we started a new initiative to celebrate the mana of our akongā Māori, Puāwai.

The term Puāwai means to flourish or blossom. The Puāwai programme is supported by Sport Tasman to help a group of Puāwai leaders to learn and teach traditional kemu (games) and the pūrākau (stories) that sit behind them. Tamariki then will lead these games by teaching them to classes.

Our first "taster" session was yesterday, with children having a lot of fun learning and teaching the kemu. We will send whānau of our Puāwai leaders further information about the programme, and we look forward to our big celebration at the end of the programme in Term 4, which will include whānau participation.

Teacher Union Meeting

Teachers and staff members who are part of the NZEI union will be attending a meeting on Thursday 21 August as part of the Kimi Haeata- Back Our Future campaign.

The purpose of this campaign is to highlight the voice of school professionals in a time of significant change in the education sector. Teachers are working tirelessly to respond to the demands of the job, and are negotiating a collective agreement that reflects the pay and conditions they deserve.

We are planning around the upcoming meeting so that it will have minimal impact on class programmes. School will remain open all day.

Strategic Planning

Part of our Strategic Planning process is to hear the aspirations of our whānau for the future.

We have sent out a sheet today to all families inviting you to share what you aspire for your tamariki and what we as a school can prioritise over the next period of our strategic planning. This can be something that the whole family can be a part of and every family who returns it completed by Monday 18 August will go into a prize draw. Plus, the class with the most completed forms will win a special class prize. You only need to complete one per family.

If you need another sheet these can be picked up in the office.

Thank you for contributing to this important conversation.

Maths Week

Next week we are celebrating maths week throughout the school. Activities will take place each day, with a final activities afternoon on Friday afternoon. As we had to postpone Tu Atea assembly this afternoon we will hold this next Friday before our maths activity afternoon. We will confirm times early next week so that you can come and join the fun if you like!

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Ngā mihi,

John