Principal's Kōrero
Sunny West
Kia ora e te whānau, ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.
Thank you everyone for helping our tamariki have a great start to their school year. We appreciate all the things you are doing at home to help set your children up for their best day at school each day. When your children are set up to have their best day with plenty of sleep, positive interactions and good routines, it means they are all set for learning each day. We know our students can achieve amazing things and we can do this better when we are working together.
On Wednesday 21st February, our students from the Rūmaki were invited to participate in the 160th whakamaumaharatanga o te Paahuatanga i Rangiaowhia. We were honoured to be invited to this special occasion as it was the first time it was able to be held on iwi land and not on the roadside like previous years. Our tamariki were invited to participate along with a few other schools, where we performed waiata for those in attendance after the pōwhiri and guest speakers. We have a strong connection with Ngāti Apakura as many of our students whakapapa to this iwi so the opportunity to support the event was well received, and we are very grateful for this. To have these connections with our local iwi and hāpu is something we consider a priority and will continue to support any events such as this moving forward.
The weather is starting to get cooler now so those early morning sleep ins are becoming more apparent. We still have a breakfast club in the morning before school from 8:30am to 8:50am so this is a chance for any children who either haven't had breakfast or maybe would like a second breakfast to come and eat.
When it comes to uniform items, please help us by naming all your children's uniform especially, jackets and polar fleece tops as these often end up in the lost property. Other things such as swimming gear, bags, lunch boxes and drink bottles are also good to name. If you think your child has lost any items please ask them to check the lost property as well as their classrooms.
Parking to drop your children off to school or pick them up has become quite a challenge at the moment. The roads are being upgraded to make way for a cycle track and to help slow traffic along our busy Whitmore Street especially outside our school. This means that there will be less parking available along Whitmore street as we move further into the year. We do have parks available on Whitaker and Oliver Street for you to use and encourage this strongly.
Our biggest problem is when parents use the bus bay on Oliver Street to park or the mobility park on Whittaker street to drop kids off in the morning. Please use the correct parking areas as they are only a few metres extra to walk to the school gate. There are teachers on duty at the Whitmore and Whitaker Street intersection to help. We need you all to do this please to help keep our babies safe during these peak times of the day.
On 22 March our teachers who are union members have a Paid Union Meeting occurring in the afternoon. Because we have a majority of staff going to this, we will not be able to supervise all students within reason and have to close the school early to allow for the staff to get to this hui. All teachers who are union members have the right to attend. We wanted you all to have as much notice of this as possible, hence the first notification on our Skool Loop app.
I am very grateful to those parents who attended our whānau hui as well as the Literacy evening this term. We appreciate the time you took to attend these events and look forward to seeing more attend during the year.
This year Easter falls before the school term ends. This means school will be closed from Good Friday 29 March until and including Easter Tuesday 2 April. School will be open again on Wednesday 3 April.
I look forward to the year we have planned ahead and more events that you as whānau can be a part of..
Have an awesome rest of your week e te whānau.
On Wednesday 21st February, our students from the Rūmaki were invited to participate in the 160th whakamaumaharatanga o te Paahuatanga i Rangiaowhia. We were honoured to be invited to this special occasion as it was the first time it was able to be held on iwi land and not on the roadside like previous years. Our tamariki were invited to participate along with a few other schools, where we performed waiata for those in attendance after the pōwhiri and guest speakers. We have a strong connection with Ngāti Apakura as many of our students whakapapa to this iwi so the opportunity to support the event was well received, and we are very grateful for this. To have these connections with our local iwi and hāpu is something we consider a priority and will continue to support any events such as this moving forward.
The weather is starting to get cooler now so those early morning sleep ins are becoming more apparent. We still have a breakfast club in the morning before school from 8:30am to 8:50am so this is a chance for any children who either haven't had breakfast or maybe would like a second breakfast to come and eat.
When it comes to uniform items, please help us by naming all your children's uniform especially, jackets and polar fleece tops as these often end up in the lost property. Other things such as swimming gear, bags, lunch boxes and drink bottles are also good to name. If you think your child has lost any items please ask them to check the lost property as well as their classrooms.
Parking to drop your children off to school or pick them up has become quite a challenge at the moment. The roads are being upgraded to make way for a cycle track and to help slow traffic along our busy Whitmore Street especially outside our school. This means that there will be less parking available along Whitmore street as we move further into the year. We do have parks available on Whitaker and Oliver Street for you to use and encourage this strongly.
Our biggest problem is when parents use the bus bay on Oliver Street to park or the mobility park on Whittaker street to drop kids off in the morning. Please use the correct parking areas as they are only a few metres extra to walk to the school gate. There are teachers on duty at the Whitmore and Whitaker Street intersection to help. We need you all to do this please to help keep our babies safe during these peak times of the day.
On 22 March our teachers who are union members have a Paid Union Meeting occurring in the afternoon. Because we have a majority of staff going to this, we will not be able to supervise all students within reason and have to close the school early to allow for the staff to get to this hui. All teachers who are union members have the right to attend. We wanted you all to have as much notice of this as possible, hence the first notification on our Skool Loop app.
I am very grateful to those parents who attended our whānau hui as well as the Literacy evening this term. We appreciate the time you took to attend these events and look forward to seeing more attend during the year.
This year Easter falls before the school term ends. This means school will be closed from Good Friday 29 March until and including Easter Tuesday 2 April. School will be open again on Wednesday 3 April.
I look forward to the year we have planned ahead and more events that you as whānau can be a part of..
Have an awesome rest of your week e te whānau.
