Welcome back to school everyone.  It was so wonderful to see so many new faces to our school last Friday and a wonderful chance to welcome you all in an appropriate manner. We are so pleased to see so many students back on the first day after such a long time out of school. The teachers have been spending a number of days during the term break preparing for the year's programme of work and experiences. 

This year our focus is to provide more options for whānau to engage in our school activities, continue improving the learning outcomes for all students and to ensure the wellbeing of our tamariki is managed in a positive way. 
Last year our overall academic levels of achievement made me feel incredibly proud! Through the relentless pursuit of excellence from all staff and students last year, I am so pleased to be able to tell you about the academic results for the end of 2022: 

These results are a true credit to our teachers for their tireless efforts, keeping standards and expectations high in order for our tamariki to make such progress. We had so many students excel in areas such as reading, writing and maths so we want to ensure this continues and our students have many possibilities for learning to flourish. 

In the coming terms you will see lots of building upgrades, with painting of buildings, new internal features in our junior classes (room 7 and 8) as well as an exciting announcement about a particular feature coming soon. This may cause some minor disruption along the way, but please be patient while this work is being done. 

Ultimately we will be asking for more parent involvement this year, so if you are available, please join in as we have loads we want to do in partnership with you for the improvement of your child's outcomes. I am always available should you want to speak to me about anything, please make a time through the office so they can ensure I am available for you. 

Welcome everyone, and enjoy the start of a new school year. 
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou 

On Friday 10th February, we are inviting all whānau to come and spend the afternoon with your child and their teacher. We are organising activities for you to do with your child either in their classrooms or out in the play areas. This event will begin at 2pm sharp but would like parents and whānau to start coming in to school at 1:45pm. Please remember to sign in at the office upon arrival or at your child's classroom so we can keep account of who is on site. 

This is a great opportunity for you to see what your child's classroom is like and to spend a fun afternoon together with your child. If you have more than one child at school and they are in different classes, please feel free to go between which ever classes you need.

We really would love you to come along to our Whānau open day next Friday 10th February starting at 2pm. 

Please be aware that staff are not in their classrooms until at least 8:15am to supervise any students who arrive with exception of our bus students. We also do not have students available to man the road patrol until 8:15am either. This makes it very unsafe for students wanting to cross Whitmore street if they are arriving before 8:15am.

Our school asks that:

Thank you for your cooperation and support with this. If any parents are available to support with road patrol in the mornings, your help would be gratefully received. 

This year ALL students that travel to school by bus will need a new bus tag.  Students using the school bus will bring home a code of conduct agreement for to sign together with their caregiver.  Please ensure this is returned to the school office no later than Friday 10 February.  Once we have received the signed code of conduct, eligible bus students will be issued their new bus tag for the year.

For ineligible students using the school bus, please also return your code of conduct agreement along with the bus fee for term 1 to the school office no later than Friday 10 February.

We will be visiting communities across the district in mid-February 2023 to gather feedback and establish what our communities want to see for the future of their towns and villages and the district as a whole. 

The team from Ahu Ake will be visiting our school as part of their community engagement on Monday 27th February. This will start at 3pm and will take place in our school grounds. There will be prizes up for grabs and I have even been told there will be an icecream truck available too. They are aiming to engage with parents about the project when you come to pick-up your children. 

They will bring in a 6m x 6m walkable map of the district for people to walk on to get a better understanding of what the future of the district could look like. More information about the project including the interim draft plan is available on their website at www.ahuakewaipa.nz.