As this is the last newsletter of the term it is important that you take some time to note down the upcoming events for term 2 and key dates for times we have teacher only days etc.

Thank you for all the support you have given our kura, ensuring your tamaiti are ready and at their best each day they arrive. Our tamariki will always do well when everyone is working in partnership to ensure the outcomes for our students are optimal.

Thank you to all the members of our community who have helped out with trips, school activities, finding resources and equipment for our garden and working with the students as part of our garden to table programme. It is such a fabulous programme that gets everyone excited and helps to keep learning authentic and relevant to today's needs. We are always looking for volunteers so if you can spare a couple of hours, please contact the school.

To end the term we have some activities prepared such as a whānau day for Auraki and a trip to Tokahaere for Rūmaki. We would love to have maximum whānau involvement for these events as it will be a wonderful way to end our term. Next term we will be asking for more feedback from you by way of answering a couple of questions every now and then. Please help us to keep things current regarding your expectations by answering these questions and sending us a response. They wont be long questions, maybe three at most each time. We value your feedback.

There is a lot of information being talked about with regards to teachers collective agreement negotiations. I hear the media constantly say its about pay increases and I want to make it clear that we are fighting for better funding for schools so that the necessary resources that we know our students need is provided by the Ministry. As a school we are given a small budget to allocate resources and we often have to make tough decisions about which students recieve help and those who have to wait. Resources like speech and language therapists, specialist literacy tutors, and well being programmes are all funded by the school at the moment which means our financial position is impacted. We know these make a difference for our students and do not believe parents should have to pay for these things as they are too expensive. We want all our students to succeed academically as well as socially so we do what we believe is necessary. If we had more funding then other things could be offered and smaller classes would be possible. These are just the tip of the iceberg we are fighting for when we have to go on strike or take it to the media. Thank you to everyone who supported us when we were on strike as this meant a lot.

Please note that the strike action that is taking place on Wednesday 29 March does not impact our school.  This is for secondary schools and area schools only.  We will be open for instruction as normal on this day.

Towards the end of next term you will start to see some building work happen. We will provide more information about this close to the time. The main classes impacted by this will be Rooms 7 and 8. We are hopeful this will not be for a lengthy period of time with minimal disruption to the site. We are also going to have a brand new artifical turf installed thanks to Grassroots for providing the funding for this. This will be towards June when it happens. We are very excited for this to happen.

Please see in the newsletter that a casual vacancy for a Board of Trustees representative has arisen.  If you think you may be interested in being on the Board and would like to find out more about what is involved, please feel free to discuss this with me.  More information can also be found here.

Our last day of school for term one will be Thursday 6 April.  Have a wonderful Easter and holiday break.  Keep safe and take care on the roads if you are traveling these holidays.

Teacher Only Day - Reminder
This is a reminder that we have a Teacher only day on Monday 24 April.  This is the first Monday after the school holidays.  Please do not send your children to school on this day.  Tuesday 25 April is ANZAC day public holiday.   The first day back at school for Term 2 will be Wednesday 26 April.

There is also a teacher only day planned for Friday 16 June.  This is a combined schools teacher only day that falls on the Friday of the national field days.

The board has decided to fill the vacancy by selection.

If 10% or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.

Request for a by-election should be sent to:

Wayne Hunapo (chair) 
Kihikihi School Board
71 Whitmore Street
Kihikihi 3800

 by: 26 April 2023

Improved attendance is a priority for our school. We know that when a child has consistent schooling the educational  benefits are huge. Children learn best when they have a regular routine as this provides consistency and balance in their lives. We would encourage you all to ensure your child regularly attends school in order to give them the best opportunities for their future. When a child misses on average just one day a week from school, by the time they finish school it can equal a whole year of learning missed.
 
Overall attendance rate to date at Kihikihi School for term 1 is currently 80%.

The graphs attached show how quickly non attendance and lateness can add up and have a real impact on learning outcomes.

During this time they are not only learning the fundamentals of the sport of boxing but are learning about teamwork, trust and how how to lead a life that is values based.

Every session begins with a verbal check in on how everyone is feeling. Here, there is the opportunity to share, help and support others or just listen and contemplate what is going on around them.  This then flows through to a group game. After which, there is another check in and then on to a simple fitness circuit. Here the students are introduced to a variety of exercises that use either a machine such as a rower or a cross trainer, or activities that just use body mass and gravity. Then on to some boxing skills, some shadow boxing and finally a blast on the punching bags.  Sessions end with a value of the week, another verbal check in and then a group huddle and job done.

I am extremely privileged to be a part of this journey with these students and it is absolutely wonderful to see the personal growth that has occurred in our students and to see the development of self confidence and self belief in each of them as they face and conquer obstacles that they are confronted with, both at boxing and in life. 

A big thank you to the BGYBA for giving our students this opportunity and look forward to continuing our partnership.

The Perceptual Motor Program (PMP) is a movement-based program which helps younger students improve their eye/hand and eye/foot coordination, fitness, balance, locomotion and eye-tracking skills.  PMP aims to develop children’s perceptions and understandings of self through motor experiences.   It helps children to refine gross motor skills to prepare the brain for formal classroom learning.  

This programme develops areas of motor skills like:

Some of the skills being developed are:

In Pīwakawaka we have also been exploring a transformation schema, where we transform things around us into something different. We have been exploring and extending this schema through baking, cooking, creations and drama. This has been explored in the classroom, in the playground, in snake gully and even in the swimming pool. 

Mason and Taniora even transformed household items (an old toaster, speaker and compressor) into a robot!! So much learning has come from this. 

We now have Mr Robot in class, he is asking us all about our world and setting us daily tasks where we help him understand what our school values mean and look like. Where we explain to him all about the food we eat. He has started to  ask us all about our letter of the week and sets us tasks around this. He even asks us about numbers and how they work. 

One of our challenges is to give him a name…will the tauira choose a name that starts with the letter of the week? A name they know? Or something completely random? 

It is good to see the students wearing their uniform with pride everyday.  With cooler weather around the corner we wanted to remind you of the options for uniform over the winter.

Students can wear long sleeve black thermals or skivvies underneath their school polo and girls can wear tights under their skorts.  We do not sell any trousers as part of the uniform, but students are permitted to wear plain black tracksuit pants if they wish.  Please no leggings or jeans.

We have plenty of warm polofleece jerseys and jackets for sale at school.  Please see the school office for all uniform purchases.

Uniform Price List

We have been very fortunate to have received wonderful support from our local community and businesses for our Garden to Table programme at Kihikihi School.  Thank you for helping us to make the programme a success. 

Thank you also to our wonderful volunteers who have supported our students during the Garden to Table lessons here at school each Friday.

We are excited to see what the rest of the year brings as we move forward on our Garden to Table journey.