What a wonderful Waitangi Day celebration we had! The festival at Waitangi Park was a vibrant showcase of diverse cultures, bringing our community together in a positive and welcoming atmosphere. I hope you all had a fantastic day with whānau and friends, appreciating the way Te Tiriti o Waitangi supports us all to live together in a humanising and inclusive way.

A highlight of the festival was Angela’s Brazilian drumming and dance group—an absolutely stunning performance that brought energy and joy to the event. Check out the photo above, capturing the incredible group perfprmance.

It has been a really positive start to the year. We are thrilled with the fantastic start ngā ākonga (our students) and staff have had. This week, we had our first walk-through of the year, where a group of kaiako (teachers) visited all learning spaces to see the wonderful learning in action. Across the school, we could see a strong focus on setting up routines and expectations in a positive and affirming way. It was fantastic to see students engaged and settling into their learning with enthusiasm, and being so keen to share with us.

Curriculum Focus Areas for 2024

Our school-wide curriculum focus for the first part of the year will be on implementing the new English curriculum.

• Koru Hub will continue their mahi from last year, implementing a structured literacy approach across the hub.

• Pōhutukawa Hub will begin their professional development in structured literacy for older students in Week 5, with two dedicated days of learning. Later in the term, they will also have an additional day of professional development to further embed this approach.

In the second half of the year, as structured literacy becomes more established across the school, we will shift our focus to implementing a structured learning approach to maths. This staggered approach allows our kaiako (teachers) to focus on one key area of growth at a time, ensuring we do it well and effectively support student learning.

Health Sessions for Term 1

We have taken our year-long health plan and turned it into a two year programme, given that we now teach our health sessions in subsets of two year groups: Years 1 and 2; Years 3 and 4; and Years 5 and 6. Our health sessions are linked through our school high five values of Connectedness, Capability, Confidence, Contribution and Continuous Learning, and each term we will focus on one or two of these values. Every term we will send out the over view of sessions, so that whānau can see what is being covered across the different sessions. If there are sessions you do not wish your tamariki (children) to be part of, you can opt your child out of those particular lessons.

Here is the Term 1 Health plan, which is based around our HIgh Five value of Connectedness.

A Big Thank You to Our School Board

A special thanks to our school board, who met for the first time last week for this year. Their dedication and mahi in supporting our students and wider school community is deeply appreciated. We are grateful for their commitment to ensuring Amesbury School continues to be a thriving and supportive learning environment.

Here’s to another fantastic week ahead! Kia pai te rā whakatā, have a wonderful weekend.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham