Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa; Let us keep close together, not wide apart.

Ngā mihi nui kia koutou katoa - greetings to you all.

As we continue to settle into the year and get to know each other more thoroughly as a school community, we took a further step with this last week and broadened our connections to meet as a wider kāhui cluster of schools. Amesbury School belongs to the Tarakikākā Kāhui Ako, a community of ten local schools in the northern suburbs who all work and collaborate together to better strengthen the outcomes for our ākonga (students). The other nine schools in our kāhui are Johnsonville School, Churton Park School, Khandallah School, St Brigid’s School, Cashmere Avenue School, Crofton Downs School, Ngaio School, Rāroa Intermediate, and Onslow College.

Our shared philosophy across the schools is ‘Better Together’ - being more effective and impactful as a wider group of educators than as single individuals or smaller groups within a single school. This week we gathered in four large groups of kaiako, opting into one of the four achievement challenges our kāhui is focused on:

• Strong, secure cultural identities and sense of belonging
• Hau ora and wellbeing
• Confident, capable empowered learners
• Equitable outcomes for all

Kaiako chose an area that they felt particularly passionately about, and met with kaiako from the other schools who are also interested in the same area. From there they connected and introduced themselves, and began the process of forming smaller subgroups within these broad areas, with the aim that they will continue to connect, collaborate and support each other to best meet the needs of the tamariki and rangatahi (youth) in the northern suburbs. We will continue this mahi throughout the year.

With the theme of connection and whanaungatanga (relationships and kinship) in mind, I will continue to introduce a small number of kaimahi (staff) each week in my editorial, so we can all get to know each other a little more. This week I will introduce Sarah, Rachel Watson, Amelia and Hannah.

Sarah King

Sarah is one of our two year 4 whānau teachers, working upstairs in Pōhutukawa Hub alongside Rupert.

She is in her first year of teaching, and has a particular passion for Aotearoa New Zealand History and literacy. Prior to training as a teacher last year at Victoria University, Sarah worked in public sector roles for Te Arawhiti in a policy position and the Teaching Council as a Team Leader. She also has worked in corporate library and information services roles undertaking research and training. We are really enjoying getting to know Sarah and her fabulous sense of humour and fun.

As a member of the local Churton Park community, Sarah knows the neighbourhood really well. She has two tamariki and enjoys reading, cooking, listening to podcasts, and spending time with her whānau and friends.

Rachel Watson

Rachel has been a member of our Amesbury School community since we opened in 2012. She began with us as a parent; her daughter Caitlyn was one of our foundation students. Three years later, as Caitlyn was leaving us as a year 6 student, Rachel initially joined the support team as a volunteer, which then led to working in various admin roles and now as reception manager. As a long time member of our local Churton Park community, Rachel knows the surrounding area very well, which helps her in supporting us all.

As our reception manager, Rachel is usually the first person to greet you as you enter school. Her calm and friendly manner and willingness to help in any way she can helps to make our school a lovely place to be. Be it sorting uniform orders, managing attendance and absences, booking hall hires or spending more than her fair share of time in our medical room, Rachel’s role is extremely varied and takes her the length and breadth of the school. She is fabulous at supporting our tamariki who feel unwell, upset or hurt, and her soothing manner and kete of support items, including Kitty Miaow Miaow, marshmallow and hot chocolate coloured plasters help our ākonga to feel comforted and cared for.

Outside of school Rachel loves experimenting with her ever expanding essential oil collection and spending time with her whānau and friends. She is also often seen around the neighbourhood walking her dog, Bella, or spotted by students at the supermarket!

Amelia Prendeville 

Amelia is one of our wonderful team of kaiako (teachers) working in Koru Hub this year. Alongside Amaria, Amelia works across all three shared groups in the hub, with much of her time being spent in Māwhero with our newest five year olds. She is enjoying getting to know all of our ākonga across the hub, connecting wonderfully with them and building strong and meaningful connections.

Amelia moved from Nelson to Wellington over the summer and she is enjoying getting to know the city. Her degree in psychology and history helped to grow her passion for New Zealand and world history, and she particularly enjoys Aotearoa New Zealand Histories and social science learning.

When out of the classroom Amelia enjoys watching sports and learning new things to cook and bake.

Hannah Sadler

Along with Amelia, Hannah is also one of our fabulous Koru kaiako. She is based in Kākāriki with our year 1 and 2 whānau groups, alongside Aleesha and Lily. Hannah is now in her fourth year at Amesbury School, having been a Masters’ student teacher with us in 2021, and then having completed her two years of provisional teaching with us in 2022-2023. We love Hannah’s sense of fun and creativity with ākonga, and her strong connections with students and their whānau.

Hannah has a passion for dance and drama, and loves getting creative with students. This year she will be running a dance club at school, which we are really excited about.

A fun fact that we love about Hannah is that her grandfather was the first dolphin trainer in England.

We are really enjoying the time we are spending connecting together and getting to know each other more. As we continue to do this together, kaimahi (staff), ākonga and whānau, we will develop our relationships and learn and grow tgoether as a community. 

Kia pai te rā whakatā - have a lovely weekend and enjoy time with whānau and friends.

Ngā mihi nui, 

Urs Cunningham