Iti noa ana, he pito mata; With care, a small kūmera will produce a harvest.

And so we reach the end of another busy and fabulous term. The theme of my final editorial for the term is most definitely one of celebration: celebrating events, achievements, and people.

Our term has been chockablock full of fabulous opportunities and events. From our Inano Pacific Dance that has been happening across the school, to our fabulous Kapa Haka Festival last weekend (see our separate article in this week's digest) that showcased the mana and unity of ngā ākonga (our students). Our inaugural participation in the Dance Splash festival at the Opera House earlier in the term was absolutely wonderful, and our recent school speech competition showed community passion and dedication. We have had a number of fabulous sporting and academic events and achievements, from our fabulous chess teams reaching great heights in a number of competitions, including national finals this weekend in Christchurch, to our netball and miniball teams, our Mathswell team success, our ICAS academic competition, and our swimming carnival (Koru) and swim sports (Pōhutukawa). Right across the school, ngā akonga have showed skill, bravery, dedication, grit and mana, and we are so proud of them.

I would like to send out a particular ka pai (well done) to our Pasifika Group, lead by Charlotte. This fabulous group of ākonga set about fundraising this term to raise money towards the cost of our Inano Pacific Dance that has been happening across the school. Together, they raised just over $2,100 by organizing and hosting our fabulous Pacific Disco and working with Ground Up Homes, who sponsored our lunchtime sausage sizzle a few weeks ago. We were all blown away by the amount they raised, and they are now thinking that they can hire themselves out as event organisers! Karawhuia, go for it, team!

All of this awesomeness does not happen by itself. A team of fabulous people are working and collaborating tirelessly behind the scenes to organise and prep everything, and to support ngā ākonga in their mahi (work) and passion. Huge thanks to our amazing team. To all of our support staff and kaiako for your incredible dedication and mahi, which was highlighted in our recent very positive ERO review. Thanks to Amaria, for your work with the Kapa Haka festival; to Charlotte for all of your mahi with the Pasifika Group; to Hannah for organising Dance Splash and the speech competition; to our fabulous sports team of Amelia, Rachel, and Lily; and to Jenny, for organising all of the ICAS competitions. You are all wonderful and we are so lucky to have you all.

And finally, huge thanks to our amazing and supportive whānau. Ngā ākonga are so lucky to have you all supporting them. To our coaches, organisers, volunteers, whānau taxi drivers, and cheerleaders - tēnā koutou, thank you. Also, a huge shout out to you all for helping us to raise a whopping $2,403 last week for Wellington Free Ambulance.

To end our celebrations, here is a beautiful and powerful example of the fabulous things ngā tamariki me ngā rangatahi (our children and young people) achieve. This video is of Scott Picard, a past ākonga of Amesbury School and Rāroa Intermediate, and current ākonga of Onslow College, and also Amaria's son. This week Scott participated in the Ngā Manu Kōrero Secondary School Māori and English Oratory Competition, and this is the first of his two speeches, showcasing his passion and oratory skill, and sharing his powerful message with us all. Scott won his category and his whānau and kura (schools) are tino whakahīhī (so very proud). Mahi tika ana, great work, Scott, it was a fabulous speech.

An update on our application to include Year 7 and 8 at Amesbury School

As a school we have recently revisited the possibility of applying to the Ministry to include Years 7 and 8 at our kura (school). As many of you know, in our earlier years as a school we applied three times, but were denied. Several schools across Wellington have applied for recapitation (moving from a Year 1-6 school to a Year 1-8 school), including another local primary school in our kāhui northern cluster of schools. This has prompted us to explore this possibility again.

In a recent survey sent out to our community, we had 119 responses, with 98% of respondents in favour of applying to include Year 7 and 8 (91% of respondents strongly agreed with this). 2% of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed, and no-one disagreed with the idea. With such strong support from our community, our school board has approved applying again to have Year 7 and 8 at Amesbury.

So, from here, we will now complete the application for recapitation. If the application gets past the first step, we will then go through a consultation process with the Ministry. It is quite a drawn out process, as it includes ensuring all stakeholders impacted are given the chance to have their voice heard. As such, our application will be for recapitating (including Year 7 and 8) for 2027.

I will keep you all updated on the process as we go.

It is now time for a much needed rest. We know our tamariki are tired after such an energetic and busy term, and our staff are certainly in need of a change of pace! Have a fabulous term break with whānau and friends. I am off to spend time with whānau on the Gold Coast. We will see you all back and refreshed in a couple of weeks.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham