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 a school, we are continuing our focus from the start of the year on connecting with each other and taking time to get to know each other. We have started to do this as kaimahi (staff) and also within our hubs, getting to know ākonga (students) and their whānau, and we will continue to build on this through the year.

Last week we also began this process with our Amesbury School board. Staff and board members met together on Friday afternoon and held a social gathering, connecting over delicious kai (food) and getting to know each other a little more. It was really useful hearing from our board members and finding out a little more about who they are and what led them to get involved with the board. Our five board members are Poornima Ranchhod, Anna Whitehead, Kris Love, Chris Dey, and Trejan Perera, and they work alongside myself and our current staff board representative, Hannah Sadler. As a learning community we are looking to work closely together this year, and we will be exploring ways to stay connected and ensure we come together to work and collaborate in different ways through the year.

We are currently holding elections for parent representatives on our board, and we are going through the same process as a staff. It is great to see the interest in being part of this valuable process. We would like to say a huge thanks to our board members; they do a really important job and their dedication to our school and our ākonga is admirable. They are a fabulous group to work with, with everyone bringing varied and unique skills and experience to the role.

In keeping with our focus on connection, our parent focus meetings started up again last week, with our Year 1 parents and whānau meeting. These focus groups are a way for parents and whānau to come together and connect with each other and with me. We spend time talking about what is important to parents in terms of their child’s education, and what success looks like for their tamariki. It is a good chance to connect, listen and share, and also to ask any burning questions you may have about our school and how things work. Ideas that were discussed and opinions shared in our meetings last year were all part of the feedback used to create our learning programmes as we went through the year, and to create our school annual plan for this year. Our Year 2 focus meeting is coming up in a couple of weeks, and our Year 3 focus group invitation will be going out to parents for later in the term. Please come along and be part of these discussions.

Introducing staff

And finally, we will continue to get to know our kaimahi (staff) a little better by introducing several staff members each week.

Wee Ai Teh

Wee Ai is one of our two whānau kaiako (teachers) in our new five year old area in Māwhero. She has joined Amesbury School this year, coming from teaching at Khandallah Little School for three years. Wee Ai also taught in a special education classroom in Malaysia for two years. She brings a huge amount of energy and creativity to her teaching, and has settled into the Māwhero learning space beautifully with Angela. Together with Amelia, who releases both teachers in the space throughout the week, they have formed a wonderful space with a great energy and focus on the individual nature and needs of every ākonga.

One of Wee Ai’s many strengths is her love of languages. She is fluent in English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Mandarin, and has a good level of Cantonese. She is now growing her knowledge and use of te reo Māori, and loves using te reo with ākonga. Another of her passions is drawing and doodling, and she posts many of her doodles to her Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/weedoodlediaries/.

John Murrihy

John is in his sixth year of working at Amesbury School, although he has been involved with Amesbury School since its inception. John fulfils a number of roles at the school, with one of his main roles being the organiser of our co-curricular lessons that run on Wednesdays and Fridays. John liaises with all of our specialist teachers, and manages the very complex timetable that has ākonga across the school taking lessons throughout the two days with a range of specialist teachers. We highly value and appreciate John’s ability to manage such a feat so successfully, taking into account the different things going on in the school and trying to schedule lessons around the other things happening at school.

Along with co-curricular lessons, John is also our enrolment manager, processing all new enrolments and liaising with parents as their tamariki start school with us. John is often the first staff member parents become acquainted with at school, and as such, his knowledge of the history and philosophy of our school is very useful. John also oversees the weekly parent digests, ensuring communications are clear, efficient and well organised.

In these different roles, John works onsite each week on co-curricular days, and offsite on the other days, liaising with kaiako (teachers) and whānau to ensure everything runs smoothly. We love his attention to detail, fabulous organisation and his flexibility in making things work for the different teams across the school.

Outside of school, John is a very keen gardener, and is already proving very helpful as we start up our Garden to Table programme. He is also a huge sports follower, having been involved in football refereeing for many years, and coaching his children in their many successes in running. Having eight tamariki and eight mokopuna (grandchildren), his whānau also keep him and his wife, Lesley, very busy!

Aleesha Majaw Monisse 

Aleesha is one of our wonderful kaiako (teachers) in Koru Hub, working alongside Hannah and Lily in the Kākāriki area with our Year 1 and 2 whānau groups. She joined us at the start of this year, moving from Rosehill School in Auckland, where she spent four years working with ākonga with autism and Down syndrome. Aleesha is passionate about knowing students as individuals and catering for diverse learning, behaviour and sensory needs. Her calm and caring manner helps to put ākonga at ease and creates a safe and comforting environment for all students.

Having moved to Wellington over the summer to join her partner here, Aleesha is enjoying getting to know the city. She also loves playing guitar, and plays acoustic, electric and bass guitar.

Gar Kee Wu

Gar Kee is in her fifth year of teaching at Amesbury School, and is one of the fabulous team of teachers in Pōhutukawa Hub, working alongside Emma, Brydon and Charlotte as a Year 5 and 6 whānau kaiako. With her knowledge of technology and devices, Gar Kee is also our IT lead teacher, managing our IT hardware and our e-learning programme.

During her time with us Gar Kee has organised and run a number of school discos, leaning on her skills and experience organising a range of sporting and youth events. Her enthusiasm for organising events and experiences is clear, and we love the opportunities she offers ākonga through doing this.

Gar Kee originally hails from Hamilton, and still travels back regularly to visit whānau. She also loves paddle boarding and getting out and about outdoors, soaking up the events surrounding Wellington including music, food and sports. If you ever hear an extremely loud and explosive sound coming from somewhere at school, it is likely you have just experienced one of Gar Kee’s incredible sneezes, which have been known to send Jackson the Cat skittering away.

We will continue on this journey of discovery together, and continue to learn about and from each other.

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

Ngā mihi nui, 

Urs Cunningham