Kia ora koutou,

We are now into the final week of Term 1 for 2021; where did the time go, it feels as though we have just started the year! It has been a busy and productive term, with lots of great learning happening across all three hubs. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our fabulous hard working staff for their dedication and tireless efforts in creating a safe, healthy, and productive learning environment for our ākonga (students).

Directly after our long Easter weekend break we had a staff only day, along with the10 other local schools that make up Te Kāhui Ako o Tarikākā - our local community of learning. The day was organised by our six Across School Lead teachers, one of whom is Lisa Bengtsson, one of our Harakeke Hub teachers. The six lead teachers did an amazing job, and organised a fabulous day that ran at Onslow College and Rāroa Intermediate School. The day consisted of 57 workshops offered by teachers across all schools, sharing practice and offering help and support in a wide range of areas, such as rich maths inquiry, student wellbeing, mindfulness with students, supporting LGBTQ+ students, and effective phonics programmes. It was a wonderful array of learning, and a really great chance for teachers across the cluster to share and learn with and from each other.

I was extremely proud of the Amesbury team throughout the Kāhui Ako day, from Lisa’s fabulous leadership, to Amaria leading the returning karanga (call) on behalf of manuhiri (visitors) at the powhiri (welcome), and our teachers who presented a diverse range of workshops. All teachers were open to getting as much out of the day as possible, and I’m sure they both shared and learned a range of content and ideas. All in all, it was an extremely positive day and a great start to the ongoing collaboration and shared learning across the cluster. I am very hopeful about the potential our Kāhui Ako has for creating strong outcomes for all students and creating a strong and positive learning pathway in our community for all ākonga from year 1 through to year 13.

We have a busy week ahead, with student conferences, several art trips and our futsal competitions for year 1-4 students and year 5-6 students. If you have not yet booked a student conference, now is your last chance to do so. Bookings close at 8am on Tuesday, so that teachers can prepare for all conferences. See the student conference article sent out with this digest for more information on how to book.

Ka pai tō wiki - have a good week. Also, kia pai tō hararei - have a good holiday. I hope you manage to have some relaxing time with your whānau over the break, and we look forward to seeing you all again in term 2.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham