From our Tumuaki / Principal

Kia ora e te whānau,

E hori te aroaro ki te rā, tuuna te ataarangi ki muri i a koe; Turn and face the sun, and let your shadow fall behind you.

I hope you all had a lovely break with whānau and friends over the school holiday. I headed off on my first long haul trip since Covid, and went to Spain to spend time with my dad and other family. It was a super trip and I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with whānau and friends, many of whom I haven’t seen for a number of years. My rusty holiday Spanish was thoroughly tested, and at one point I caused great hilarity when attempting to order monkfish. I did not manage to ascertain what I apparently said instead, but needless to say I was unlikely to get fish without the intervention of kind wait staff.

During my time away I was reminded yet again of the importance of connection with whānau and long time friends. Living so far away from much of my family, it is easy to muddle along, content with long distance contact, and it is only when I spend real time with them kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) that I realise how important that connection is. Treasure the time you have with whānau and loved ones - they are the true taonga in our lives.

Speaking of taonga, I would like to send a few shout outs to ākonga from the first few days of term:

• Adam, Kyle, Brandon and John from Harakeke represented Amesbury School at the Wellington Interschools Chess Tournament on Thursday (see the picture attached to this article). They showed good sportsmanship and supported each other throughout the 6-round games. Ka rawe for trying something new and following your red threads (things you are particularly passionate about).

• Navya and Parnika from Koru have been using their lunch times this week to pick up rubbish around the school. You are being fabulous kaitiaki (guardians) of our school, girls, ka mau te wehi! 

• Vedant and Luca from Harakeke did some fabulous work using a range of mathematical strategies to work out monetary amounts with such delight. They tried several different ways to do this, and worked together wonderfully and with such joy.

• Declan from Pōhutukawa was particularly kind to a new student on his first day at Amesbury School. He went out of his way to invite the student to play multiple times and include him in games and activities. Lovely friendship and leadership, ka pai.

• The following ākonga from our performance kapa haka group: Calista, Caelyn, Sridhatri, Gabriella, Esita, Marcus, Basti, Kailey, Jaden, Yiqi, Dion, Josh, Monty, Caitlin, Bella, Adrik, Nia, Jade, JD, Tara, Lexie, Tayla, Greta, Matilda, and Jhaedyn. This group performed a waiata along with other ākonga from local schools at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on the Wellington waterfront on Thursday. The performance was in front of a huge audience, including international media. It was a fantastic opportunity for our tamariki and they did an amazing job of representing themselves and our kura.

Finally, an update on the progress of our new build. We are so very nearly there. It is looking very close to completion and we are absolutely itching to move in. Here are some of the most recent photos from the building, it is looking so flash! We have confirmed the date of 14 August (Monday of week 5 of this term) for our dawn blessing, and we will be sending out a community invitation to anyone who would like to come and be part of this. Our school kaumatua, Jack Kaa (Papa Jack), will conduct the blessing, and later in the morning Pōhutukawa ākonga and kaiako will move in. We are delighted that Papa Jack will be doing this for us. It feels very meaningful to have him do this, given our close connection with him and his wife, Whaea Nina.

Kia pai te rā whakata, have a good weekend and see you next week.

Ngā mihi, 

Urs Cunningham