From our Tumuaki / Principal

Ngā mihi nui kia koutou katoa, warm greetings to you all.

Kāore te kumara e kōrero mō tōna ke reka; the kumara does not boast of how sweet it is.

One of the things on top for me this week is that this is the final week for our school board presiding member, John Bunting. John has been on our school board since we were an establishment board setting up the school, all the way back in 2011. He then moved on to our school board as a deputy chairperson, and later became our board chair (presiding member). His journey began with his daughter, Jasmine, who was a foundation student with us as we opened, and scarily Jasmine is now 22! We later had her younger brother, Micah, join us at the school.

Throughout his time, John has been an energetic, involved and dedicated board member, always willing to go the extra mile to ensure that our staff and students have what they need in order to thrive. He has been a huge source of support and encouragement for us all, and he is passionate about education in general, and outcomes for our ākonga in particular. Linking with the whakatauki above, John is very humble and will not thank me for placing him in the limelight. However, it is important that we acknowledge and honour the mahi he has done during his years on the board. John always said that he would see the new build construction through to completion. He has been part of the project from the very start, and he wanted to see it all the way through. It just took a lot longer than he envisaged! His son left the school last year, and the building is now finished in all its glory, so it is time for his term on the board to come to an end. John, tēnā koe for all of your support, mahi, and dedication. Thankfully, given that you live three houses down from school, we know we will see you around the place and keep in touch.

Whilst we are thanking wonderfully talented and humble people, Hemi Prime, our amazing kapa haka tutor, finished up with us for this year on Wednesday. Next Wednesday we will be in the middle of our fab water play fun, and so Hemi won’t be with us. Hemi is amazing at energising and focusing our ākonga in kapa haka. He blends content and precision with fun and participation, to ensure everyone can be part of it. We love his constant use of te reo Māori, his amazing patience and breadth of knowledge. Hemi will be back with us in Term 1 next year, and in the meantime he’ll be travelling in the South Island. Hei tērā tau, see you next year, Hemi.

And so we head into our final week of the year. We have a lot of fun events happening in the lead up to finishing at 1pm on Thursday 14th. Below is a list of things over the final few days, and there is also an article in this digest that gives more detail about each event:

• Mon 11th: Beach Education for Year 5 at Worser Bay; Year 6 transition trip into town: Year 6 graduation dinner 5:30 - 8pm

• Tues 12th: Beach Education for Year 6 at Worser Bay; reports go live on Hero

• Wed 13th: Water play fun for all - 11:30am-1pm *Non-uniform day for everyone

• Thurs 14th: Farewell celebration for all students and kaiako leaving 9:15-10am; school sausage sizzle picnic 11:30am-1pm; school closes for the year at 1pm

Hei tērā wiki for our final week of the school year. 

Ngā mihi nui, 

Urs