Kia ora koutou,

It was wonderful to see so many of our tamariki (children) showing their support for Pink Shirt Day on Friday 21st May. Pink Shirt Day is an international event that happens each year, and is a way to show support and to encourage our tamariki to stand up for others and support those who need it. It is a day for celebrating and embracing diversity. There were different ways to show support for this: you could do this by wearing a pink top or various pink items (I saw a fabulous pair of long pink gloves being worn). You could also show support by joining in with activities at lunchtime around supporting others, participating well in the discussions that happened around the school about how to be an ‘upstander’, or simply by treating all others kindly. We saw lots of examples of this on Friday, which was very rewarding.

We will now continue to work with our ākonga (students) in an ongoing way to ensure we maintain a culture of supporting others, particularly those most in need of our help. Here is a good link to a resource showing ways that people can be an ‘upstander’ - showing support and helping others who may be being bullied or teased in some way. These are good discussions to have with your tamariki at home, and our kaiako (teachers) will be talking about these behaviours with children at school.

This week we welcome Sania Blackford to our Koru Hub team for the next four weeks. Sania is a student on the Masters of Education programme at Victoria University. Hannah Sadler is our student teacher on the Masters programme who is based at Amesbury School for the year. Part of the programme involves a school exchange for four weeks, to allow students to experience other schools. For the next four weeks Hannah will be based at Island Bay School, and Sania Blackford will come to us from Trentham School. We are looking forward to having Sania with us for the next month, and we hope Hannah enjoys her time at Island Bay School.

Events coming up

There are a number of events coming up, so please keep an eye on the school calendar over the next few weeks.

- Tuesday 25th May: Northern Zone Cross Country Year 4-6 students. Held at Grenada North Park.

- Friday 28th May: ICAS meeting 4pm in the school library. If you are looking to register your child for the first time for ICAS exams, you must attend this meeting before registering.

- Thursday 3rd June: Junior Invitational Cross Country Year 1-3 students. Held at Amesbury School.

- Friday 4th June: Staff Only Day school closed for instruction.

- Monday 7th June: School Closed Queen’s Birthday public holiday.

Kia pai tō wiki - have a good week.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham