Principal's Kōrero

After a bit of a rubbish summer weather-wise, the sun seems to have come out right on cue for the start of Term One. This is great news for our class swimming programmes, which will run every day for as long as the pool temperature remains reasonable. Although this does mean time out of the classroom, we can assure you that learning is prioritised and happening alongside swimming. We are fortunate to have such a great community asset at our disposal, and our staff do a very good job of teaching this aspect of the curriculum.

This year, our learning theme is 'Belonging Builds Brilliance'. The impact of a sense of belonging has on children's wellbeing and resulting academic attainment is extensively documented. It is important to us that every tamaiti enjoys coming to school, and feels a connection with both their peers and staff. Through all of our interactions this year, we are focusing on and cementing the idea of 'our place' - how we communicate, learn, and show respect to others and our environment here at Cust School. Our topic learning throughout the year will cover particular aspects of this at a more concrete level, and will include units about our local area, people, history, flora and fauna, according to each class' long term plan.

This year, all New Zealand primary schools are using Te Mātaiaho, (the new curriculum) to direct their teaching and learning in English and Mathematics. Though many aspects of this new sequence of learning are 'business as usual' for Cust School, some parts are unfamiliar and have required extra learning for our staff. This new learning will continue throughout 2025 as we embark on Professional Development courses and Teacher Only Days that are scattered throughout the year. The first of these is on Friday 7 February - there will be no school on this day. Some learning goalposts have changed, particularly in the junior school. As a parent, you may notice that classwork and home learning tasks look different than in the past, and your child(ren) may be working with some of our support staff that have been employed to accelerate learning across our school.

On that note, we are pleased to welcome Trina Melville onto our staff, who will be teaching four mornings a week in Rooms 2 and 1. This year these classes are larger than normal for Cust, and Trina will be working alongside Evie and Andrew to maximise the literacy programmes in each room.

More information about individual class programmes will be given at our 'Meet the Teacher' afternoon on Monday 3 February. Times for each class meeting are as follows:

If you haven't already done so, please fill in the Beach Education permission form. We need to have one of these filled in for EACH of your children in order for them to take part.

Have a great weekend, and please don't hesitate to ask me or our staff any questions.

Miriam

Photos below from the mihi whakatau held on Thursday to welcome new staff, students and whanau to Cust School.