‘E ako ana, ā, e tipu tahi ana tātou’ - Learning and growing together.

Kia ora Koutou

Welcome back to school for 2025, with a special welcome to our new families. I hope that everyone has had a relaxing holiday break, enjoying special times with family and friends. We welcomed new staff and students at a short assembly this morning, followed by a fabulous day to start the year. It was great to see students so settled in their new classes, happy catching up with friends.

Staffing

We are pleased to welcome Brent Caldwell to our teaching team this year. Brent is a Drama/PITW (Play is the Way) Specialist Teacher and will be taking each class for a weekly Drama/PITW session as part of the extra classroom release time allocated to teachers this year. Catherine McRae will be taking STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths ) sessions with each class, also as part of extra CRT time for teachers.

Welcome to Ashley Dickinson who has joined our Teaching Assistant Team and will be working in the Junior School.

Welcome also to Alex Crawford, Mia Stout and Phil Carroll who are joining us this year for their year of teacher training prior to having their own classes next year.

(Photos below - in order: Brent Caldwell, Ashley Dickinson, Phil Carroll, Maia Stout, Alex Crawford)

Pump Track

It is exciting to see the progress being made with the pump track and we are so grateful to Kirsten McCrostie for her ongoing work liaising with contractors and sourcing trees and shrubs for planting around the track.

On Thursday 13th February at 10.40am we will be welcoming new whānau and kaiako with a mihi whakatau.

On Wednesday 19 February we are having Parent Information sessions where teachers will outline classroom programmes. Times for these sessions are as follows:

2.30pm - 3.00pm - Juniors

5.00pm - 5.30pm - Middle

5.30pm - 6.00pm - Senior

This information will also be sent out in a slideshow for those who are unable to attend.

On Wednesday, February 26 we are holding our Whānau Connect/Meet the Teacher Evening when parents/caregivers will have have an opportunity to meet their children's teacher for a 5 minute catch up, sharing information about how children have settled in and setting goals together for 2025. Further information will be sent regarding booking times in upcoming newsletters.

On Monday, 17th March school will be closed to enable teachers to attend a Mathematics Curriculum Day (Teacher Only Day). All teachers will be participating in professional development related to the new Mathematics curriculum. This will be in conjunction with Elmgrove School.

Please add these dates to your calendar. More information will be sent out in next week's newsletter.

Enjoy the short week ahead.

Kā mihi nui

Jennifer Horgan