This Term has been another busy term at GEIS full of learning and opportunities for our tamariki.

In week 9 and 10 we celebrated Matariki. Our tamariki were given the opportunity to enjoy our Kapa Haka group with performances and to also enjoy our school choir with waiatas.

Our students have also had the opportunity to learn raranga (māori weaving) with harakeke (traditional flax) and the tikanga and customs around it. Each Mini school is working towards creating a Kakahu/Cloak to represent their mini school.

This year we held our first Hautapu to celebrate Matariki. This is commonly known as whāngai i te hautapu – or Hautapu for short. This means to feed the stars with a sacred offering. This occurred on the morning of Wednesday July 3rd and was a special time for GEIS celebrating Matariki with our community and whānau for the first time. A special thank you Ms Jazmine Iti and GEIS Board member Fender Maeva for their mahi in leading and organising our first whāngai i te hautapu. Thank you also to all our staff for their mahi in helping organising such a special event.

This term each mini school held " Exhibitions and celebrations of Learning" where our community and whānau were offered an opportunity to come into our classrooms and spend some time in their tamariki's classroom. It was great to see so many families and whānau be part of the learning and our tamariki were so proud to share their learning with their families and whānau :)

We believe strong literacy and numeracy skills are the foundation for all learning and we offer robust programmes around these skills. We know they equip our tamariki with the tools they need to thrive in every aspect of their learning journey and future careers.

However, we must not lose sight of the unique role intermediate schools play in New Zealand’s education system. Intermediate schools bridge the gap between primary and secondary education, providing a broad and enriching curriculum that fosters a love of learning across a wide range of subjects. This includes not just literacy and numeracy, but also the arts, health/wellbeing, culture, sciences, social sciences, technology, and physical education. This holistic approach is essential for nurturing well-rounded young individuals who are curious, creative, and critical thinkers.

I really enjoy seeing our tamariki being involved in so many opportunities across our school ranging from the arts, sports, culture, academics and many more. We can not do all of this without the positive support from our community, families and whānau.

We also have many volunteers helping out in these opportunities such as referees and umpires. One of our school values is Respect, and we need to respect these volunteers at all times. We may think they don't get a call right at times but that is part of a game/sport and without these people we do not have a game.

Finally, thank you to all our teachers and staff for their hard work/mahi over the term at GEIS and to our families and whānau who support us with everything we do.

I am so proud to be the Acting Principal/Tumuaki of this kura/school.

Ngā mihi nui

Acting Principal/Tumuaki

Jacob Prisk

In this issue

Writing Camp in the July School holidays