Kia ora whānau

It is great to see the days lengthening and some signs of spring appearing. I hope you enjoyed a relaxing and enjoyable holiday with your children.

The term started with our Open Day on Wednesday, 24 August. This was a very successful day, despite my being unwell and having no voice. I received very positive feedback about having an Open Day versus an Open Night. Everyone appreciated seeing the school on a real day and in real time. A big thank you to our staff and students for all the hard work, energy and enthusiasm they brought to this special occasion. A reminder that enrolments for 2020, which are done on line now, close on Friday, 30 August.

This Thursday, 8 August we are having a mufti day to support payment for expensive medical treatment needed by one of our parents. Please see more information about this in our newsletter.

Last week our senior staff met with representatives from most of our local schools to talk about ways we can together, improve the transition process for our Year 6 students coming to Heaton as Year 7s. As a result of this meeting, we will make some changes to what we are currently doing. These include providing more opportunities for Year 6 students who require more extensive transitioning to becoming familiar with our school and ensuring our Heaton assessment process is as stress free as possible for Year 6 students. We greatly appreciate the support of our local schools.

Thank you to the 74 parents/whānau who responded to our survey about Reporting to Parents/Whānau. Your feedback was most helpful and as a result we will be making changes to improve your access to Linc-Ed posts as well as the type of information we provide you about your child’s learning.

Ngā mihi

Andrea Knight, Principal