Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei pānui. Welcome to this fortnight's newsletter.

Celebrating Manaakitanga

Over the past two weeks we have been learning more about our value of manaakitanga. Showing manaakitanga (mar - nar - key - tongue - ah) is a way of uplifting the mana of others.

Manaakitanga is everyone’s responsibility and is given, demonstrated, and enlivened from aroha, kindness, and caring.

We noticed many tamariki showing manaakitanga over the past few weeks. At our team learning celebrations; Addison H, Adeline J, Archer A, Carter E, Ernest L, Hailey vdH, Hriday P, Kai-Lani G, Leo C, Minnie HE, Nico C, and Xavier M were acknowledged for their great examples of manaakitanga.

PALs Workshop

Our House Captains and Physical Activity Leaders participated in a day's PAL Leader training two weeks ago. This learning, facilitated by Sport Canterbury, helped develop their leadership skills so that they can run games and activities for younger tamariki here at kura. Thank you to the parents who helped with transport and to Callum and Matt for supporting this leadership opportunity.

Swimming Sports

It was great to see a number of our Year 4 - 8 tamariki giving it their best at our competitive and participation swimming sports. Lots of manawaroa shown in the pool and kotahitanga on the sideline. It is such a joy to see our tamariki supporting each other and giving things their best efforts. Thank you to our Senior student helpers and Matt Grenfell for orgainsing the events, and to all the whānau who came down to support.

Whānau Hui

Last Thursday night some of our whānau met to discuss our kapahaka uniforms. Through fundraising efforts of this group and the support of the PTA and Backhouse whānau we have raised enough funds for new kapahaka uniforms, replacing our current ones which are close to 15 years old. We are very grateful to have Riki Manuel (whose mokopuna are here at HVS) helping us out with the design.

Year 7 & 8 Camp

What an amazing range of experiences our Year 7 & 8 tamariki got to enjoy on their camp last week. Putting up tents, exploring the campground (including finding eels), visiting Willowbank, playing spotlight, cooking dinners, participating in team challenges, riding the flying fox, swimming and sailing on Lake Rua, visiting the driving range and playing mini-golf, and then building and testing their rafts on the last day. It was great to see our tamariki grow individually and collectively through the many challenges that camps provide. A hige thank you to the parents who gave up their time to make the camp possible. Camps are wonderful learning experiences, but they take a hge amount of planning and organisation. A special thanks to Matt, Hannah, and Rachel for their planning, organisation, and facilitation.

Non-Uniform Day

Our Non-Uniform Day raised $200 for CholmoneleyChirldren's Centre. Thanks for everyone's support and to our Student Leaders for organising this fundraiser for such a good cause.

Police Competency Test Competition

Walk and Wheel to School Week

Wacky Wheels Wednesday and Funky Feet Friday are all part of our Walk and Wheel to School Week. Postponed a week to ensure our Year 7 & 8 tamariki can participate, it is great to see the number of children bringing a range of wheels or walking themselves to school. Good for our health and also the environment!

Police Competency Test Competition

On Monday a team of four Year 7 and four Year 8 tamariki participated in the Police Competency Test Challenge. They work as a team to get around the course as quickly as possible. The highlights included their teamwork and getting up close with the police car and uniforms! A special thanks to Cheryl, Hannah and Jayne for transporting and looking after the teams.

Scooters @ School

Our scooter track is getting a lot of use which is absolutely fantastic. Here at school we are reminding tamariki that they need to have a helmet on, and that we walk our scooters around other areas of the school. Your help supporting this is appreciated. Ocassionaly we may need a scooter to sit out playtime to help children remember if the individual reminders are not connecting.