Kia Orana and welcome to this fortnight's newsletter.

Welcome

A special welcome to Chanel who has joined us at HVS this term. We hope that you and your whānau enjoy your time here.

Thank you

It was great to see so many pieces of second-hand uniform acquired at the recent after-school sale. Another small way that we as a community are showing our value of kaitiakiatanga (looking after our environment, people and culture). Thank you to everyone who took time to look through the uniform and a special thank you to the team who made it happen.

The HVS PTA - 'Where We Connect' team organised a much enjoyed sausage sizzle on Friday. Everyone's efforts to get signed up on Kindo certainly made it a lot more simpler and time efficient for everyone involved. Another special thank you to the team who made it all happen!

Matariki

What a wonderful community celebration of Matariki we had. Not even an ice-cold gale-force wind could dampen everyone's spirits ... although it may have increased the demand for the soup! It was a real joy to see so many of you join us for this event, and see your tamaiti / tamariki charging around to get their passports stamped. A huge thank you to all the team who helped bring this together; our senior students for their welcome messages and leading the Marariki Macarena, our amazing parent leaders; Danny, Lisa, Cheryl, Maka (and the soup team), Gabrielle, Garry, Jen, Paula, Jayde, Shannon, our staff who helped run activities on the night and also to Liz for her coordination and oversight of the event. 

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini
My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, it was not individual success but the success of a collective 

Orchards in Schools

Last Friday our Student Enviro Leaders worked with Rachel from Orchards in Schools to plant 7 (soon to be 8) different fruit trees. These include different varieties of apple, plum, and pear trees. In amongst the hard digging work there was a lot of valuable learning. Our leaders learnt more about what fruit trees need and how to give them the best opportunity to thrive. They also enjoyed being amateur archeologists and investigating the different 'artifacts' that they dug up. Thank you to Orchards in Schools for donating the trees and to Rachel for her time and expertise.

Celebrating Kotahitanga

Over the first two weeks of this term, we were learning more about our value of Kotahitanga. Kotahitanga (coe - tar - hee - tongue - ah) refers to being ‘one’. A sense of togetherness through collaboration and unity leading to collective action and a shared sense of belonging. We focus on developing three key understandings or actions associated with kotahitanga:

• I understand how to be part of a team and show this by learning well with others
• I join in and give everything a go
• I get to know others even though they may be different

We have noticed so many tamariki showing their kotahitanga skills. At our whole school learning celebration Alex V, Belle S, Dash, Emmeline, Kyrie, Logan C, Mason B, Nico, Sam K, Sanzou and Scout were acknowledged for their great kotahitanga.

Donations and Fees

HVS receives one of the lowest funding rates compared to other schools in Aotearoa. As a result we rely heavily on your generosity in paying for activity costs and donations. Thank you to the many of you who have already done that this year, we truly appreciate this support, and allows us to keep offering the range of learning experiences we do for our tamariki. 

Adult Disco

Another great way to support your kura, and have some fun at the same time is by going along to the Adult Disco. See the article from our PTA in this newsletter to find out more ... and pre-register.

Ngā mihi nui