He Manukura Pitopito Kōrero

Mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei

For us and our children after us.

Kia orana, Noa’ia, Talofa lava, Mauri, Mālō e lelei, Tālofa, Ni Sa Bula Vinaka, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Mālō ni and warm Pacific greetings. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa. Nau mai, Haere Mai!

We have so much to be grateful for in these current hard times. A huge thank you to whānau for your support in term 2. It has been a difficult time for our kura with sickness, industrial action and winter weather over the past ten weeks. We are hopeful a settlement will be reached in the coming weeks and our kaiako can focus on catching up on the work interrupted over the past months.

We have so much to be grateful for: our kaimahi who have given so much of themselves over this time to support ākonga, for the Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches programme that sees all of our ākonga provided with nutritious kai and massive amounts of fruit and puddings and for our wonderful cleaning and property staff who ensure our campus is clean, tidy and safe.

The Board is pleased to announce that Haeata Community Campus has been selected as one of the 40 schools and wharekura to partner with Active Canterbury Network (ACN), a coalition of agencies, trusts and organisations that promote physical activity and support people to lead active lives, in a new project with Sport New Zealand/Ihi Aotearoa to enhance rangatahi wellbeing and learning. The project focuses on providing quality active recreation and sport opportunities. Our kura will be provided with financial and professional development support to design and implement physical activity initiatives through to December 2026. A planning team has been formed and a group of ākonga attended the first scoping hui on Thursday, 22 June 2023. .

The kura celebrated Pride Week Aotearoa this week. Important because up to 20 percent of learners in Aotearoa identify as members of the Rainbow community, and evidence shows that these rangatahi experience significantly higher rates of bullying than their peers. It is important to us as a kura that ourRainbow ākonga feel connected to their kura and that they belong and are supported. Pride Week provides us an opportunity as a kura to support Rainbow ākonga and staff and highlight our values of inclusion, diversity and acceptance. As a kura we celebrate and affirm Rainbow identities, help Rainbow ākonga develop a sense of belonging at kural and with their peers, and reduce experiences of bullying and distress for Rainbow ākonga. 

The kura looks forward to celebrating Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki on Friday 14 July 2023. This celebration is a public holiday and kura will be closed. Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleiades star cluster. Before sunrise during Aotearoa/New Zealand’s winter, the cluster is visible as a faint sparkle of tiny dots when you look towards the northeast horizon. It rises during Pipiri (June/July) and marks the beginning of the Māori new year. Generally, the Māori acknowledge nine main stars in the group. The word is an abbreviation of Ngā Mata o te Ariki (Eyes of God) in reference to Tāwhirimātea, the god of the wind and weather. In the story of creation, Tāne Mahuta (god of the forest) separated his parents Ranginui and Papatūānuku, and his brother Tāwhirimātea got upset and tore out his eyes, crushed them into pieces and threw them into the sky.

Thank you again for all your support of our kura. It is a privilege to serve this kura, this community and our ākonga. I hope whānau can enjoy a restful holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone safely back in Week 1 of Term 3.

Ko Haeata Tātou!

Kia kaha, kia toa, kia manawanui

He tangata ki tahi.

Dr Peggy Burrows

Manukura