Kia ora whānau, 

Last Friday we held our second Mihi Whakatau, where we welcome all our new starters to school. This is always a special time as we follow the protocols of enveloping our new starters and their families in the Hoon Hay School, Te Kura Kōaka  whānau. It is a fabulous team to belong to! Many thanks to Nathan Tau, who leads our whānau hui. We are grateful to have Nathan lead this process for us. He has the gift of being able to follow protocol whilst also talking through the significance of the occasion. We all learn and grow from his sharing of knowledge. Thank you Nathan:) Thanks also to our staff, Ruth Coapman for co-ordinating, Sunia Haliafonua, Hamish Drummond and Owen Carson for their support roles. 

Te piko o te māhuri, tērā te tupu o te rākau
The way a sapling is nurtured determines how strong it will grow as a tree. 

Hoon Hay School, Te Kura Kōaka's Got Talent is proving to be the highlight for lunchtime audiences. I am continually amazed at the confidence and courage of our children as they perform their routines for a packed house. For some, this is the first time they have been in the limelight and the experience can be a bit daunting. For others, this is the moment they have been waiting for…..

As well as the usual singing and dancing we have been treated to mime, piano recitals, gymnastics, jokes and more! We are loving it!

At a recent PTA meeting a decision was made to shift the focus from intense fundraising to raising money through options that might be helpful to families. Therefore you will notice the availability of pizza lunches, sausage sizzles that you can choose to be part of. We also plan to sell pasta and savouries as well as baking paper, bees wrap,  etc, for those that require it. We are aware that things are not easy out there and want to do our best to respond to the changing times.

Thank you for your many many contributions to the Vision and Values review that has been completed. You might recall that our current Vision and Values were over 15 years old and times had changed so a review was well overdue. This has involved extensive consultation with our community, whānau, staff and children. We have used an outside provider to facilitate some of this work so that we had a very clear picture of what you wanted for your children at Hoon Hay School, Te Kura Kōaka. Although this took some time to ensure we had good information, the process itself was reasonably easy because nearly everyone wanted the same things for their children. This work is now complete and we have a new Vision and set of Values that we will implement in 2021. In the meantime we have quite a bit of work to do behind the scenes to align our curriculum to the new vision and values. Phew! Thank you for your contributions to this work.

Next Friday is the school disco and I look forward to seeing everyone in their finery busting out the dance moves! 💃🕺

Please remember to have a clean drink bottle for your children to bring to school. While we are in Alert Level 1, we still have our water fountains turned off.

Have a lovely weekend,
Lee