Kia ora koutou, It has been a busy fortnight this term so far and it has been great to see students with smiles and positive attitudes.

• It was great to see so many of you at our Whānaungatanga meetings. It is so refreshing after COVID restrictions to invite families back onto the school site and take the opportunity to sit and discuss your child’s learning progress with you. Reminder to logon to HERO and access your child’s information, let us know if you have any issues.

• In Writing we have finished up our persuasive skills with an argument on whether students should be on devices whenever they want to at school. Something we are sure that they want to practise at home!

• Today we were lucky enough to have some students participating in a Kahui Ako Tournament, with Netball and Hockey hosted at Isleworth and Football at Roydvale. Thank you to the support from all those parents and to the wonderful Miss Taggart for her organisational skills.

• We have also experienced a visit from Hearing Support Christchurch with their “Hear This” educational programme. This is a programme to educate children on how loud noises can affect their hearing and how to prevent noise induced hearing loss. There was a great experiment with a table tennis ball, tuning fork and sound waves. If you would like more information please go to their website, www.hearinginfo.co.nz.

“It was good and it was great to learn how to protect our ears” - Matthew, Moana 1

“The hairs in your ear canal once they are damaged cannot grow back”- Tanaya, Awa 2

“We did an experiment with a tuning fork and a ping pong ball and it was really fun” - Gracy, Awa 3

“I didn't know that all those little hairs were in my ear” - Jessica, Awa 1

• On Wednesday we were treated to the delightful sounds of the Breens Band at lunchtime. It was fantastic music that we all enjoyed.

“The band was really good, insync and the singer was fantastic” - Jayah, Brooke and Dakota - Moana 3

“ The band was loud but really good” - Zade, Jessie and Luke - Moana 4

• Monday we will be celebrating the wonderful Miss Bruce as she returns from Birmingham (and COVID leave). We ask that on Monday could all students dress in black to show support for her team the Black Jacks.

• Reminders:

  • Stationery: We’re noticing a number of students don’t have black pens, pencils or rubbers/erasers in their pencil cases at the moment. Please check in with them and ask if anything needs to be topped up or replaced for this term.

  • Masks: A big thanks to the students for their continued support wearing masks at school, it’s not easy, but it’s a great help to protect ourselves and each other from winter illness.

It's been great to see the students engaged in the last two weeks and we look forward to a busy, yet successful rest of the term.

Ngā mihi nui

Senior Team - Michael, Leanne, Anita, Vicky, Sam, Tracy, Aaron, Lagan, Sandra, Trish, Rachel, Gail, Tracey, Sara & Bonny.