A very busy few weeks ahead with end of year activities and events. Please keep a close eye on the Facebook page and our school calendar to ensure you don't miss out on anything :-)

Yesterday I attended the Suffragette commemoration in Amberley along with three of our senior school leaders. Our school choir also performed at the event. It is very satisfying to see our students out and about being involved in the community and giving back to it -  bringing our school vision of Strong Community - Confident Future to life!

Last week I also hosted the Year 8 Breakfast. Each year about this time I invite back to the school a couple of leavers from the previous year to share their stories about transitioning to High School. This year Sam Torrie and Bridie Kearns returned to talk to the current group of Year 8s. I would like to thank them for the wonderful job they did sharing their thoughts. Most pleasing to hear was the one thing that surprised them the most about the transition was how easy it was moving in to a bigger school! The skills and confidence that our students learn by being part of our smaller school and having the numerous opportunities available to them to develop these skills really does stand them in great stead as they move into the next part of their educational journey. 

It was fantastic to see so many families coming through the Art Exhibition last week. The children loved creating their art works and especially loved having them on display for people to enjoy so thanks to those who took the time to visit.

The school pool is almost ready for opening - please read the article in this newsletter explaining the process and in particular the information about the funding available to support the pool being open :-) A huge thank you to Dave, Franz and Kelvin without whom we would struggle to get the pool operational each year - we really appreciate your ongoing support!

Our senior Kapahaka will be performing at the Kowai Kapahaka Celebration at the Tin Shed in Amberley on Wednesday 12 December 9:30am. All the Kowai cluster schools will be present and sharing their learning from 2018.

The annual Beach Education programme is coming up; Tutahi Tatau Monday 10 December, Aniwaniwa 11th, Teoteo 12th. Because this is a water-based activity we require a large number of adult supervisors for these trips so please, if you are able to arrange to make yourself available, teachers will be asking for helpers shortly!!! Although this is a reasonably expensive programme, we run it annually in recognition of the access our students have to the beach over the coming months.  Your Activity fees cover the cost of this. As this trip requires 'active supervision' it is not suitable for pre-schoolers unless another supervisor is able to take responsibility for the pre-schooler :-) Thanks for your understanding.

Students end of year reports will be coming home on Monday 17 December. These reports are a summary of achievements and progress over the year.

Please note the information about the school end of year BBQ and Prize-giving in this weeks newsletter :-)

It is hard to believe that there is only one more newsletter to go for this year! I look forward to catching up with all of you over the many activities planned for the last 3 weeks :-)

Ngā mihi

Sharon