It's hard to believe that we are now two weeks into the last term and that Christmas is only eight and a bit weeks away ... what a crazy year!

Students have settled well into the term, and programmes of learning are under full swing. The Sunday emails from teachers and learning teams are telling us all about the interesting and varied foci taking place across the school. It's been exciting to go into the classrooms as groups, classes, and teams are actively involved in all of this interesting learning. Who would have thought that one class would be studying minibeasts such as cockroaches (securely housed I wish to add), while a nearby team is considering entrepreneurial skills such as product selection, marketing, production, and sales, and our Year 8s are preparing for their amazing annual trip to, and around, Wellington?

We welcomed three new members of staff to our team at the beginning of the term. Vicky Penfold, with a background in dyslexia support, has joined our special needs teacher aide team, April Young is completing a University of Canterbury (Nelson Campus) placement with the Toe Toe team, and similarly, Hannah Ewers is completing a placement with the Totara team. It's great to have these people join our school.

What may well be our final written progress reports are being busily written just now and will be out to families soon. These will be followed up with parent/student/teacher meetings where new goals can be fleshed out by those present. Reporting in 2021 is most likely to be in real-time and accessible via an app that will allow you to access achievement steps and future goals as these are achieved and set.

On Saturday, November 7, the annual Moutere Hills Schools Cluster Athletic Sports will be held at the Moutere Hills Centre near Upper Moutere. We consider this a school day and ask that all our students attend. The day involves all students in a whole variety of athletic activities and places Mapua School in direct competition with the other schools in this cluster. It's a great day and we look forward to seeing students and families meeting and mixing  in this way. 

Please note that Monday, November 9th, will be a TOD (Teacher Only Day) for Mapua School. This day has been requested by families to give students a day off after a busy Saturday of athletic sports. Our teachers will be working at school on that day, but students are asked to remain at home. 

I wish to thank the FOMS (Friends of Mapua School) group for all that they are doing to help the school. Recently they have been very busy fundraising through a garage sale last Sunday, the sale of sausages & icecreams each Friday, and the recent sale of stationery items that include individual student art. The school greatly appreciates all that is done by FOMS to provide our school with funds toward programmes and purchases that improve teaching and learning. Please note that new members are welcomed to join the FOMS team. If interested please keep an eye out on our calendar for the next meeting or catch up with Teressa Shepherd or Fi Walker through the school.

Best wishes to you all - take care,

Neil Chalmers

Principal