Nau mai haere mai to our whanau of Mahuta! This week, we will begin our celebrations of New Zealand's annual celebration of the sea. This years theme is “Toiora te Moana – Toiora te Tangata – Healthy Seas, Healthy People”.

As I have never met some of our whanau or our new whanau, I have written a brief introduction of myself. The students call me Matua Peri but parents and caregivers, please call me Peri.

Family is very important to me. I am Fijian, Tongan and Maori (Te Arawa) and actively involved with my whakapapa. I have three younger siblings, two brothers (who live in Tennessee and Auckland) and a sister (who is studying at Waikato University). My parents continue to live in Rotorua so between all of us, they travel a fair bit to see us all.

After High School, I studied and graduated from Lincoln University with a B.R.M and moved to Auckland to work for a opal and pearl jewellery manufacturing company. Two years, later, I moved back to Christchurch to study at NZGSE to become a primary school teacher. I am now in my second year at Merrin School and am the current Head of Sport.

Congratulations

Well done to our students who competed in the Weetbix Tryathlon this past Sunday at Jellie Park.

Kaitiakitanga

Kaitiakitanga means protection or guardianship. In Te Ao Maori (the Maori world), kaitiakitanga can be to protect the people, environment, knowledge, culture, language and resources important for future generations. This value aligns with Sea Week and our students will be continuing to learn about this value when we travel to the North New Brighton beach to look at the sand dunes and their role at the beach.

Beach Trip - Saving the Dunes

All children are to wear their uniform to school for their trips. Room 10 and 16 children are going to the beach Tuesday morning and they will need to be at school by 8.40am please. 

Maths Expectations

This past week we have begun our implementation of our Maths programme, PRIME.  To support the in-class programme we would appreciate it if the IXL (1 hour per week) practice, was aligned to what is happening in the classroom. It would be also beneficial if children could continue to practice their multiplication basic facts at home. This is important for their progress. A strategy for the children could be:

2 minutes of saying them aloud e.g. 4 times 1 is 4, 4 times 2 is 8... 

30 seconds of writing them down

1.5 minutes of being tested by an adult or sibling.

Te Kotiritiri Challenges

These are still being developed to align with our school direction so please bare with us. Records could still be taken at the moment for opportunities like the IXL practice, Beach Clean Up and Weetbix Tryathlon that recently occurred.