Kia ora koutou katoa. We have some very clever students in our school, and this week I was really impressed with the creative thinking and inventive skills that Jessie O’Hanlon showed. At Jessie’s home, they have many stairs from the front door to the lounge area and she was finding her school bag felt very heavy walking all the way up, so she decided to invent a solution to this issue. With the help of her Dad, she made a device that she puts the bag on downstairs and then walks upstairs where she uses a pulley system to bring it up to her. She even thought of adding wheels to the wall side of it so it won’t scratch the wall. That is so clever Jessie, well done!!

This week being Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, we took part in the nationwide initiative to have as many people speaking Te Reo at midday on Monday as possible. All 569 pupils plus the 50 staff were involved. It certainly raised awareness and this has continued all week. Our aim is to have this continue past this week, so speaking of the language is heard more often. 

As you will be aware, we have three official languages in NZ, with sign language being one. Next week is Sign Language Week so students will be learning some sign language in class. It is also Chinese Language Week and we will be learning some words and greetings.

The Year 6 students have been inquiring into an area that interests them, under the theme of Sharing the Planet, and they are looking forward to sharing this at our first PYP Exhibition, hopefully being held on Thursday. I say hopefully, as an important part is the students being able to share this with their parents and whanau, something we cannot do in Level 2.5. We will know on Monday if the levels drop which will mean we can hold it. If they don’t drop, we will move it to early in Term 4.

Next Friday is the last day of term, and we finish school at the usual time. Term 4 starts on Monday 12 October.

Keep safe and well everyone.

Ngā manaakitanga

Sue Cattell

Principal