Kia ora koutou katoa. Today is the last day of Term 1 and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your children for these next two weeks. I do want to acknowledge all the time and effort the staff have put in and I sincerely thank them for this. Working with children is rewarding but also very exhausting at times, and I know the teachers, especially, will be using this holiday time to recharge ready for a new term of learning. School reopens on Monday 3 May.

Today we farewell two special people in our school. A huge thank you to Mrs Ashleigh Parrish who has been working in The Hive two days a week this term. Ashleigh and her family are relocating to Christchurch in the holidays and we have really enjoyed having her on our staff, albeit briefly. The other farewell is to Mrs Jo Kitteridge who leads our Waterwise sessions. Jo has been doing this important role for many years and has been invaluable in leading the sessions and keeping everyone safe while learning to sail and kayak on Lake Pupuke. Jo has other work commitments that have meant she can no longer continue. Thank you for all you have done Jo! We are very grateful to another parent, Mrs Shona Batty, who will take over this role from the start of Term 2.

We will also have a change to the STEM teaching role early in Term 2 with Miss Brown leaving to take up a position working for a technology company who help schools utilise technology better. We have confirmed her replacement and this will be announced early in the term. Miss Brown and our new teacher will both work together in Week 1 of the term to ensure a smooth handover.

It was awesome to see so many of you here for the Parent/Teacher/Student meetings on Wednesday. The teachers spoke highly of your engagement at these meetings and how respected and valued many of them felt. Thank you!

Thank you also to those who supported the Scholastic Book Fair during the week. It was very busy and we have earned $2761 for our school Library. WOW! This is amazing, thank you again. I know many children have some great books to read in the holidays, and Mrs Jury will be busy choosing the books she would like for the Library!

Speaking of raising money, we have also added $765.80 to our middle school playground fundraiser, with the money brought in on our Come in our Play Clothes Day last Friday.

Over the holidays there is some work being carried out in the school. The one that may affect some of you is to do with the pool. We are having to have some remediation work carried out on the rails along the side and so the water level needs to be dropped and the pool closed for the 5 days. It will be unavailable Monday – Friday in the first week of the holidays. We apologise it has to be closed once again, however we have been assured this will be the end of the work needed. Pool key holders have had their time extended well into Term 2.

Our final whole school assembly for the term will be held at 2.15pm today and will be led by the Year 4 team. All parents and whanau are most welcome to attend.

Keep safe and well these holidays and I look forward to seeing you all again next term!

Ngā manaakitanga

Sue Cattell

Principal