Celebrating Success Whānau Conferences

In the last two weeks of this term, we hold our Celebrating Success Whānau Conferences. For us, this is s significant part of how we share and discuss the achievement and progress of your child, both emotionally and academically. Unlike many other schools, we devote half an hour to this process. During this time, the teacher will review the previous goals set, share the learning over the previous two terms, and discuss achievement information with you. 

Earlier in the week, you should have received a paper copy of the Celebrating Success Discussion Document. This gives information for you to be able to book your conference time and a sheet that we ask whanau to fill out and return to the class teacher. This is an important part of the process and allows the teachers to have time to prepare so you all get the best out of the time you spend together. If you haven't already done so, please take the time to complete this document and return it to your child's class teacher by Monday 14th June.

Te Kura O Paeraki Multisport Turf

You may not be aware, but we have a group of whānau led by Christina Freeman working with the Board of Trustees to re-establish a turf on our school site. Below is an article written to launch our campaign for funding for this project. As the article says, we already have $100,000 committed to this project - $40,000 of this is through community grants - with the remainder coming from the Parent-Teacher Organisation who have this as a focus of their fundraising in 2021. Over the coming months, there will be multiple opportunities for you to engage in this process. We look forward to providing the updates and our progress to realising this dream.

After the earthquakes of 2011, some of our hard play surfaces were damaged. A group of parents got together to find a solution and we were donated turf from what was then Porrit Park. They coordinated the removal and installation into Te Kura O Paeraki | Mt Pleasant School. This was completed as a hockey play surface with fencing and kickboards. However, it was used as a multi-sport surface and was loved by our students and the wider community. We also had our local hockey club (Carlton Redcliffs) using the turf for practices for their junior teams.
Fast forward eight years and we start our rebuild of a new hall, library and two-story classroom block. Unfortunately, this necessitated the removal of the turf. With the completion of this project, attention turned to how we could return a turf to our school site. Unfortunately, the cupboard was bare as the build budget did not encompass this.
So, with a community that has a long history of getting stuck in to support our tamariki, whānau, and the wider community, the ball started to roll. Thanks to a very dedicated parent who is driving the initiative full-steam to get our outdoor, artificial surface, multi-purpose turf reinstated. But better than before! We are a community that loves the outdoors and are encouraging of our tamariki to get involved in sport and outdoor recreation. The turf is just another way we can support our students to try new sports and games, and encourage them to get involved in building relationships through team involvement. This could be hockey, football, netball, dodgeball, running games, and much more.
The turf reinstatement will be more significant than the previous one. We are dreaming big. Not just for our school community, but for the wider community also. We have an expectation that our wider community will access and use our school facilities. We already have this relationship with them. In addition to this, discussions with other sports groups in the community indicate it will be highly used.

So, what will the new turf look like? The turf area will be 30m wide and 33 in length (see attached plan). This will be a multi-sport surface. There will be a shock-resistant underpad with and sand-based turf laid over top. This will be surrounded by 3m chain-link fencing. This will be marked out for different sports and good old-school playground marking options.
How much will it cost?This is NOT Ministry of Education Funded. This is a Board of Trustees and a community-funded project. The cost of the project is $238,300 (excluding GST). A very large figure. However, we already have $100,000 committed to this fund. This comes from community grants of $40,000 and the remainder is from our PTA group who work incredibly hard to support our school. So even with this great start, we still have $174,045 to raise.
How can you help?  We could wait for 4-5 years to get our turf. However, why make our students wait? They have endured so much over the years and this is one way we can ensure that they get the very best. Our PTA will continue to fundraise towards achieving this goal. Their yearly fundraising makes between $30,000 - $40,000. That's a lot of hard work and we really appreciate it. However, we are asking for extra help to make this happen. For our tamariki, whānau, and the wider community. You could sponsor one of our big events (our annual Quiz Night & the Mt Pleasant Art Exhibition) or make a contribution directly to our turf project. Every little bit will help us to achieve our goal in the near future.
Our old turf is but a memory. However, every day we have students asking when the turf will return. It was so popular amongst our students and community and we would love to realise this dream for them.

We have also been nominated to receive a sports grant from AA Insurance to the value of $10,000 to put towards our turf.  If you would also like to back up this submission and give your view of why this is of such great benefit to our community, please click on this link ... 

Quiz Night

In a couple of weeks, we have our annual Quiz Night. Tables are on sale now with the proceeds going towards the sports turf mentioned above. What I can guarantee that it is always a fun night. Lots of laughter, some entertaining costumes with a few questions thrown in for good measure. While this is one of the significant fundraising efforts for the year, this is also a friend-raising opportunity with a chance to mix with whānau from within our school and the wider community. 

Our First School-Based Disco

Wow... what a night this was. In the words of one of our students, "The disco was such a blast! ... I felt like never before, dancing changed me that night." This says it all really. We were so impressed with the students as they danced and sang their hearts out. We have to give a huge shout-out to our PTA group who not only made this success, but for the incredible environment they created. The decorations were out of this world.  Check out the fabulous thank you cards from students raving about what a great night it was below

We can't wait for the next one being held in October.

Help us get a free Gazebo

We have been encouraging our whānau to vote to help us win a Blackhawk Gazebo for the school. It's quite simple really. The most votes win. We are currently in second place but need to have a final push to get more votes to win this. There is no prize for second. Get online using this link and vote now... send it to friends and wider whānau... stop strangers in the street...  this literally takes a few minutes. Imagine the joy this will bring to our school and the students who will be sheltered from the burning sun during sports days or sheltered from the driving rain while at cross country. Do it for them! Here is the link to that will take you directly to the voting page: http://wshe.es/MJCduJYk

We look forward to seeing you over the weeks ahead. 

Kia pai tō rā whakatā

Chris  Nord