Kia ora Papanui Primary whānau 

I hope you are all doing well.

My puffer jacket was back on this week, standing out at the gate with a definite feeling of autumn rolling in! Daylight savings doesn't end until the 7th of April though so make sure you make the most of the next few weeks and the longer evenings.

The above photo is from Miss Anna Lindsay who runs our Garden to Table club at school. Our gardens are really flourishing, so thanks team for all of your mahi! 

It was really great to be able to have parents and whānau back at school assemblies last week and we hope you enjoyed seeing just some of the learning that has been happening at school. We will aim to have both a junior and a senior assembly each term so if you missed it keep an eye out for the dates in term 2. 

As I walk around our school each day I am always so impressed with the teaching and learning that is happening at our Kura. There is a whole heap of thought that goes into each lesson and there is so much engaging (and fun) learning going on. It is tough as a parent to know what our kids get up to each day so I thought I'd add a few questions you could ask at the dinner table. Apparently the trick is to ask about things that are specific, but still open-ended. 

1. Tell me about the best part of your day.

2. What was the hardest thing you had to do today?

3. Who did you play with today? What did you play?

4. What did you do that showed kindness today?

5. Can you show me something you learned (or did) today?

Sharing your own answers is a good way to start off too. It's worth a go anyway and who knows you might get some really interesting answers!

We had the Cycle Safety team back in this week working with our year 6 seniors and they all did so well. Learning how to bike safely is a really important skill for all kids to know. Here is a brochure explaining some of the key skills our tamariki learned over their few days.

Just a reminder that we will be finishing early on the 3rd of April. The school has been advised by NZEI Te Riu Roa that it is holding a paid union meeting for teachers and under the collective agreement members are entitled to attend. What this means for us is that we will be finishing early at 12:30pm on that day as it would not be possible to access the required staffing to provide normal teaching services or to meet child supervision requirements. We will be asking that whānau pick tamariki up early on this day or make arrangements for their care. Please contact the office or myself directly if you need your children to remain at school for the afternoon. A small number of staff will be available to supervise them, however we can only care for a small number of children and need certainty about who is remaining at school. Please note that this is the day after the Easter break.

Probably one of the biggest "growing up"challenges we try to support many of our kids with is emotional regulation. Our goal is for tamariki to have some really good tools they can use when they are upset or angry so that they can draw on these strategies when life throws them a curveball. I wanted to share with you again this website called Listening to Families. There are some great videos on their with ideas around all sorts of challenges we and our kids face.

Finally, I wanted to finish with sharing an email I received from Corralanne Child the Director of Education for Canterbury who has summed up really well where we are at and how we feel as a city and nation 5 years on from the devastating Mosque attacks back in 2019.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Al Noor and Linwood Mosques. These attacks have left a lasting impact on our community.

Over the past five years, our Muslim community has shown remarkable resilience, love, and forgiveness. In return, we have strived to become a more inclusive and compassionate country, standing together in unity against racism and discrimination.

As a region, our collective efforts to support diversity and inclusion have been our greatest strength. Together, we have made a positive and significant difference.

We must keep creating environments where everyone feels free to be themselves, knowing that everyone’s unique background will be accepted, respected, and valued.

Let us continue to work together as an incredible team, fostering a community where diversity is celebrated, and inclusion is our norm.

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I hope you have a relaxing weekend spending time with your loved ones:)

Kia pai tō rā whakatā (have a great weekend!)

Ben Galletly

Principal/Tumuake