Kia ora Papanui Primary whānau

I hope everyone is doing well.

We have had a great start back this week and it has been fantastic to connect and reconnect with tamariki and whānau over the last couple of days.

Our teaching team have been busy over the last couple of weeks preparing for the term and year ahead and we have lots of great things planned.

This week hopefully you have received information introducing our new communication and reporting system which is called Hero. We are really pleased to begin using this system as it will allow us to strengthen our home-school partnerships which are really key in tamariki reaching their full potential. Here is a link to the notice explaining Hero in more detail. Please download the app and sign up using the email address you have provided the school.

A massive welcome to Rachel Morrall who has started with us this week teaching in Weka, to Katie Blake who is teaching in Pīwakawaka on Fridays and also to Jackie Stevenson who has started with us as a teacher aid. We are excited to have you join our team!

A great big warm welcome to all of our new learners and their families this year as well. We look forward to getting to know you and hope that you have a great start to your time at Papanui Primary School.

Next Thursday the 8th of February, between 5pm and 6pm we are having a meet the teacher picnic dinner, where whānau can bring along a picnic blanket and some dinner and hang out at school to meet other families and their child's teacher. As well as that, on Friday 16th of February we are having our Big Day Out fun day at Jellie Park. As always with trips like these we will require whānau support on the day; a permission/helpers form has come home today with your tamariki for you to fill out and return to school.

Teacher's will be spending the next couple of weeks building their classroom culture and getting to know your kid's interests, cultures and background. They will be discussing important things like our school values and expectations and how these look at school. This is a really important time and sets everybody up for a successful year. Once classes are into their curriculum programmes teachers will be working with your child to identify next steps which they will begin working on throughout the term. 

We have had quite a few property improvements take place over the Christmas break which are really great. Firstly we have had heat pumps added to spaces which did not have them. This is a fantastic outcome for our school and much better for the environment than the diesel boiler system that we have used in the past. We also had LED lighting installed to replace some of our old fluorescent lights and a couple of hot water cylinders upgraded. You may have heard our new bell system which now plays music as the bell. We also had a new alarm system put in to bring that up to date. The other exciting thing that you may have seen is the mural going up on our big wall. This is still a work in progress but will be amazing when it is finished. The above picture is an idea of how it will look.

Here is a reminder about term dates for this year. Please note there has been a change to the term 3 staff only day. This has changed to Friday 16th August.

We look forward to a great year ahead, working together with whānau to ensure all tamariki thrive both socially and academically. I am proud to lead a team of teachers, consistently teaching a child-centred, culturally responsive curriculum that develops a love of learning through experiences which challenge, motivate, and cultivate our learner’s sense of curiosity.

Kia pai te rā whakatā (have a great weekend)

Ben