Kia ora Parents /Whānau,

End of Term 2 – A Message of Gratitude

As we reach the end of a full and eventful Term 2, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the incredible team that keeps our school humming each and every day.

From the moment you step into the office, you're greeted by our wonderful office staff whose warmth, efficiency, and welcoming smiles set the tone for the entire school. They are the heartbeat of our front line and nothing is ever too much trouble.

Our dedicated learning assistants have worked tirelessly throughout the term, often supporting some of our most complex learners with patience, commitment, and a deep sense of care. Their contribution is invaluable and often goes unseen, but never unappreciated.

A special thank you goes to our much-loved caretaker – our very own "Mr Fix-It" – who approaches every task with a can-do attitude and a quiet determination that keeps our environment safe, tidy, and ready for learning. Stop and have a chat to Chris next term if you pass by him!

And of course, to our incredible teachers: the professionalism, creativity, and care they bring to their teaching every day is inspiring. Even amidst curriculum changes and the challenges that come with term-time pressures, their focus on delivering high-quality learning opportunities for all our tamariki never wavers.

What a team! I am immensely proud of the collective mahi that happens here every day. Thank you for your continued support, and we wish all our whānau a safe, restful and refreshing break.

Learning Conferences /Reports:

Thank you to those parents /whānau who came to school over the last 2 weeks of term to engage with your child’s teacher about their learning. It was encouraging to see so many parents here at school.

We realise this is a commitment in the winter evenings but we appreciate the conversations that we had with you about your child’s learning journey so far and enjoyed setting some new goals for the remainder of this year.  Reaffirm with your children how well we think they are doing at school.

Matariki:

On Friday of Week 6 Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka celebrated Matariki by inviting whānau into school for a Matariki celebration.

We met in the hall for a performance from our Senior and Junior Kapa Haka Rōpū and sang some Matariki songs before heading back to classes for a shared kai and some  Matariki inspired fun activities. This was a great opportunity to come together and celebrate the Māori new year and share learning together. Classes were also asked to decorate a Matariki star and write on it an aspiration, goal for the year or something we are grateful for.

We then planted these stars underneath a kōwhai tree in our Sensory Garden (even though this part was postponed due to the weather not playing ball). 

Zone Basketball Tournaments:

In Week 9 we had basketball teams from Year 5/6 and Year 7/8 represent our school at the Eastern Zones Basketball Tournament. As always our tamariki stepped up and represented our school with pride - demonstrating fair play and a resolute attitude.

Sau-Ia Fest 25:

On Thursday evening 60 students from our Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka’s Pasifika group took part in Sau-Ia Fest 25. This event was a mass Pasifika choir made up of 19 schools from around Christchurch.

This amazing group of students meet every Wednesday morning at 8:30am and is led by Noah and Albany from Tagata Mai Saute Academy. The students have been learning songs and dances from Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands. A special mention must go out to Peata and Julia who were selected to represent our school in small group dances.

The group is looking forward to continuing to learn more about Pacific Island culture during the remainder of the year.

Canterbury Cross Country:

In Week 8, 11 students from Year 5-8 competed at the Canterbury Cross Country Championships. This event was held at Ngā Puna Wai and included runners from throughout the region.

To attend this competition students needed to place in the top 8 at our School Cross Country race and then place in the top 8 of the Eastern Zone competition which were held earlier in the term.

Congratulations to the following students who attended the event Aidan O, Ben B, Flynn O, Hariana L, Heidi T, Indy S, Katie V, Levi O, Liam W, Luca C and Scarlett P we also had 2 runners who made it through but were unable to compete on the day - Alex W and Ani P. A special mention to Indy S who placed 21st in the Year 6 girls event. 

Positive Playground Behaviour /Fish & Chip Lunch with the Principal:

This term the duty teachers have been once again actively looking out for those children who have been demonstrating Positive Playground Behaviour and demonstrating our Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka 3R’s.

In the last week of the term, those children enjoyed a Fish n’ Chip lunch with Mr Willocks. Teachers will be continuing to hand out coupons in Term 3 to those children stepping up and playing fair.

Life Education @ Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka:

Harold and I feel so lucky to have been welcomed into Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka this past two weeks. We have been learning about friendship, resilience healthy eating, empathy, decision making and a bit of brainwork across the year groups. 

Queenspark learners have been the most respectful, kind and welcoming young people. Harold even got a special knitted jersey from his friend Nico, and a visit from Penny the pony! We have absolutely loved getting to spend time with you all, we feel very sad that we have to leave today. 

Thank you also to the amazing teaching team. It is obvious how dedicated and loyal you are to this beautiful environment. You have all made me feel like a part of your school team.

He aha te mea nui! He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people!

Till next time!

Harold & Jo 

International Students:

A reminder that in the first 4-6 weeks of term 3 we will see many new faces from overseas in our school. We have students mainly from China & Taiwan visiting which will be very exciting.

We have allocated class buddies for these children to help them adjust to a new school life. Buddies are an important part of this school programme. It is important that they look after our visitors and include them in their friendship groups. If your child is a buddy next term please remind them to speak slowly and clearly as our visitors may not have a lot of english language. We know our QP tamariki will take special care of our international visitors and we are looking forward to learning lots about them too.

Learning Team News:

Ngahere Nest / Plus 1:

We have had a very busy, fun term.  St John’s Hato Hone visited us, & the children learnt how to bandage, put someone in the recovery position etc. Our 10 swimming lessons were amazing! The whole Junior Team were demonstrating the Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka 3R’s.

For Matariki making vegetable soup & baking cheese scones was lots of fun, & not even one cut finger!!

Our Cross Country, Life Education with a focus on resilience, Poppy the pony visits,  Pyjama Day….. a very action packed Term!

Tāhuna Year 2:

Bee lessons

My favourite day this term has been the bee lesson. I started as a builder with Maddox and Zamar. It was fun. Then I moved to cleaners. I had to sweep the floor. At the end we passed some things around, it was cool.

By Finn

One day Kate the beekeeper came to school to talk to us about bees. She talked to us about the different kinds of bees and their jobs. We got to pretend to be the bees doing the different jobs. I was a worker bee. At the end we got to taste some honey from Kate's bees. It was fun.

By Layla

Animal dress-up Day

My favourite day this term has been animal dress up day. I dressed up as a cheetah. My friend dressed up as a lion. My other friend dressed up as a cheetah as well. Animal dress up day was fun.

By Indie

For Animal Dress Up Day I dressed up as a wolverine. I was a wolverine because they are my favourite animal. They can climb trees and they are even named after a superhero.   

By Brodie

Cross Country

This term everyone did Cross Country. Everyone did well. I came third. We did a sausage sizzle. It was very fun. I passed a person. My mum came too!

By Lucy

I did the Cross Country and I ran so fast. I loved it and when I finished I got a medal. I waited on the cricket pitch for everyone to finish. I had so much fun. I cheered for my friends and they cheered for me.       

By Blair

Tāhuna Year 3/4

Term 2 has been busy and rewarding for the Year 3/4 Team!

Everyone tried their Personal Best at the Junior Cross Country, and it was awesome to see some Year 4s try a more competitive race.

We also learnt more about Matariki and the importance of all nine stars, and we had a great afternoon with whānau at our Matariki Celebration.

The tamariki also got to play some Futsal with Chris from Mainland Football, learning cool new tricks and playing mini games against each other.

At the end of the term, we visited Jo and Harold the Giraffe from Life Education, where we learned about being kind and showing empathy towards others.  It's truly amazing to see how much learning we've packed into this short term and how awesome everyone has been with embracing every new experience!

Kūkūwai Year 5/6

Term 2 has been action-packed for us!

In the first half of the term, we focused on NZ Music Month; learning about its history and celebrating the unique sounds of Aotearoa and the talented people behind them. We also explored logo design, studying existing NZ Music Month logos before creating our own original versions.

Matariki lends itself well to fun learning and engaging activities. It was great to spend time researching the significance and characteristics of each star in the Matariki cluster.

We also had a visit from Harold and Jo from Life Education. The focus for our sessions was on empathy and decision-making, which tied in perfectly with the learning in Kūkūwai Hewson. They had just finished reading Wonder and created “Wonder Posters” that showed how they can demonstrate kindness and empathy towards others.

 Ngahere Year 7 & 8 Term Overview

This term, our learning programmes have been shaped by the concept of Ancient Civilisations.

In Science and Technology, we explored innovations such as Chinese paper making and Roman aqueducts. Art sessions focused on mummies and sarcophagi, utilizing batik resist techniques. Meanwhile, Social Sciences compared ancient and modern architecture.

Term highlights included attending the National Young Leaders Conference and supporting younger students in school events like the Junior School Cross Country. We also proudly celebrated Matariki, Pink Day, and the 2025 Sau-Ia Festival.

Have an enjoyable holiday with your families. See you in term 3!

Regards

Ross Willocks

Principal