What a year we have had at Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka! Our students have really been stepping up and reaching their personal best throughout 2024! We are super proud of them!

13 December 2024    
Final newsletter - Term 4 

Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka                                     

Tēnā koutou e te whānau

Dear Parents / Caregivers

Reflecting on 2024

2024 has been another great year of rich learning and children growing in all facets of our school life.  Over the last few weeks, it has been good to just focus and reflect on the many wonderful achievements our children have made this year.  We can all be really proud and celebrate the way our children are living by our core values of being respectful, resolute, and responsible and are continuing to Step Up and Reach Out as they strive for their Personal Best in their learning.  I certainly am!  We can also be very proud of the vast array of learning opportunities that our children have at our school, thanks to our dedicated and hard-working teachers.   

The majority of our children turn up to school every day and do the right thing and do the right thing well, and we can never take that for granted.  This enables us to get on with the job of providing the best in learning for our children.  Thank you for the way you make time for your children in the midst of a busy world and especially  this year as cost of living pressures have continued.  Sadly, the teaching day is becoming more about managing an increasing number of children who are unable to self-regulate and manage themselves. The teacher in these instances becomes a behaviour manager as opposed to a facilitator of learning.  In situations like this our partnership between home and school needs to be extra strong so that we can together make a difference for our children. Our community is changing and we are seeing more children with serious needs arriving at Queenspark Te Hua Mānauka who are requiring more time and energy from the class teacher. Increasingly we need to seek additional intervention support from agencies and the MOE who are already under pressure for resources.

Please take time to acknowledge the teacher of your child on the last day tomorrow, as they are simply amazing.  I am sure you will agree with me regarding the positive way our Queenspark teachers go about their work every day of meeting the individual needs of every child in their classroom.

In this very complex and fast paced digital world that our children are growing up in, our children need healthy boundaries and clear values and expectations more than ever.  The children that we see thriving have these things in place.  I encourage you to frequently talk at home about the values and expectations that you have in your family and what this looks like for your children.  e.g.  the way we speak and act and the way we all treat others.

The key to all of this is always the quality of the relationship we have with our children.  In this, I wish to acknowledge and thank our staff for the huge amount of energy and passion that they bring to this area despite the challenges.  I see this every day and constantly admire our teachers for the way  they treat every day as a brand new start for children, despite difficulties they may have faced the previous day.  This takes enormous courage and resilience, and I am inspired on a daily basis to see this in action.

As we finish the year, it has been heartening to see the large turnouts of parents and grandparents for our end of year assemblies.  It has been great to see our community again in our hall, supporting our children and celebrating their learning achievements.  What a wonderful atmosphere we have had for all of these assemblies.  I am sure you would have enjoyed these positive moments.

We are all part of a great school.  A great school for children to come and learn, for teachers to come and teach and for parents / caregivers to come and get involved.  Our International students have frequently commented to us this year about the friendliness of our children, our wonderful teachers, the great culture and the beautiful environment we have at Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka.

Thank you for the way you have supported us in 2024.

Student Leavers and families who are leaving

We say farewell to all of our Year 8 leavers and  children who are attending other schools in 2025. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours and we look forward to hearing of their future successes. It has been a privilege watching them all grow and learn at QPTHM.  We are looking forward to these fine young men and women  staying in touch with us. 

We also acknowledge and farewell families who are leaving our shores, especially families who have been with us a long time and who have been great servants of our school.  This is an emotional time for these families and for us, and we thank them for their support and the many ways they have helped us at QPS over the years. 

Farewell to Staff

Brylea Bostock

During her time at our school Brylea has taught in the Junior and Middle School and more recently in the Year 2/3 team.  Brylea is a very creative and passionate teacher and very dedicated to the children in her care.  We have all appreciated the very thoughtful way she has gone about planning her classroom programme and the efforts she has made to provide her children with high interest learning experiences. 

The children have really enjoyed working with her and have loved being in her class.  We thank her for the many contributions that she has made to her teams and to our school generally in her role as the Arts leader. We will miss Brylea and we wish her all the best. 

Kieran Priest 

Kieran has been teaching in the Year 2/3 team while Rebecca Elliott has been on maternity leave this year.  We wish to acknowledge his good work during this time.  Kieran quickly established great relationships with all the children in his class. and I know that they have really enjoyed him as their teacher. 

Kieran has won a teaching position at Westburn School for next year which is wonderful news.  We wish him all the best for this new appointment.

Part time teacher acknowledgement

We acknowledge the many part-time teachers who have been teaching at our school this year.  These people make a vital contribution to our school during times such as classroom release times, roll growth, sports and Shining lights.

Kate Simmonds - Reading Recovery/ Literacy intervention, Joy Richards & Fiona Lange - Roll growth in the Junior school, Kate Webster, Karen Hoult, Kate Guard, Laura Jeffries and Karen Brown.  All of these people are experienced teachers, know our school well and are able to provide good continuity in teaching practice for our children.  We really appreciate the work that they do and for the way they step in to help us with the important roles they all have.

Staff Changes for 2025

Sarah Griggs

Next year we look forward to welcoming Sarah Griggs who will be teaching in the Year 3/4 teaching team.  Sarah brings an extensive teaching background from a number of schools and we look forward to the contributions that she will make to our school.

BOT Chairperson, Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka Board of Trustees

Kia ora koutou,

It's been an absolute privilege to lead the Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka school board this year and to send this message out to our community before we break for the summer holidays. Your board this year includes a fantastic team of QPS parents: Chris Wheeler, Phil Gourley, Celia Wevers, Anthony Calderone, and myself, along with Kylie Murcott as your staff representative, Rebecca Taylor as our board secretary, and Ross Willocks as our Principal.

We meet each month, starting our meetings by celebrating the highlights around the school from the previous month. This year, we've shared many stories of awesome student achievements, whether in academics, sports, or through programmes like our Shining Lights Programme, Tagata Mai Saute, and Kapa Haka groups, or student groups attending various events across Ōtautahi. These successes are always made possible by you — a wider school community of committed Parents, Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, and Whānau who ensure your tamariki can bring their best selves to school, ready for learning. Thank you for everything you do each year to make Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka such a wonderful place.

In addition to celebrating student achievements, the board has been working on several strategic projects this year. Seeing the school repaint and rebrand come to life has been a highlight! The physical environment looks fabulous, with colours reflecting our surrounding beaches, water, forest, and wetlands. We're continuing to embrace and incorporate our cultural narrative throughout the school and our new caretaker Chris is keeping it in tip top shape. More exciting enhancements are planned for next year, including updated signage, a sensory garden, and further property upgrades.

As we wrap up another busy year, I want to thank everyone who has generously given their time to support learning and activities—those who have organised fundraising events (shout out to our AWESOME PTA), volunteered at discos or school trips, helped in the library, with road patrol, read books to children, or supported sports or arts activities. It truly takes a village, and our village is awesome because of your efforts. We recognise that it's particularly tough for many to take time away from work these days, so please know that your contributions are very much appreciated.

On behalf of our board, I wish you a very happy and safe holiday season. I hope you find some sunshine and respite over the break. Travel safely, enjoy whatever brings you joy, and we look forward to seeing you back in 2025!

Meri Kirihimete,

Tania Morgan-Smith and your Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees

We acknowledge and thank Tania Morgan-Smith (BOT Chair), Anthony Calderon (Policy and Review), Chris Wheeler (Property), Celia Wevers (Community), Phil Gourley (Finance) and Kylie Murcott (Staff Rep) as the governors of our school.  These people have tirelessly given their time and talents, and they have worked with me to steer us through 2024.

PTA

We acknowledge and thank Anna Leach and her PTA team for the wonderful energy and enthusiasm they have all brought to  their role in supporting our school this year. Anna and her team have worked tirelessly to support us in the many phases of school life. 

Message from the PTA:

As we approach the end of 2024, the PTA is proud to share the difference we've made in school life. This year, your support has enabled us to give back to the school in meaningful ways.

Highlights include installing new slides in the playground, providing a second-hand pottery kiln and accessories, lava-lavas for the Samoan Cultural Group, and contributing to the creation of a sensory garden for calm and reflection.

We’ve also supported each classroom with resources and student activities through Spellathon funds, enriched learning with new reading resources, helped Year 7 and 8 students participate in the Tournament of Minds competition in Wellington, and had leavers' t-shirts printed for our graduating students.

These achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of our PTA team and the amazing contributions from our school community. Thank you for volunteering your time at discos, contributing to raffles, and every moment spent helping us succeed!

We’re excited to do even more for our school in 2025 and would love for you to join us! If you haven’t already, be sure to join the Helpers Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/groups/queensparkptahelpers

Merry Christmas! We hope you all have a wonderful, restful break, and here’s to another fantastic year ahead!

Shining Lights Programme:

The Shining Lights Arts Programme has been a great success this year. Leap, Rock Band Quest, Strike Strum Blow, Musical Festival, Pasifika and Showcase are celebrations of our individual and group commitment to the arts.  Our school is like no other Primary School where we have these group celebrations in school to showcase our talent.  

The passion and love expressed from our itinerant teachers is exceptional.  Special thanks to Ian & Jill Swansberry, Mana Rae, Joel Coleman, Claire Coleman and Anne Shute for their hard work this year.

Thank you to the adults and family/whanau who support your children throughout the year attending these lessons.

Information for 2025 Shining Lights will be posted on our website: www.queenspark.school.nz > Performing Arts.  Please look at this over the Summer and book in with the itinerant teachers for individual lessons.  Children express their interest for Group Marimba, SSB, Ukulele, Choir and Rock Band at school.  

Keeping our school safe over the holidays

We encourage you to keep an eye on our school during the holiday period.  We would like lots of eyes on our school during this period, as this presence helps minimise damage and unwanted vandalism.. If you do observe anything of concern, please call the Police at 105 or 111 

Enrolments for 2025 are urgent!

We are about to close off our roll for 2025.  

We urgently need to hear from families who are planning to enrol their children with us but have not yet registered.  It is hard to plan for class groups when children just arrive at short notice.

We need to know this information for MOE staffing purposes.

Please check the following:

• Families with younger siblings, please call the school immediately to check that your child is registered with us if you have not yet completed an online application for enrolment via the school website.

• If you are aware of families that are planning to enrol at QPS, please ask them to call us immediately or register their enrolment online.

• For anyone wishing to enrol at Queenspark School in 2025, please go to the school website: www.queenspark.school.nz and complete the online application form.

• If you have any questions, please contact the school office 383-1578

  
  

End of year Reports

Our end of year student progress reports have been sent.  The digital report provides you with personalised learning information about your child’s progress and achievement through the levels of the New Zealand Core Curriculum. 

Specifically, this digital report provides you with personalised information about your child’s progress and achievement in Reading, Writing, Number (mathematics) across the wider curriculum learning areas and our Q-Competencies. 

Printing Reports: A student’s full HERO report can be printed from your log-in page. Some high schools are still requiring a printed report with applications. This can be done by parents. 

It is an expectation that ALL PARENTS download the Hero App so you are kept in the loop with all school information, calendar events, reminders, cancellations, ordering lunches, checking your finance account and more.

Accessing HERO: To set your password and log into Hero for the first time:

1. Download the Hero by LINC-ED app from the app store

Note: use the keywords Hero LINC-ED when searching for the app using a computer, open your browser and entergo.linc-ed.com

Class organisation for 2025                                       

Teaching Teams 

TL = Team Leader 

Year 7/8        

Helen Willis  (TL)

Isaac Bazley

Taryn Boyte

Mark Tarr     

Year 5/6

Siobhan van Arendonk (TL)

Gina Rose Morris

Aaron Jukes  

Stacey Hewson

Nykia Howie

Year 3/4

Brad Shaw (TL)

Tony Mabin

Jess O'Callaghan / Becky Elliot

Sarah Griggs /Barbara Mulholland

Year 2

Andrea Sullivan  (TL)

Brigitte Duncan

NEST / Yr 1

Sue Page (TL)    

Amber Tucker

Karen Pearce 

Classroom Release Time Ashleigh Inch, Barbara Mulholland, Sheryl Lang 

Sports Lead Facilitator: Kate Guard

Shining Lights Facilitator: Karen Brown

Deputy Principal 1   Kylie Murcott

Deputy Principal 2  Mark Harris   

Overall Cup for Academic Excellence

This year, the Academic Excellence Award was awarded to Sophie Davies

Congratulations Sophie

Wow ! Look at her CV below...

Sophie achieved outstanding results in Literacy, Mathematics, The Arts, and Community contributions, as well as leadership roles,  plus she has been an outstanding sportsperson. 

She has been a large contributor to our performing arts programme. Sophie has been a member of Senior Choir, Ukulele, Marimba, and Concestra and has taken part in several arts festivals including the Christchurch School’s Music Festival and Strum Strike and Blow. She was also a member of our Rock Band and won an award at Band Quest for the evening's best bass player.   

Sophie represented Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka in the Otago Problem Solving Challenge competition where her team was the highest achieving points scorer and the only person from our school permitted to participate in the final round. She was also a member of our school Cantamaths Problem Solving team. Sophie was awarded a Merit certificate in the National Kiwi Exams for both Literacy and Mathematics this year. She was also a member of the Tournament of Minds team that placed second in the regional competition. 

Sophie has  been a member of our Senior Kapa Haka, Pasifika and Ukulele Groups. She was a member of our senior hockey, basketball, water polo, cross-country athletics, volleyball, cricket, swimming, and gymnastics teams. She has also been a korfball player who recently making a U15 representative team.  Sophie is a dedicated gold lead librarian, Road Patroller, Green team member and  Sign Language group and Leader, along with a  PALS Leader. She recently received her 4th Gold Hillary award making history at QPS and was only a few points off a fifth bronze. She has completed numerous Science badges as is evident by her highly decorated senior top. She is also an outstanding house leader for Rimu.

Sophie received multiple academic awards at the school Prize Giving ceremony last week.   She received the Achievement Award for Literacy and the Cup for Mathematics Excellence.  In addition, she  received the Visual/Performing Arts Cup and the overall Excellence Cup for Community contribution.  Within her class, she received the Thinking Key Competency Award.  This student optimizes what it is to set goals, to be committed and driven, and to work tirelessly to the end. She is literally involved and achieves to a high standard, in everything she undertakes. 

Congratulations Sophie,  we are all very proud of you.

Keeping our school safe over the holidays

If you are passing our school over the holidays and notice anything suspicious, please call the Police on 111 or file a 105 report if it is not as urgent.  Please email admin@queenspark.school.nz as well so we are aware.

We would like lots of eyes on our school during this period, as this presence helps minimise damage and unwanted vandalism.

On that note... keep an eye out for an exciting new school sign going up out the front during term 1. This is something we have been working on behind the scenes and are pretty excited about. We can't wait to get this up proudly displaying who we are! watch this space 🤗

Digital Safety

Please check on a regular basis what your child is viewing and sending to others on electronic devices.  Set boundaries and don't be afraid to set a  time where there is no access to devices and for your child to have a complete break from all screens. 

Phones when used unsupervised can be used as a weapon to inflict hurt and bullying on others.  Be active in the way phones are used and don't be afraid to take them away from children when they are being overused or not used properly.

Tūhono Kapa Haka Festival Saturday 23 Nov

This event was at the town hall and we had a team of 100 children competing.  They were simply awesome.  In their grade, they were competing against other Primary Schools Year 9 and 10 children from High Schools across Christchurch.

Our team scored highly amongst the Primary Schools and they performed confidently on the big stage.  We can be very proud of all the children in this team for the way they all stepped up.

Well done to Nykia Howie for her leadership and for her good work in preparing our children for this event.

Pasifika Performance 

38 students from Year 4-8 performed at the Christchurch Town Hall as a part of the Tagata Mai Saute - Sau Ia Fest 2024.

This is the first year that Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka has had a Pasifika group. It has been a very positive experience for our ākonga and has been made up of a large variety of cultures. This group was a vision of Barbara Mullholland’s who was cultural lead in 2023.

The event at the Christchurch Town Hall was the first mass Pasifika Choir of its type in Christchurch’s history and involved 16 schools from across Christchurch. The group meets every Wednesday from 9-10am.

Whānau Connection Day 2025

At the start of 2025 we will be trialling a new Whānau Connection Day. This will be taking place on Friday 31st of January.

This is an opportunity for families to come into school in the morning and familiarise themselves with their students' learning spaces and connect with teachers in an informal way. In the afternoon whānau can book a more formal meeting with teachers to discuss the upcoming year and pass on any important information about their children.

Bookings can be made available via HERO now!

Queenspark Kids Holiday Programme:

Queenspark Kids will be opening earlier on our final day of the year. Please call or email them directly to book in. Here is the holiday programme for Dec/Jan also.

YR5/6 Korfball Tournament:

Ani & Hugo were noticed as standout players in the final of the Year 5/6 Korfball Tournament. Way to go guys - Ka mau te wehi!

Canterbury Primary Athletics Champs:

Earlier in the term 24 of our students took part in the Canterbury/West Coast Athletics at Nga Puna Wai.  This involved 1800 students from almost 200 schools.  

We had some fantastic results with our Yr 6 and Yr 8 girls teams qualifying for the finals of the 100mx4 relay.  Our Yr 6 team finished 5th overall and our Yr 8 team finished 6th.

Two of our athletes finished 3rd overall in their events.  Rocco Blair in the Yr 6 discus and Libby Overend in the Yr 8 1500m.   Congratulations to all athletes who competed as this is a massive achievement to qualify for this event.

Term 1 Sport Dates 2025

School Swimming Sports - 21st February

Weetbix Tryathlon - 23rd February

Canterbury Primary Triathlon - 25th February

Zones Swimming Sports - 21st March

Canterbury Swimming Champs - 3rd April

YEAR 2/3

Play Based Learning:

From Isabelle

My highlight for this year was Play Based Learning. Play Based Learning is when you get 3 or 4 boxes out and you play with them.  At Play Based Learning we talk about our Q comps.  Our Q comps are Thinking, Relating to Others, Participating, Self Managing and Communicating.  I do all of that.

Sometimes we get to choose what we do at Play based Learning. When we do this I go and get a baby girl and I make a house with my friends Marlee and Payton. We have a lounge with a tv, and a kitchen with friut.  We make beds and have things like pretend perfume.

Sometime we have challenges to do at Play Based Learning. My favourite was the beebots.  Beebots are little robots that look like bees. You can programme the beebots and make them move. We had to make the beebots clean up the rubbish in the classroom.

I love Play Based Learning because you get to play with your friends.

More Play Based Learning fun from Theo:

My highlight of 2024 is our Animal Unit because I learnt a lot about different animals. My favourite animal is a snake because they have cool patterns on them. I liked learning new and interesting facts about animals and doing activities like researching animals and making our Animal posters. 

I loved the trip to Willowbank and seeing all kinds of animals with my friends. I liked the llama's best because they’re funny looking and I think they spit at people.

Animal Dress up Day was fun because we got to dress up as our favourite animal. I dressed up as a fox because that’s the only animal costume I have.

Theo Moscrop

Parent Community Thank you

A massive thank you goes out to all our parent community!

Whether it has been help in the classrooms, assisting the PTA, joining in with our fundraising events or any help in general, we thank you all so much. Without your support we would not be the successful school we are! 

We feel so lucky to have such a great parent community who gets involved to help our tamariki.

School Uniform:

By now you would have seen, or even purchased, our new style school uniform. It looks really smart. We have changed our main colour to navy, added the new logo and introduced a soft shell jacket for the whole school.

Due to many factors we will no longer be stocking our uniform at The Warehouse. All school uniform can be purchased from Mainland Uniforms in Wairakei Road. Remember any orders over $50 qualifies for free delivery to your home.

We will be phasing out the old uniform from now on. From 2026 we would like to see the majority of students wearing the new look uniform. We still do have some stock in the PTA 2nd Hand Uniform of the older style and they will continue to hold sales throughout Term 1 and 2. We are aiming to stop selling the old uniform after term 2 next year. If you are in Year 8 and currently have the new uniform and may want to donate this to school please send it to the school when the office reopens on the 27th January. Any questions please email admin@queenspark.school.nz

Stationery:

Your child will have now brought home a 2025 stationery list. This is also loaded on the school website if you need to refer to it over the holidays. Again we have teamed up with Officemax and Quizzle for stationery orders. Or alternatively you can shop around and purchase from any retailer.

Dates for Term One 2025

January:

Friday 31st - Whānau Connection Day - come and meet us before school begins.

February:

Monday 3rd - First day of Term 1

Thursday 6th - Waitangi Day - School closed for instruction

Friday 21st - School Swimming Sports

Sunday 23rd - Weetbix Tryathlon

Tuesday 25th - Canterbury Primary Triathlon

March:

Friday 7th - Non Uniform Day

Friday 21st - Zone Swimming Sports

Reminder

Our last day of the year is tomorrow - Tuesday December 17th.  Pickup is at 12.30 p.m.

Final words

At Queenspark School, we have amazing children who have a love of learning and who are curious, courageous, and creative.  We have great staff who bring their learning expertise and passion for our children, and parents who support us in all of this.  What a team!

Have a relaxing holiday with your family.  Let's hope we get some good weather so that we can all safely make the most of the outdoors this summer holiday in our shorts, sunhats, and jandals!  We look forward to hearing about the children’s holiday adventures, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2025. 

We look forward to seeing you all at the Whānau Connection day on Friday 31 January 2025

Ka Kite ano -Meri Kirihimete

Regards

Ross Willocks

Principal

Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka