Kia ora e te Whānau,

Week 3 of Term 4 and time is flying by fast in our final quarter of 2022. Although we are still early in the term, the Senior Leadership Team has already commenced their planning for 2023. Next year we will continue to be made up of five teams and 22 classes. Staffing announcements and updates for 2023 will be made at the end of the term.

One of the key planning components when planning ahead is looking at our student numbers so we have a good understanding of how many children we will have in each team. If your circumstances are changing and you know your Year 7 child will not be returning to Rāroa in 2023 can you please email office@raroa.school.nz. Please include details of where they will be going to school.

This week, current teaching teams will commence the process of forming classes for 2023. This is often an intricate process where a lot of factors are taken into consideration. Learning, social, behaviour and emotional needs, are all put into the mix to ensure we make the right decisions for each child. Most of our year 7s remain in the same team. There are a few exceptions, which are communicated with parents prior to the beginning of the year.

We are lucky! All Rāroa teachers are exceptional practitioners and your children are in great hands. Rāroa attracts and retains amazing teachers. At Rāroa, we do not take parent requests for class placements, but if you have some information you think we would find useful about your child as a year 8, you are welcome to provide us with this. If you wish to do this, you can email your thoughts to your child's teacher/ team leader and include s.watson@raroa.school.nz in the correspondence. We appreciate that you have the best interests of your child in mind, please understand that we have approximately 650 students in mind when placing students.

Photo - I always love walking into the library, A wonderful place to reflex, read, interact and enjoy a beautifully relaxed environment. Today I walked in on Edward M, Freddie L, James O in the middle of a game of Chess. Thanks for the photo boys!

Nga mihi maioha,

Stephen Eames

Tumuaki/Principal