He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa - Warm greetings to all.

Greetings from Rotorua where I'm attending the New Zealand Principals' Association Conference - Power, Passion, Pace - We have had inspiring speakers but each day we began with students performing for us, always a highlight for me!  First day was the Rotorua Intermediate kapahaka group. These students were second in the district kapahaka competition and are in the national finals and we could see why!!!  A stunning, joyful performance from a group of tamariki proud of their whakapapa. The theme of the second day was passion and on this day we were entertained by two young girls whose performance received two standing ovations from the 700 attendees with their stunning performance. Such talent!  On Wednesday a group of 8 senior students from the local high schools sat on a panel and were asked some tricky questions. Their responses showed them to be thoughtful, insightful and excited about the future. Take heart whānau, with young leaders like this, the world is in safe hands!

As part of the conference we all participated in a hauora activity. I did the Canopy Zipline! Great fun!

We regularly get parents who express concerns about their child's internet usage and that they exhibit addict traits towards technology.  I often tell parents to turn off the modem and engage in good old fashioned family activities - board games, cards etc. Remember those days? Of course with an increasing number of tamariki having SMART phones this does not always work. Here is a link to linewize- they can support whānau with these concerns.

https://www.familyzone.com/us/families/plans

Best wishes to our two literacy quiz teams who compete on 19 August here at Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo. There are 17 teams from 9 schools competing and we are currently reigning champs. The children must read 6 prescribed story books and 6 picture books.

Give A Little Page

Many whānau asked me how they could help when Karyn, Christain and Jacob lost their husband and dad, Dean, to aggressive cancer a few weeks ago. I'd like to thank the many folk who have rallied around Karyn and the boys. One of our parents, has set up a Give a Little Page and you can access this page from this newsletter. (See separate article). If you would like to help with the meal roster here is the link.

Here is the meal roster link. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bDg_mDMntslgN9uCQLhRbdjdGiTM360Owht8eVeDPgA/edit?usp=sharing

Teachers Only Day, 13 September - put this date in your calendar. This day has been approved by our BoT and we will be having professional development in Maths and Assessment.