He mihi mahana kia koutou katoa - Warm greetings to all.

We have had a busy couple of weeks with our tamariki accomplishments. Congratulations to Mei Li Louie who was first in the Year 5 & 6 Kahukura speech competition with Zara Dyhrberg first runner up. There was stiff competition but once again the Somerfield Kids prevailed. Third year in a row we have won or been placed in the Year 5 & 6 section. Thanks to Rebecca Whitehead, Dan Versteeg and Sarah Price for supporting these children .

It has been a busy week with cultural and sporting events. Congratulations to our Junior choir and kapahaka who performed last Thursday at Turanga. This was a real treat to be performing in  our new library and their purpose built room. Thanks to all the whanau for supporting  our tamariki. A huge thanks to Jane Brittenden and Daniel Caigou for preparing these groups.

Last night was the first time many of us have been back in the town hall since the earthquakes . We could not have asked for a better way to return. The programme was a real treat and very appropriately one of the songs they sung was Dave Dobbyn's , "Welcome Home." It is the first time in 8 years that the Christchurch Music Festival had performed in our Town Hall so it did feel like coming home. What a way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the festival. Congratulations to our Mokihi choir who did us proud in their performance last night. The town hall has always showcased young people's voices due to its fine acoustics and last night we were reminded of that. It was great to see so many of our whanau enjoying the performance. Thanks for your support. Also thank you to Sanchia Patterson and Kim Radcliffe- Price for preparing this group.

Congratulations to our Zone Athletics team. They had a great  day with many successes in a variety of events . A huge congratulations to the 12 successful athletes who are going through to Centrals. ( See the full results in the sports section of our newsletter). Many thanks to Miss Price for preparing the team.

Next week is the Kahukura Cultural Festival at South Intermediate. This is a real treat to see all the school performing. Grab some fish and chips and join us .

Welcome to the Year 5/6 tamariki from Te Komanawa Rowley School who are joining Mokihi  morning programmes for the next few weeks. This is an opportunity for them to have the Somerfield experience as part of their programme. We have 10 tamariki for two weeks then another group will join us after that.

Good news about our redevelopment programme. The first building is due  on site on 20 November and the last one on 29 November. They will be delivered at night. Fingers crossed all goes according to plan.

We are looking forward to the PTA Craft evening tonight. This is a great chance to stock up on your Christmas presents. We look forward to seeing you tonight.