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

Last Thursday the Board of Trustees reluctantly accepted the resignation of our Deputy Principal, Rowan Lockton. Rowan leaves us at the end of the year to join her husband Gavin in retirement. We have had Rowan's amazing service for 11 years and she has touched the lives of many tamariki, their whanau and the staff in her time as Deputy Principal and Special Needs Co-ordinator. She will be very much missed. We will farewell Rowan officially at the end of the year.

Kahukura is a Community of Practice of seven schools in the south west of Christchurch. The schools in Kahukura are either full or contributing primary schools, with one intermediate school. They serve a range of socio-economic areas and were affected to varying extents by the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011.

The schools which make up Kahukura are:

Addington Te Kura Taumatua

Cashmere Primary Te Pae Kererū

Christchurch South Karamata Intermediate School

Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo

Sacred Heart Te Kura o Te Ngakau Tapu

Te Kura o Huriawa Thorrington

Te Ara Koropiko West Spreydon

On Wednesday 3 March, 1:30pm at Addington Te Kura Taumatua, Associate Minister of Education Tanetti will launch the Education Review Office case study evaluation of the Kahukura Community of Practice. Minister Tanetti will be joined by Nicholas Pole, CEO of ERO and Coralanne Child the Director of Education for the Canterbury region.

This is a significant event for the Kahukura Community of Practice as the evaluation states ”It (the case study) highlights critical lessons which can guide national policy and support others looking to improve teaching practice.” High praise for the Kahukura COP.  At the powhiri on Wednesday, 350 Kahukura tamariki will welcome Minister Tinetti onto the paepae.

Also next Wednesday, we welcome to Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo 40 Middle Leaders from  10 schools across Christchurch. This group started their professional development with us last year but was interrupted by lockdowns!!

On Tuesday our Mōkihi tamariki had a wonderful time at their TOP Team activities. A huge thank you to the Year 6 teachers Katie, Jacob and Nicole and the Year 6's who helped organise and run this event for the younger members of the whānau.