"Everyone who remembers his or her own education remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system". Sidney Hook

Kia ora koutou

Term Two has got off to busy and enjoyable start for our tamariki. This year we trialled a new format for the Cross Country including a Fun Run. Educational research for many years has highlighted the need for participation in physical activity by students. Competition will always hold a place at Tai Tapu School as the real world is full of competition and having the skills, attitude and knowledge to compete are essential life skills for our tamariki.

The Cross Country event was a wonderful event and my thanks to Mrs Aldridge Neal and Mr Hong for organising it. It was inspiring to see every student entered in the cross country compete to a very high standard. I witnessed every single competitor complete their races without stopping. We certainly have some outstanding runners at our school.

This year we organised a Fun Run in attempt to get 100% participation with a view of having our tamariki enjoy running and hopefully competing in events such as cross country in the future. I didn't see a single student in the school stop moving for the first 20 minutes of the event, which isn't something we would have achieved in a compulsory cross country event. To witness children smiling and having that amount of fun was truly amazing. I had tamariki of all ages running past me saying this was "the best day at school ever"  and we are certainly going to harness that level of energy and participation moving forward. Within 24 hours of the event I had principals from surrounding schools contacting me about the event and wanting information on how they could run a similar event in the school. 

My thanks to Mr Leslie for trying "something new" and very successfully having 100% participation from our tamariki. Student voice was very important in trialling this new format and subsequent surveys with our tamariki have 100% support of this event continuing. I would suggest we have something very special here. Several students who thought they were not good runners have indicated that they will enter the cross country next year which was one of our goals in holding this event. As a school we will review the event and tweak things so it is just as successful next year.

I have included information about our Term Three production within this newsletter so please take the time to read it. Words cannot express how much work has been put into this production by Mrs Whelan. She has written the script, she will direct and choreograph the entire production. Mrs Whelan's attention to detail and organisation is something to behold and as a school community we will all come together to support her and our tamariki in putting on a fantastic show.

The NZEI Union has voted for a strike day on Wednesday the 29th May so school will be closed for this day. The Board of Trustees will formally notify the community of the closure but it is important for you to be aware of the upcoming closure. Our staff will organise a coffee cart one morning before school and teachers will be available to discuss the upcoming strike.  Mr Chris Hipkins Labour MP in 2016 was publicly outraged at the lack of learning support funding for schools and comparing NZ Teacher salaries as some of the lowest in the Western World. Seems he is currently suffering from amnesia.

Please note that Monday the 3 June is the Queens Birthday Public Holiday and Tuesday the 4 June is our annual Teacher Only Day along with all the other schools in our Kahui Ako. 

Ngā mihi 

John Kane 

Principal