It has been another strange start to the year. In previous years we've had to deal with COVID-19 and all that, that entailed and still are with tamariki and staff needing to be at home for 7 days. Now we've had flooding and a devastating cyclone! Thank you to my staff and our parent community for your continued patience and support with these things, especially the staggered start we've had for our Junior school.

First of all I want to acknowledge what is happening over in Tairāwhiti and Hawkes Bay and the devastation that many families are experiencing at the moment. Our thoughts and aroha go out to them and for many of our whānau here who have friends and family who live there.  

I would also like to acknowledge the following people who are generously providing putea/funding to help restore our junior classrooms. As a school we are truly grateful to our community and thank you for your support and aroha for our tamariki and our kura.

• Danny Loughlin from Ngāti Tūwharetoa Fisheries
• Kirstine and Barry Macintosh from Taupō Funeral Services
• Mere Wall support to apply for funding for school cameras
• School PTA who will use gala funds this year to purchase school cameras

A special thank you to Taupō Primary who provided morning tea for our staff on Monday. It was to acknowledge the Junior Staff who have been working hard to restore their classrooms that were beautifully set up for our tamariki to begin this year.

Property

The Junior deck is now finished and will have carpet laid on the deck when the weather is more stable. Room 11 at the other end of the school where our Learning Support Coordinators are based is still in progress with the intention of being completed by the end of the term. Our Learning Support Bathroom project will hopefully begin this term as well.

Pōhiri and Meet and Greet

It is unfortunate that we were unable to have these this term due to a myriad of things that have happened over the last three weeks. We will have student conferences later on this term to set goals for our tamariki with whānau. We will confirm the date in next week's newsletter.

Dates to remember for February

• Wednesday 22nd February - Football Tasters for Junior School
• Friday 24th February - School Gala
• Tuesday 28th February - School is Closed from 1pm to 3pm. All bus children need to be picked up at 1pm. The teachers are attending a Paid Union meeting from 1:30pm to 3:00pm.

Please be safe this weekend if you're driving out of town this weekend. Look after each other!

Ngā mihi mahana

Tracy