Kia ora koutou e ngā matua, e ngā whānau, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Konichiwa!

Yes! What does today mean? We are over the shortest day and are now heading back to an increase of daylight hours. In fact we increase by around 2 minutes of additional sunshine per day. Something to keep in mind as we battle the cold winter months.

Matariki Celebration

Across the country, communities are getting excited about the first-ever celebration of Matariki as a public holiday. Leading up to this day various activities have been organised to recognise Matariki. It has been amazing to see our ākonga working together across the school, to have whānau on site to share kai and to have an emotional and competitive “haka off”. Well done Tricketts for being the inaugural winners. A big thank you to Bree Oorthuis, Kim Busch and their team for the fantastic organisation.

Matariki, including Puanga, has traditionally been celebrated with several important themes. These themes are:

• reflection: remembering loved ones who have passed on, especially within the past lunar year

• celebration: celebrating the bounty and blessings of the present

• aspiration: setting aspirations to ensure that that bounty can continue long into the future with a focus on environmental protection and regeneration.

If you and your whānau wish to explore Matariki in more detail the following links may prove useful:

• Matariki: The Māori new year – Te Papa (The official Matariki website)

• The difference between Puanga and Matariki – Te Papa

• Matariki – Living by the Stars

• Matariki: The stars and their story – Museums Wellington

Covid and Flu Season

We continue to monitor our strategies for mitigating the spread of Covid (and the other nasty bugs going around). Most of our sickness is not in fact being reported to us as Covid but flu and gastro. We will continue with the wearing masks for the remainder of the term and first week of Term 3, with the hope that we can remove them after this if our case numbers are low. Hygiene practices and ventilation will still continue.

We have been asked on a number of occasions as to when should children return to physical activity after having Covid. KidsHealth has some useful information covering when and how children should ease back into physical activity. Guidance for returning to activity and sport after having COVID – KidsHealth

Congratulations

Congratulations to all participants in recent sports events, the Active Autumn campaign and representing our school in other events. I continue to be so proud of how our children utilise and promote the West Melton DRIVER values. An example was at a lunch held last Sunday at Langdale's Winery for ex pupils of West Melton School. In front of approx. 65 people, two of our ambassadors - Riley and Fergus spoke confidently about ‘school today’. Their well prepared speech and confident manner was enthusiastically received. Alongside our two ambassadors a small group of singers - Cooper, Tessa, Chloe, Paige and Oscar sang strong and proudly.

Ako Conversations

We look forward to seeing most of you at the Ako Conversations next week. If you haven’t booked then you still have time. Bookings close Monday at 9am. Just a reminder that you will need to wear your masks indoors.

Interested in becoming involved in the school?

Board Elections are being held this year and we are looking for members of our community to stand. If you are interested please read the Board Election Bubble about an information evening coming up.

The FoWMS (Friends of West Melton School) are an integral part of our school community. They are currently looking for a secretary. Refer to the FoWMS bubble for more information. 

Have a fantastic and safe long weekend.