Kia ora e te whānau

We have had a great couple of weeks. Our mihi whakatau (welcome ceremony) was held last week to officially welcome our new families and staff into our school. To those that made it along, thank you and haere mai! Today we have 61 ākonga participating in the Rugby Fun Day at Burnside Park. It sounds like a great experience especially for those that have never played before.

Recently we have had a visit from members of the Selwyn Council Safe Travel team. They are compiling a list of infrastructure improvements around our schools. When funding comes available they will prioritise this list and have conversations with relevant schools. To help with the rapid growth of schools in Selwyn and to work with our school to update our School Travel plan they would like families to complete a survey. This information, plus the information we gathered from our survey (end of last year) will help them to get a better understanding of how our families are travelling to and from school. I believe by completing the survey, participants can be in to win swimming vouchers.

Please complete the SDC survey by Monday 5 June using the following link: Selwyn Schools Travel Plan

Attendance at school is vital for student's to make progress with their learning and develop connections with their peers. Attendance is a key goal for the government, especially after the disruption of covid. As a school we are putting together an attendance strategy that will support families to ensure that learners do not fall behind in their learning. The New Zealand Education Act requires that learners are present, participating and progressing in their learning regularly. There will be more information in the next newsletter.

Recently we have had a bit of vandalism around the school. This is frustrating and disappointing given we encourage the community to make use of our facilities. Monday mornings are not always fun as we have to go around and pick up collections of food wrappings, bottles, and equipment that has been moved or destroyed. We do have video surveillance and will follow up on this if possible, but would prefer people to be respectful.

Pink Shirt Day tomorrow! Wear something pink … and Cross Country on Monday. Lots of fun opportunities ahead.

Ngā mihi nui

Tracey