Hero photograph
Te wiki o te reo Māori Language Week
 
Photo by WMS

Tumuaki Pānui

Tracey Riley —

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

What a mixed couple of weeks. It is with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of our Queen Elizabeth II. We have had the flag at half mast all week to acknowledge this significant event in world history. 

What a difference not having to wear a mask makes. Although it does feel quite odd to walk around without it. The lipstick account will definitely increase!

The Board election process has been completed. Thank you to the 11 candidates who put their names forward and congratulations to the following five parent candidates that were elected: Lissa Birse, Joe Gradwell, Steve Hooper, Andrea Innes and John Willats, Congratulations to Jo Buckenham who was elected as Staff Rep. Welcome on board and we look forward to having our first meeting next week.
We need to acknowledge our outgoing Board members: Neil Duncan, Karey Hardcastle and Lyndon Endicott-Davies. Thank you for your contribution.

This week we have been celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. We have had a range of activities within our kura (school) for ākonga (students) to participate, learn more reo and practice tikanga. At lunch time, kaiako (teachers) ran optional events such as learning rākau, a stick game consisting of rhythmic throwing and catching of sticks from person to person, the mindful colouring of Māori legends while listening to books about them, and Māori themed Minecraft challenges.

Yesterday afternoon, all year 5-8 ākonga took part in a Māori Quiz involving questions about famous Māori people and New Zealand places with Reo Māori names, listening and translating. At the end of the week, kaiako will be putting forward two names each to go into the draw to win some fantastic prizes donated from The Milk Bar, Paper Plus Hornby, The Hub Hornby and Fush. Ākonga who have shown manakitanga (respect and encouragement), mohiotanga (sharing of knowledge and building on their knowledge), and using Reo Māori around our Kura will go in the draw in our next Celebration of Learning.

Thank you once again for being extra vigilant around the school area when driving. The layout can change quite quickly and it is good to have an increased awareness of where children could be whilst travelling to school. Please can you continue to reinforce the wearing of vests as this makes a huge difference with visibility. For children living in Gainsborough, could you also please reinforce the use of the school crossing as the means to get across the road. We are being informed of near misses where children have crossed in front of cars. There is no reason why they can’t travel down to the crossing.

It is hard to believe that we are two weeks out from the end of term and daylight savings is just around the corner. Have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Ngā mihi nui

Tracey