Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ko ora ai te iwi. | With your contribution, and my contribution, the community will thrive.

Kia ora e te whānau

Last week was another busy week in the life of Prebbleton School. From awesome learning in classrooms, including practises of junior production items, to jump jam, sports tournaments, and after school activities, our ākonga have been doing the mahi. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge how important kaiako and whānau are in ensuring our tamariki have these opportunities. As the whakatauki says, 'Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ko ora ai te iwi'. Our school community thrives because of the contributions members make. You may recognise this as the whakatauki on our cultural narrative mural.

It was great to watch teams participating in the Cantamath Competition at Wolfbrook Arena last week. Our Year 8 team of Amy, Romeo, Laken and Ternence did very well, coming 9th out of 88 teams, and our Year 7s, Conrad, Ben, Lucas and Luke, were outstanding, answering 19/20 questions correctly and only just missing out on the 'golden ticket'. We were on the edge of our seats with excitement! Congratulations to both teams; kia pai mai hoki | that's just fantastic! Thank you to Mr McDermott and Mrs Walls for your mahi preparing the teams. We are lucky to have such knowledgeable maths teachers in our midst.

Congratulations also to our Year 5&6 poitarawhiti | netball team who won their competition at the Lincoln Zone Rugby and Netball Tournament last Thursday. The girls will be representing the zone and Prebbleton School at the upcoming Primary Sports Canterbury Winter Tournament. We are proud of all the sports teams that played in the tournament; you played with integrity and made us proud! Thank you to Miss Mansfield, Miss Gudgeon, Mrs Roberts, Mr Cawthorn, Mr McDermott, and the lovely parent coaches, Meri, Sara, Kate, Karen, Roz, Steve, Gareth, and James, who supported teams on the day. Ngā mihi, i rawe tō mahi | Thanks, you did a great job!

And last, but certainly not least, I want to acknowledge the fabulous mural unveiling ceremony that was held on Friday afternoon. Ngā mihi nui to ākonga, kaiako, kaimahi, and our artist Justine Ottey, for all the mahi to complete the project. It was great to have Ngāi Tahu representatives Liz Hill-Taiaroa and Tamra Nutira, Selwyn's MP Nicola Grigg and our Dulux sponsor Cory Fitzgerald join with the wider school community to celebrate the occasion. Both kapa haka performed brilliantly and our tamariki rose to the occasion as a fantastic audience. A massive thank you to Mrs Neal for facilitating the Creatives in Schools project and organising Friday's ceremony. Ka rere te mihi ki a koe, e hoa | Thanks flow to you, my friend.

I'm excited to hear how our Robocup team get on at their competition in Auckland this weekend. Good luck, Celia, Talita and Caitlyn, and Hamish who is travelling with the girls. Pai tū, pai hika | Give it your best shot!

Hari o Matua | Happy Father's Day to everyone who is a significant male figure in someone's life - dad, father, koro, grandad, pa, bàba pop, tatay, poppa, grandpa, opa, matua, fùqīn, etc. We love and appreciate you, and hope you have a lovely day on Sunday. If you are coming to the PTA Father's Day Breakfast tomorrow morning, enjoy!

Hei konā mai

Alli Williams

Tumuaki Whakakapi | Acting Principal 

allisonw@prebbleton.school.nz