Last week we welcomed lots of new tamariki and whānau to kura. It's lovely to have new faces coming in and joining our Tuahiwi whānau. Our role continues to grow and today we have 166 tamariki and 10 pre enrolments. This means that our kura will have over 170 ākonga soon. Wow! 

Some of you may remember a pānui that I put out earlier in the year about a zone. School enrolment zones stop schools from getting overcrowded, and give tamariki who live in the school area (the zone) a guarantee that they can go to their local school. We are still at the infant stage of our conversation with The Ministry of Education and have lots of questions for them but you can be sure that before any decisions are made we will consult with you and our local community. 

Last weekend we had Kia Kūrapa - A Māori language learning weekend where kaimahi, whānau and community members came to the marae and school to learn Te Reo Māori. I know, only to well what a commitment it is to learn our language as this is a life long dedication. I have participated in many weekend wānanga, kura reo, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa classes and I can speak Te Reo Māori at a certain level, enough to get me by but lately I have been thinking about my own level and what I need to do to continue to 'step up' to the next. Learning a language takes commitment. I hear lots of people saying that they wish they could speak Māori and then they do nothing about that. If that is you, don't wait. Come to our language classes on a Thursday 1.30pm - 3pm or the class at the marae on a Wednesday 6pm - 8pm. 

Our first day of rain for the year while at kura today and I think we've definitely had four seasons this week! It's freezing outside but cosy and warm in our classrooms for our tamariki and kaiako. Remember that your tamariki will need warm clothing that is uniform regulation. See Berniece if you need more uniform for winter. 

In the mornings I have noticed some of our tamariki not being able to open our new gates. If you have a little person and can see that the gates are closed please come and open it for them. We will do our best to have the gate open by 8.30am every morning so that our tamariki can just walk straight through. These gates will be closed at 9.15am so please be aware of this if your child is late or has another kaupapa. 

I have been invited to be a judge of the NZ Women's Governance Awards this year so one of the things that I have been working on is reading the applications from the women. I am so impressed by the applications and the level of work that these women are doing in the community, regionally and nationally. Gosh we have some talented women! 

In wrapping up my update for this pānui I wanted to acknowledge our community and your support. We really do appreciate the offers of help, kind words about our kura and interest you all show in how and what we are doing. Please keep coming in, sharing and being proud of our kura it really does make a difference. 

Arohanui

Mel x