Just one more week until the holidays and one more school day to make your Easter Buns order.

He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui ki te ohu mō tō āwhina

Thank you to the working bee helpers

Last weekend's working bee had a great turn out and a huge amount of work was done in just 2 hours. The skip was filled with garden rubbish and an extra flexiBin had to be used as well. What a difference it's made! Ngā mihi aroha to everyone who came to āwhina, you've done a fabulous job.

We were lucky to have a crew of volunteers from the Petone Salvation Army helping as well.

Next term we will be putting a call out to whānau to tautoko us on our planting day as part of our mahi kaitiakitanga. The school is expecting to get over 1000 plants as part of the Hutt City Council's Mouri Tupu project. Our plan is to plant all around the bike track and in a few other strategic places as well. We don't know exactly when the plants will be delivered, it could be any time in Mei or Hune.

Ka haere koe i te hararei?

Are you going on holiday?

"80% of students are present for more than 90% of the term."

One of the government's targets is for 80% of ākonga to be attending kura for 90% of each term. Last year just 61% of Te Kura o Wilford ākonga attended school for more than 90% of the days that kura was open.

There are very few reasons for not coming to school. If your tamaiti is mauiui (sick) you should definately look after them at home. Medical or dental appointments and attending tangihanga are also justified reasons for not coming to kura.

Taking a day off school to celebrate a birthday or taking several days off to go on holiday are not justified reasons for not coming to kura. In 2024 nearly half of all tamariki at Te Kura o Wilford had 1 or more days 'holiday in term time'.

Every day at school counts. Ākonga who have the most time off are more likely to also struggle to keep up with their peers in terms of academic performance and may also find it difficult to maintain social relationships. You can support your tamariki to do well at school by making sure they attend, as often as possible.

Haere Rā, Whaea Ella - Nau mai ki te kaiako hou i te Ruma 5

At the end of the term, we say farewell to Whaea Ella, who is heading overseas for new adventures. We are incredibly grateful to Whaea Ella for stepping in at short notice to cover a teaching vacancy that had been difficult to fill. She teamed up with Mrs. McGuinness for Term 1, and together, they have done a fantastic job as kaiako for Room 5. We will all miss Whaea Ella and hope she sends us some postcards from her travels!

Next term, we welcome Mr. Graham Fawcett as the new kaiako for Room 5. Mr. Fawcett will also take on the role of SENCo (Special Education Needs Coordinator) at our kura. He is a highly experienced teacher who has spent many years working in London. Before moving to the UK, he was a Deputy Principal at a school in Invercargill.

Mrs. McGuinness is staying! She will continue to be part of our team, working one day a week in both Ngā Kākano and Ngā Tupuranga.

Noho ora mai koe i roto i ngā manaakitanga

Kathryn Smith

Tumuaki