Firstly, a huge thank you to our amazing community for the countless support and well wishes over the last few weeks. I love our community and very much appreciate all the aroha. For those that don’t know, I suffered a freak medical emergency that led to me having to spend some time away from work recovering. I have been able to return to light duties and have loved seeing all of our wonderful tamariki over the last couple of weeks.

It was so awesome to see the sun shining in week one and hundreds of our students entering the gates just after 8:30 am. The playground was a perfect buzz before 9 am. The field was packed with football games utilising the flash new goals, the flying fox was whizzing by, both forts were loaded, bikes cruised the track, and all four new basketball hoops were busy with active kura kids. It was absolute gold! Mauri tū, mauri ora- - an active soul is a healthy soul.

Term 4 is always exciting for all involved but it can be a nervous time for our year 6s in particular. They are filled with a range of emotions from leaving a kura they love and have spent more than six years at, to thinking about a new school and the next phase. For most tamariki, this is a difficult emotion to articulate as they have never had to process anything like it before. Please understand that some will have friends heading to new classes and different schools so there may be some scrambled feelings amongst our 2022 graduates. It is very normal for children to have some conflicts with peers, so we appreciate your support when helping our young people resolve issues and find solutions. Likewise, there will be many that are not too fussed by the shifts ahead and will function like normal.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances our Redwood Sports exchange will not be going ahead tomorrow as they are unable to be here.   We look forward to doing this in the future.

I look forward to seeing you out on the crossing this term and catching up. Let’s hope the sun keeps on shining so we can enjoy the beautiful surroundings of the Bay.

Tēnā rawa atu koutou

Matt Tilley - Tumuaki