Kia ora, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula and Kia orāna whānau

What an amazing term of mahi we have had at Tītahi Bay School. It has been ten weeks blazed in beautiful sunshine with only two wet lunch times the entire time! Our classes have settled beautifully making amazing connections with our tamariki and you, our whānau.

Most of you were down on our beautiful tātahi (beach) for the Triathlon a couple of weeks back. It was an amazing event with huge participation numbers. We often talk about the importance of building resilient tamariki and those are the sorts of events that do exactly that. Many of our amazing kids were nervous, some were petrified but they all completed it and felt the pride and success of completing such a challenge. Research states that tolerable stress strengthens a child’s nervous system so experiencing it means they become more efficient at managing stress. We were so proud of our tamariki and appreciated all your support down on the beach and beyond. A huge thank you to Miranda McMahon and her team of parents Helen Watts & Hannah Smaha. What a huge effort they put in and it simply would not have been possible without their mahi.

Miranda, Tanya King and I had the privilege of attending the Wellington Regional Primary School Principal Conference last week and many of the speakers spoke of their resilience through challenging situations. The standout was a man named Cam Calkoen who was born with cerebral palsy. Cam was an incredible speaker and an inspiration sharing his journey into becoming a gold medalist and motivational speaker. His kōrero aligned so well with our KURA values and what we strive to install in our ākonga. You should check out his TED talk.  

As you are probably aware, it has been difficult to get whānau involved in Home and School type groups in recent years. People aren’t overly keen on committing for a long period. However, if you would like to be a part of a group to help organise one fun night for our community as a potential fundraiser, let me know as there are opportunities out there for either a quiz night or comedy night.

We are also in desperate need for parents to step up and support our road patrollers next Term. Please make contact with the school office if you can help consistently on a morning (8:30-8:55) or an afternoon (2:55-3:05) and we will slot you in.

I wish you all a wonderful and safe Easter break and we will all be excited to welcome back our tamariki on Wednesday April 26.