Kia ora, Hallo, Hello, Sua s'dei, Kia Orana, Bula, Kamusta, Namaste, Hola, As-salamu alaykum, Nǐ hǎo, Talofa, Mālō ni, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Ola, Hej, and G’day.

In true kura style, we’ve had an action-packed start to the year! Last week, it was wonderful to be out and about, seeing all the incredible activities our kaiako had planned for the tamariki. Beyond the obvious fun, these experiences provide a priceless opportunity for our kura kids to connect with new classmates and other tamariki across their teams. Whanaungatanga is at the heart of how we begin the year, and we place immense value on fostering these relationships.

I also had the privilege of spending time at El Rancho with our Year 6s on camp. What an incredible group of tamariki our kaiako had the joy of taking away! We were lucky to have seven amazing whānau members join us as parent helpers, and we are truly grateful for their time and contributions over the three days, I know they had a blast too! It was fantastic to see our students pushing themselves outside their comfort zones, whether in the river, on the slide, or simply spending a few nights away from home. A huge thank you to our three amazing kaiako and two Masters trainees who planned this special experience and created lifelong memories for our tamariki.

Bikes are starting to roll into kura, which is awesome! While our tamariki do a great job looking after each other's belongings, we have had a few issues with people coming through after 3:00 pm and taking things that don’t belong to them. We strongly encourage students to use a lock to keep their gear safe. On another note, it’s been great to see our teams out training and getting fit for our triathlon at the end of the term. Keep up the fantastic mahi!

We understand there has been some confusion around Teacher Only Days, which is completely understandable given the range of messages coming from different sources. To clarify, we have two Curriculum Days in 2025—these are Government-mandated days for planning the implementation of the refreshed Maths and English curriculums. Our first Curriculum Day will be on March 21. If a school chooses to schedule its own professional development day, it is referred to as a Teacher Only Day. We will have two Curriculum Days in 2025 but no additional Teacher Only Days.

Finally, how good has this sunshine been to start the year? Our playground has been just as lively as our classroom spaces, creating an amazing energy across the kura. Here's to a fantastic year ahead!