VLN Primary Pānui September 2022

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kura Tuatahi - Akonga Aka Mariko

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

As we head off for a well deserved break, pick up our latest Pānui and please take some time to read about the activities in our VLN Primary schools' network.

It was great to reconnect with many of our VLN Principals at the recent NZPF conference. Being online is just one part of how we live and learn, being kanohi ki te kanohi is really important too. 

While we were away at conference VLN Primary ākonga hosted an interactive Zoom for nearly 1500 tamariki around Aotearoa to celebrate Te Wiki o te reo Māori. Ka rawe, tamariki ma!

A big shoutout to Ava from Halfmoon Bay School who successfully petitioned parliament for a raise in boarding bursaries. We celebrate your mahi and the difference it will make for whānau across the country.

It's very encouraging to hear Minister Tinetti's announcement about funding for additional tutoring and teaching in schools to help our ākonga affected by Covid disruption. We are here to help, should you need us. Just get in touch.

There are still a few spaces available for Years 8-10 learners in our new Gifted Learner pilot project, running in Term 4. Find out more and get involved. 

Nau mai haere mai to our newest recruit, Tatyana, who joins our Māori kaiako team. Tatyana has been mentoring some of our Gifted learners and will be working with schools to support their te reo Māori and Kapa haka programmes.

In our last Pānui we noted the 50% growth in participation in Term 3. We share our 2022 Snapshot of Learning that shows that this has been our biggest year to date. Our team have been run off their feet (or their keyboard) and have truly earnt their holiday break. Thanks to all our teachers, support staff and leadership team for their big effort this term.

Ngā mihinui maioha

Rachel