Well who can believe we are into the last week of term! Ten weeks have flown by and Mr Barker will be back from his sabbatical in the new term. This week we are getting an early start on celebrating Matariki… we hope to see many of you at our Lantern Festival on Thursday!

Dear whānau

Matariki celebrates the start of the Māori New Year. The celebration of Matariki is guided by three main principles:

• Remembrance - remembering those we have lost

• Celebrating the present - gathering together to give thanks for what we have

• Looking to the future - looking forward to the promise of a new year

Kiwi Families Website has a great article on Matariki you might like to have a look at.

I would like to acknowledge our support staff who are an integral part of our team here at Waitākiri. This week is support staff week in New Zealand education. You can see our support staff stars on the window in the foyer. A big thank you from our Waitākiri Community to you all for everything you do to support our children, whānau, teachers and environment. You are all stars!

Tomorrow night a group of our musician children will be taking part in the Shirley District Music School Competition at Shirley Intermediate. Our very best wishes to you all. I know you will have put in extra mahi/practise so that you can perform at your very best. We look forward to hearing of your achievements.

A very big congratulations to Lilly and Natalie who have been successful in achieving a place in the Lions Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival Representative Choir for 2023. Lilly and Natalie both put time and effort into practising for their audition and this has paid off for them in their selection. Our school choir rehearse every Thursday morning from 8 o’clock and we have a very keen group of singers. If your child would like to join us they are most welcome to come along.

During our Learning Celebration last Friday morning we were all treated to a wonderful dance display by our Year 3 and 4 Hip Hop group. Well done to you all. As we were putting chairs away those of us still in the hall were treated to an impromptu performance of our Matariki dance and then by our Jump Jam team who were rehearsing. These children were having so much fun dancing and it brought a smile to the faces of everyone in the hall.

We have also been celebrating sporting achievements at Waitākiri. In gymnastics Caleb’s success at the Canterbury Champs has earned him an opportunity to compete in the National Competition which is held in Tauranga next week. We wish him the best of luck.

The Cross Country Team, representing our school and zone also did outstandingly well at the Canterbury Cross Country Champs… you will have seen this on our facebook page.

This team and all of our other sports teams, our dance teams and musicians who have competed/performed this term are Waitākiri REAL Heroes!

Last Friday morning our senior school welcomed Christchurch City Mayor, Phil Mauger and Burwood City Councillor, Kelly Barber. Our children had prepared some very insightful questions to ask and represented our school well. Mr Barber and the Mayor were very impressed with the children and what they saw of our school. Both men also have family connections to our school. A big thanks to them both for taking this time to talk to our children, who after all are the future of our city.

In week one of term 3 we look forward to celebrating Book Week. Later in this newsletter we have information about this. Please have a look at some ideas your children can take part in during the holidays and also during week 1. This promises to be a REAL celebration of literature and books.

A reminder that our next 3 way learning conferences will be held in Term 3 - Week 1 on Wednesday 19th & Thursday 20th July. Please book through the School Bookings tab on your Hero App. This is a great opportunity to engage with your child’s teacher about their progress and learning.

On Wednesday 19th July the learning conferences start at 1:30pm so school will finish at the earlier time of 12:30pm. If you are unable to collect your child at this time, please let the office know by emailing reception@waitakiri.school.nz or phoning 3832 736 and we will add your child to the list to be supervised at school until 3pm. OSCAR will be open as normal from 3pm.

Our very best wishes for an enjoyable term break and long weekend celebrating Matariki. See you back in the new term.

Ngā mihi, nui

Dianna Reynolds

Acting Principal