The Ministry of Education has given schools an additional Teacher Only Day to be taken in term 4.

Kia ora whānau

The Ministry of Education has started a curriculum refresh. There are actually some major changes that schools are required to implement in all curriculum areas. Last week the Minister of Education announced that a new "Common Practice Model" is to be implemented and that the new English and Mathematics curriculum has to be fully implemented by 2025, this had previously been 2026. As such the Ministry of Education has given schools an additional Teacher Only Day to be taken in term 4. We will also be working on this during the Christmas Break with teachers.

We have looked at term 4 dates to find a date that is least disruptive for whānau, students, staff and other school activities such as swimming. We have selected the first day of term 4 Monday the 9th of October. We do apologise for any inconvenience that this will cause. We do ask you to keep your children at home for the day if you can.

If you are unable to arrange care please email reception@waitakiri.school.nz and we will arrange an alternative program for the day.

OSCAR will be open as usual before and after school, and Subway will still be available to order for lunch. If your child has a standing order for Subway, and they are not going to be here, please cancel this order.

The school office will be open and this will be the collection day for school uniforms ordered during the holidays.

Ngā mihi nui

Andrew Barker

Principal