Welcome back to Term 4 and a special welcome to our new learners, families and staff - we hope you love being a part of our school community which consists of 787 learners and 16 learners in Te Pa Harakeke [Waitaha School]. I had a very refreshing holiday with my family and friends and was energised and ready to return to school for an action packed final term. Special welcome to our two new teachers Miss Sara Reedy and Mr Ben Langford. Emma Dunlop has returned this term from leave to a new role of teaching assistant. We also have Khalil Gerbaux from Selwyn Football Club running some football lunch sessions during junior and senior lunch play two times a week.

Thanks to the BOT for all of the exciting projects that have been wrapped up over the holidays:

• artificial grassing of the hill
• extension of the staff kitchen 
• build of new sand pit [waiting for bench seating and roof!] 
• outdoor seating purchased for Year 7/8s

The teachers have also been busy planning lots of exciting programmes and events for this term. Te Ara Whānui have already held a popular Top Team event in which the Year 5/6 children worked co-operatively on the field to complete a number of fun and challenging activities. The feedback from learners, staff and parents was very positive! We also have the BoT funded Science Roadshow visiting our school this term which was incredibly popular when we had this a couple of years ago.

This term we also complete our planning and organisation for 2023. Following a recent internal organisational change I am delighted to inform you that next year Mrs Megan Murray will join our Senior Leadership Team as an Assistant Principal. This is a well-deserved promotion for Megan who has been a foundation Team Leader at our school and served the Kāhui Ako as an Across School Lead Teacher as well. This means that next year the teams will be organised as follows:

Te Kete Kākano - Year 1 - Team Leader: Mel Grant 

Te Ara Tupu - Year 1/2 - Team Leader: Estelle Austin [returning from maternity leave]

Te Ara Whanake - Year 3/4 - Team Leader: Janelle Osborne [returning from maternity leave]

Te Ara Whānui - Year 5/6 - Team Leader: Laura Finn

Te Ara Māia - Year 7/8 - Team Leader: Pete Northmore

We are now organising the placement of teachers in each of the teams. The next step will be placing learners into each of the whānau groups. This is a complex process which requires a significant amount of time and planning. If you would like to comment on the placement of your child please email me by Wednesday 02 November. Individual requests for specific teachers will not be considered. Furthermore, if your child is changing schools for 2023 please inform the office as soon as possible to support us with our planning.

I am really looking forward to our special Cultural Celebration tomorrow. It is amazing to be able to hold these special events again. Acknowledging each child's identity and culture is such an important aspect of helping them to GROW as happy and healthy learners which is our vision for each of our young people. Thank you to parents and whānau for your support with shared morning tea and with sharing your own cultural mana and knowledge.

Finally, next week we have our popular ReBurger Halloween Disco - special thanks to our GROW team for organising this much anticipated event, to ReBurger for their sponsorship [I had a yummy Queen Chick burger for dinner last night!], and to our parents and whānau for supporting.

Ngā mihi

Sylvia