Acting Principal's kōrero

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to the start of the new school year. We hope that you all had an enjoyable summer break and had some time to rest, relax and enjoy time with friends and family. It has been great connecting with many of you and seeing so many happy children around the school. We have had a great start to the year and it has been so nice seeing students playing nicely in the playground together, sharing holiday adventures and engaging really well with what the staff have prepared in the learning spaces.

As a staff, we are looking forward to having the opportunity to educate your child. We feel that this is a big privilege and don't take it lightly. 

Our staff is very proud and committed to our school's vision - Learning together - Soaring to new heights.  To achieve this, we need strong partnerships between home and school. This is something that we deeply believe in. Thank you to all the parents who made Ako bookings last week. The information that you shared about your child with the staff is very valuable and supports staff with great insights to teach your child. It is our desire for your child to feel happy and safe at school. We know that when this is in place, children learn and make progress in their learning.

I am very grateful for a dedicated group of staff that work at Wigram and want to assure you that our staff is very committed to achieving success for your child.

Below is some important information for you to be aware of:

- Tuesday 14th February = Mihi whakatau - this is an opportunity to welcome our new tamariki, whānau and kaiako to our school. New families are welcome to join us. It will start at 9.15 am and you are welcome to stay for a cup of tea and something to eat afterward.

- Friday 17th February = Our first assembly for the term. Assembly will be every second Friday and you are very welcome to join us. It will start at 11.30 am in the hall.

- Thursday 23rd February = Whānau picnic - please bring your own picnic and join us for a time of connecting, getting to know each other, and having the opportunity to have a walk through the learning spaces. This will start at 5 pm and we aim to finish at 6.30 pm.

- Learning space newsletters - This was shared with you earlier in the week. Each learning space had important information related to that learning space. This was shared through Hero.

- Our school website - we are currently in the process of updating some of the information on our school website such as learning space bios, teacher email addresses and photos. 

- Please remember to send your child with a named school sunhat. It is our school's policy for children to bring a sunhat in terms 1 and 4. 

- Sausage sizzle will start next Friday 17th February. Please note that due to the rising costs, we have had to increase our price to $2 per sausage.

- Teacher Only Day in Term 2 - Towards the end of 2022, The Ministry of Education announced that New Zealand primary and secondary schools will receive four Teacher Only Days, two in 2023 and two in 2024. These days have been provided by the Ministry of Education for schools to work on the implementation of the refreshed national curriculum. The first of these for 2023, must be taken during the first two weeks of term 2, 2023. Therefore, it has been decided by our cluster that our term 2 Teacher Only Day will be Monday 24th April.

Please note that ANZAC Day, a Public Holiday, is Tuesday 25 April, the second day back of Term 2 2023. This would mean that the children would return Wednesday 26th April for term 2. 

We wanted to give our community an early heads up that this will be happening.

Thank you for your continued support. Wigram is truly a great community to be part of.

Nga mihi maioha

Gerhard

Acting Principal