From the Principals' Desk
Kia ora e te whānau
Teachers have been very busy writing end of year reports for each of our students. These will go live on Hero on Thursday 7 Dec at 4pm. Kate & I have really enjoyed reading the reports and learning more about each student. The teachers have put a lot of time and effort into their writing and the reports have been a pleasure to read. We hope you enjoy them too.
We do offer the opportunity for parents to have a chat with the Team Leader during the day of Tuesday 12 Dec if you feel you have questions or want some clarification about what is in the report. A booking code will be issued after the reports go live.
2024 Classes
The classlist will be issued on Monday 11 December. On Tuesday afternoon (12th) all children will have the opportunity to visit their new learningspace and meet the teachers for the 2024 year.
Survey Results
Thank you to those families who took the time to complete the recent survey. All of the results are being collated and the themes will be fed into our Strategic Plan for the next 3 years. This will be shared early next year.
The students also completed a survey and their ideal school looks like this
Lolly shop
pool & spa
no uniform
3 day school week
more play time, less work
Packaging Free Lunchbox
Come Term 1 2024 we will be going rubbish free across the school. This will mean there will be no rubbish bins out and all lunchbox rubbish will go home in the lunchbox. We will still continue with our worm farm but not all organics can be used in the farm, or compost.
In this time until the end of year, start to think about what this will mean for you and your child. There are some amazing lunchboxes out there designed to hold food in compartments. Snack bars do not need to come to school in wrappers - open them up and leave the wrapper at home. Practice eating all of the yoghurt from the yoghurt pottle - these could otherwise be very messy coming home. Cut up fruit so it is easier - peel oranges/mandarins etc. Pop a sandwich in a wrapping that is reusable - a ziplock bag or beeswax wrapper works well for this.
We are looking to be more environmentally friendly and this is our 2024 goal.
Caretaker Mr Rob - Update
Mr Rob's hand injury has been an ongoing issue for him. Unfortunately he picked up a hospital bug while in hospital so has been admitted again for 6 days to have a strong mixture of medication to clear it. We won't see Rob back before school ends for the summer break so we hope this time resting and recuperating allows his hand and body to heal ready for 2024. Our sincere thanks to Roger who has been keeping on top of the day to day things for us around the school.
Kapahaka Festival Last Week
What a showcase for our Uru Manuka Cluster of schools. Such a shame the weather turned cold and windy just prior to the outside event beginning. Our students performed really well and were lucky to have a full audience as we were first up. Thanks so much to Seaeun Lee for leading our students and supporting them on the guitar. Next year we hope to have our younger students involved as well.
Last Board of Trustees Meeting of the Year
Last Monday evening the last BOT meeting of the year was held. The Board accepted the resignation of Mrs Ellie Galletly, who is currently a Team Leader in the Year 2/3 Toroa space. We wish Ellie all the best in her education journey in 2024.
We also farewelled Alexis Stocks (current Board Chair) and Tammy Ferguson from the Board. Resignations from Helena Dinnissen and Kris Heslin were accepted for the end of Term 1 2024.
Alexis has been a very supportive Board member for 4 and a half years and has supported the students, their families and Staff well. We wish Alexis and her family all the best with the new ventures they have embarked on.
Ngā mihi nui
Heather Walkinshaw
Principal