Tēnā Koutou Katoa

The weather has certainly kept us on our toes lately, with a mix of balmy spring days and unexpected cold snaps. A quick reminder for all: students should only bring water in their drink bottles to school. Any fizzy drinks, juice, sports drinks, or flavoured milk will be kept in the staffroom fridge until 3pm.

This week, I had the pleasure of coaching our Years 7-8 rugby team and cheering on our Year 6, 7, and 8 students who competed in the CantaMaths competition in North Canterbury. It was wonderful to see the pride, enjoyment, sportsmanship and competitive spirit of our students—especially under such beautiful sunny skies.

A massive thank you to all the parents who have helped manage or coach our winter tournament teams. Your support is invaluable, and without it, these opportunities wouldn’t be possible for our students- 140 students took part in winter tournament.

School Property Update

Since our last newsletter, we received some disappointing news: Woodend School will not be provided with a permanent building solution to accommodate our growing roll. Finding this out first from a news reporter and then hours later via a call from the Ministry of Education was a real emotional roller coaster.

At this stage, the Ministry of Education has informed us that temporary solutions will be provided until the government budget is addressed in 2025. As you can imagine, the lack of detail and clear direction is frustrating, and I have expressed my concerns to the appropriate channels. I hope to have more detailed information to share with you in the next newsletter.

Whare Manu and Assemblies – Term 3

This term, we will continue to split our Whare Manu afternoons and assemblies. Students are encouraged to come dressed in their Whare Manu colors on the following dates:

• Week 5: Thursday, 22nd August

• Week 8: Friday, 13th September

Team assemblies will be held on:

• Week 3: Friday, 9th August

• Week 6: Friday, 30th August

• Week 9: Friday, 20th September – Learning Celebration Assemblies

• Week 10: Friday, 27th September – Whole School Assembly

Ngā mihi, Andrew and the Woodend Team