Kia ora koutou,

As we lead into the final week of the term, it’s a good time to reflect on the term that’s been. There has been so much to celebrate and some particular highlights have been Camp Tongariro, Try Challenge, Swimming Sports, Teacher/ Whaanau catch up’s, as well as the recent P.T.A Golf fundraiser. 

We have also been reflecting as a teaching team on some of our planned actions from our Charter, in particular ‘how our bi-cultural New Zealand identity is reflected in our school’. Our goals from our Charter are…

• To strengthen how our learning programmes reflect language, culture and identity of our learners. 
• To build on our use of Te Reo Maaori and protocols across the school. 

Our last Professional Learning session was one of reflection, celebrating the things we already do well, as well as collaboratively making plans for what we want to build on in terms of our cultural competencies.

We agreed that we are all dedicated to continuing to upskill ourselves with our use and knowledge of Te Reo Maaori. An action for us has been that at the beginning of each Professional Learning meeting, Mr Harper has been running a quick mini lesson to support us all with our pronunciation and we also have seven staff members enrolled in Te reo courses. We have also planned to incorporate relevant Whakatauki (proverbs) into our global concepts for the term.

The tamariki across the school have all been writing and learning their personal Pepeha this term and it’s been lovely to see the students being able to talk about the connections they have with special places, landmarks and their family. Having conversations at home around the connections you have as a family will help the learners build on and adjust their Pepeha to reflect who they are and where they come from. Children love to hear the stories of their ancestors, relatives and places that are special to them. 

With Easter just around the corner, we hope that some of you manage to visit family and go to some of your special places, or at least have some rest and recovery at home. 

We wish you all a lovely Easter break.

Take care                                                

Nyree