Kia ora e te whaanau,

Yesterday at lunchtime, I had a lovely time sitting in the sun with a couple of students, just chatting and feeling grateful for our amazing school and students. Lately, we've been really focused on our School Values, and when you pay attention to something, you start noticing it everywhere. As I looked out onto the field, I saw kids playing sports, Year 8 students leading rugby training sessions for younger kids, children enjoying traditional Maaori games they had learnt during Rich Topic, and children being kind and caring to others and including others in games.

At Puketaha School, we have six core Values that are at the heart of everything we do. We've been talking about what these Values look like in action during our Monday morning whole school hui. Our Values are Aiming High, Respect, Fairness, Celebrating Differences, Integrity, and Care. They're all important and connected. The Maaori concept of Manaakitanga encompasses a lot of these ideas. Manaakitanga can be translated into ideas such as showing love and compassion, being kind and caring, looking after people, uplifting others, embracing different cultures, and showing respect.

By being clear about our School Values, we're helping our students become well-rounded learners who have a strong sense of what's right and can make good decisions. They learn to make choices that show empathy, respect, integrity, and compassion, and that's how they become positive members of society.

We've been busy noticing our Values in action, and the teachers and Year 8 students have been giving out 'Puketaha School Values Cards' that you might have heard about. Last week, we had around 300 names in a draw for some Ninja Valley vouchers, and we're doing another draw next Monday. Focusing on our Values has really brought out the best in our kids.

Thinking about our School Values got me wondering how explicit we've been about our family values. While we live our values and set an example, we haven't really talked about what our family values are. It would be a great conversation to have at home and figure out together what our values are and how we can show them. Although, my kids might expect us to hand out 'Family Values Cards' and enter a prize draw at home...

I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week, and let's hope the beautiful weather sticks around for the weekend!

Ngaa mihi,

Nyree Olliver