A warm welcome to out new students Covi Clark and Abigail Smith

Kia ora koutou,

What an eventful couple of weeks we’ve had here at Puketaha School, something for the history books! It’s been fantastic to see things returning to normal, and the children have enjoyed being back and experiencing some pizza and iceblock treats along the way.

Yesterday, we held our Senior Athletics Day for our Year 3–8 students. It was a beautiful day, and as always, the students put 100% effort into each event, competing with smiles on their faces. A huge thank you to Mr. Boobyer for his organisation, as well as to the parents who helped by supplying gazebos, and to the PTA for their wonderful bake sale and sausage sizzle.

As mentioned previously, our staff have been diving into the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum to identify any adaptations needed for 2025. The good news is that our teaching practices align well with these changes. However, our current reporting system doesn’t align with the new progressions. To address this, we’ll be transitioning to a student management system called Hero starting in 2025.

Hero offers many benefits, including consolidating multiple functions such as attendance, school interviews, reporting to parents and school notices into one platform. Another great feature is Hero’s ability to share learning in real-time, allowing parents to stay updated on their children’s progress throughout the year. This means we can start making a digital Learning Journal for each child that will be more easily accessible to families throughout the year. Our staff are currently training on Hero, and early next year, we’ll help parents get set up on the app and streamline other app usage. Hero is popular with many other schools and has received positive reviews from schools and parents alike, so we’re optimistic about the improvements it will bring in 2025. 

In other news, we’re saddened to announce that Hannah Mould will be leaving Puketaha School at the end of the year as she and her family embark on an exciting move to Australia. Hannah has been an invaluable member of our team, contributing as a classroom teacher, special needs coordinator, and a deeply valued colleague. We will miss her tremendously but wish her all the best on this new adventure. We’re currently working to appoint a replacement for her next year.

You may remember that Jenna Martini, our Year 7–8 teacher, went on maternity leave earlier this year and is now enjoying time with her son, Tāne. We’re pleased to welcome Miss Emma Walters-Freke, who was a student teacher in Kaakano 2 last term, as a new team member next year. We’re excited to have her join us!

Next week, starting Monday, the Education Review Office (ERO) will be visiting our school. ERO has been working with us over the past four years, and we’re now approaching the end of this evaluation cycle. They’ll be working with the senior leadership team, the board and the teachers, focusing on their key priorities and ensuring compliance. We’re looking forward to sharing all the positive things happening at Puketaha School and receiving our final evaluation report.

Once again, on behalf of all our staff, I’d like to express our gratitude to our school community and the wider community for the way you responded to the fire and the aftermath. It’s incredibly reassuring to know that when things get challenging, we can all pull together and support each other.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Nyree Olliver

The school pool is available for school community use during the summer months ( November – March) on payment of $120 and a signed pool use agreement.  Keys are available for family members on a first come first served basis.  Only 25 keys will be issued.  

If you would like to purchase a key please come into the school office and complete a "Pool Use Contract"  Each key costs $120.00, payable by cash or internet banking.  

Hi All,

There is a bit more to cover today as my last spiel never got sent out due to fire upheaval of a fortnight ago.

The PTA want to acknowledge how awesome Nyree and the Puketaha Staff handled this major event. The communication was top rate and they quickly became part of the solution to an unforeseen problem.

Big thanks to Caitlyn Cameron for quickly putting together our Christmas Catalogue. Last day for some of the orders is tomorrow so please have another flick through to see if we can’t tempt you! The aim was to get some companies who were happy to support the school by offering a discount to you the purchaser and the School will also receive a percentage of the sale price. Hopefully there is something within it than can help prepare you for Christmas. The Booster Wines offer was extended to November 22^nd plus the Puketaha10 discount code from Trading Pieces (Knives) offer has been extended to the end of November. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Kb1jToqWq86LKqvA3IMY0ZFID35wwvUo/view?usp=sharing

At our last PTA meeting our Treasurer Sharyn Harrison delivered the final numbers for money raised at the Spring Fair and after all expenses we did top the $23,000 mark. So thank you everyone for you collective efforts.  We budgeted to make donations to the School of $35,000 for this financial year and we definitely have the funds to make this happen.

Big thanks to those who helped with our stall at the Senior Athletics Day. Whether it was by providing some baked goods, manning the stall or barbeque, or buying some of the wares (we sold out- it was amazing!), I really appreciate your support.

Kind regards,

Merynn Connors

M: 027 629 6820  E: pta@puketaha.school.nz

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