Next week we have our Student Led Conferences and already so many people have booked this in. The students are looking forward to the opportunity to share their learning with their whaanau. If you haven't already, you can book by going to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the code yzzcp.

Our P.T.A are starting to rev up their plans for our Spring Fair next term. This is always a great community day and we appreciate the effort that goes into organising an event like this. The P.T.A are looking for helpers to support this event which may take the form of helping at a stall during the day, baking for the cake sale and/or coming along to the P.T.A meetings to see where you might be able to lend a hand. They will keep us updated in our newsletters and also via the app closer to the time. 

Winter is definitely here. We currently have lots of winter illnesses affecting our families and staff, one being the Influenza A virus. We appreciate parents keeping their children at home while they are unwell and we understand how this can create its own pressure at home with trying to balance sick children and work. Our teaching team have also been affected by either being ill themselves or their children being unwell. Unfortunately, we are finding ourselves in situations where we are having to operate with relievers in the space or we can’t find a reliever and have to run the learning space with fewer staff and/ or fewer support staff. Our team try their best to come back from illness as soon as they can but haven't always had the chance to fully rest and recover. Teachers are often known to be perfectionists and the learners and their learning is personally important to them. They really feel it when they have missed time with their learning groups, or weren't able to give the detailed feedback in the workbooks they wanted to. They feel it when they weren't able to spend as much 1-1 time with children who need a little more time with the teacher, either with their learning or to coach them through social issues that may arise. We always aim to fulfil all the high expectations we set for ourselves but sometimes it’s just not possible. We need to be okay with not achieving 100% when we haven't had 100% to give. 

We know our community are aware of how illness is affecting schools as well as many workplaces. We do feel the support from our community and we appreciate it. We have even had parents offer to help out in the classrooms as well as some lovely bakng. This really means a lot so thank you! 

Enjoy the rest of your week! We will hopefully see some of you at the Quiz Night on Saturday. 

Ngaa mihi,

Nyree Olliver

The Board of Trustees elections are due to take place on Wednesday 7th September.  

If a position on the school board is a way you would like to contribute to our school please consider standing.  Nominations have been sent to eligible people, these will need to be returned by 12pm on Wednesday 3rd August. 

If you would like more information please contact one of the current board members  or check out the link below.  

Our Agricultural Day is to be held this year on Tuesday 10^th of October, the first week of Term Four.

Now is the time to think about taking up the challenge of rearing an animal for Agricultural Day.  Please let us know if your child/children would like to bring an animal or if you have not been involved before and would like to find out more.

Chickens

If you are interested in rearing chickens and bringing them to Agricultural Day please get in touch as we are currently looking into the possibility of having these again this year. Baby chicks (sexed & vaccinated) would be ordered through school ($20 each) and picked up around the beginning of August to be brought along to Agricultural Day on 10th October,

Lambs, Calves  and Kid Goats

The Lambs, Calves and Kid Goats competition will be held on Tuesday, 10th October.  The school may be able to help with sourcing lambs and goats and provide tips and advice on rearing them. Animals can also compete at North Waikato Group Day and at the Waikato show if you choose.

If you are unsure of what Agricultural Day is about or have any questions about raising an animal, don’t hesitate to give us a call at school. Alternatively, you could visit www.waikatoaandp.co.nz.

Please email office@puketaha.school.nz if you are: 

1. Planning to have or already have an animal.
2. If you would like to know more about Agricultural Day.
3. If you would like to be kept informed about Agricultural Day

and you will be added to an email list for all future communication about this event.

Thank you

PTA News
On Monday we had our first specific Spring Fair Meeting so thank you to those who attended. This event is quite a big undertaking and having support from parents and caregivers is vital to its success. Support can take many forms, for example putting your name on rosters to help with stalls, contributing items to the garage sale, helping children with their projects, providing sponsorship to help pay for hireage of gear for the day, donating goods for raffles/silent auction/prizes, baking goods to sell and most importantly attending the event itself on September 24th !! We had to postpone this event last year, so we are currently re-engaging with people who had offered to help
for that event plus have had some new ideas suggested.
Spring Fair Sponsorship
As indicated above we are offering tiers of sponsorship:
Platinum $1,000 Gold $500 Silver $250 Bronze $100
Each sponsor can place their signage by an attraction and will have their logos on the information map sheets that get handed out to the public on entry. Donations are tax deductible and the PTA is registered as a charity. This money enables us to hire equipment and purchase goods and aids in the profitability of the event. This year funds have been earmarked for enhancing outdoor learning areas (including sandpit upgrade) plus stage lighting for the PAC.
Please make contact to me via pta@puketaha.school.nz if you can support us in any way.
Finally best of luck to those who are going to Quiz Night at The Keg on Saturday night. This night is predominately about having a bit of a laugh as well as testing the grey matter. Enjoy your night.
Once again thank you to all sponsors for this event.
Kind regards,
Merynn Connors PTA Chairperson
M: 027 6296820 E: pta@puketaha.school.nz

Orders for Class photos are available to order online. Free delivery for class photos ends Friday 8th July.

If you would like to order a class photo

Orders for Sports Team photos are available once the photos have been taken and can be viewed online.

Kind regards

The team at Masterpiece photography

Term 1: 7 February to 6 April

Term 2: 24 April to 30 June

Term 3: 17 July to 22 September

Term 4: 9 October to 15 December

Dear Parents / Caregivers,

We would like to offer the opportunity for some students to enter the ICAS competition. We offer English, Science, and Mathematics for Years 4-8. The International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) are independent skills-based assessments with a competition element and are administered by the University of New South Wales. 

This is an extension opportunity designed to challenge some students who show particular strengths in the areas of Science, Mathematics and/or English. They will be completed online, during school time on the set dates. Each test takes approximately 1 hour. Please note that these assessments are completely optional and are not suitable for all children. 

The school does not benefit from these assessments or use the information to help inform our planning. If you would like to chat further about the suitability of your child completing these assessments, please talk to your child’s teacher. 

Registering your child and payment

To register please og into the ICAS shop and purchase the assessments for your own child. Use the link to access the shop and the school code. This information will then come to the school via their system and we will organise for your child to sit the test.

Go to-  https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

School Code- GNI216

You will need to do this by 1st August please. 

Yours sincerely 

Nyree Olliver