Cohen Dalzell, Sienna Dalzell, Emersyn Pelsky, Nate Blackett, Kiera Beckett

Ngaa mihi nui kia koutou,

It's been all go here at Puketaha with the Roopuu Puaawai Productions. The tamariki have such a sense of ownership over the production as they have been involved right from the beginning of the process. A lot of work goes into the writing, preparation and performing of the shows, and it’s lovely to see all the students shine in their own way. We are looking forward to the show tonight! 

Unfortunately, for our Puketaha whaanau, we have a couple of staff moving on next year. Blair Harper and his family have purchased their first home in Tokoroa. They have always wanted to own their own home, and although it’s a great loss to us, we wish Blair and his whaanau all the best for their new life in Tokoroa next year. 

Hannah Richardson is also fulfilling one of her dreams. Hannah has always wanted to travel, and now international travel is more accessible; she is off to Camp America next year. Again, a great loss to us here at Puketaha, but we are excited for her and look forward to hearing about her adventures overseas. 

Blair and Hannah have been such an integral part of our team, and we thank them both for their positive impact on our tamariki and our school. We will miss them both.

We have recently been interviewing for the Assistant Principal role for 2023. We were pleased with the interest in this position, with a high calibre of applicants. We are delighted to announce that Nicky Khoo has been appointed our new Assistant Principal. Nicky has been teaching at Puketaha School for the last four years and has taught in both Roopuu Maahuri and Roopuu Puaawai. She has a long education career and has previously held leadership roles. Congratulations, Nicky, on this appointment. We know you will do a fantastic job. Nicky will oversee Roopuu Puaawai next year, while Jason Boobyer, our Deputy Principal, will be released from the full-time classroom role. Jason will be working across the school, releasing teachers and having more time to focus on his Deputy Principal role. 

Also, on good news, Hannah Mould has been teaching in Roopuu Maahuri on a fixed-term maternity leave contract and has successfully been awarded a permanent position at Puketaha School. Congratulations, Hannah Mould. We are pleased to have her as part of our permanent team.

Enjoy your Friday and your weekend, 

Ngaa mihi,

Nyree

On Thursday 17th of November at 11 am, we have Greats and Grands day. This is a chance for children to share their learning with any special people in their life like Grandparents or special relatives. We will start with a morning tea to welcome our visitors and then the tamariki will come and collect their guests from the PAC area. They will take their guests to their learning spaces and share their learning with them.  Hell Pizza will be available for sale via Kindo, extra can be ordered under your child's name if wanted. Families will often bring a shared lunch to have a picnic together at lunchtime before heading off. 

The Book Fair is also on in the PAC at this time and family members are welcome to purchase books at this time. All proceeds go to the school. We look forward to seeing you all.

Just a reminder for families who pick their children up from the Community Hall car park on Puketaha Road to please hop out of their cars and pick up their children from the school gate. We want to avoid having children walking in the car park where cars could be backing out. So the duty teacher there will wait until they see you before they let the children go. The only exception is for our Year 8 students, who should be fine to navigate the car park safely. 

Also, please do not park on the grass verge along Puketaha Road close to the Community Hall car park, as this can obstruct the line of sight for cars leaving the car park. 

Feel free to stagger your pick-up times to help find a park at the end of the day. A duty teacher is at the Community Hall gate until approximately 3.15 pm.

Senior Athletics Day is next Tuesday 8^th November. This is an all day event held at the school so we as a PTA take the opportunity to run a food stall as a fundraiser where we sell sausages $2, juicies $2, and baking ($1- $2) for all the school.  Our plea for help is two-fold, can we have helpers manning the stall and barbeque (as we all want to watch our kids) and we need baking to sell. Any contributions from across the school community would be gratefully received as usual, and could these be dropped into the school office first thing Tuesday.   If you are available to volunteer to help with events in the future and would like to be included in the WhatsApp group for volunteers could you let me know your name and phone number so we can advise you of events coming up and see whether you would be available to help.

Other news; I have signed our school up for the Yummy Fruit Company Sticker programme in answer to a parent request for some varied sports equipment they saw at this year’s AIMS games. They give schools an amount to spend on sports equipment depending on how many sticker or collection sheets have been completed.  If we start now we should have heaps (hopefully) by next September which is when they do their allocation. I have attached the sheets and I hope they are self-explanatory.  More sheets will be sent home with the oldest child tomorrow to share with friends and family. Basically keep any Yummy stickers you find on fruit or the cut-out labels from bags of fruit. When a sheet is filled in hand it in to Christine at the office and start again.  Yummy fruit is sold at Pak’n’Save, New World and some fruit shops.  Don’t go out of your way to buy it, but if you are buying it already collect the stickers!  Please hand sheets on to grandparents or other family members also. 

Kind regards,

Merynn Connors

PTA Chairperson 

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

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.