Principal's Update
Kia ora Waitetuna Whaanau, ngaa mihi nui I tenei te wiki tuatahi o te waananga hoou. Greetings to you all in our first week of the new term. Welcome back to Term 2. We have a jam packed exciting term ahead, including Wearable Arts and some exciting Science in the second half of Term 2. Most of the dates are listed below.
Thanks for your support on Monday. The teachers and I delved into our Structured Literacy, reading comprehension learning and a range of resources. The teachers looked into the new curriculum in the afternoon. Principals have started a stop work, non engagement with the Ministry of Education to see if we can get traction for the improvement of resourcing for schools.
You may have seen the reduction in class size for Yr4-8 announcement. This resourcing is not what we call new money. It is money taken from one thing in education and moved to something else deemed of higher priority. Principals are asking for ‘new money’ to be made available in education to resource students to support the range of learning needs. Our union have also asked Principals to only work in the hours of 8am-5pm. If you email me outside of these hours I may not respond.
I have already noticed how difficult this is just in this last week alone. School mahi (work) is part of my every waking moment during the term so we will see how this goes. I have emailed Minister Tineitti with my concerns weekly since the start of the year. If you would like to support principals and teachers then the Minister’s email is j.tinetti@ministers.govt.nz Principals will continue to be vocal on the issues that will increase funding in schools to improve student outcomes for all of our learners. We have been heartened to see the slow down on the new curriculum refresh that the NZPF (NZ Principal Federation) has called for, so this can be done well and teachers have time to learn and understand the new documents.
ANZAC Day parade
It was a great turn out at Raglan ANZAC Day parade from Waitetuna School whanau. Here are some the crew that came. And thanks to Xander for laying the wreath on behalf of our school at the cenotaph. See you all next week after the Teacher Only day on Monday. Ngaa mihi Amanda and staff.
All the Happenings
Teacher only day—Mon 1st May—School closed
Wearable arts making day - Tues 2nd May—whole school
Surf lesson no 1—Wed 3rd May—Year 5-8—from 9am
Assembly—5th May and Nachos—Friday lunch—5th May
PTA AGM—Monday 8th May—7pm
Surfing lesson no 2—11th May—Year 5-8—from 10.30am
National Young Leaders Day—Year 7 and 8 students—Tuesday 16th May
School Wearable Arts Show—1pm– Wed 17th May
Pink Shirt Day– 19th May
Junior Football tournament– 19th May—Year 1-4
Outdoor Ed session—RAS—Year 7/8—23 May Board Meeting—23 May
Surfing lesson—no 3—25th May—from 10.30am
Raglan Art to Wear –27th May
King’s birthday—5th June—Public Holiday
Assembly—9th June and Karioi project in 9th June
BOOK WEEK—from Mon 12th June
Board Meeting—20th June
Mud Run—21st June
Pie day—22nd June
Ki-o-rahi tournament—23rd June
Matariki shared kai—29th June
Last day of term 2/International Mud day —30th June
First week back—Welcome to our new students—Mila in the Senior Room and Manu and Xander in the Junior Room.
Happy School days at Waitetuna School.
Thanks to Monique for helping the students harvest the kumara.
Shout out to Tim, Bevan and Richard for your hard work to get the trampoline installed for day 1 of term 2.
Native Seedling Order form—Remember these are due in next week please.
Cellphones at School Reminder
Just to let parents know that as part of our school policy cellphones are not to come to school. In exceptional circumstances if cellphones are needed then parents must let myself or the classroom teacher know and they must be taken to the office for the school day on arrival at school and they can be collected at the end of the day.
Waitetuna Way
Well done to Poppy and Heidi For Determination Set your own goals and strive to achieve them (practise makes progress) Show persistence in my learning Ask questions to clarify and extend understanding Set yourself up for success by being prepared
Together we are growing the seeds of success Na too manaaki, na tooku manaaki, ka puawai mai nga kaakano