Wednesday 30th November 2022 No. 19

Te Kura o Tōtara Grove

Tōtara Grove School

Kia ora koutou

It is hard to believe that there are less than two weeks left of our school year. We still have lots of learning and activities happening at school so make sure you keep sending your children to school right up until 12 noon on Tuesday 13 December. School will start again on Wednesday 1 February 2023 and finish on Friday 15 December. Christmas is my favourite time of the year. We have lots of birthdays in our whānau during this season as well, which I always look forward to.

An important date to note next year is school will be closed on Tuesday 7 February. On this date we will be uniting with Tikipunga High, Tikipunga Primary and Otangarei Primary schools for a staff only professional development day around ‘KIVA’ which is a well respected anti-bullying programme that has had a lot of success world wide. We are looking forward to working with other local schools to see how we can best support our tamariki in this area.

Yesterday was our book character day. We had characters from all sorts of books and it was great to see so many of our tamariki dressed up in a wide variety of costumes. I also loved the effort our staff put into dressing up as well. Thank you to Mrs Fryer for organising this for us.

Next week, we will celebrate and farewell our wonderful Year 6 students with a special Dine and Dance evening for them. Many of these students have been at Totara Grove School since they were 5 years old and so this is a very momentous occasion for them. We would like to wish them all the best as they take the next steps in their school journey.

As usual in a school, there are often staffing changes happening at this time of the year. Our 2023 staffing is still to be confirmed and we will update you via Skool Loop with a list of teachers and classes before the end of term.

As this is our last newsletter for the year, I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It has been wonderful getting to know all of the beautiful tamariki, staff and whānau here and I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcome I received. It is so special to be home and I feel very privileged to be the principal tumuaki of this kura. Take care everyone and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2023!

Arohanui
Sharon
Principal Tumuaki

TUPU TAHI – GROWING TOGETHER. STANDING STRONG. REACHING HIGH.

Caught Being Good

Winners of books for the previous two weeks were:

Rm 4: Ria

Rm 6: Kees

Rm 9: Luke

Rm 13: Izealia, Eru

Rm 14: Boss, Te Tihi

Ngā Mātāpono Awards

Rm 4: Bruno, Lexus

Rm 6: Roman, Jack, Princess

Rm 9: Livera, Cloey, Khale

Rm 10: Jimmy, Moroni, Liam

Rm 13: Dallas, Char’Lee, Wyatt

Rm 14: Odessa

Free school lunch programme

Please see attached the menu for the next fortnight. More detailed information is published on the lunch by libelle website: www.lunchbylibelle.co.nz/current-menu.html (click here).

This Fortnights lunch menu:

Finalisations to the week 8 menu are still being made – the menu will be available to see on the Libelle facebook page: facebook.com/lunchbylibelle

Book character day

We had a fun filled day yesterday celebrating and promoting reading. Children were invited to dress up as their favourite book character… we had a very colourful display of characters around the kura.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the great work our seniors have done this term.

These are our super star librarians, our super star road patrollers and of course the support from our school whānau – including our super star dad, Arepa Pairama, Anthony’s dad – winner of our “caught being a good Dad” award.

Thank you to the ever reliable Mrs Irene for preparing our year 6 librarians this year, and for going above and beyond to see these kids shine. Thank you!

Thank you to Whaea Kay for being an outstanding road patrol facilitator this year and for getting our seniors, road safety ready and always willing to do their duties and other duties of those who were absent. Thank you!

Whānau Support:
Arepa gives every available moment he can to come and support his own tamariki and interact with our students. Whether it’s before he starts work, or after. The quality time he spends with our students is admirable.

Our second whanau support recipient is Nana Francis, Dijonay’s nana, we would like to acknowledge the contributions she has invested over many years into our kura. She was the winner of our “caught being a good Grandparent” award.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou

Asthma medication for at school

If your child needs asthma medication while at school, please ensure your teacher and the office is aware of your child’s specific needs. There is an asthma form available at the office which we can refer to if needed. Medication can be kept in the sick bay. We have recently noticed a number of these have expired – if you can please bring in a current inhaler and check we have an up to date asthma form for your child.

Parental concerns

A reminder to parents to not approach other children regarding school matters. If you have any concerns please contact your child’s teacher to arrange a meeting. We need to all adhere to the correct processes for any school issues.

Lost property

Please remember to check the lost property for any missing items. This gets displayed on Fridays at the drop off zone. Any items not collected by the end of the year will be donated.

School Board

The final Board of Trustees meeting for the year is to be held at school on Wednesday 7th December at 6pm.

TGS Prizegiving – Dec 8th

School starts at 9am as usual on Thursday, Dec 8th. Children and staff will be travelling by bus to the auditorium at Tikipunga High School. Parents are welcome to attend at 10am. We look forward to celebrating the year with you and your tamariki.

Enrolment day 2023

The school office will be open for new enrolments during the school holidays on Wednesday 25th January from 10am – 1pm. Drop in only, no appointments needed on this day.

Please note that we are only able to accept in zone enrolments. You can check to see if you live within our home zone here: www.totaragrove.school.nz/enrolments/

You will need to bring the following documents for each child you wish to enrol:

*Birth certificate/passport
*Proof of address
*Immunisation certificate/records

Te Manawa Tahi Timetable

If you have a concern about your child’s language development, learning progress, social and emotional wellbeing, or behaviour, TeManawa Tahi have specialists available so you can discuss your concerns directly with them.

This is a free service and each site will be identified by a Te Manawa Tahi flag. Drop into a hub or make an appointment by phoning 0800 5248 4256 or emailing TT.Support@education.govt.nz.

Upcoming School Dates

2022

Term 4 17th October – 13th December
8th Dec – Prizegiving at Tiki High School
8th Dec – Y6 Dine & Dance
13th Dec – last day of Term 4, school will be closing at 12 noon

2023

25th Jan – Enrolment day, TOD

Term 1 1st Feb – 6th April
6th Feb – Waitangi day
7th Feb – TOD

Term 2 24th April – 30th June

Term 3 17th July – 22nd Sep

Term 4 9th October – 15th December