Wednesday 22 March 2023 No. 4

Kia ora koutou, Namaste, Talofa Lava, Konnichiwa, Ni hao, Kia orana, Malo e lelei, Chao, Hallo, Zdravstvuite, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Salam, Suostei, Hola, Annoyong Haseyo, Caio, Nei ho, Suoday, Ni sa Bula, Kamusta, Xin chào, Gutentag, Bonjour

I hope you are all having a good week. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who completed our recent community survey. We had an excellent response to our questions and your feedback will help us with our future planning. For question one, the preferred method of communication you would like from the school was email or text. For question two, the sorts of topics you liked being taught in addition to reading, writing and maths ~ the arts, science and swimming were the top choices followed by social skills. For question three and learning about Aotearoa NZ Histories, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Significant events in Aotearoa were the most popular choices followed by Kaitiakitanga and Rangatira/Leaders.

I am pleased to announce that our Year 6 students will have the opportunity to go away to camp this year. This will be happening in Term 4 from 15 November to 17 November. We have been very fortunate to be able to book the Marsden Bay Christian Camp facilities for our camp and we are really looking forward to our Year 6 students being able to have this experience before they leave here to go to Intermediate School. Camp can be a very special time for students as they get to participate in a variety of different outdoor activities and enjoy what we term EOTC (Education Outside The Classroom). Whaea Deanne will be leading this camp and will have further information for families around this next term.

Take care everyone!
Nga Manaakitanga,

Sharon
Principal Tumuaki

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

Caught Being Good

Winners of books for the previous two weeks were:

Rm 1: Maahaki

Rm 2: Lexus, Micah

Rm 3: Gabriella, Eli

Rm 4: Te-Koha-A-Rangi, Troy

Rm 7: O’Shea, Riya

Rm 8: Hadassah, Tyson

Rm 9: Sylvia, Ebel

Rm 10: Azarlea

Rm 11: Adison, Harlem

Rm 12: Shardi, Didi

Rm 13: Pearl

Ngā Mātāpono Awards

Rm 1: Reign, Shelia Rose

Rm 2: Martha, Nolan, Amaia-Rose, Te Ririmu

Rm 3: Keison, Umar, Lucy, Leighton

Rm 4: Dom, Martin, Kaitiaki, Daelyn

Rm 7: Kees, Tarzan, Aisla-May, Jeevika

Rm 8: Ava, Dre, Bunny, Lilly

Rm 9: Hoki, Jaxon, Cooper, Syria

Rm 10: Liam, Mason

Rm 11: Nikau, Kora-Ray, Monika

Rm 12: Preston, Ava-Leigh, Paula, Kauri

Rm 13: Eruera, Tama, Zhanica

Free school lunch programme

Menus and detailed information are published on the lunch by libelle website: www.lunchbylibelle.co.nz/current-menu.html (click here).

This week’s lunch menu:

upcoming lunch menus:

School Board

The date of the next Board of Trustees meeting is Wednesday 5th April, 6pm

2023 Totara Grove Swimming Representatives

Last Wednesday our school swimming journey came to a climax at the Whangarei Primary Schools Swimming Champs. This was held at the Whangarei Intermediate pool.

From TGS we had Phu’o’ng Rm 11, Dylan and Yalaena from Rm 10 and Hemi Rm 12. The tamariki had a great day and their behaviour was great. Our swimmers did a great job representing TGS and their whanau in the heats and then the relay. Ka pai team!

Whangarei Primary Schools Touch Fest

Yesterday TGS took a team of year six girls and a team of year six boys to the Whangarei Primary Schools Touch Fest. The festival was held at Kensington Park. The focus for the day was Awhi, supporting others. Each of our teams played 5 games, 20 minutes each. We only had one sub per team so by the last game the tamariki were very tired. The teams played other schools from around Whangarei and showed great manakitanga towards all the other tamariki. We are very proud of them. Maddison from Room 13 won a spot prize for supporting other players. NICE!
Thanks to whānau who were able to come and support the tamariki. This always makes it extra special for them.

We were very lucky to have Matua Arepa join us for the day. He is a well know legend from the world of touch rugby. He had amazing drills to get the players warmed up and sharpen their skills. He has a wonderful way with our tamariki. Thank you Arepa Pairama!

Thanks also to Jon, Steve and Josina from Touch New Zealand.

Scholastic Book club

Any orders for the current scholastic book club brochure (issue #2, 2023) need to be in by Friday, 24th March. If making a cash order, please return the order form to the school office with the child’s name, room number, selected books and the correct money owing. Orders past this date can still be made directly online as long as they are within scholastic’s final closing date, however they won’t be delivered through the school and postage costs will be added to your order.

https://www.scholastic.co.nz/parents/lucky-book-club/

Survey competition winners

As part of our whānau korero afternoons, we collected your voice around 3 important areas: how we communicate with you, what sorts of topics you might like us to explore as part of our local curriculum and what is important to you when it comes to teaching our NZ Aotearoa Histories curriculum. Everyone who completed the survey went into a draw to win one of three $50 Countdown vouchers.

We would like to congratulate the following winner’s:

*Sarah Evans (Shannon, R14)
*Venus Smith (Kylie, R9)
*Carlene Paki-Taare (Roman, R7)

We really appreciate everyone taking the time to complete this for us.

Kiva programme

Kia ora koutou, we are pleased to inform you that our KiVa programme is now up and running. It was great to kōrero with whānau about the programme in the library at our whānau goal setting evenings. Across our kura tamariki have been enjoying their classroom KiVa lessons that complement the programme. We continue to progress toward providing more definitive information about KiVa on our school website. In the meantime, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact one of our KiVa team members- Whaea Aimee, Whaea Deanne, Whaea Pam and Mr Kelly. Additionally, visit this website for a parent’s guide to the KiVa programme: https://www.kivaprogram.net/parents-guide/#:~:text=Parents’%20Guide%20is%20part%20of,is%20important%20in%20addressing%20bullying.

Ngā mihi nui,

Totara Grove KiVa Team.

Enrolment day

The school office will be open for new enrolments during the school holidays on Friday 21st April from 10am – 1pm. Drop in only, no appointments needed on this day.

Please note that we are only able to accept in zone enrolments this year. 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

Drop off/ Pick up zone – Before and after school

If you are dropping your child off, you are required to use the DROP OFF & PICK UP ZONE which is at the BACK of the school on OKAIHAU PLACE (see map). The purpose of the drop off zone is to alleviate the traffic out of the staff car park and avoiding the busy Corks Rd at the top of the school’s driveway. It is 100% safer and we ask that you adhere to this please.

IF you need to walk your child to class, to see a teacher or the office, please park in the correct parking areas provided at our drop off & pick up zone or on neighbouring streets.

The only people to be using or accessing the staff driveway in the morning are staff or students who WALK to school from neighbouring streets off Corks Rd and Kamo Rd or students who have been dropped off safely, legally at the top on the main road, Corks Rd, to then walk down the driveway.

This is for the SAFETY of everyone coming to and from school. I know old habits are hard to break, but we are asking for your cooperation on this matter. Safety is our number one priority, nga mihi.

Teina Team Swimming Carnival

The Junior School, Years 1-3 will be having their swimming carnival on Friday 31st March.

There will be two sessions:

Session 1: Starts 12:00pm – 1:00pm Rooms 1, 2, 7 & 8
Session 2: Starts 2:00pm – 2:40pm Rooms 3, 4 & 5

Each session will include a snapshot of confidence activities and races relevant to ability and year levels of the children involved.
Children will need to bring their togs, towel and googles if they wear them. Also, something warm to put on after they have swum.

We look forward to seeing you all on the day.

Nga mihi,
Teina Team Class Teachers

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.