Wednesday 10 May 2023 No. 7

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 hou, Suoday, Ni sa Bula, Kamusta, Xin chào, Gutentag, Bonjour

Over the last couple of years, the Ministry of Education has been working towards refreshing the New Zealand curriculum for all schools in Aotearoa.
In our upcoming newsletters I will update you all with some of the developments of our refreshed curriculum.

The refreshed curriculum framework ‘Te Mātaiaho’ begins with a karakia, as it signals the intent of the proposed refresh. ‘Mātai’ means to study deliberately, examine, and observe, and ‘aho’ describes the many strands and threads of learning. Te Mātaiaho is designed to be a curriculum that gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is inclusive, clear, and easy to use.

Mātai aho tāhūnui, Lay the kaupapa down
Mātai aho tāhūroa, And sustain it,
Hei takapau wānanga The learning here
E hora nei. Laid out before us.

Part of this refresh has also included the establishment of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum. Thank you to everyone who completed our survey and shared their ideas with us last term about what is important when it comes to teaching our tamariki about our country’s history. This has given us excellent insight into what you would like us to teach in this space and we are developing our planning and teaching from your input.

On Friday 19 May, next week, our kura will be participating in the nationwide Pink Shirt Day to support bullying prevention. As a KiVa school, we are working together to reduce bullying, to prevent new bullying cases from emerging, and to minimise negative effects caused by bullying. I would like to thank our teachers, students and KiVa team for all the hard work and effort they are putting into this kaupapa.

Mauri Ora Whānau!

Sharon
Principal Tumuaki

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

Caught Being Good

Winners of duffy books for the previous two weeks were:

Rm 2: Micah, Anaya

Rm 3: Learrah

Rm 5: Haimona

Rm 7: Phoenix, James

Rm 8: Dre, Hemi

Rm 9: Cooper, Te Ararina

Rm 10: Norton-Reks

Rm 11: Anahera

Rm 12: Preston

Rm 13: Kajahrn, Izealia

Rm 14: Rob Marley

Ngā Mātāpono Awards

Rm 2: Amaia-Rose, Po Ariki

Rm 3: Leighton, Gabriella, Laya

Rm 5: Arli, Tukaha

Rm 7: Ava, Pene, Riya, Ria

Rm 8: Tyson, Ava, Naima, Amanii

Rm 9: Kaden, Ngawiki, Syria, Kylie

Rm 10: Liam, Yalaena

Rm 11: Jordin, Lissette, Rawhiti, Dimarni

Rm 12: Peter, Murphy, Spencer

Rm 13: Connor, Eruera, Bosba, Zhanica, Kason, Kace

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 fortnight’s lunch menu:

Seesaw

We are pleased to announce that our kura will be using Seesaw to share your child’s learning journey with you. The Seesaw App gives students the ability to record their learning in many formats (photo, video, voice etc) and share it with their parents, caregivers and extended family in real time – sometimes even as the learning is occurring. Essentially Seesaw is student-driven digital portfolios. Your child/ren’s work is kept private and is only viewed by you and their class/teacher.

Every student is now set up on Seesaw and Totara Grove School will be using the Seesaw app for our school reports so that we can better capture the work and levels attained and displayed by your tamariki as they progress through their learning journey.

Seesaw requires an invite from your child’s teacher in order to sign up. These will be sent out over the next week. If you do not have an invite QR code or link, contact your child’s teacher.

View the seesaw brief video to learn how to log in, connect to your child’s journal, engage with their learning, and message with their teacher.

https://youtu.be/8zgvEpJESj4

Scholastic book club

Any orders for the current scholastic book club brochure (issue #3, 2023) need to be in by Friday, 12th May. 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/

School Board

The date of the next Board of Trustees meeting is next Wednesday 17th May, 6pm

Library winners

Congratulations to the two students who won our recent library competition.

Junior winner: Hemi

Senior winner: Taiatea

TGS Sport update

Kia ora school whanau,
We have a busy term with sport. We have kicked off with Matua John from Touch NZ.
Has has taken coaching sessions with our senior girls and boys. The tamariki really enjoy his coaching style and he always has positive feedback about our kids behaviour.

John will be hosting a Turbo Touch Festival at Whau Valley School later this term.

In other sports news Mrs. Jensen has been teaching her class skills through T Ball. This is a great game for learning to strategize and work cooperatively. Well done Room 12 !

In addition to class PE time the Tuakana syndicate will be starting their weekly sports rotation on Fridays. Let’s hope we get some fine weather for our tamariki.
The Teina team are about to start their PE skills rotation. They will be focusing on large ball sports associated with the season.
Kapai Totara Grove, keeping a balanced programme for our tamariki.

Pink Shirt Day

Totara Grove School is participating in Pink Shirt Day on Friday 19 May 2023, and we are encouraging our staff and students to Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!

Bullying in Aotearoa is a real problem. We have the third-highest rate of school bullying out of 36 OECD countries and one in five workers feels discriminated against or bullied at work. Those bullied are far more likely to experience mental health issues.

Pink Shirt Day works to reduce bullying by celebrating diversity in all its forms and supporting schools, workplaces and communities to be safe, supportive, welcoming and inclusive for everyone.

To acknowledge this important kaupapa, on Friday 19th May we invite our tamariki to dress in pink. There will be spot prizes for those dressed in pink and during break times pink shirt day activities will be available for those who wish to participate in them. Classroom teachers will provide tamariki with more information around this.

During both our teina (junior) and tuakana (senior) syndicate hui, we will share the official Pink Shirt Day waiata with our tamariki.

For more information about Pink Shirt Day visit: https://pinkshirtday.org.nz/

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 Events

17th May – School board meeting

19th May – Pink shirt day

17th August – School photos

15-17th Nov – Year 6 camp

School Term Dates 2023

Term 1 1st Feb – 6th April

Term 2 24th April – 30th June
5th June – Kings birthday

Term 3 17th July – 22nd Sep

Term 4 9th October – 14th December

Community Notices

Join us at Totara Grove Playcentre
We are a FREE early childhood centre where you can come with your children to enjoy a great range of indoor and outdoor play-based learning activities as well as a community of friendly & supportive parents.
Feel free to drop in anytime we are open, email us with any questions or find us on Facebook for some photos of what our kids have been up to recently.

Opening Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 9am-12pm during school term time
Address: 38 Corks Road
Email: totaragrove@playcentre.org.nz

Playball @ Totara Grove School:

Playball is an international multi sport and movement programme

When: Fridays 3:10 – 3:50 (starting 28th April)
Who: 5-9 year olds (boys and girls)
Where: School turf outside the office
Cost: $89 per child (9 week term) – FREE trial available – email dean@playball.co.nz

We are Celebrating 10 years of Sistema Whangarei – Toi Akorangi with an incredible concert

It’s Our Birthday! Sistema Whangarei – Toi Akorangi have been partnering with the Whangarei community for 10 years and we would LOVE for you to come and celebrate with us.

What: Over 150 young people from Sistema Whangarei – Toi Akorangi and their friends from Auckland and Dargaville are performing a celebration concert of epic proportions.

Where: The Exhibition Hall Forum North

When: May 21^st at 2pm

On the 16th April 2013 a small team of teaching artists freely donated their time to teach 16 excited tamariki for Sistema Whangarei – Toi Akorangi’s first holiday program. 40 holiday program’s, 280 weeks of after school program, several workshops and over 100 performances later we have 8 string orchestras, a concert band, a jazz band, a full orchestra and musicianship classes for 8 groups. All of which is supported by the resources of instruments, music and dedicated teaching artists. We are a Sistema inspired program making a difference in our community.

In celebration of this strong foundation we would like to invite you to continue to partner with us in continuing to create joy in life through music. We thank you for your support and would like to offer you the opportunity to make a financial contribution. Together we can continue the legacy.

https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/creating-joy-in-music-for-10-years-its