Wednesday 30 Aug 2023 No. 14

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

This week is Book Week at our Kura and it is so wonderful to see all of the thought and planning that has gone into this. A big thank you to Mrs Jensen and Whaea Tanu for their excellent mahi and organisation. I have really enjoyed our Book Character day and seeing all of the interesting characters everyone has dressed up as. Tomorrow, we have a lot of arts and crafts activities happening in the library and I am excited about participating in some of those with our tamariki.

Thank you to everyone who completed our Health Education survey either online or at our Whānau Korero afternoons. We have gathered excellent feedback from you all which we really appreciate and which will help us a lot with our future planning. There has also been an overwhelming response in support to our question about adding Kaitiakitanga as a value for our kura. In our discussions with students last week, they also think Kaitiakitanga and being guardians of the environment is important and would be a good value for us all to embrace.

Manaaki Whenua, Care for the Land,
Manaaki Tangata, Care for the People,
Haere Whakamua! Go Forward!

Kia pai to wiki,
Arohanui

Sharon
Principal Tumuaki

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

Caught Being Good

Winners of duffy books for the previous two weeks of last term were:

Rm 2: Chelsea, Anaya

Rm 3: Eli, Lance

Rm 5: Alexious, Raiden, Zaira

Rm 7: Nathan, Ariki

Rm 8: Jackson, Hadassah, Bunny

Rm 10: Sinaraa, Nivaeya

Rm 11: Nikau

Rm 12: Peter, Preston

Rm 13: Kason

Ngā Mātāpono Awards

Rm 1: Ita’lee

Rm 2: Shyloh, Jack, Ava

Rm 4: Layden, Zane, Kalenzo

Rm 5: Owen, Patrick, Nathias, Arli, Evie, Bunny

Rm 7: Ava, Ethan, Ailsa-May, Ria, Te-Ruki, Pene

Rm 8: Kaylee, Tana, Jahzahlea, Jake

Rm 10: Emma, Brooke, Simeon

Rm 11: Anahera, Boss

Rm 12: Spencer, Boaz, Jacob, Precious

Rm 13: Connor, Izealia

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:

School Board

The date of the next Board of Trustees meeting is 13th September, 6pm.

Tikipunga High School Cross Country Fun Run

Tikipunga High School head of PE, Shane Watts invited Totara Grove to enter a team of tamariki in their fun run. Shane has a group of year 12 and 13 students in his sports management class that hosted the event for us. They set out a course on their very large field. They made it extra fun for our kids by adding water guns, tyres to run through, a mud pit, a blue tunnel, sand pit, slip’n’slide and a massive hay stack to climb. The tamariki were very excited and then very tired. Everyone that managed to survive the crazy coarse had a certificate presented to them at the finish. It was a fantastic morning.

A big thank you to Shane and his sports students.

Te wiki o te pukapuka – Book week

Today we celebrated book character day – it has been great to see so many tamariki and staff get involved and dress up as a special book character, we also got to see some fabulous dance moves up on the stage! There were prizes for best dressed, fabulous dancing, special awards and spot prizes too.

Winners of best dressed were:

Grace Rm13, Leighton Rm4, Harper Rm 8, Moana Rm5, Sebastian Rm14, Arlo Rm2

Still to come later this week:

Thursday – Crafts in the library

Friday – Teddy bear booknic

We will also create a ‘book-worm’ in the library, and the children will be able to add a circle to the book-worm every time they finish reading one of the school library books. The goal is to make the book-worm as long as possible!

Netball season

Kia ora koutou, now that the netball season has finished could we please have all netball uniforms (dresses and tops) returned to Whaea Aimee in Room 13 ASAP. I look forward to seeing you all at our school prize giving / shared afternoon tea next Thursday 7th September at 3:30pm in Room 13.

School Camp

Camp date for Year 6 students is 15-17 November 2023. Whānau who want to come along as parent helpers must return the required forms to school as soon as possible in order to get them processed in time. Please speak to your child’s teacher for further information if you would like know more.

Health Education Survey Winners

We have been gathering our community voice around Health Education at our kura. Thank you to all whānau who have helped share their thoughts by filling in our survey. There was a draw to win a Countdown voucher for all those that helped us.

The lucky winners were:

Donna Hooson (Martin, Rm3)

Joanne Allen (Adison, Rm11)

Photography Exhibition

We are planning to have a photography exhibition this term. This will be a great opportunity for those students who are interested, to participate in an event where photos will be taken at school and the students best work will be put up on display for judging.

There are 9 categories which include a Teina and Te Kakano section. There is also a staff section! We look forward to seeing lots of amazing entries.

Details about the exhibition will be discussed with the children but if you are curious to find out more, please see your child’s teacher.

Yummy stickers promo

Our school is collecting yummy fruit stickers to qualify for free sports gear.

Please send your yummy stickers and cut out labels in to the office by the end of term 3. One cut out label is worth 10 apple stickers.

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

28 Aug – 1 Sep – Te wiki o Pukapuka

7 Sep – Netball prizegiving, 3.30pm

11 – 13th Sep – Photography Exhibition (new dates)

11 Sep – Te wiki o Te Reo Maori

13th Sep – School board meeting, 6pm

19th Oct – 9.30am NZ Shake out – earthquake drill

15-17th Nov – Year 6 camp

School Term Dates 2023

Term 1 1st Feb – 6th April

Term 2 24th April – 30th June

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