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

We are really looking forward to welcoming all of our whānau to our Open Morning tomorrow.  Teachers have been preparing a variety of activities to share and it will be great to have you in our classrooms sharing in our learning programmes with your tamariki.  We also have a variety of extra activities happening after shared kai that offer you a glimpse into some of the amazing things our students get to do throughout the day.  Our Kapa Haka Performance Group is also very excited to perform for everyone as well.  Please see the Open Morning timetable below for what’s happening when.   

Over the last few months we have been receiving a lot of information from the Ministry of Education around a structured approach to teaching literacy.  Recently, a government Ministerial Advisory Group released some feedback around their recommendations about the future teaching of mathematics and statistics in our schools with a change in the focus and intention for teaching, learning and progress in maths leaning towards more structured, procedural learning.  Here is a link to the full report if you are interested in knowing more:  LINK

I would like to mention the wonderful sports teams we have here at Totara Grove School.   Thank you to all of the coaches and staff who put in a lot of effort to help provide sporting opportunities for our tamariki, we really appreciate it.  We have some excellent athletes with superb skills here.  A highlight for me is regularly receiving positive feedback around the  sportsmanship, positive attitudes and commitment our students show when they participate in games and tournaments. 

Have a great Matariki weekend everyone

Mauri Ora
Tumuaki Sharon

The winners of books for the previous two weeks were:

Rm 1: Wairere
Rm 2: Reuben
Rm 4: Honey-May
Rm 5: Koko
Rm 6: Jeevika, Ella-Rose, Po Ariki
Rm 8: Ethan
Rm 9: Roman, Peter
Rm 10: Marli-Rose, Simeon
Rm 13: Kajahrn, Caleb
Rm 14: Jayziah

The winners of the Ngā Mātāpono Awards for the last 2 weeks:

Rm 1: Rico, Ivan,
Rm 2: Lance, Kamera
Rm 4: Wikitoria, Taina
Rm 5: Naledi, Kahi, Nathaniel
Rm 6: Te Whata, Lexi, Alexious
Rm 7: Tukairangi
Rm 8: Lilly, Flynn, Arlo
Rm 9: Jayde, Zhanica
Rm 10: Isireli, Rayden, Kason, Liam
Rm 13: Tukotahi, Kianna, Axl, Maahaki
Rm 14: Martha, Syhlas, Nathan, Pene

School reports went live on Seesaw yesterday. If you are having issues accessing this, please contact your child's teacher.

The staff and tamariki have been thoroughly enjoying the Life Education programme.

For more information about the programme and what it is all about, please see the website: www.harold.co.nz

Next term in week 3 we are partnering with Constable Ewen, NZ Police, and delivering the well known "Keeping Ourselves Safe" programme. 

Check out the NZ police website:

Kia ora school whānau,

Yesterday Hannah from Northland Rugby held a rippa and rugby festival for year 5 and 6 Whangarei tamariki. There were 34 teams altogether. It was huge! 

Totara Grove School entered one team for rippa and one for rugby. For some of the tamariki it was their first time at an event like this and everyone was excited. We were lucky to have sunshine all day and we enjoyed having whanau there to support our players. Thank you for spending time with us yesterday.

 

Our tamariki only had one sub per team so they had to work hard all day with very little rest.

 

Ka pai Totara Grove tamariki!!!

Following our recent pink shirt day our kura entered in the KiVa Pink Shirt Day photo competition. Fantastic news..... this photo won the competition! 🤗 The winning photo is below  🥰 

We would like to acknowledge the creative efforts of Tama, Ariki and their whānau.

Going to school every day is important for all learners, but as a parent or caregiver it can be difficult to know if your tamaiti is well enough to attend school, especially after all these years of being super-cautious with our health and wellbeing.
 
Te Whatu Ora have published some new guidance to help you decide when it’s okay to send your tamaiti to school, when you should keep them at home, and when you should contact a health professional.
 
Don’t forget, if your tamaiti is staying home from kura or school – let the office know as soon as you can.

Read the health guidelines here | Te Whatu Ora

Our school is collecting Yummy cut-out labels from fruit bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy apple stickers to qualify for part of the $200,000 free Sport sports gear prize pool. Please send any yummy stickers and cut out labels you get in to the office by the end of term 3. 

We would love to share the results of our fabulous netball teams for this year! We are very proud of our tamariki.

Thank you also to those parents who have come forward to volunteer their support for camp. If you are wanting to help overnight on the 13th, 14th and 15th of November, police vetting forms need to be completed ASAP to allow enough time to send forms away for processing. Vetting forms are available from the office. Day support will also be sorted at a later date. Thank you to those parents who have started paying for camp early. 

If you have a concern about your child’s language development, learning progress, social and emotional wellbeing, or behaviour, Te Manawa 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 sign or flag. Drop into a hub or make an appointment by phoning 0800 524 842 or emailing TT.Support@education.govt.nz. 


Please click on the timetable below to see clinic dates:

Term 1         31st Jan – 12th April
6th Feb          - Waitangi Day (public holiday)
29th March, 1st & 2nd April – Easter Holiday

Term 2       29th April – 5th July
3rd June       – Kings birthday (public holiday)
4th June       – Teacher & staff only day
26th June     - Board Meeting
27th June     - Open Morning and Shared Kai
28th June    – Matariki (public holiday)

Term 3       22nd July – 27th Sep
Whānau korero afternoons will be held in Term 3 

Term 4       14th Oct – 13th December
28th Oct        – Labour Day (public holiday)
Oct/Nov         – Teacher & staff only day, date TBC
Nov 13,14,15 - Year 6 Graduation Camp

For school dates, office hours and school break times please refer to the school website linked here: