Kia ora koutou

Over the past two weeks there has been a real change in the weather and swimming has finished.  We were very proud of the way our tamariki represented our school at the interschool event last week. They cheered on their teammates, were extremely well behaved and swam really well to achieve many top placings. Thank you to Leigh Mason and Amanda Jacobs for their organisation and to all the parent helpers who transported and supervised our team.

One of the senior teams visited Miranda as part of their Science learning recently. These educational experiences outside the classroom provide a rich learning context for all, enabling our learners to develop their knowledge about the living world and to work together to share this learning. Once again we were fortunate to have many parents supporting us by transporting and supervising children on the day. We are so fortunate to have a wonderful community who help us to grow creative learners from within: Kia puawai te ngakau.

We can see that learning is in full swing as we walk through our classrooms. The walls tell a story about this learning and so do the children's books. Routines are now established and each class has been working on their annual treaty. Over the next two weeks each syndicate will be involved in a hui where they will present their treaty to the rest of their team and teachers, showing the ways they will try their best to work together for the whole year and also displaying our school SHINE values; Succeed, Honour, Imagine, Nurture and Explore.

Last week we held two mihi whakatau celebrations. One to welcome our second group of new students starting school in Room 2 with Mrs Belinda Elias and the other to show manaakitanga to this year's group of University of Waikato students who will be with us most Thursdays this year. The girls who performed the karanga did a superb job calling us into the hall.

Next week we will be having school photos taken. There is more information in this newsletter if you wish to have a sibling photo taken.

Ngā mihi nui