Kia ora e te iwi,

What an awesome day we have had at kura today. So many tamariki dressed in pink to support the anti-bullying message. We are teaching tamariki to be ‘upstanders’ to call out bullying, not a ‘bystander’ who might watch or ignore something that is happening.

The Teina ran their cross country this afternoon. We were fortunate to have a beautiful sunny afternoon. It was great to see the children eagerly participating, enjoying their cross country run and obstacle course. Thank you to all of our whānau who came to watch and support their children this afternoon. It was great to have you here. A big mihi to Whaea Mel, Whaea Tatai and Brian for your organisation of the course and set up today. Our Tuakana will be running their cross country next Friday 23rd May at the beach.

I have a separate notice being sent home today in regards to the curriculum changes from the Ministry of Education. The notice has been collaboratively written by the Principals of our Mount Kahui Ako Primary and Intermediate Schools. The notice explains in more detail how we are implementing and managing the fast rate of change that has been mandated this year and what we will be reporting on at our upcoming Whānau Learning Conferences.

Our Whānau learning conferences will be on Wednesday 18th June & Thursday 19th June. A separate notice will come home closer to the time with booking information. Please note, on Wednesday 18th June, school will close for instruction at 12:30pm. We ask parents if they can, that they collect their children from school at 12:30 so that teachers can start whānau learning conferences at 1:00pm. School will be open for supervision of students who are unable to be collected at 12:30pm.

School Uniform

Can I please remind our whānau that we ask children to wear their Arataki School fleece to kura in the cooler months, not a non-uniform hoodie or sweater. We sell second hand uniforms from the school office at $5.00 per item. We are noticing a lot of non-regulation uniforms beginning to creep in and we are asking children to remove them. Can you please support us with this. In winter, we allow children to wear either plain navy or black leggings or trackpants (not jeans). If you need any support with the payment of school uniform items, please pop into the school office as we are happy to organise payment plans if required.

School Lunches

A reminder that we are a water only school. Please do not send juice boxes to kura. We are also noticing a lot of lollies, chocolates coming to school. Please keep treats at home.

I have included the link for the petition in regards to keeping our existing lunches in school programme with Freeport providing our school lunch. I discussed this in detail in my previous newsletter.

Can I please request that you sign the following petition: petitions.parliament.nz

If you wish to discuss school lunches further, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you in advance for your support and time to sign the petition. Please note, the petition closes on the 31st of May 2025.

Good luck to all of our children playing a winter sport tomorrow. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ngā mihi nui,

Vicki Hiini

Tumuaki / Principal