Reminder school finishes at the earlier time of 12:30. The bus companies have advised the following:

Metlink buses

They will run as follows:

915: will leave school at 12:30pm

929: will leave school at 12:50 (to work in with Oxford Crescent and St Joseph School who finish at 1pm)

Kia ora e te whānau

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa

Our thoughts are with those of you who have whanau who are severely affected by the recent flooding in our motu. Our world has become a strange place; testing our resilience on an almost daily basis. That is why it is so important we make sure our learning and teaching at Maidstone is based on supporting our ākonga (students) to be resilient and creative. In the coming years we will rely on this creativity and resilience to lead us into a new unknown future.

I would like to thank each whanau who supported our non-school uniform day on Friday 24 February for the Cyclone Gabrielle Relief Fund. This was an ideal opportunity for our tamariki (children) to learn and practise first hand our school value of whanaungatanga.

At the kura (school) things are slowly starting to settle down. Our new Year 7s are becoming more familiar with the culture and environment. What makes me particularly proud of our kaiako (teachers) and ākonga are the comments I received over the last few weeks about how calm things are. When you enter classrooms, you can feel the learning happening. Another aspect to be very proud of is the level of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) our akonga show towards the kura environment. It is a privilege to walk around the school grounds with almost no rubbish.

Vaping

But even in paradise not everything is perfect! One issue that has suddenly popped up is vaping. Maidstone Intermediate has a NO TOLERANCE policy when it comes to vaping and bringing vaping devices to the kura. Any ākonga found with a vape will be dealt with accordingly. A kōrero (meeting) with the whanau will be arranged and the ākonga will be asked to do school service. If the same ākonga is caught again with a vape device, they will be stood down for two days, and if caught a third time will be stood down for three days. If the behaviour continues, the ākonga and their whanau will appear before the Board.

One issue with vaping is that, in most cases, ākonga get the vape devices from home. We ask all whanau to help us with this. Please consider the vaping device an illegal object for tamariki and make sure they are not able to get hold of it.

School App

Thank you to the whanau who have downloaded the school app. It is crucial that every whanau has this. This is the first communication method we use when we want to send quick and short communications to the community. It is also a convenient way for you to let the kura know about absences, or changes in personal details.

Please visit the Maidstone school app website and download the app if you have not done so.

Attendance

One of our focus points for 2023 is to increase the number of ākonga who are attending school each day. A side effect of COVID is that as a motu (country) we have become very casual about attending school. I cannot state it better than the Ministry of Education - “Every Day matters”. We have specific goals for 2023 and I will keep you informed on how we are going. Most importantly, we need your help with making sure your tamariki are at the kura. Our task then is to support them with their learning and creating a culture where they feel they belong.

I want to end with the following whakataukī as I think it is of great value given the current situation in our motu.

Whakataukī

Ka mate te kāinga tahi, ka ora te kāinga rua

When one house dies, a second lives

When something good emerges from misfortune.

Ngā mihi nui

Wikus Swanepoel

Principal/Tumuaki

Here are some māori words commonly used around the school, in emails and newsletters by both students and teachers.

Tēnā koutou - Hello to you (3 or more)

Ko Matua Pat tōku ingoa - My name is Matua Pat (in this case, matua is used as a title as in Mister)

Kupu hou - New word

Ākonga - Student

Kaiako - Teacher

Kaimahi - Staff

Rōpū - Syndicate/Group

Tamariki - Children

Tamaiti / Taitamaiti - child

Computer - Rorohiko

Maori Dictionary online