Week 1 Term 3

Tauranga Primary School

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Tumuaki Pānui | Principal's Newsletter

Tēnā koutou katoa

Ngā mihi nui, kia koutou katoa - Warm greetings to you all

Welcome to Term 3,

At the end of last term, we recognised Matariki with a community celebration breakfast in the morning and a hangi for the students for lunch. This was a huge undertaking for our school and we are very grateful for the fantastic amount of community support that made this all possible.

A VERY big thank you to:

Kelly Savage the lead teacher organising the events

TPS parent helpers who were absolute super stars

Matua Des Tata and whānau our hangi experts from Huria Marae

TBC and TGC student leaders for helping with breakfast and especially Hohepa Chandler who opened the day's events with a karakia, and explained the meaning of Matariki

Kirsty Thorne, Jo Howard, Pam Wilkins, Whaea Jen, Kylie Rae and Jeremy Hantler for coordinating and leading the student presentations in the morning

Turners and Growers for supplying and donating many of the vegetables

Danika Mason for making delicious Rewena bread for us all to try

Pak 'n Save Cameron Road for supplying all the breakfast kai and the kumera

Amy Dolman from Tauranga Party Hire

Over the holiday period we have been busy on two property projects; the installation of an obstacle course behind the middle team classrooms and weathertightness and upgrade work on Room 19, Year 1 toilets and bookroom. The obstacle course is coming along well and should be completed by the end of this week.

The work on the Room 19 buildings has been challenging with significantly more damage to certain parts of the framing than was anticipated. This has triggered the creation of a new plan and delayed the project for a considerable amount of time. However, as the building is now wrapped, this has ensured that once the new plan has council consent, we can charge ahead with the work required regardless of the weather conditions.

Providing the conditions so that children feel happy and safe is important to us. One initiative that we have in place is called "Peaceful Playgrounds". The aim of this initiative is to maximise the use of our very limited space so that all children have places to play and have fun during their break time. Strategies we have in place to support this initiative are:

Maximising our limited outdoor spaces and providing a variety of high quality play areas that spread students out across the school grounds. Examples of this are the sandpits, playgrounds, Taurikura water feature, junior garden, senior forest area, library, hard court areas and now the new obstacle course.
Lunch Club - run by TPS staff where a variety of supported indoor play options are available.
Librarians, Peer Mediators and Sport Leaders – students supportinging students (Tuakana Teina) in the playground.
Adult support with sport coaching - Sport Coordinator, teachers and parents
The social skills teaching we do in class and the expectation that students utilise these skills to help navigate social challenges in a positive manner eg Mindfulness, MiWITS, Zones of Regulation.
Lunchtime activities that run over the year such as chess club, art club, House competitions, choir, and Pasifika.

The Peaceful Playground initiative has been enhanced this term with our new obstacle course and we have also employed Anish from Kelly Sports to run lunchtime sporting activities on the senior site Monday, Wednesdays and Thursdays for Term 3.

Learning Themes for Term 3:

The Junior Team has a Science theme and will be investigating The Material World (Chemistry) through the lens of Kitchen Chemistry. They will be observing and comparing the features of everyday kitchen ingredients, and the changes that take place when you mix them together and/or expose them to energy such as heat.

The Middle Team have a Social Science focus, looking at The Economic World. They will be investigating different jobs people have, how resources are allocated and how people make decisions based on their needs and wants and those of others. They will be looking at these big ideas through the context of the Cameron Road Development and the Pak 'n Save Cameron Road business.

The Senior Team also will be focusing on social sciences and economic activity. They will be investigating local businesses and will include a visit to a local dairy farm. They will develop an understanding of utilising local resources and people's responsibilities and rights as producers and consumers.

Nau mai haere mai to Szonja Szalontai, Parmeet Singh, Griffin Sievwright, Nova Scherle, Jiwon and Seohyun Park, Nikshep Nama, Kota Mayuzumi, Boran Liang, Eunyu and Yujun Jung, Jorja and Cam Hill, Aadil Hayat, Jaxon Hardcastle, Kerem Gurleyen, Kilarney Day, Evelyn Bell and Sam Ashin who started schooling at TPS recently. Great to have you and your whānau join our school community.

Ngā mihi maioha

Fiona Hawes

principal@tauranga.school.nz

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Uniform Reminders

Over the first two weeks of this term we are checking and reminding students about the earring and hair uniform rules for TPS.

Earrings – students are allowed to wear stud or sleeper earrings to school. The studs should not be bigger than the earlobe, and the sleepers should be small and with no additional pieces dangling off (to limit the chance of the earrings being caught on anything).

Hair that is shoulder length or longer should be tied back. This is to help limit the spread of head lice. Hair ties and headbands should be simple and preferably match the school colours or hair colour. Elaborate, sparkly hair accessories are better suited for weekend wear please.

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The next FOTS meeting is scheduled for 25th July in the staffroom at 6:30pm. This term we will hold Pizza Friday on the 18th of August and the School Disco is scheduled for the 21st September so if you signed up to be a helper, we will be in touch. If you would like to help please sign up below.

Our main fundraiser for this term is the sale of Oxford pies. Save yourself some time in the kitchen and buy some pies!

FOTS helper

Oxford Family Pies Fund Raiser

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Make your order now via the School Shop or cash/eftpos at the office

Leaving the school site safely

The council have received a complaint from a school neighbour about parking on the grass areas behind the kerb. It is a council parking bylaw that you are not allowed to park behind the kerb on either side of Fifth Avenue and Arundel Street. We understand that this is an inconvenience, but also ask that you respect the bylaw.

To ensure that children can leave school safely and help with the traffic congestion in the afternoons we do offer a 2:50pm pick up and go option for Junior School parents (years 1 and 2). All 2:50pm pick ups should be a pick up and go - to create parking for other TPS parents. If you wish to stay and play, please come at 3:00pm to pick up your child(ren).

If your children are older and can wait 5 minutes (years 3-6) from 3:05pm many parks are freed up and it is a lot easier to get a park close to the school. Students are supervised until 3:10pm by staff at the Fifth Avenue gate.

Term 2:

TERM 3:

17th July - Term 3 begins
25th July - Mihi Whakatau welcoming new families to TPS 9:00am
25th July - FOTS meeting 6:30pm, school staffroom
26th July - Last day for Oxford pie orders
1st August - BOT meeting 7:00pm, school staffroom
3rd August - Oxford Pies delivery day
18th August - Pizza Friday
29th August - FOTS meeting 6:30pm, school staffroom
5th September - BOT meeting 7:00pm, school staffroom
8th September - Choir Baycourt performance, 7:00pm
13th September - Learning conferences after school, more information to follow
14th September - Learning Conferences all day, more information to follow
18th September - Teacher only day- school closed
21st September - School disco, more information. to follow

2023 Ballot Dates:

Enrolment for Term 4 2023 - ballot to be held Friday 21st July 2023

Enrolment for Term 1 2024 - ballot to be held Friday 13th October 2023

Enrolment packs can be collected from the office, or use our on-line enrolment form at www.tauranga.school.nz / enrol.

Any queries or to check your child's name is on our pre-enrolment list please contact our Enrolment Officer, Barbara Turley at: office@tauranga.school.nz

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Lunch snack items wanted

Many thanks to the families who are helping supply lunches for those children in need. We have had many kind offers and do not need any more helpers at this stage.

However, we do need snack items that you may like to donate to top up the lunches ie. multi packs of chips, multi packs of little biscuits like rice crackers or Shapes and also muesli bars and raisins. Any donations would be appreciated and can be dropped in to the office.

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Do you have spare shopping bags

We occasionally have a need to use shopping bags to put uniforms and other items into. Any paper or reusable bags are welcome and can be dropped off at the office. Many thanks.