Newsletter 2nd March 2023

Kia ora and warm greetings to all our whānau!

We hope this newsletter finds you all well and with your tamariki feeling settled back into Term 1. Amazing to think that it is Week 5 and we are only now about to finish our first full week of school for 2023!

While summer has officially finished (before it started), we still require our tamariki to wear their pōtae / hats for the remainder of Term 1 as part of our Sun Safe policy. Tamariki without hats are required to play in a shaded space. We are pleased to let you know that our shade sails that were removed prior to the cyclone are now up and operational. While we encourage persistence, problem-solving and collaboration as part of Our Whakawhanaungatanga, we agreed that this jigsaw of getting the shade sails back up and in the correct place was a job for the experts! Lessons for the future.

In this newsletter, you'll find updates on our latest PTA initiative, insights into the fantastic mahi of our Year 5 tamariki and kaiako, and revised dates for our Term 1 activities.

We invite you to take a moment to catch up on what's been happening at our school and join us in celebrating the great mahi of our tamariki.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to a successful remainder of the term.

Ngā mihi nui,

Greg English

The Board’s other main focus along with supporting the TPS community is the recruitment for our TPS tumuaki. As whānau will understand, unfortunately the process has been delayed due to impacts arising from Cyclone Gabrielle. In the meantime, the Board has asked Greg English to continue in the acting tumuaki role leading into Term 2. The Board will provide further updates as the appointment process proceeds.

• Pizza and Cookie Day - Friday, March 10th

• Team Tahi Connecting with whānau Tuesday, March 14th - 6:00pm – 7:00pm

• Team Rua Connecting with whānau Wednesday, March 15th -6:00pm – 7:00pm

• Team Toru Connecting with whānau Thursday, March 16th - 6:00pm – 7:00pm

• Whānau Conferences - April 3 – 5, 2023

• End of Term 1 - Thursday 6th April - 3pm finish

• Teachers Only Day - Monday 24th April SCHOOL CLOSED

• Anzac Day Tuesday 25th April - SCHOOL CLOSED

• Term 2 Begins - Wednesday 26th April - 9am start

Message from the PTA

Our role as a PTA is to first support our community whilst facilitating a good learning environment. We have been humbled by the amazing stories of resilience and community all around us. It’s time to give back to our whānau and support those close to us in needs.

The PTA are conscious that our fundraising for this term needs to be focused on those families in need, therefore, with the blessing of Greg English and his team we will be holding a school wide Pizza & Cookie, kakahu kainga fun day on Friday 10th of March to raise funds for the TPS flood affected families.

We are also aware that some of our tamariki have missed out on a lot of usual fun activities and this can be a way to ease the disruption of normal life and ‘treat’ all of our tamariki to something different.

This time, the Pizza and cookie day looks a little different…….

• The PTA will fund ALL students to have a pizza & cookie lunch: this consists of 2 x pieces of Classic cheese Pizza & 1x Ultimate Hershey cookie slice (Ordering will be done centrally by the PTA - therefore no Lunch Online orders are required).

• We will have a Gluten free pizza & Gluten free brownie as substitute options. We apologise if we are not able to cater for other choices or any food allergies. Teachers will be involved in ensuring the tamariki are cared for in regards to this. For the older kids, please ensure to have some additional food as this may not be enough.

• Please note this is a kakahu kainga day (home clothes) therefore tamariki are not required to wear a school uniform.

• Our hope is that families will be able to make a donation (Pizza and Cookie lunch usually amounts to $6 per child), with all contributions going towards the Flood donation funds to help our families rebuild their lives and get some sort of normality.

You can transfer your desired contribution to the following bank account:

Bank: ASB

Account Number: 12-3479-0038919-00

Reference: Pizza Flood Support

OR

In a cash donation on the day into the bucket collection run by the senior leadership team and PTA

members on the school grounds from 8:20am until 9am on Friday 10th March. There will also be a

donation bucket when tamariki come to collect their lunch.

Further communication will be coming out next week via a flyer (child school bag), Hero and Facebook.

Teachers will also be chatting to the students about this.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact Sarah Mason sarahmasonnz75@gmail.com or

Valerie Garcia valerie_garcia@me.com.

We are sure this fundraiser will be a success and a little bit of a moral boost for the entire kura.

The Year 5 Whare wanted to show their awhi and aroha to the organisations that have helped us after the cyclone. They made some amazing cards which got delivered last Friday afternoon. Each of the organisations were really appreciative of the cards they received and showed their thanks- with one even giving us a shout on their Facebook page. We know the tamariki have loved giving back and showing hauora to others. Ka mau te wehi - awesome work Year 5 Whare!