I hope that everyone moving this week managed with the rather changeable weather! All the best to those families who have moved from our area and will be starting at a new school this week.

Just a reminder that the end of the day is a busy time and when it is raining it can be quite hectic at the Raratuna St entrance. To ensure the safety of our students we ask parents not to park in the gateway as this is where our walkers cross the road. Thank you for your support in getting our students home safely.

We are looking forward to hosting Parent Interviews this term as we were unable to hold them during Term One. We have confirmed Wednesday 15th June for interviews and will be sending home a booking form on Tuesday after the long weekend. We look forward to seeing as many parents as possible! A reminder that if this time does not suit to please contact classroom teachers to arrange an alternative time.

Last Thursday two teams from Turua competed in the year 5/6 Epro8 Challenge at Parawai School in Thames. Epro8 is an annual inter-school event which promotes teamwork, creativity and problem-solving in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).

Team "Extreme Engineers" (Hazel, Chase, Sophia and Nikki) worked hard as a team on multiple challenges and placed 6th. Team "Breaking Thunder" (Nathan, Jorja, Aiya and Pippa) really showed that teamwork makes the dream work and took 1st place beating 11 other teams from the Thames and Hauraki area! They will be moving onto the Grand Final in Hamilton in June. Well done to members of both teams Ka mau te wehi!

Last week, our Year 7/8 students represented our school at the Epro8 competition at Parawai School. This is a science and engineering inter-school event that promotes teamwork and problem solving.

Team "Burger Boys" (Tove, Liam U, Rudy and Anessa) worked hard as a team and came 10th place. Team "MAIL" (Madison, Alicia, Ivy and Liam K) also did an awesome job as a team and came 7th place. You all represented our school with pride, Ka Pai everyone!

It was very exciting to start using our waka tokens this week so we can see our points accumulate! Lots of great Ako (learning and understanding) happening in our Junior School, ka pai everyone!

We were lucky enough to escape the rain again at garden to table this week. Te Wheke busily worked out in the garden erecting growing frames and planting peas to climb them. In the kitchen we made some very tasty pumpkin brownies. We were lucky enough to be be gifted some pumpkins by Mrs Van Eyk so we put them to good use. Mangopare continued planting out more brassica plants and worm farm maintenance. In the kitchen we made a slaw from a variety of herbs and greens that we have in the garden. A couple of leaves of this and that as well as an onion, a carrot, and beetroot all dressed with a tasty vinegarette served in a tortilla mmmmmm. Kaitaki worked hard outside continuing with plantings and maintenance. Indoors the project finished off letters for sponsors and the kitchen group did some planning for our upcoming Matariki bake sale and grandparents day catering.

A massive thank you to the Seagull Centre and their trustees for their support of our Garden to Table program with the Community Grant award of $1000! We will be using this to build family-style tables and bench seating in our garden area for our communal sharing of the delicious kai by our students. We are looking forward to many wonderful conversations over the table between our students, teachers and our amazing volunteers.

If you are blessed with building skills and have the time to help us build the seating, we'd love to hear from you. We will supply all the materials, delicious home baking and some homegrown veggies!

Photolife will be here taking school and sibling photos on Monday the 13th June. More information to come closer to the time. If you require a form for a sibling photo please ask the office or your teacher. Thanks