This is the final newsletter for 2021.

After a tumultous 2020, we looked forward to a year of closer to normal, however it has been another year of disruption, and often times, uncertainty. Despite all of this, the most important thing is that our children have thrived. I could not be more proud of the kids at SBS for the way they roll with the changes and get on with the business of learning alongside their friends. Spending even a little time in the playground with our tamariki, or in the classrooms is the best tonic. The children and teachers should be so incredibly proud of their achievements this year. I say this often, but it is definitely worth re-iterating that our children are truly what makes this place amazing.

A special mention to our Year 6 leavers. You are all incredible and we look forward to sending you out into the big world of Intermediate and High School. We know that you will make us proud.

Thank you to our parents and caregivers for your continued support this year and help in many aspects of school life. We know that it has been a case of flying by the seat of our pants as we interpret requirements on schools that seem to change rapidly. We do miss you on-site but hope to have you all back with us next year.

Thank you to the Board and PTA for all of their hard work behind the scenes. We always celebrate the big visual projects such as the climbing tower, but for every big visible project, there is always a huge amount of work behind the scenes.

Thank you to our wonderful staff. The teachers, Simon, Kyla and Rob really do give their all to the job and it pays off for the kids. They are an incredibly dedicated bunch and I really do appreciate all of the time and effort that you have put into making our kids lives and learning amazing.

Have a safe and happy holiday and we look forward to having you all back in 2022.

Ka mihi nui,

Gareth Swete

What an amazing year it has been. The kids in Hine Rau never fail to amaze me in all that they achieve throughout the year. It has been my pleasure getting to know all these wonderful kids these past two terms. We have been super busy this week finishing off all our activities and have begun making some Christmas decorations to hang on our Christmas trees at home. Elf seems to be a lot popular at the moment so we decided to Elf ourselves and hang them up in our Christmas area. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Hine-Rau-Wharangi.

Report by Mrs Brewer

Our final full week of school is coming to an end. We have been busy putting the finishing touches on our tree houses with Mr Fisher. We have finally finished off our dinosaur parks by analysing our sales and creating a graph to see which attractions are the most popular and which ones weren't so popular. We have begun using the Engineering design process to design and create air rockets. Our mission: To build a bottle rocket that will go as far as possible in the sky to get Santa back to his sleigh. We have been learning about aerodynamics and the features of a rocket to help us ensure our designs will fly as far and as straight as possible. We have thoughts on how varying bottle sizes will affect the results, if water inside the bottle will help or hinder its launch as well as two different launch pad designs to choose from and will look at what air pressure is optimal. We have discussed how we will measure our results - current thoughts are to attach a string and measure how much was used for the flight, as well as timing how long our rockets are in the air for. Later in the week we will begin to test these designs and make any changes necessary before the final launch day. It is so lovely watching all the children working with their peers using all areas of the curriculum, alongside the school values to problem solve collaboratively.

A final note for our last newsletter of the year - I hope you all have a very safe, fun and merry Christmas break! Thanks for all your wonderful support during yet another slightly mucky year. We have managed to achieve so much and you should all be very proud of your amazing Tāwhirimātea children - I know I certainly am!

Report by Mrs Swete

Merry Christmas everyone,

As this is the last newsletter for the year, I have asked the students to help write this week's blurb.

It has been a great learning year no matter where we have learnt it! A huge thank you for your kindness and support. This week the students have had some choice in what we want to learn. After reading our all time favourite book, ‘Gangsta Granny’ they choose to learn how to ballroom dance. Again, this amazing class did a fantastic job! (see our class video)

This year in Ranginui we have learnt lots of new things such as bees, dancing, time, sunflowers, beans, singing, and learning all about ourselves and what we are good at.

A few of our favourite memories have been baking (rocky road), and PJ/dress up days and completing our passion projects. Ranginui has been full of laughter, curiosity, and enjoyment.

We are excited for the Christmas holidays, and our next year at school.

We want to thank all our supporters, who have helped us with our learning and our school journey this year and we would like to thank all the people who helped us with the new playground equipment.

Merry Christmas to All

From The Students of Ranginui 2021

Report by Mrs Ruzsa

We’ve made it! The end of the school year for 2021. A big thank-you to the families of Hinemoana this year for all your support in your children’s learning (and especially during another round of distance learning). Most of all though, a big thank-you to all the tamariki in Hinemoana! You guys are utterly amazing and I have felt very privileged to be your teacher this year. You have all put in a top effort and made some wonderful progress with your learning. I hope you all have a fabulous holiday break (you have well and truly earned it!) and a great Christmas. I look forward to seeing you all again in 2022!

Report From Miss Laing

It’s been exciting this week to see the students' Inquiry models come together even more! We are on the home stretch and most groups are now nearly completely finished. We are very proud of the different creations we have been able to put together, and when looking at our final models we can see how much our hard work and good communication in our groups has paid off. Next week we are hoping to share these with some of the other classes so it will be awesome to see what other people think of our models too!

Thank you Tāne Mahuta for a great year. Wishing everyone a happy holiday!

Report by Miss Tenci

This Week's results:

Touch Rugby

Team Awesome 5-4 W POD Kenzie

SBS Incredible W by default

Team Touchdown 5-8 L POD Liam G.

Futsal

Year 3/4 2-1 W POD Quinn and 0-0 POD Liam H.

Year 5/6 3-1W POD Thomas