Kia ora koutou, apologies for this being the first newsletter of the term. With the building work going on and a few staff away we have had to juggle a number of things at once. Fingers crossed most of the building work should be completed by the end of the term. We are hoping to have our hall back ready for our up-and-coming Open Night as we have delayed this a few times already.
I hope that you are all surviving this wet weather that we are having, I know that our students are finding it hard being indoors during their break times, bring on Spring and then Summer.
We have held our mid-year Te Ara Korereo with a number of whānau either attending in person or online to discuss your child's mid-year reports. Out of our 180 students our booking system recorded 93 bookings with a few parents having to make a time out of these dates. Those parents who were unable to attend will have their child's report posted home with information on the Curriculum Levels which include the explanation for the levels for Te Reo Māori and Languages. If you need to discuss your child's report then please make contact with their Home Room teacher.
As a staff, we have reviewed how these two nights operated with one being 'in-person' and the other being 'online'. The team would like to use a combination of 'in-person' or 'online' over both nights as they will be able to move between the two platforms. We will trial this for next year's whānau conferences.
Miss Gardiner has been fortunate enough to experience travelling to London over the past few weeks as her partner competes in the Waka Ama World Champs. We have managed to have Mr Arca, Mrs Fourie and myself cover her classes for stability. We will see her back towards the end of next week.
As you are all aware it is extremely hard to source relievers when a teacher is away, so at times classes have been split. With a large number of students absent, we have been able to cater for this comfortably. I would like to thank our teaching team and students for their patience and flexibility during this time.
Social Media - students engagement
We have had to manage a few issues with students and the decisions they are making on social media platforms, such as Tik Tok. Please monitor what your child is doing and sharing with the world. This is also a good time to check who they are following online as there are some influencers who may not share the same values and morals as your whānau.
Mask Wearing
We would like to thank our students, staff and whānau for their support with the wearing of masks over the past 4 weeks. This has definitely assisted in keeping our students and staff safe from the spread of illnesses. Our Titahi Bay Intermediate School team have decided to remove the expectation of mask-wearing while in our school, we will also continue to support those who continue to wear face masks.
Afterschool Basketball
Our students have been participating in the afterschool Basketball competition being held at Tawa College on Thursday nights. I would like to acknowledge Mrs Emily Farrer who has taken the lead on this to ensure that our students are able to participate in this competition as they represent Titahi Bay Intermediate on the court. Her time and enthusiasm is much appreciated.
It is also a timely reminder to our students and whānau that the purpose for our students to play any sport is for participation, enjoyment and experience. We expect our students to show Manaakitanga towards both the opposition as well as their own peers, both on and off the court. We would also expect whānau to support our teams as we all do like to win, but it is participation, enjoyment and development that count at the end of a game.
If you do have any questions or are unhappy with our kaupapa then please contact me directly to discuss. Thank you for your support with Mrs Emily Farrer and our two basketball teams.
Saturday Netball
Saturday Netball is coming to an end with only a few more games left. I would like to acknowledge the commitment from our players who have continued to attend, even when the weather has been crazy. We also need to acknowledge our coaches Marama Phillips and Jaylah Etimani-Marwood who have given up their time to coach our teams. We have also been fortunate enough to have Jade Bailey and Jahlia umpire the games on a Saturday - a big thanks from us all. Our final thanks go to our sideline support with a number of whānau who are there every Saturday supporting our teams.
