Newsletter 10th November 2022

Tena koutou katoa nga mihi ki te whānau o te Kura o Ōtātara,

It was with great pride that we saw that there were a number of our ex-pupils who were awarded prizes recently at the Taradale High School senior prize giving. As a kura we can be proud of them and their efforts, their perseverance and determination. As a community we can also look at those results and encourage our own tamariki to strive as they have done. Underneath their achievements will be a raft of others who also strove but were not quite there yet, who nearly made it and who would have achieved above and beyond their own expectations. They, too, need to be congratulated. They will know who they are! They are also great role models.

I bumped into the Taradale High Dux's parents on the weekend and they were very chuffed with how well Lucas had done and, indeed, he had striven to achieve. He had set those lofty aspirational goals and attained them. In a very typical Kiwi way they diverted the conversation away from the praise that I was quite keen to give, to their thanks to the kaiako that worked with Lucas at primary school and how, two in particular, had 'got him' and how they had set him on that aspirational journey. As kaiako that will always be a goal, and it is so lovely when we get that feedback that we have made even more of a difference than we expected. The ultimate aim for us is to build the relationships enough so that we know that we can go that little bit further with them , know when to push a little harder and know when it is time to hold back a tad. Those deeper relationships mean that we can build higher levels of trust so that our learners know that they can take responsible risks, ask anything they want and try new and innovative ideas.

When those relationships work in that way we can get more out of our learners, they become more creative and more likely to be that much more curious. We all strive for that ourselves as we teach but, just like Lucas's parents, there is a humility to this. We would be really pleased of course, but to most of us it is just what we do. There is not a kaiako I know who just doesn't want to make a difference. and that makes the difference. So a very mighty congratulations to all of those that did incredibly well at their kura, to those that achieved more than before and to those that helped them on their way. Great mahi, that!

Nga mihi

Marty Hantz

Tumuaki

Do you wonder what the School Board of Trustees do? Over the next few editions you will hear from us about what we do, what our priorities are and we'll also introduce Board members to you. It is really important that we share this with you and so you know who you can connect with.

What does the Board do?

• The Board's role is to govern the school, really asking 'what do we want our school to achieve?'
• The Board of Trustees consists of our principal (Marty Hantz), one staff representative (Greg English) and up to 6 parent representatives. You will find out more about them in the coming editions.
• The Board also reviews and updates policies for the school e.g. Health and Safety.
• There is lots of planning, acting in, the interests of the school and the community. Many areas are discussed including student learning, wellbeing, achievement and progress. There are 6 areas of governance which include:

1. Curriculum

2. Self Review

3. Personnel

4. Finance and Property

5. Health and Safety

6. Legislation

Plus we are adding in a Community and Communications portfolio

We look forward to connecting with you regularly and sharing more updates with you.

• Tabloid sports - Wednesday 23rd November
  
• End of Term 4 - Wednesday 14th December (School closes at 12.30pm)
  
• Term 1 Begins - Wednesday 1st February 2023 at 9am

As per last weeks newsletter we are very excited about the opportunity to upgrade half of our school court with a new Plexipave surface, funded by the PTA. This surface is used extensively in schools and will replace half of the court that currently runs North-South to one that runs East-West. We have included a map of what is to be done as an indicator of that. There will also be an added area that has play options in front of Rooms 19 and 11. Looking great! We are negotiating when that might happen as we don't want that in the middle of the Fete!

Congratulations to the following Taradale High School senior students who have all excelled at the recent prize-giving ceremony.

Dux...Lucas Allen

Head Girl for 2023...Reese Drager

Year 11 Prize winners...Keira Coleman, Paige McCarthy, Hamish McDade

Year 12 Prize winners...Emma Bryant, Reese Drager, Charlie Evans, Harry Harding, Ashlee Kerr, Zack Swanwick, Angus Wogan.

Year 13 Prize winners...Lucas Allen, Adia Crawford, Elyse King, Greer McCarthy, Nate Simes, Ben Stephenson, Holly Taylor, Charlie Wedge.

At TPS we love to celebrate Literacy and Books! We have lots of cool events and activities planned for next week. I have attached a couple of websites that have some easy dress up ideas for our Book Character Dress up Day on Friday 18th November. Google images have some great ideas too. Please come and watch from 9.00 when our whole school participates in a Book Character Parade out on the court.

https://www.simplifycreateinspire.com/book-week-costume-ideas/

https://www.womansday.com/life/entertainment/g40261559/book-character-costume-ideas/

https://www.madeformums.com/toddler-and-preschool/last-minute-easy-world-book-day-costumes/

It’s that time again for Pizza & Cookie day, much loved by the TPS Tamariki. As a thanks to all the PTA support with fundraising this year we are having a lucky draw for 20 free lunches! Parents/ Caregivers will be notified by Monday 14th if they have won.

Also attached is the physical flyer- can we please send this home with the Tamariki on Monday 14th November.

Thanks so much for your help!

Last week three teams of Year 5 tamariki represented Taradale Primary at the Regional First Lego League event. 26 teams (Year 4 -8) from across Hawkes Bay took part in the event which includes 4 key components; Innovation Project, Core Values, Robot Design and Robot Game. The Robot Game requires teams to code and design a robot to autonomously complete missions over a 2 minute 30 sec timed run. After numerous challenges throughout the morning all three teams had a great final run in the Robot Game. Special mention goes to Taradale 3 for placing 6th overall in the Robot Game and winning the Breakthrough Team trophy. Not bad for a group of first timers! Ka mau te wehi Taradale Terminators!

Haere ki waho-go outside

Haere ki waho kai ai.

Go outside and eat.

Notan art is from Japan and an example is the yin yang symbol. This art is normally black and white. It means light and dark contrasting with each other and that we need both.

What you need is : A small square black paper, big white sheet of paper, glue stick, pencil and scissors.

You cut out shapes from the black paper and then you do it like a puzzle and put the pieces you cut out back in. Then you flip them out on the edge and glue them. Sometimes you flip smaller shapes back in again and glue them down too.

By Zoe and Whaea Rachel