It has already been a busy few weeks but we want to acknowledge and welcome our new whaanau to our kura and welcome back our tamariki who have returned.

WELCOME WHAEA DEBORAH WILSON

We are very happy to welcome Whaea Deborah Wilson who is teaching Year 3&4 in Room 7.

Nau mai, Haere mai Whaea Deb :)

KOROMATUA SCHOOL STUDENT COUNCIL 2023

We have announced our Koromatua School Student Council for 2023. I wanted to inform you of their specific roles.

Head Boy

Benson Elkington

Head Girl

Liahona Nin

Secretary

Damian Chalmers

Kowhai Roopu Leaders

Baden Haeata

Elelina Hoko

Rata Roopu Leaders

Te Manawa Turangi-Joseph

Jaylah Makata

Rimu Roopu Leaders

Jackson Cammock

Nahva Masei

Totara Roopu Leaders

Caylis Daniels

Brooklyn Smith

We look forward to working alongside these tamariki as they serve in their various leadership roles this year.

Other students will also serve in the yearbook committee, as lunchtime coordinators, bus monitors, PE shed monitors, librarians and Wet-Day monitors. We appreciate these students and their willingness to serve within our kura.

CYCLONE GABRIELLE

Cyclone Gabrielle has affected so many whanau around Aotearoa. Our heartfelt prayers and aroha go out to whanau who have lost their homes, livelihoods and those who have lost loved ones. We think of whanau in our community who have loved ones in those affected areas.

There are a number of community organisations who are doing what they can to awhi/help our whaanau in these areas.

Thank you to our whanau who gave so generously last week to those affected by the cyclone. Two large trucks went to Napier and Wairoa to deliver these much needed items.

If you were unable to donate items but still want to help. You can give money. This is one organisation that is taking monetary donations.

Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou

01-0641-0232397-00

ANZ Bank

ANZ's swift code: ANZBNZ22

TE MATATINI KAPA HAKA FESTIVAL 2023

My whanau and I attended this much anticipated event and what an event it was. 45 kapa haka roopu from around Aotearoa performed waiata tira, whakaeke, moteatea, waiata-a-ringa, poi, haka and whakawaatea. It was inspiring, spellbinding, emotional, funny, captivating and brought so many people together. There had been lots of debate about whether this event should continue or be postponed due to those people who had been severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, but the organisers decided to continue and it was well worth waiting for. If you haven't seen Te Matatini it is on TVNZ where you can see all 45 groups. You can also see different groups on youtube.

TOUCH PIGGY TOURNAMENT 2023

This event started last week and it has been AMAZING! Our tamariki are fast, agile and quick. They dart around on the field with boundless energy. We have had the Yr 7&8, Yr 5&6, Yr 3&4 finished today and tomorrow our youngest tamariki, the Yr 1&2's will play touch piggy.

This game was started by 'Uncle Alby Ellis' a long time member of our community who played this with his basketball players during his weekly basketball trainings. It soon caught on and tamariki were playing it everywhere. Stuart Cassidy brought it to Koromatua and it has been a firm favourite among our tamariki for years. It was great to start it up again as we haven't had this tournament for a couple of years.

The Student Council have been running this event during several lunchtimes. They have organised their teams, supervised them and also done score keeping, time keeping, running the boundary lines and refereed games. Tumeke tamariki ma!

NZEI PUBLIC UNION MEETING

Wednesday 1st March 1:30pm - 2:30pm Onsite

This union meeting is for all teachers who are members of NZEI - Te Riu Roa. The public union meeting will be onsite and during school hours. Kaiako were going to attend the hui at the Claudelands Events Centre but I applied to have this hui on our school grounds. In this way it would minimise disruption for our tamariki and staff.

We are showing our support for our kaiako and tamariki by doing the hui this way.

School will remain open and we have non-union kaiako, a reliever, myself, our teacher aides and our librarian who will teach our tamariki during this time.

KOROMATUA SCHOOL TWILIGHT GALA

Friday 3rd March

3:30pm - 4:15pm - Meet your child's kaiako

4:30pm - 7:30pm - Gala

Please keep this afternoon free. You can meet your child's kaiako earlier and then enjoy some delicious kai. Tamariki can have a swim and you can check out all the awesome stalls. Our school kapa haka roopu will perform, along with our beautiful Temple View Hula Girls.

TUAKANA/TEINA SWIMMING SPORTS

Wednesday 8th March 9:00-1:00pm Gallagher Pools

This event is for our more capable swimmers who are 8 years of age and over. They will compete in different swimming events. Some of these swimmers will be selected to represent our school at the Lower Waipa Swimming Championships on Friday 17th of March at Te Awamutu Aquatic Centre. A newsletter for those selected tamariki will come out towards the end of this week.

SCHOOL TRIATHLON/DUATHLON

Friday 10th March

Our awesome tamariki will participate in cycling, running and swimming as an individual or in a team. A newsletter is attached which gives you more information about the day.

Tuakana/Teina tamariki will do their triathlon from 9:30am - 12:15pm and our Potiki tamariki will start their event at 1:50pm.

We look forward to a great term of learning and connecting. Please keep safe whaanau and look out for one another.

Kia haumaru, Kia atawhai

Nga mihi aroha,

Rosina Nin

Tumuaki