Newsletter 23rd June 2022

E tūtaki ana ngā kapua o te rangi, kei runga te Mangōroa e kōpae pū ana....The clouds in the sky gather, but above them extends the Milky Way.

Kia ora whānau

I love this quote and even though, like many quotes, it has a multitude of possible meanings, for me this is all about miharo (awe and wonder). And what better way to think about Matariki than with awe and wonder. Aotearoa has finally caught up with this as an event worthy of celebration and worthy of knowing a great deal more about. To be gifted this day as a public holiday quite clearly shows its importance for us and our culture and we can only but hope that its significance becomes more and more understood and recognised. Not just as a holiday, but as a day that has relevance to Aotearoa as a nation. As we learn more and seek more about this day it will become more and more meaningful. I also appreciate and acknowledge the fact that it is not only us that celebrate Matariki, but that it is also celebrated in other similar forms across the globe. Many cultures and many peoples - our world is indeed a small place!

Back to the awe and wonder though. Our tamariki have an innate sense of wonder and they have shown high levels of curiosity around this, asking great patai (questions) and knowing so much about Matariki. That same curiosity opens up so many more avenues and will ensure that our ākonga (learners) keep on asking questions and finding out more about us as a nation and what makes us tick, what makes us different to other cultures and what we share with other cultures. Everything we do as we learn should enable this type of thinking. Opening up new worlds and new experiences! Our quote suggests that as we look to the skies there will always be that wondering...what is up there? For our learners every day is about looking upwards and wondering. As tamariki we spend a great deal of our time learning about our place in the world and making sense of it all. So, thumbs up to the curious kids!

Yesterday we had our own Matariki celebration and this involved a whole raft of activities, with each of our tamariki being involved in three rotations, busting out some waiata and all of us doing the Matariki Macarena...in Māori of course! A cold, cold day but what better way to spend it than with your classmates creating, crafting, singing, weaving, dancing...and so on. Thanks to the staff for their mahi on this day and, especially, to Andrea Bryant for her organisation of the day. No easy feat, yet she made it look easy!

Ngā mihi

Marty Hantz

This week is Te Wiki Tuao a-motu which recognises and celebrates the contribution made by all volunteers across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Thank you to all of you in the Taradale Primary School whanau who donate your time and energy by volunteering at school. However and whenever you help, you are very much appreciated.

He aroha whakato, He aroha puta mai.

• Matariki Public Holiday - Friday 24th June
  
• End of Term 2 - Friday 8th July 3pm

On the last Friday in the next holidays all of our teachers will be involved in a full day's Professional Development with a focus on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We have also been able to book in for two workshops each on that day, with a vast range of topics linked to Te Tiriti. The 11 workshops include...

• Māori Education Strategies
• Waiata
• Te Whare Tapa Wha
• Aotearoa Histories Curriculum
• Pre to present Ngati Kahungunu history

What a fabulous way of bringing our teaching community together and growing some common understandings for our tamariki in our kura.

We were privileged to host Chad Tareha, from our local hapu Ngati Pārau, on Monday. He blessed our new Māori signs around our kura and shared with our Year 5 and 6 tamariki the story behind Moremore, the shark that you see on those signs. It is an absolute honour for us to be 'gifted' Moremore as he is so significant to Ngati Pārau. and the story behind this is important too.

A very big shout out to the following ākonga (learners) who spoke to Chad as part of the process of blessing the signs and who shared their pepeha with poise - Maia O'Connor, Addy Murphy, and Ella Tipene.

Congratulations to an ex-parent of the school who received a Queens Service Medal (QSM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours this year. Larry Morgan received this award for his services to canoe sports and to viticulture. From the TPS perspective it must be added that he was also a strong member of our PTA for many years and I have it on good authority that he was the man responsible for creating the first canoe polo teams here at TPS. Many of our ex-pupils have gone on to do very well in this sport or in canoe slalom. Congratulations, Larry!

Congratulations to ex-pupil, Eva Ronberg (Year 13, Napier Girls High) who recently represented New Zealand in Whitewater Canoe Slalom in the European Canoe Association Junior Cup in Slovenia last week. Tino pai rawa atu, Eva!

Wow! Kapai mahi koutou! In our wonderful library there is an even more wonderful display that celebrates Matariki. The whole of the library has been blacked out and there are stars everywhere. What a neat way of ensuring that Matariki is given its full importance. There is also some great art on display courtesy of Room 14. We have so many books about Matariki and they are prominently displayed for all to see. Koa to Claire and Helena for their mahi around this!

Kia ora whānau,

Last Friday a group of TPS tamariki were invited to spend time at the Waiohiki Marae. After being welcomed into Hau Te Ananui, we began our journey of learning about the history of our local iwi. Ngāti Pārau shared with us their Pou and the history behind each of the images. We felt blessed to spend time at our local marae and to be able to share this experience with another kura in our Kāhui.

Ngā mihi nui to our whānau who supported us on this hīkoi, we really appreciate your time!

Here are some pictures from our time at Waiohiki Marae

We have included the table below for your reference and, as you will note, we continue to have a steady number of active cases. This has rarely moved into the double digits which has meant that there has been so little disruption to classes or to learning programmes. With this has also been a very strong community acceptance of the need to keep unwell tamariki at home. We never enjoy asking for learners to be picked up so the response of you, as whanau, has been ever supportive and impressive. Please do remember that we must be told when there is a positive case involving one of our pupils.

Tu meke! Too much!

What a sight it was ... Monday after school at the crossing! An army APC (Armoured Personal Carrier) stopped to let the tamariki over the crossing. There was huge excitement from the kids, and some parents, as this enormous vehicle waited particularly for our kids to cross.

We have too many vehicles of all sizes that don't stop at the crossing so it was awesome to have the APC do so!

The Y holiday programmes.