It is hard to believe we are half way through the term and already into Ngahuru Autumn. I have been isolating with my whānau and am missing chatting with whānau at the gate and seeing our gorgeous tamariki each day!

At Te Rōhutu Whio we believe that it is important to maintain normality and a good dose of fun for our tamariki. Last week we loved opening the whare pukapuka library with our book character day and this week we look forward to celebrating Holi.

Whanaungatanga (belonging to one big family) is our focus and we want to celebrate the cultures of all of our whānau. We will have a colour run on Paraire Friday to honour our large Indian whānau. Your child will need an old shirt for this as they may end up covered in coloured chalk! The spirit of this festival is to laugh, dance, play with colours and forget your worries so we think it is perfect for this time. St Patricks Day is also on Tāite Thursday and tamariki are of course most welcome to wear some green on this day if they choose to. If your whānau has things that you celebrate we’d LOVE to hear about them. Please email your child’s kaiako teacher and we will come up with a plan for sharing and celebrating!

It has been great to see so many ākonga learners connecting with kaiako and engaging with ako learning through Seesaw while they are isolating at home. As of this afternoon, we have six students across both whānui and the learning village, who have tested positive for Covid-19. We miss seeing some of you in person but hope that we are back together very soon.

We are aware that online learning can be difficult for whānau if you do not have a current internet connection in your home. The Ministry Of Education is able to provide support for a short time for whānau who do not have access to an internet connection. If you would like to find out more about this, please contact Hākui Cindy at cindyn@terohutuwhio.school.nz.

We know that it’s a tricky time for many whānau and so we would like to introduce ‘handle with aroha’ emails. We understand that information can be sensitive or confidential to your whānau so if your child has had a challenging night, morning or weekend, just flick your child’s whānau teacher an email that says ‘Handle with aroha’ in the subject line - no extra information needed. Nothing will be said to your child but it will let us know that we need to give them extra time, patience, help and kindness.

Arohanui from our hearts to yours and keep safe out there everybody!

Kia pai te rā. Enjoy your day.

Kate Morgan

Kaihautū Principal

We have a team of ākonga who have volunteered to become librarians to show rangatiratanga. They have started their training so that they can support their whānui within the library. The librarians have been enjoying opening the library at break times for other students to borrow books, and read. This has been very popular. We love seeing ākonga so excited about the range of books, and reading with each other. The librarians are also excited to share their love of books on our recommendations shelf. We’re sure it will be full very soon!

Due to covid, all inter-school sports have been cancelled so we are providing sporting opportunities within Te Rōhutu Whio. Last week our sports activator Kate Lloyd from Selwyn Sports Trust ran a ‘Whakatipu Kaihautū’ workshop for any ākonga learners in years 5-8 who are interested in sports leadership.

Kate used the STEP model to teach our tamariki about how we can modify games so that everyone can be involved, challenged, and feel successful. We also learned about the ways in which a good leader shows our values in sports.

The tamariki created their own kēmu games and shared them with our leaders rōpū group and gave each other positive feedback and next steps.

What a fun session, and some great pūkenga kaiārahi leadership skills in action! We are now looking forward to running some kēmu for others during our wā manaaki break times!

At Te Rōhutu Whio we want to provide our tamariki with the full benefits of extensive resources, additional learning programmes, and special opportunities that we can all be very proud of. This can only be achieved with your support.

The school donations are currently set at $20 per term.

Although school donations are voluntary, we would be highly appreciative of payment.

This donation is tax deductible and a ⅓ can be claimed back from the IRD. The IR526 form is downloadable from the IRD website. Payments made prior to 31st March 2022 can be claimed from April 2022.

School donation funds are used to purchase sports gear, reading resources, library books, music and art equipment, & additional learning assistant support.

Donations can be paid online through the Kindo school shop.

Join members of our Board and Senior Leadership team to dicsuss Rolleston College's move from one to two campuses. We look forward to both sharing and listening.

WHEN: Tuesday, 22nd March 2022

TIME: 7:00pm to 8:00pm

WHERE: Rolleston College School Library

To register your attendance, please email. - nicola.maxwell@rollestoncollege.nz

Group singing - $11.50 for a 30 minute session

Individual singing - $19.50 per 30 minute private tuition

Piano lessons - $18.50 per 20 minute private tuition

For further information or registration, please contact Jacqui Soper, Singing Stars Selwyn

jacquisoper@googlemail.com