Kia ora parents, caregivers, and extended whanau
It is with much excitement and an equal amount of sadness that we can inform the community that Ms Louise Tupai has been appointed as the new principal of Pukekohe East School. Ms Tupai finishes up with us at the end of this term. Exciting times for her and Pukekohe East are very lucky to have one of our school taonga. I know you will join our team in congratulating her at some stage before the term is out. She is posted on the 'Church' gate in the morning so you might catch her there.
The school Reading Challenge is officially underway. Young Noah Patrick from Room 1 boldly approached me afterschool on Friday. "Excuse me Mr Tawhiti", he said. "Yes, Noah", I replied. "I am going to read every book in my house", to which he then proceeded to give me a fist bump. So we know that Noah is up for the challenge. Are you?
We have had a few local businesses come forward who want to be part of the Reading Challenge. Harvey Norman have donated 3 Jimu programmable robots and Stirling Sports have donated some sports equipment. We also have some Whitcoulls vouchers as part of our prize pool. Thank you very much to Harvey Norman Pukekohe and Stirling Sports Pukekohe.
We have already received great parent feedback from our Dinner Talk initiative. Thank you for trying this at home. If you haven't got on board yet, that is okay, because it has just started and it will keep coming. But by this time next week I would expect every whanau to be trying it out.
Our senior pennants golf team battled to a gutsy win over Chamberlain Park on Sunday. Very interesting course with the Northwestern motorway running adjacent to a few holes. We are now sitting 2nd on the ladder ahead of Waiuku and face the daunting task of playing Windross Farm- the number 1 team- this weekend as we push for a semifinal place. I shall give you an update on how we go in next week's newsletter.
COVID-19 update
As expected we have seen an increase in the number of households impacted by covid-19. Not an exponential surge like many other schools, but it is noticeable. As of 8am this morning we have 4 positive student cases. Two students in Year 3 and two in Year 4. We also have a growing number of children who have to self-isolate due to a positive case in their household. Whilst these developments have emerged over the last few days, I would like to thank those families who have notified the school in each instance and followed the correct Ministry of Health process. To the rest of our families, please remember that school WILL continue as usual. As indicated in my Phase 3 letter (schoolsAPP) last Friday,
- Only positive cases and household contacts of positive cases need to self isolate
- Monitor the general health of your child and apply normal judgement on whether your child is well enough to be at school
- Notify the school if you have a positive household case, in which case your child will also have to self isolate
But please be assured that school is still a safe environment for your child. So don't sit on the fence, send them to school.
Noho ora mai
Mr Tawhiti and the Patumahoe School team
