Term 2 2025

Kia ora Puketapu Whānau,

Welcome to Term 2!

We have a short term - only 9 weeks - but it will be a busy one with lots of learning and special events such as our Puanga celebration. Last year was the first time we held our community Puanga event at school and I am very much looking forward to that again this year. It is a very early start on the day, but a very special experience.

We had 9 new entrant students join us at the start of the term, with more expected mid term, putting our roll at just under 380. We have had a few staff changes too - more about those further down the page.

Winter sports start in earnest this term. We are delighted to have school Netball, Basketball, Miniball and Hockey teams, as well as lots of tamariki playing Rugby, League and Football in community teams. Huge thanks to all the parents who put in their time to make this happen. We couldn't have teams if we didn't have your support.

Ngā mihi,

Katherine Pascoe
Principal

Term 2 tends to be a little wet, a little cold and a lot busy!

Please encourage your tamariki to bring a jacket/raincoat, suitable layers of clothing and maybe a change of clothes if they like to play outside! Gumboots are GREAT on rainy days.

Please make sure clothing is named - we have way too much lost property!

COMMUNICATION

The big idea:

How we communicate is how people understand, connect & respond to us

This will look different for our Teina and Tuakana teams and includes many different age appropriate activities. Encourage your tamariki to share what projects their class is working on around this terms theme. Keep an eye on Hero and SeeSaw as we share our learning with you.

This term will also be packed with plenty of other activities and sports:

• Netball, Basketball and Miniball starts. Teams are finalised and all information comes out via Hero, so if your child is playing, please keep a lookout for notices. If you haven't signed up, sorry, it is too late for this season.
• Duffy Theatre
• NYLD25 (National Young Leaders Day) in Palmerston North
• Year 5&6 Interschool competitions
• Year 5&6 Champions Rippa Rugby tournament
• Year 7&8 Rippa Rugby tournament
• Sensei Shane empowerment groups
• Drama classes
• ... and much more!

There are two Public Holidays this term: - Kings Birthday is Monday 2 June and Matariki is Friday 20 June. School will be closed these days.

Our term finishes on Friday 27 June at 3.00pm.

Make sure you check Hero for all calendar events.

Winter weather often means parents come to pick up tamariki at the end of the day - which makes our school gates busy and potentially dangerous.

When colleting your child, please remember:

• Never park in the drop off bay
• If you are early, park further up the street and wait
• Encourage your child to use one of the other school exits where there is less traffic
• Never park on yellow lines
• Never do U turns
• Be patient and tolerant of others
• Watch out for all tamariki - especially if it is raining. They may not be watching out for you

Kia Manawanui - Have a Heart and let's keep everyone safe at the gate.

Matariki is a time for reflection, remembrance and looking towards the future.

At Puketapu School, we mark this time with a very special event which starts early in the morning so we can see the stars.

On Wednesday 18 June, we will all meet at school at 6.30am for special karakia and waiata around fire pits, then share parakuihi (breakfast) together. We welcome our community to come join us for this special time.

After kai, all students work in whānau groups for the day, moving between activities around the school.

We finish up all back together as a group for some final waiata then school finishes for the day at 1.00pm

More details will follow closer to the time so keep an eye on Hero.

School Day Schedule

8:30am — Students may arrive at school (either to their classroom or Breakfast Club). Teachers are in classrooms.
8:55am — Bell rings for the start of school.
9:00am — Learning Block 1
10:00am — Snack/Fruit Break (‘Read and Feed’)
10:50am — Meal 1: Ka Ora, Ka Ako kai
11:00am — Morning Play
11:30am — Learning Block 2
12:50pm — Meal 2: Lunch (kai from home)
1:00pm — Lunch Play
1:40pm — Learning Block 3
2:50pm — Whaiwhakaaro – Reflection time in class
3:00pm — End of the school day

Important Reminders:

• Children should not arrive at school before 8:30am.

• School finishes at 3:00pm.
  Please avoid collecting your child before 3:00pm unless it’s necessary for an appointment.
  If you arrive early for pickup, please wait in one of the seating areas around the quad or wharekai, rather than directly outside classrooms.

• If your child is late to school or needs to leave early, please come to the school office to sign them in or out.
  (Older students are not allowed to sign out younger siblings without a call or text from home.)

• The school office is open from 8:30am to 3:30pm.

Good Seed Trust after school care is based at Northpoint Church. They offer before and after school care with weekday sessions from 7:00-8:30am. You can contact them on 027 201 8079

Here's the link for Good Seeds New Plymouth for Term 2:

We are delighted to welcome to our team:

Well known around our kura and our community, we are delighted to welcome Mel Keith to a full time teaching role in Room 5.

She is on our board, has worked next door at Puketapu Kindergarten and we've now convinced her to come work with us! Whaea Meg has joined our New Entrant team working with Whaea Moana and Whaea Prishlena.

Student teacher Fiona Powell is in Room 1 with Whaea Prishlena.

From March 10 Fiona will be here one day each week in class, then will do a four week block in October as she trains to be a teacher through Waikato University.

We also bid farewell to:

Mrs O has been our Deputy Principal for a few years but has now moved on to be the Principal of Lepperton School. We wish her all the very best and we know she will be AMAZING!

Whaea Mel has also gone to be a Principal - heading out to Marco School. We wish her all the very best.

Our Design Technology Teacher, Karen Copestake, has seized a wonderful opportunity and headed out to a new role at Lepperton School (we blame the new Principal!) We wish her all the very best. We will be recruiting a new Design Technology teacher later this term.

Room 1. Prishlena Kumar (Year 1)

Room 2. Moana Te Waaka & Meg Corin (Year 0-1)

Room 18: Kennedy Cleland (Year 2)

Room 19. Leanne Fa'aea (Year 2)

Room 5. Mel Keith (Year 3)

Room 6. Louisa Sharrock (Year 3)

Room 7. Vicki Pihama (Year 4&5)

Room 8: Cara Knuckey (Year 4&5)

Room 9. Kelly Harvey (Year 4&5)

Room 10. Michelle Swan (Year 4&5)

Room 11. Flo Harris (Year 6&7)

Room 12. Jemma Garcia (Year 6&7)

Room 15. Andrea Tait (Year 6&7)

Room 16. Cassie Thomson (Year 6&7)

Room 17. Birte Ahlhaus (Year 6&7)

Room 13. Avon Lewis & Marina Collier (Year 8)

Room 14. Molly Remihana (Year 8)

Design Technology: Watch this space!

Specialist / Release Teachers:

Caro Den-McKay, Phil Hoskin, Milly Tuheke, Becky Oliver-Rose, Alisha Kerr

Deputy Principals:

Micaela Westrupp & Avon Lewis

Principal

Katherine Pascoe

We are so fortunate to have Sensei Shane working with a wide variety of student groups throughout our kura this year, this includes working on:

• leadership
• friendship skills
• emotional regulation
• and resilience

through martial arts and coaching.

We are delighted to welcome Leo Kerehoma to our team of people supporting our students.

You might see him working around the school in different capacities, including teaching Mau Rakau as part of electives with our senior.

Don't forget that all school updates, trip permissions, school reports and sports notices come out via Hero.

The easiest way to make sure you never miss anything is download the free Hero app to your phone's home page and keep an eye out for the notification icons meaning you have something to read which relates to your child.

The Hero app is linked to the email address you have registered with your child at school.

If you have any problems at any time with it, please see Kerie or Paula in the office.

All important communication comes out via Hero but we have other channels of communication:

• To showcase our school to the wider community we also have a website and a public Facebook page.
• Our private Facebook group is so families can share their photos of events.

Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child's school career.

Our aim to have tamariki in school to learn every day they can be.

Please remember to report your child as absent if they are going to be away from school.

To report an absence:

• Use the Hero app, click 'report an absence'
• Text our school cell phone 027 755 0973
• Ring our landline and leave an absentee message
• Email us office@puketapu.school.nz

Reminder you have access to the Schooldocs website with the Procedures and Policies for Puketapu School.

https://puketapu.schooldocs.co.nz

Username: puketapu

Password: whakamanatia

For example, check out the Cellphones and Other Personal Digital Devices policy

Kia Māia - Be Courageous

Kia Manawanui - Have a Heart

Kia Kaha - Do Your Best

Kia Ora - Be Well

At our assemblies we will recognise students who have been the stand outs, living our School Values in class and around our school. We also tally up Student of the Day cards to find the winning Whānau Group and hand out prizes!

Please talk to your child about the Values, what they mean and how they can show them at home too.

We love being part of Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the Healthy School Lunches programme, providing FREE school lunches for ALL students at our kura throughout 2025!

Don't be put off by what you may have seen in the media, our lunches are made fresh, on site, every day, by our talented team of chefs in the wharekai - and their most special ingredient in every meal: Aroha!

Free lunches are provided every day for all students, including those with special dietary needs.

As always, all lunches meet Ministry of Education guidelines and are packed with plenty of hidden veggies to keep meals healthy and delicious!

Most meals are served with a snack (such as trail mix, a slice, muffin, carrot sticks with hummus, bliss balls, or sweetcorn) and a piece of seasonal fruit — subject to availability.

The only food students need to bring from home is:

• A healthy snack for the morning Brain Break

• A snack for Break 2

• A water bottle

We are a WATER ONLY School.

Water is brain juice, so we like students to make sure they bring and drink lots of water.

Please don’t bring fizzy drinks or sugary drinks to school.

Lollies are also not usually allowed, unless you are bringing them to share with the whole class for a special treat or celebration, but you must ask the teacher first.

Our Kick Start Breakfast Club serves free breakfast in the Design Technology room every morning, from 8.30am-8.55am.

All welcome!

Kapa Haka takes place every Wednesday in the hall with Matua Phil.

Our whakataetae (competition group) and whakangahau (performance group) have been selected and we are looking forward to seeing them both stand for Puketapu later in the year.

All other students at Puketapu still have the opportunity to learn kapa haka as part of their classroom programme.

LUCKY BOOK CLUB

There are two Lucky Book Club issues per term. Keep an eye out on Hero for when they are out and a brochure can be collected from the school office. Issue #3 is out now! Order online through the Loop or bring your order to the office by Friday 9 May at Midday.

DUFFY BOOKS

We are lucky to be part of the Duffy Books in Schools Programme. Our tamariki receive 2 free books each per term. We also have 'Caught Being Good' Duffy Awards that are handed out and tamariki get to come over to the school office to choose their book.

To help with the costs of our Year 6 - 8 EOTC experiences (including Year 6 Camp, Year 7 Activities week & Year 8 Camp) we are offering this amazing fundraiser.

These family sized pies are great quality, delicious and a wonderful grab and heat dinner to have stored in your freezer. It's a win/win situation for us all. You have a stocked freezer and happy bellies and the school is able to provide these incredible experiences for our senior students.

Buy as many as you like!

Doughboys will deliver them to Puketapu School for you to collect on the 23rd of May between 2.30 - 3.30pm. Click on the link below for more details and to order online. Please share this to your friends and families/whānau too.

https://raised.nz/f/puketapu-school-camps-fundraiser

Our school is participating in this amazing trial run by NPDC and we need your support to win a Mitre 10 Voucher - up to $1000!

How you can help:

• Get the whole whānau involved in the habit of separating tops from bottles.
• Give the tops a quick rinse
• Bring them to school and keep them in your classroom.

Our Environmental team will then collect them up and put them in a collection box which will be collected by the NPDC and taken to Egmont Refuse & Recycling Ltd in Hawera.
The tops will get shredded and made into new items.

There may be times when you have a query or concern about your child.

Open communication is a priority - we encourage family to please, come talk with us.

As a first step, we ask that you begin by speaking with your child's teacher.

The correct pathway is important to follow as by starting with the teacher you are speaking to the person who has the most information and knowledge about your child and others in your child's environments. If your child's teacher is not able to assist you, they will know who to direct you to.

We will do our best to work together for manageable solutions.

Classroom teachers are busy and working hard to give all children quality learning time.

Should you need to discuss an issue, please make a time to meet, either before 8.30am or after 3pm, so the teacher can give you the attention you need and deserve.

We’re excited to let you know that Game Changer Puketapu merchandise is now available for purchase!

Place your order before Sunday, 11 May at: https://www.gamechanger.org.nz/puketapuschool

Orders will be delivered in bulk to school once they are ready. They will be given to your child to bring home.
If you would prefer to collect your order from the office, please let us know.

Important:
When you place your order, please make sure to select "Collect/Pick Up" from the shop — this means they will deliver to school (and it saves you the delivery fee!).

Get your orders in and show your Puketapu pride!

Our wonderful Puketapu Home and School is a group of parents and family members who help fundraise for the school, organise fun events and help look out for people in our community who need a little extra support. Some fundraisers/events to look out for are our annual Golf Day (postponed from last term) which is now on Friday 23 May.

Home and School meet twice a term, at school and all are welcome to come bring their ideas and offer help when they can.

This term the meetings are:

• Thursday 8 May, 6:30pm
• Thursday 12 June, 6.30pm

We would love to see you there!

Please check the Hero App for dates specific to your child's class. Details of school trips, events and sport all come out via Hero.

You can also visit our Online Calendar to keep up to date with events and any changes.

Here are some key dates to pop in your calendar for Term 2. Don’t forget to check the Hero app regularly for updates and to view our online calendar.

🗓 TERM 2 DATES TO NOTE:

• Monday 28 April – First day of Term 2 (Cohort 3 starts)

• Monday 28 April – Mihi Whakatau for new students and whānau – 9.10am in the school hall

• Monday 5 May – Public Health Nurse on site for vision and hearing checks

• Friday 16 May – Whole School Assembly – 9.30am at Northpoint Church

• Tuesday 20 May – National Young Leaders Day (Palmerston North)

• Friday 30 May – Whole School Assembly – 9.30am at Northpoint Church

• Monday 2 June – King’s Birthday – School Closed

• Friday 13 June – Whole School Assembly – 9.30am at Northpoint Church

• Wednesday 18 June - Puanga Celebration 6.30am-1pm (School finishes 1pm this day)

• Friday 20 June – Matariki – School Closed

• Friday 27 June – Whole School Assembly – 9.30am at Northpoint Church

We can’t wait to see everyone back on Monday and hope you all had a relaxing and fun break!

Email: office@puketapu.school.nz
Website: www.puketapu.school.nz
Location: Dillon Drive, Bell Block, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: 06 755 0973