Kōkopu Newsletter

Kia ora whanau,

We have had another learning filled two weeks since our last newsletters. I have been super impressed with the level of writing in classrooms lately. I thought the arguments in Room 5 about Mr Overeem taking all laptops away was very convincing. They used clearly organised arguments with some good evidence. At the same time, I was happy to see Room 4 working hard on their laptops using the Writers Toolbox online platform to improve their paragraph and sentence skills.

Alongside our fantastic writing we have been studying major world events, starting with ANZAC day. This year we were involved in two services. One here at school and the local Maungatapere community service at the hall. A big well done to all the year 7 and 8 students that helped at both services. It is great to see their leadership and confidence on full display.

Our Year 5 and 6 students had a great day at the WPSSA Winter Sports at Kensington. The students looked like they were really enjoying the day mixing with students from across the Whangarei area. Our school values were on full display with great sportsmanship and care for others.

We had the privilege of having the senior management staff from Whangarei Heads School come visit last Friday. It was great showing them around our amazing little school and sharing the excellent learning our students are doing. They were particularly interested in our year 7-8 program, Caught Being Good app and how we are managing the huge amount of curriculum and assessment change schools are going through at the moment.

Nga mihi nui

Yaron Overeem

PRINCIPAL

This Friday 8th May the children will be going to Mangakahia Sports Complex to enjoy a day where they build models of specific subjects. This is a free program through our COL schools.

The children will take the bus to the sports complex leaving Kokopu School at 9am. Please have them to school on time so they don't miss the bus.

There is a consent form on Skool Loop to fill in please.

What a fabulous day the year 5 and 6 children had at Winter Sports last week at Kensington Park. Thank you to Teresa, Maxine, Hohua, Kirsty and Louise and Rachel who helped coach/manage our teams.

WPSSA Year 7 and 8 Winter Sports will be held on Wednesday 13th May at Kensington Park. The children will be taking the bus to this event but we will need parents to help coach some teams. Please fill in the consent form on Skool Loop.

What a wonderful time everyone had on our camp to Auckland. We went to Auckland Zoo, Kelly Tarltons Sealife Aquarium and stayed the night there. The next day we finished our trip with a visit to the Auckland Museum.

A huge thank you to all the parents who accompanied us on camp, helped with transport and supervision. You were all amazing!

The children represented our school really well, managing themselves and being respectful. They had a fantastic time too.

See our facebook page for pictures.

Term 2 2026

Mon 20/4 Start of Term 2

Wed 22/4 Kapa Haka starts and every Wednesday this term

Thu 23/4 Gymnastics Practice starts and every Thursday until the comp.

Mon 04/5 BOT Meeting

Fri 8/5 Lego Day at Poroti

Wed 13/5 WPSSA Year 7 & 8 Winter Sports

Mon 01/6 Kings Birthday No School

Thu 04/6 Gymnastics Competition

Mon 15/6 BOT Meeting

Thu 25/6 Country Meal Study

Tue 30/6 Matariki Planting Day

Thu 02/7 House Day Winter Sports

Fri 03/7 End of Term 2

2026 Term Dates

• Term 1: Tuesday 3 February – Thursday, 2 April
• Term 2: Monday, 20 April – Friday, 3 July
• Term 3: Monday, 20 July – Friday, 25 September
• Term 4: Monday, 12 October – Tuesday, 15 December

Don't forget Lunch Orders are available at school

• Pizza Fusion - Tuesday
• West End Sushi - Thursday
• Titoki Store - Friday

Order for the whole term. Order the night before - or even by 9am on the day. Perfect for busy households and bare pantries. Scan the QR code below to order:

Lyn Moase will be taking guitar and ukelele lessons again this year starting on Wednesday 11th February. Please phone Lyn on 0212979437 if you would like to book your child/children in for lessons.

Room 6 will travel by bus into Manaia View School on Mondays for Technology lessons.

Please ensure all Year 7 & 8 students are here by 9am to catch the bus.

We would love to welcome new members to our PTA. Any help with events on the food stalls would be appreciated. i.e. Swimming Sports, Triathlon etc. If you are interested in joining us or helping out please contact Amy Pugh phone 0211729388.

As a parent at Kokopu School you have access to our free Qustodio – Parent Internet Monitoring App and online safety advice. The Qustodio Parent App is a comprehensive parental control and digital wellbeing app designed to help you manage and supervise your child’s online activities. With over 6 million parents and 24,000 schools worldwide using Qustodio, it stands out as one of the most trusted and best-rated apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

· You can learn more about how to set it up here: kokopu.onlinesafetyhub.nz/parent/topics/Qustodio

· Make your free account here: https://www.qustodio.com/en/30-days-school-special/?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=OSHub&utm_campaign=kokopu-nz

If parents/caregivers want to visit the website https://kokopu.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm to look over our school policies and procedures, please see the following instructions: Enter the username (kokopu) and password (0179). Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

Don't forget we are collecting Yummy Stickers. So please collect the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy apple stickers. Yummy apples are available from New World, PAK’nSAVE and participating Four Square stores. The more you collect, the more sports gear you get so get going and start collecting your Yummy cut-out labels and stickers now!

Email: office@kokopu.school.nz
Website: www.kokopu.school.nz
Location: 921 Kokopu Road, Kokopu, New Zealand
Phone: 094346765
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kokopuschool