Pāpāmoa Primary

Kia ora whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2! It has been a great start to the term, and it is a pleasure to see everyone back on site, refreshed and ready for the busy weeks ahead.

A very warm welcome to the new whanau and tamariki who have joined our school community this term. We have had one of our largest cohorts of five-year-olds yet, with 19 new entrants starting their journey with us. I would also like to extend a special welcome to the new international families joining us this term—it is great to have you here.

Math-a-thon Success

As many of you know, the first two weeks of the term have been filled with "maths, maths, and more maths" as we ran our annual Math-a-thon. While we planned this event well before recent cost-of-living increases and rising fuel prices, we shifted our primary focus toward the learning and the maths itself.

That said, I am absolutely blown away by the effort across the school. As of last Friday, we have raised over $19,500! I want to give a massive shout-out to our top individual fundraisers: Harry Roberton ($750), Vayda Crinson ($590), and Flynn Vos ($550). What an incredible achievement.

The stakes were high this year, with classes competing for the "prize" of throwing their teacher out of a plane, thanks to the generous support of Skydive Tauranga. A huge (and perhaps slightly nervous) congratulations to Whaea Tracey and Whaea Noelle, who "won" and took the plunge on Monday! You can check out the video of their jump here:

https://sites.google.com/papamoa.school.nz/ppssportsevents2025/cross-country/information

The Important Pou Points

Even more impressive was how our tamariki excelled in their Math-a-thon tests. Points were awarded to each Pou based on test performance, and the results show just how much progress has been made:

• 1st Place: Pou Nui (1,145 points)

• 2nd Place: Pou Roa (1,090 points)

• 3rd Place: Pou Tai (1,080 points)

• 4th Place: Pou Uta (1,020 points)

It was a very close race, and the improvement in maths across the board is fantastic to see.

My next challenge is to turn these funds into our pool refurbishment. I will keep you posted on progress and may be calling for a "working bee" soon to see if any skilled whānau can help us stretch these dollars even further.

School Holiday Support

A huge thank you to Kendrick Smith, Sam Thompson, and their daughters, who popped into school over the holidays to help Jason with some maintenance. We really appreciate you giving up your time to support Jase and keep our grounds looking great.

Cross Country: This Friday

This Friday is our annual Cross Country at Gordon Spratt Reserve. For all the details, please use the following links.

• Event Times: View Schedule Here

• Course Maps: View Maps Here

The weather is always the "wildcard" for these events. We will make a call on the morning if the weather looks doubtful and will post updates via Facebook and Seesaw. Fingers crossed for a clear day!

Important Dates: Teacher Only Days

As in previous years, the Ministry of Education has provided all New Zealand schools with two Teacher Only Days (TOD) to support upcoming curriculum changes.

Our first TOD will coincide with King’s Birthday weekend. Please mark Friday, 29 May in your calendars as a Teacher Only Day. For your long-term planning, our second TOD for 2026 will be on Friday, 20 November.

School Hāngī 2026

We will be holding our annual school hāngī toward the end of this term as we lead into Matariki (which falls during the school holidays on July 10).

We often have a few parents who like to join us on this day, nice and early for the lighting of the fire. Please mark your calendars for Thursday, 2 June.

I look forward to seeing many of you down at the Gordon Spratt Reserve for the Cross Country this Friday. It is always such a great day of community spirit and perseverance from the kids.

I also look forward to catching up with you over the coming weeks at our Principal’s Award Assemblies as we celebrate the hard work and achievements of our tamariki.

Take Care

Ngā Mihi
Matt

Growing Through Grief is currently running the Seasons for Growth programme at Papamoa Primary for 2026.

In small groups, young people are assisted to understand their experience of change, loss and grief. The programme provides a safe learning environment for young people where they can give their voice to their experiences, understand their feelings, learn skills that help them adapt, connect with others, and recognize ‘I’m not the only one’.

Young people attending may: • have a parent absent from their lives due to relationship breakdown or separation • have lost a close family member due to illness, age, suicide, violence, or accident • have a close family member absent due to time spent in mental health units, prison, or rehab • be living in alternative care away from their own parents or home • be experiencing other loss or change in their family life.

STORMBIRDS PROGRAMME – NEW ADDITION.

In addition to this programme and following the impact of recent weather events (flooding and slips) upon our region we are offering a new programme for tamariki which is aimed at managing post-disaster stress. This small group programme is called Stormbirds and provides tamariki who have lived through a natural disaster/natural weather events the opportunity to examine the impact of this experience on their lives. It supports them in understanding and managing the changes they have experienced, learning they are not alone in dealing with the impacts and supports them to develop coping, problem solving and decision-making skills.

If you would be interested in your child attending either of these programmes at school, Please fill out an online referral form on the Growing Through Grief website: https://acw.org.nz/acw-programmes-enrolment-form/

Both programmes have a cost of $20.00 per student. An invoice will be sent out by the school for any child/children attending prior to the programme commencing.

Any further questions please contact Jemma Rapson – (SENCO) or Tauranga Growing Through Grief Coordinator- Tracey Maris: tracey.maris@acw.org.nz

The energetic Fun First Football Team is back in Term 2 for an action packed 8 Week Programme! Free Trials available too.. This is for kids aged 4 - 9yrs old. For more info or to Book your spot, simply go to their website https://funfirstfootball.co.nz/

School Starts 8:40am

Morning Interval 10:30am - 11:00am

Lunch 12:40pm - 1.30pm

School Finishes 2:35pm Years 0-2 and 2:40pm Years 3-6

Please contact the office if your child is going to be absent from school on :

Phone: 542 3261 (absentee message service)

or

Email: papamoaprimary@papamoa.school.nz

or

Website: http://www.papamoa.school.nz/report_an_absentee

Please include your child’s name, team and room number and reason for absence.

If your child arrives at school after 8.40am they are late. Please ensure they sign in at the office before going to class. Thank you.

As part of our attendance communication system, an automated text message will go out to all unexplained absences. This number is a reply once only.

While we understand that families sometimes need to take time away from school, it is essential that we as a school are notified.

Any absence longer than 20 school days will need to be approved in advance by the school principal. You can do this by sending an email to papamoaprimary@papamoa.school.nz explaining the reason for your child's absence and the dates they will be away. If your child is absent for longer than 20 school days the MOE instructs us to remove a child from our school roll. If you live outside of our school zone there is no guarantee that your child will be able to re-enrol at Pāpāmoa Primary School. It's important to keep communication open between us. If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please feel free to reach out to us.

Thank you for your cooperation and support in your child's education.

School lunches are available everyday. Orders can be made via the School Shop by clicking here! Just one login for every school payment. Simple and easy!

You can order (or cancel) any time before 9am on the day or schedule in advance.

Lunch will be delivered to the school in time for lunch.

Get started now… Click here or go to www.mykindo.co.nz and click ‘create account’.

Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or tel. 0800 EZLUNCH (0800 395 8624) week days 8am-4pm.

It would greatly assist us if you could please advise the office if you have any changes of address, phone numbers or emergency caregiver details.

In the event of an emergency, sickness or injury we need to be able to contact someone who can collect your child.

All students are required to hand in prescribed medications to the office.

Office staff will only administer medicines to students once a form has been completed and signed by a parent or caregiver.

Would you like to know more about our School Policies and Procedures?

We invite you to visit the site at https://papamoa.schooldocs.co.nz
(note that there's no "www.").

Our username is "papamoa" and password "3118".

Phone: 07 542 0865

Location: 312 Dickson Road, Pāpāmoa

Email: admin@papamoa.school.nz
Website: www.papamoa.school.nz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PapamoaPrimarySchool/