Week 7 Update

✨ Week 7 is here! ✨
The term is flying by and we’re right in the thick of it—momentum is strong, energy is high, and there’s still plenty of time to make this term count. Let’s celebrate the wins we’ve already had, keep building on them, and lean into the opportunities ahead. Bring on another week of progress, positivity, and plenty of good vibes! 💪🌟

Monday 25 August

• Totara Springs Camp begins 🎒

• Kapa Haka with Matua Rawiri 1.40pm

Tuesday 26 August

• Thames Valley Cross Country (Hauraki Plains) 🏃‍♀️

Wednesday 27 August

• Hub 3 outing to Te Rapa Pools (for non-Totara kids) 🏊‍♂️

Thursday 28 August

• Year 7/8 Technology at Te Aroha College 🔧

• TV Cross Country Save Day

• Ready Set GO 1.40pm

• Gymsports 🤸

Friday 29 August

• 🌼 DAFFODIL DAY 🌼 – supporting the Cancer Society

• Bible in Schools / Values Programme

Here’s a snapshot of our Week 6 attendance picture (Mon 18th – Fri 22nd Aug 2025):

• Overall: 67% of students were regularly attending (162 tamariki).

• Gender:

  • Female – 70% regular

  • Male – 64% regular

• By Year Level:

  • Strongest – Year 5 (81% regular), Year 6 (78% regular).

  • Juniors (Y1–Y4) sitting mostly between 50–56% regular

🌟 Wellbeing Snapshot

• Overall wellbeing score: 7.6

• Most students are feeling positive or great:

  • 88 feeling great 🎉

  • 26 feeling positive 😊

  • 30 feeling in the middle 😐

  • Only 6 feeling negative, and importantly, no students reported needing help 🙌

This shows a strong majority of our learners are in a good space, with only a small group we need to keep supporting.

💛 Gratitude Highlights

• Gratitude given: 140

  • Kindness (Atawhai): 44

  • Humour (Whakakata): 28

  • Determination (Pūmautanga): 18

  • Fairness (Ōritetanga): 11

  • Just say thanks! (Tuku Mihi): 39

• What students are grateful for most:

  • Family (42) and friends (32) remain the biggest themes 💕

  • Followed by home (16), good health (9), and food (8).

  • Lots of students also grateful for music (5), hobbies (7), and holidays (4).

Gratitude is staying high, with beautiful themes around relationships and belonging.

📊 Experience & Benchmarking

• Overall experience score: 7.9

• Material basics (9.1) remains our strongest domain 💪.

• Learning (8.2) and participation (8.1) are steady and strong.

• Healthy (7.5) has lifted +0.5 this week 🎉.

• Valued and safe (7.9) dipped slightly (–0.5), something to keep an eye on.

• Positive sense of identity and culture (7.3) is also an area we can nurture further.

Compared with other NZ schools, we’re sitting above average in nearly every domain 👏.

💡 Takeaways

• Wellbeing is steady and strong overall, with the majority of students in a positive space.

• Gratitude continues to flow through the school, centred on relationships, kindness, and determination.

• The big uplift in “Healthy” is fantastic to celebrate 🌱.

✨ In short: Our tamariki are thriving in many ways – connected, grateful, and resilient. A few areas need gentle strengthening, but the overall Pulse is warm, positive, and moving in the right direction.

Tauʻolunga 2025

This is beautiful and a must watch! We are so proud of Mavae and Raimania - our whole school was mesmorised by your performance today. Mālō 'aupito .

Confidence

Last week we held our annual Yr 6-8 Speech Competition. Our speech finalists were fantastic - they showed poise on the stage, had engaging and well constructed speeches and presented these confidently. Public speaking is not an easy thing to do but these students made it look easy! We are very proud of these students

A special thank you to Miss Maber from Te Aroha College, who was our adjudicator. We appreciate her time, guidance and expertise.

Kia tu Kia toa Kia mau - accept the challenge

Last week, our Yr 7/8 students completed their last session in their rotation for Tech. And what a way to finish!

Super cool to see the excitement of our students who completed their clocks in Wood Tech and also those that made fry bread and doughnuts in Food Tech!

A massive thank you to the Technology Department Te Aroha College for providing such awesome learning opportunities- we love Tech! New rotations begin this week.

Kia tu Kia toa Kia mau - accept the challenge!