Awakeri School Newsletter 23/10/26
AWAKERI SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
23 October 2026 No 30
Website : https://www.awakeri.school.nz/
Office/Absences Text: 027 246 4120 P: 3049506 E: office@awakeri.school.nz
From the Principal
Term 4 Week 2
What a busy and productive start to Term 4.
Between Ag Day, Group Day, the Halloween Disco, our upcoming Athletics days, and our Mega Garage Sale, there is so much happening across the school. Alongside all of these exciting events, learning remains in full swing. At Awakeri, we keep our learning routines ticking right through to the very end of the term to maximize student engagement and progress.
It was fantastic to host the Rangitāiki Schools Group Day here on Monday. We welcomed students and animals from Awakeri, Thornton, Edgecumbe, Matatā, and Otākiri for a day of great competition in the rings. We were blessed with beautiful sunny weather, and the day was a huge success. A massive thank you goes out to our Ag Day Committee, parent helpers, judges, and generous sponsors. A special THANKS to Missy and Brigette for their incredible hard work in pulling the whole day together!
Our Halloween Disco last night was a blast! It was fantastic to see so many weird and wonderful costumes coming through the doors and enjoying the evening. It is always a highlight for those that come, and we extend a warm thank you to everyone who stayed behind and helped supervise and clean up.
Our school Athletics Days will take place next week on Wednesday and Friday.
Please ensure your children come dressed appropriately with their sun hats and water bottles.
Parents and whānau are warmly invited to come along and support. It is always a great display of our students trying their best and showcasing their skills!
With 340 active students sharing our vibrant playground, break times are always busy. As with any environment where children play and interact, social issues and minor conflicts naturally arise, and our staff manage these incidents daily. If your child experiences a problem at school, please always contact us in the first instance. There is always more than one side to every story, and our team is experienced in listening to all involved to help children learn how to unpack, resolve conflict and manage issues appropriately. A friendly reminder from our Raising Concerns and Complaints Policy (available on School Docs): If a member of the school community has a concern or complaint about a student who is not their child, they should contact the school directly. Please never approach another person's child or their parents/caregivers about a school incident.
With so many end-of-year events rapidly approaching, please keep a close eye on SchoolApps and our regular communications so you don't miss out on any of the great opportunities available to our students.
Our teachers put in a massive amount of extra time and effort to plan and run these events alongside their teaching duties. You can support them greatly by responding to notices and returning permissions/forms promptly. We truly appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to seeing you at our upcoming end-of-year events!
Our Mega Garage Sale is next Saturday 31st from 8am to 12pm in the Events Centre. This is a great fundraiser for our school. PLEASE volunteer to help for a couple of hours, there have only been a handful of responses to the request for help! The money that we raise goes towards providing something for your children that our budget doesn’t extend to. If you could spare a couple of hours to help, please do. We know everyone has busy schedules, but if you could spare just a couple of hours, please let us know—many hands truly make light work. If you can help with set up on Thursday 29th or at the garage sale on Saturday 31st please complete this google form Garage Sale help
Each class has a large bottle of Cancer Society SPF50 sunblock available for students. Students are encouraged to apply sunblock before coming to school and at least once throughout the day. If your child requires a specific sunblock please make sure they have some in their bag. We have a no hat, no play expectation during term 1 and 4. Please make sure your child has a suitable hat each day. It is a good idea to have a named hat that remains at school. Children without hats need to play on the shaded deck outside their classroom at break times and can not take part in outdoor PE sessions. Please name all hats that come to school.
Forecasts suggest this will be our first dry Labour Weekend in quite a few years! Enjoy the beautiful spring weather, make the most of the extra day out of the school routine, and have a safe and relaxing long weekend with family and friends.
Thank you for being a part of our great school community.
Ngā mihi
Louise
POLICE VETTING FOR OVERNIGHT CAMPS 2027
REMINDER: All parents wishing to attend school camps in 2027 must have completed a police Vetting application through the school. Forms are available online via the NZ Police website or at the school office. ID and payment($8:50) must be received by our office for the application to be submitted. It is taking the full 30 days for these to be processed currently. Please get your application in by Friday November 6th so that you have the option of attending camp next year. Camps start at year 3. No forms submitted in February will be processed in time for term 1 camps. Once processed they last for 3 years so anyone who has completed one so far is able to attend their child’s camp next year.
Thank you to all our parent helpers that supported our Halloween Disco last night. It was a great success raising around $2000 for our teams to spend on resources and activities. We really appreciate your support. Once again a huge thank-you to Loren McKay who once again let us borrow her many Halloween decorations to make the Event Centre transform into the Halloween theme for the night!
Maori Language Week Prize Winners. Competition was to design a NZ road sign, Liam 3rd, Amelia 2nd and Daphne placing first.
Awakeri Way 23 October
Lucas at the Beach
Attendance
The graph below shows our school's attendance for this term. Moving forward, we will share a weekly update as we strive to meet the government's target of 80% of students attending school more than 90% of the time.
Important Reminder: If your child is going to be absent, please let the office know by 9:15 AM.
LOST AND FOUND
REDBANDS
Has someone picked up Size 2 Redbands which are named inside with Sophie instead of a pair of Size 1 with the initials BB? Please swap at the office, thank you.
Camp Dates for Teams 2027
We know that the beginning of the year is hectic so here are the tentative team camp dates, specific classes are unknown at this stage.
Remember you must have a current Police Vetting Certificate through Awakeri School to be a parent helper on camp. These must be completed, paid for and filed at the school office by FRIDAY NOVEMBER 6th. There are no exceptions for anyone wanting to attend camp without this check in place.
We can not give anymore information yet as classes are not confirmed until much later in the year. There are no camps for a week either side of Top School which is on Sunday 14th March.
Kiwi Camps: 22nd February to 5th March
Tui Camps: 15th to 19th February
Kārearea Camps: 22nd to 26th March and 5th to 8th April
