VOGELTOWN SCHOOL TE KURA O HUATOKI

Kia ora Vogeltown whānau

The partnership between home and school plays a powerful role in your child’s learning journey. When parents, caregivers, and the school work side by side, our tamariki benefit in so many ways. A strong connection between whānau and school enriches learning, strengthens relationships, and helps create a positive, supportive environment where children can flourish.

There are plenty of opportunities across the year for you to be involved, and we warmly invite you to take part in whatever way works for your family. You might choose to:

Support learning at home by taking part in our reading nights and enjoying regular reading time together.
Attend learning conferences to celebrate progress and set goals.
Encourage your child to participate in school life, whether that’s in sports, kapa haka, leadership roles, or special themed days.
Volunteer your time as a coach or manager for a sports team.
Volunteer to help at road patrol (we are still in desperate need of volunteers! Please see Mrs Seed if you are able to help)
Lend a hand at events such as our whānau fiesta, cross country, or hāngi.
Come along to school gatherings like the hāngi or pōwhiri.
Join the Home and School Committee and contribute to planning and supporting school initiatives.

Your involvement truly matters. When children see their whānau engaged in their school community, they feel proud, supported, and motivated to participate. By working together, we strengthen our connections and help create a school where every child has the opportunity to thrive.

Thank you for being an important part of our school community. We appreciate your ongoing support.

Have a great weekend!

At Vogeltown, the pōwhiri is a special way of bringing everyone together, and last week we welcomed our newest students and their whānau into our school. It’s wonderful to now have these people as part of our Vogeltown whānau.

A treasured part of this occasion is wrapping our newcomers in the Korowai o Manaaki - our cloak of care. This taonga (treasure) is reserved for special moments and when it is placed on someone, we are gifting them the aroha and mana of all those who have worn it before.

A huge thank you to Rachel Pretty for her work supporting our kapa haka students to get ready during what has been a very busy week. We also want to acknowledge the boys who spoke and the girls who led the karanga: Nicole, Freya, Charlie, Emma, and Lucas - you all did an outstanding job.

We would like to thank our Home and School Committee for their generous donation of $10,000 last year. They entrusted the school to spend these funds in ways that would enhance the school experience for all children - and we are very grateful for that support.

Thanks to this donation, we were able to purchase:

An outdoor speaker system
A new AED (Automated External Defibrillator)
A shade sail for the school pool

Their support has continued this year, with further funding generously provided towards:

Classroom consumables
School library
A new monitoring and dosage system for the school pool

These contributions make a real and lasting difference to our learners. The time, energy and fundraising efforts of our Home and School Committee directly benefit every child at our kura.

TARANAKI TEAM

The Taranaki team have made a wonderful start to the year, settling quickly and confidently into their new classrooms. It has been a pleasure to see how happily they have adapted to new routines, learning spaces, and expectations. The students are already showing a growing independence and a real enthusiasm for being at school each day. We are very proud of how smoothly they have transitioned into their new spaces and look forward to an exciting year of learning and growth.

HUATOKI TEAM

The Huatoki team has had a fantastic and settled start to the year. Each class has spent time getting to know one another, building strong class connections, and creating positive learning environments.

We are currently focused on the Learning Pit, using a growth mindset to help us persevere, take risks, and know that mistakes help us grow as learners. We are also diving deeper into our understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, exploring its meaning, why it is important, and how it connects to us today. It's been great to see the children engaging thoughtfully, asking questions, and sharing their ideas.

We're really proud of the positive start we've made and are excited about the learning journey ahead as we work towards a successful and rewarding year together.

PAETOKI TEAM

We have had a fantastic start to the year in the Paetoki team, with children settling in smoothly. It has been wonderful to see them growing in confidence and enjoying their time in class. Across the team, students are learning to use Chromebooks effectively, creating self-portraits, and beginning to work in their new books. These first few weeks are an important time for establishing strong foundations in reading, writing, and maths.

We are off to a fantastic start and look forward to the weeks ahead as our children continue to settle in, grow in confidence, and enjoy their learning the Paetoki Way.

Unfortunately OfficeMax is no longer making the Warwick My Literacy Book 3 that many of our students were required to get for their stationery this year. We're sorry for this inconvenience and are disappointed that we were not made aware that this would happen.

We have found an alternative from Warehouse Stationery. The replacement book is: Warehouse Stationery Literacy 3.

We have ordered these and will have stock in the office this week. We apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused and appreciate your patience.

Our annual Whānau Fiesta is fast approaching and we are looking for helpers on the day (Wednesday 11th March).

If you are able to help with serving up, on the bbq, set up on the day, pack down, home baking pricing... could you please fill in this google form and the Home and School will be in touch.

Whānau Fiesta helper form

We have recently adjusted our Four Year Old Friday times to 10am to 11am. This better supports our New Entrant children as they begin their school journey. This change allows us time in the morning to help our newest learners settle into their classroom environment, establish routines, and feel comfortable in their space before transition visits begin. We want to ensure a calm and positive start for everyone. Additionally, these visits will now include “Starting School the Vogeltown Way” discussions with teachers in the junior staffroom, providing valuable information about our approach to learning and helping to keep you as informed and supported as possible.

It's that time of year when our tamariki need protection from the sun's harmful rays - bucket hats must be worn every day during Term 1. We have the famous Vogeltown School bucket hats for sale at the senior office for $20 each, but any bucket hat can be worn. Children not wearing a hat will need to remain in a shaded area during break times. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Thank you to those who have registered their children for summer sports. We are looking for a few more players to fill up the following summer soccer teams:

Year 1 - the team is full

Year 2 - space for 2 more

Year 3 - space for 1 more

Year 4 - space for 2 more

Year 5 - space for 1 more

Year 6 - we currently only have 2 players registered so we need at least another 3 to make a team.

Our numbers for touch rugby remain very low. Cut off for registration is today so if you are wanting to play, please head to our Kindo Shop and enter your registration today.

If you have any queries regarding sport, please feel free to email me on michelle.sleep@vogeltown.school.nz

TERM CALENDAR

Put all these dates in your diary or your phone! Remember we will put all updates on Facebook, Skool Loop and Seesaw.

TERM 1 2026

17 February: BOT meeting, 6 pm

20 February: Four Year Old Friday, 10am - 11am

25 February: Kindy triathlon

26 February: Taranaki, Huatoki, Paetoki syndicate triathlons

27 February: Whānau triathlon

27 February: Whole school assembly, Room 9

9 March: Taranaki Anniversary - School closed

10 March: Cohort 2 New Entrants start

11 March: Whānau Fiesta

13 March: Whole school assembly, Room 10

17 March: BOT meeting, 6 pm

20 March: Four Year Old Friday, 10am -11am

25 March: Weetbix Tryathlon

31 March: Learning conferences

1 April: Learning conferences

2 April: Final day of Term 1

3 April: Good Friday - School closed

20 April: Teacher Only Day - School closed

21 April: First day of Term 2

2 July: Final day of Term 2

3 July: Teacher only day - School closed

Thank you for the ongoing support of Vogeltown School, we really appreciate the efforts everyone makes to ensure our kura is such a great place to learn and work!

On behalf of the Vogeltown team, ka kite ano! Enjoy the weekend!!

The VS team

VOGELTOWN SCHOOL CONTACTS

Email: office@vogeltown.school.nz
Website: www.vogeltown.school.nz
Location: Vogeltown School Huatoki Street, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: (06) 753 6843

Our school policies, like many schools, are now in an online system through a portal called 'Schooldocs'. Any time you want to bring up a school policy, just log in to schooldocs and you can access the policies.

The login is: vogeltown

The password: huatoki

Website link to Schooldocs.