Porritt School Press
OCS-Spring Junior Newsletter
Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, haere mai ki wiki tuawhitu o te wahanga tuatoru. At the beginning of Week 7 of Term 3, it is lovely to see the sun. Hope everyone enjoyed a lovely weekend.
We have enjoyed some action packed weeks for sure! Last week started off with a brilliant Cross Country. What an awesome day out for our kura community. How cool to see our tamariki all strive for excellence and display all that determination!
We also hosted our Skip-Off last Friday. This was a perfect way to cap off a five week focus. These kids can skip! We have raised an incredible $18,722!!
Our learning at school around 'Te Hītori o Te Kura' - the history of the school from 1975 to now, has been ongoing. We enjoyed a really special hikoi around the school recently - a tour of each learning space from Team Tahi to Team Whā. It has been a great learning inquiry for our tamariki - learning about the history of our school. Hopefully you've heard plenty of fast facts at home!
We have plenty to look forward to with four weeks left in the term. Take your time to stay in the loop. There is also notification here about a teacher-only day in Term 4 on Tuesday 28 October. This is the second of our Ministry of Education required NZ Curriculum focused professional development days. We appreciate your support with this day.
Ngā mihi whakamiha - respectful regards,
Maaka Papuni - Tumuaki/Principal
Our Porritt School Board Triennial Elections take place this year on Wednesday 10 September.
Jo Hayes, our Returning Officer, has posted out voting forms to all parents and caregivers on the school main roll. Please have those completed forms returned to school by 4.00pm on Wednesday 10 September.
We have three vacancies and received five nominations. This is a fantastic sign of a really engaged community supporting our kura.
Candidates are;
- Lee-Ann Grant
- Kane Nepe Apatu
- Puhiwahine Nepe Apatu
- Rhondda Sweatman
- Daniel Whyte
Election results will be shared on Wednesday 17 September.
NZEI Primary Teachers, Support Staff and Principal's Union Gathers
This week, all NZEI Union members at Porritt School will attend Paid Union Meetings during the school day on Wednesday and Thursday. We will not need to close during this time, but will be short staffed. We have made this decision to stay open to minimise disruption for our whānau and caregivers, but we do want to bring these meetings to light.
This is the first union campaign involving teachers, support staff and principals in one collective action. It is normal for individual groups to negotiate separately. The NZEI backs a call to come together to highlight resourcing challenges, staffing challenges, and equity for it's members. The campaign is titled 'Kimi Haeata - Back our Future'.
Ultimately, teaching needs to be attractive enough as a pathway for young educators. We are facing a staffing and resourcing crisis and need some action before the situation reaches crisis point.
Hopefully our paid union meetings are fruitful and lead to some positive negotiations with the Ministry of Education 🙏
