School Newsletter Term 2, Week 11

It has been an incredibly busy and exciting time around the school grounds as we continue to upgrade, refresh, and develop our spaces to better serve our tamariki. Here is a quick look at where we are on our latest property journey.

The Enviro Group’s Mara Kai Garden takes shape

The biggest buzz on campus right now is coming from our brand-new Mara Kai Garden.

Thanks to the incredible hard work of our student Enviro Group, construction is officially underway! This space is being purpose-built to integrate directly into our Power Hour initiatives, giving our students hands-on experience with sustainability, food production, and kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the land).

What’s happening next? Over the coming weeks, you’ll see raised beds being completed, soil being prepped, and the first winter/spring crops going into the ground. A massive shoutout to the students and staff who have been rolling up their sleeves during Power Hour to make this dream a reality!

Alongside our new garden, we are continually working on maintaining and improving our core facilities to ensure a safe, vibrant, and modern learning environment for everyone.

• General Maintenance: Routine structural and safety checks are ongoing to keep our classrooms top-notch.

• Future Spaces: We are in the early planning stages for our next round of minor capital works—stay tuned for updates!.

Next time you are on-site, take a stroll past the Enviro area to see the incredible progress our students are making on the Mara Kai Garden.

Ngā mihi nui,

.

Tony West

Principal

We would love to see you in the hall for a 2.10pm start. Lost Property will also be on display and after today everything will be donated. Please have a look as you walk past and take your belongings.

Our 11 week Term 2 is coming to a close, and we want to congratulate all of our students on a fantastic first half of the year. We wish all of our families a safe, restful, and relaxing winter break filled with plenty of downtime. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for another exciting, action-packed Term 3 at Te Kura o Urumutu.

Your child will be bringing home their mid-year report today. These reports offer a valuable snapshot of your child's academic achievements and social growth during the first half of the school year. Please take some time to review the feedback together with your child to celebrate their successes and set goals for the rest of the year. Please check school bags for your child's report at the end of the day.

This year, our Matariki theme was "Matariki Herenga Waka - For Everyone," and our community truly brought this to life! It was wonderful to see our school come together to celebrate the Māori New Year through the tradition of sharing kai and culture.

The success of our Matariki Hāngī was thanks to an incredible collaborative effort. Our Year 5 and 6 tamariki worked alongside whānau helpers to peel, cut, and pack the trays, while our hardworking hāngī pit tāne ensured everything was cooked to perfection. Seeing the smiling faces of our tamariki as they enjoyed the taste of hāngī was a highlight for us all.

We also want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who supported our "hakathon" fundraiser. Our tamariki performed with such whakamana, sounding beautiful and proud. Thanks to your donations that are going towards purchasing new kapa haka uniforms! Kia pai a koutou hararei!

Room 13 have had a lot of fun learning about Matariki over the last few weeks. We have studied the stars associations and read lots of stories about Matariki and Puanga. We welcomed our Room 16 friends over to make lanterns and we enjoyed helping them and sharing our skills. Our favourite activity has been making our Pepeha Kites. We had to show a lot of Whakamana to write our pepeha, colour and cut our kite templates and, most of all, fly our kites!

Our school recently held our Jumping June event. This took place during lunchtime and the children had a blast!

Skipping provides a fantastic full-body workout that strengthens a child's heart, bones, and muscles while burning off extra energy. It also acts as a brain booster, rapidly improving balance, coordination, and rhythm as kids learn to time their jumps perfectly.

The school showed whakamana in the way everyone persevered and tried different techniques. A huge thank you to those people that donated online to the Heart Foundation.

WEEK 11

• Pihipihinga VIBE Assembly - Friday 3 July
• EPIC Music - Friday 3 July
• Last Day of Term 2 - Friday 3 July

TERM 2 SCHOOL HOLIDAYS: Friday 3rd July - Monday 20 July

TERM 3, WEEK 1

• New Entrant Visits - Wednesday 22 July
• 6 Week Conferences (Room 16) - Wednesday 22 July
• Pae Tamariki - Wednesday 22 July
• Pataka Kai Display (Room 2) - Thursday 23 July
• EPIC Music - Friday 24 July

WEEK 2

• Year 6 Monrad Intermediate Roadshow (1.55pm) - Tuesday 28 July
• New Entrant Visits - Wednesday 29 July
• PNINS Roadshow at PNINS - Thursday 30 July
• VIBE Assembly: Te Wao Nui o Tāne - Friday 31 July
• EPIC Music - Friday 31 July
• Namiki School Visit - Friday 31 July

Term 1: Monday 2 February - Friday 3 April

Term 2: Monday 20 April - Friday 3 July

Term 3: Monday 20 July - Friday 25 September

Term 4: Monday 12 October - Friday 11 December

Term 1 for Term 2: Wednesday 26 February 2026

Term 2 for Term 3: Wednesday 14 May 2026

Term 3 for Term 4: Wednesday 30 July 2026

Term 4 for Term 1 2027: Wednesday 7 October 2026

It is very important that families register with Kindo, as this is now the only way to register your child for school sports, and ordering PTA lunches.
Below are the links to register.
If you require help please call the Kindo helpdesk on

0508 454 636

New users need this link

Existing users need this link