Kōkopu Newsletter

What a fantastic term it has been! It has been filled with amazing learning activities, events, and opportunities for our students to shine. At Kokopu School, we pride ourselves on offering a broad curriculum paired with high expectations for academic success, and the last couple of weeks have been a testament to that. Highlights have included some outstanding presentations at our speech competition, students participating in sports events, and a super fun Wacky Hair Day, raising money for the Child Cancer Foundation.

Looking Ahead to This Week:

· Wednesday Evening: Journey and Annabeth will represent us at the Year 8 Mangakahia Lions Speech Competition.

· Friday: House Quiz Day.

On Sunday, a lovely memorial was held at the Kara Hall to remember Trevor Nicholls, a former principal of Kokopu School. Past staff and pupils gathered to share fond memories and funny stories, reflecting the immense respect and admiration our community holds for an outstanding former leader.

Holiday Grounds Maintenance Notice: During the upcoming holiday break, Mahi Drones will be spraying the school grounds to target weeds and pesky Onehunga weed prickles. For safety reasons, please do not enter the school grounds if you see the drone in operation.

Can we please have all ag day trophies back ASAP.

Thank you.

www.kokopu.school.nz/agday

All animals and gardens should now have been registered online for Ag Day which is to be held on Saturday 17th October.

If you haven't registered, now is the time to do it please.

Thank you.

This year we have reduced the Ag Day craft activities to 1 per teacher. (6 in total.)

On the Friday 16th October before Ag Day, all students participate in a craft-making day.

• Students make their way around the classrooms and complete all the crafts.

• These crafts are judged by staff and displayed in classrooms for families to view on Ag Day.

• Parents are welcome to come and be parent helpers - A notice will go home prior to the day.

• Parents will be asked to help in a set classroom/activity. This is so that there is enough help in each class to get through all the activities.

• We ask parents not to follow their children around, but to assist all students

• All creations are to be made at school on Friday, not at home.

Please go to our Ag Day site for the full list of Classroom Craft activities.

www.kokopu.school.nz/agday

Journey and Annabeth will represent Kokopu School at the Mangakahia Lions Speech Competition at the Mangakahia Sports Complex on Wednesday 23rd at 7pm. A few of the valley schools will be competing.

Everyone is welcome to go along and support the children.

Get ready for the end-of-term House Day Quiz competition next Friday, September 25th!

Students will join their mixed-year-level house groups to tackle fun quiz questions created by our teachers. To add to the excitement, students are encouraged to wear their house colours for the day:

Kea: Green

Kererū: Purple

Morepork: Black

Pūkeko: Red

Tūī: Blue

Dear Parents, Whānau, and Caregivers,
We are excited to share that during Week 2 of Term 4 (19th – 23rd October), our school will be delivering Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS)—a fantastic safety and well-being programme developed in partnership with the NZ Police.
We are lucky to have Community Constable Darron Goodwin delivering the programme alongside our teachers. The students love working with "Goody," and for many, this is a wonderful, positive opportunity to interact directly with a police officer.
As part of the Health and Physical Education learning area of the NZ Curriculum, KOS focuses on empowering our tamariki. Through engaging, age-appropriate lessons, students learn practical skills to build confidence, establish healthy boundaries, and navigate daily interactions safely.
What KOS gives our students:
• Confidence & Independence: Learning how to trust their instincts and speak up assertively.
• Positive Relationships: Understanding respect, personal space, and how to treat others well.
• Problem-Solving Skills: Knowing how to identify safe people and ask for help whenever they need it.
We value working together with you to support our learners. You can explore parent guides, tips, and home resources on the NZ Police School Portal.
https://www.police.govt.nz/advice/personal-and-community-advice/school-portal/resources/successful-relationships/info-parents-whanau
Please feel free to reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions or would like to learn more about the program.

Term 3 2026

Mon 21/09 BOT Meeting

Wed 23/09 Mangakahia Lions Speech Competition

Thu 24/09 House Day Quiz

Fri 25/09 End of term 3

2026 Term Dates

• Term 1: Tuesday 3 February – Thursday, 2 April
• Term 2: Monday, 20 April – Friday, 3 July
• Term 3: Monday, 20 July – Friday, 25 September
• Term 4: Monday, 12 October – Tuesday, 15 December

Kia ora,

My name is Kirsty Tuhiwai, and together with Maxine Page-Taare, we're getting a new Mangakahia Basketball competition up and running from Term 1, 2027 at Mangakahia Area School.

Games will be held on Mondays from 3:30pm, with grades from U8 through to U14, and we’d love if you could please share this with your school community.

The idea came from us being two mums who are sick of travelling into town every week just so our kids can be active and involved in sport. We thought, why not bring something closer to home and create another opportunity for our rural kids and whānau within our own community?

A big thank you to Mangakahia Area School for allowing us to use their hall for the competition and for being so supportive of the idea from the start.

We’re also working with Northland Basketball to help us set the competition up well. They have offered to run basketball activation days at local schools, so if your school would be keen, just let me know and I can pass your details on to their representative.

We’re definitely not basketball experts, just two determined mums! So if you have parents, staff or anyone within your school community who might be interested in helping with refereeing, coaching, organising or being involved in any way, we’d love to hear from them too.

Our Facebook page, Mangakahia Basketball, will be our main place for updates and registration information:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61593608944957

Email: office@kokopu.school.nz
Website: www.kokopu.school.nz
Location: 921 Kokopu Road, Kokopu, New Zealand
Phone: 094346765
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kokopuschool