Marco School Community Newsletter

Firstly, a massive THANK YOU to the Fundraising team and everyone who has worked tirelessly to pick up hay. This is always the biggest fundraising event of the year for the school community and as always the amazing support from the Whanga community means all those bales are picked up and carted to sheds ready for winter. We make sure the money raised from this is used to provide some awesome resources and opportunities for the students to participate in.

Congratulations to Jack McFarlane who competed in the Whanga Shears on the weekend. He was so proud of himself when he was telling us all about it on Monday morning. Tommy also needs a special mention as he did a fantastic job. Well done boys!

It has been wonderful to see our whole school out on the turf together for hockey training — lots of energy, teamwork and skill-building on display. The tamariki will be all ready for their hockey festival in Stratford in a few weeks. Check out the photos in the newsletter.

Across all learning areas, our children are working incredibly hard. It is such a pleasure to see the progress they are making. We know they are proud of themselves and how far they have come — and so they should be! It’s amazing to think this is only Week 6.

We are also very excited to have been invited to a Kiwi Release Day at Toko School near the end of term. What a special opportunity for our students to be part of such a meaningful experience.

Our first working bee will be on Saturday the 11th of April, 10am–12pm. We will be focusing on placing our whānau pou in the driveway, taking down the old tin shed by the pool, tidying the Caretakers shed and replacing the sandpit roof. We welcome everyone to pop on down and lend a hand — many hands make light work!

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. It’s a great term to be part of our school community.

Mel and the team

Our mission is ‘We can, and we will provide a quality learning environment that will help our students achieve and become valued participants in our society

Principal: Mel Gee Email: principal@marco.school.nz

BOT Chairperson: Rowan Jordan

Email: office@marco.school.nz for newsletter notices

Website: www.marco.school.nz Phone: 06762 5815

6th March - TOD for Curriculum learning . School is CLOSED

9th March - Public Holiday . School is CLOSED

11th March - Swimming Sports Huiakama

13th March - Hockey at Stratford Turf Years 3-8

16th March - ED Cluster Swimming Sports at Stratford Pools Year 5-8

18th March - BOT meeting

20th March - Tech day for Year 7 and 8's

27th March - Kiwi Release - Toko

30th March - Life Ed at Huiakama

31st March- Athletics at Ngaere Years 1-4

2nd April - LAST DAY OF TERM

2026 Tech dates for Year 7 and 8 students

20th March (Friday)

Please remind your child to wear covered in shoes (no gumboots or crocs) and take their water and lunch!

Discovery time is totally child led, with plenty of opportunities to develop skills (Key Competencies) that support all our learners right up until when they move on to their next learning adventure as a Year 9.

When teachers set up Discovery time, they are including activities that will encourage the development of :

*Thinking

*Using language, symbols, and texts

*Managing self

*Relating to others

*Participating and contributing.

These capabilities help students live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of society…but we just think of it as having a super time enjoying each other and our school (and being treated to Molly’s yummy cake- THANKS MOLLY!)

Our House Leaders really got stuck in to a job that wanted to do for the children at Marco- a new sports gear trolley. With Mr Gee’s help Amber, Blake and Jedidah have created a really fantastic option for storing and using our PE gear! What an awesome way to reuse and recycle something kids- ka rawe!

The school has been busy learning a new skill - Hockey! In a few weeks the Year 3-8 students are heading to Stratford for the day to participate in a Hockey Festival with other schools. So we thought the whole school could learn as well.

This term our focus is about what makes us unique. All the families brought in photos of their families and we made a big family tree in the cloak bay! Leanne also found a WHOLE bunch of photos and historical documents about Marco School. The children were fascinated to make connections with the community and their own families. Can you spot some people in these photos?

Just to keep adding to the amazing events that happen at Marco School- our whole school will be learning a new language together. How exciting is that! Our instructors are Year 10 students from Rosmini College in Auckland , and we join them with other schools from across NZ every Tuesday. Last week the children learnt how to say hello and ask people their names.

At Marco School, we intentionally dedicate teaching time to developing Cyber Smart skills. This means explicitly teaching students how to be safe, responsible, respectful and confident online. By building these skills early, we are ensuring all learners are well prepared for the next stages of their learning journey — through primary school, into secondary school, and as capable participants in our increasingly connected global world. Our Junior students use Ipads and our Year 4-8 students use laptops. They use the Google Suite to showcase learning, as well as having learning apps that connect to the curriculum to support their understanding in their core curriculum areas of Reading, Writing and Math. Pretty cool stuff kids- Well done!

On the 17th, the tamariki had a BLAST with Julie and Chris- the New Plymouth Education Firewise Team!

Check out these smiles! Every child has already written a thank you card or a story to send into our visitors- what manākitanga!

After the day had ended I got an email from Chris saying how well behaved and polite the children were and he was impressed that the children all remembered their new learning that they were taught before the visit!

Every fortnight our year 7 & 8 students travel into Stratford High School to attend tech lessons. These lessons can be anything from digital technology (robotics, coding) to sewing and screen printing, pottery, botany, knot tying and leather work. Sending our senior students to these tech lessons is another way in which we are getting them ready for their future learning as they move on to secondary school. Paige and Harley have both created an awesome gear bag that they've sewn and screen printed in their own design.

We try our best to show our Values in everything we do - in and out of the classroom. Every week we focus in on one Value and talk about how this looks, feels and sounds around our school and in our classrooms. Our Values cup is given out to an ākonga who has been spotted showing ALL of our 5 Values.

Ruby received the Values Cup for showing all our values but being outstanding in Opportunity! Ruby is a bright and ambitious student who works hard in every subject. She remembers her learning goal and is proud to see her improvements as the weeks go on. Well done Ruby!

Grace consistently shows all our values, however she really shone by showing her Community values. Grace is a very busy Kaitiaki student and often goes above and beyond collecting and bagging fruit as well as sharing it with the students. She always leads a helping hand to everyone and is just a positive, kind role model. Tino Pai Grace!

Next board meeting: 18th March 6pm

Marco School BOT welcomes any comments or feedback that you may have.

Please feel free to contact any of the members:

Mel Gee, Rowan Jordan, James McFarlane, Hass Herbert and Jess Jane

Manaakitanga

For the ākonga (students) of Marco School to develop a sense of wellbeing and personal identity.

Mahi Tahi

For the ākonga, whānau, and kaimahi (staff) of Marco School to collectively strive to be the best they can be.

Kaitiakitanga

For the ākonga of Marco School to take responsibility, make a difference, and give back.

We have all our school policies and procedures on SchoolDocs

https://marco.schooldocs.co.nz

username: marco - password: whanga

Do you have a 4 year old child that you would like to enrol? Please get in touch as we love to have a good transition period to make sure they are settled and happy.

Our next little group of 4 and half year olds are starting on Tuesday the 10th and having weekly transitions into Piwakawaka class.

Saturday the 11th of April, 10am–12pm

Jobs include:

putting the whānau pou in the driveway

taking down the old tin shed

tidying the Caretakers shed

replacing the sandpit roof

Many hands make light work - we welcome any helpers on the day.

We are still after any spare round poles and tyres to use at school. If you have any lying around we'd love you to get in touch