Kura Tuatahi Toko Panui

Dear Parents and Friends of our school Kia Ora/Hello/Kamusta/Talofa

Kia ora koutou e te whānau,

This is an early newsletter with lots of reminders re Calf and Lamb Day. There will be no newsletter on Thursday :)

Now that it's Term 4 we are all required to wear bucket hats at school when we are not in the classroom. We have these for sale at school or you can bring a bucket hat from home. Please make sure these are named :)

Just a wee reminder that we discourage tamariki bringing toys, balls etc to school. If they would like to bring something to share that's absolutely fine and then the teacher can look after it.

This term we are planning a school hangi to coincide with Whanau Day. In our classrooms we will be learning about this cultural celebration, the planning, preparation, rituals and protocols that surround this. If whanau or other members of the community would like to assist with this, have knowldge to share in our classrooms, and want to get involved with the learning please reach out to your tamariki classroom teachers or myself. We would love your input and knowledge.

Have a great rest of the week.

Ngā mihi nui

Kim Waite

Principal

A big Toko School welcome to Charlee G, Room 1 and Emma G, Room 3 and their whanau starting at school this week. We look forward to getting know you both.

We will be making our creations for the Hall of Creativity on Wednesday. Please see the link below with all the information about this.

This year we will be running a cake auction once again. We encourage as many families as possible to donate some baking to this. The baking can be dropped off at school on the morning of Calf and Lamb Day to the school garage and placed on the work bench.

We will also be selling a couple of raffles. Raffle 1: Firewood Raffle 2: Vege pod

Tamariki with a calf or lamb come to school with their whanau on this day and leave with their whanau after the event has finished. Tamariki without an animal can arrive as per usual or they can arrive no later than 10am on this day.

If your tamariki are arriving at school at 10am please make sure that when they arrive at school, they find their teacher and let them know that they have arrived. If your tamariki will not be at school you must notify the school by 9.00am (there is an answering machine for you to leave a message and reason). Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Judging starts at 10.30am and children with animals need to be at school for animal registration at 10.00am. They must go to the registration table (without their animal) outside Room 4 to see Mrs Hinton and she will give them a number, on their hand. If you have a calf it must have a NAIT tag.

The tamariki will stay in one place for all judging categories and will have the same judges. At the end of each category the judges will announce 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Highly Commended and present the ribbons. Then move on to the next category. Once all judging has been completed for the calves and lambs, the judges will collate all the results and at the final prize giving we will announce champion lambs and calves for each section.

Children without animals will sit down and support the children that do, and will be surpervised by classroom teachers.

Food will be on sale on the day: Sausage and bread, meat pattie sandwich with coleslaw and onions, muffins, hot drinks, cans of drink and small chocolate bars.

We require a few parents to assist with selling food or cooking on the bbq. If your child doesn't have a calf or lamb are you able to help us from 9.30 - 11.30 or 11.30 - 1.30

Postponement Date Friday 16th October & Monday 19th October

We will send out an alert on HERO and on our Facebook page in the morning with cancellations.

The gate to the school field beside the hall and the Ahuroa Road entrance will be open, parents whose children have a lamb or calf are encouraged to drive into the school grounds and park.

Before 10.30 your children will be called to line up in front of the sandpit ready for the competition.

We will also have a preschool ring and preschoolers can just turn up on the day and register.

It is really important on the day, that people do not wander down by the course when the children are competing.

All children entered their calf or lamb at the end of last term. If plans have changed over the holidays and your child is no longer able to enter their calf or lamb can you please contact the office to let us know.

The details for calf and lamb day are on the following documents which are saved on our school website:

Guidelines 2026:

Calf & Lamb Day Guidelines 2026

Calf and Lamb Day Course Guidelines 2026

Hall of Creativity

Dates for the 2027 school year have been set. These have all been added to our school calendar on our website.

On Wednesday 28th of October the school Kapahaka group will be performing in the Puanga festival held at the Waitara War Memorial Hall. We will be travelling by bus leaving school at 10.30ish and will be returning to school at about 2pm. All students will need to bring their packed lunch and drink bottles. We are due to perform at 12.45pm. Please note that you will need a koha (donation) to enter and that all doors are closed during performances so you will need to be in and seated before our start time.

Calendar art will once again be available for sale this year. It is currently with the organisers and we will let you know as soon as it is ready for purchasing. It will be available online again to make things quicker and easier for you.

Please be aware that later this term on we will again be having our school hangi. Each class will be given a food item that they will need to bring along to contribute towards this ie potatoes, pumpkin, kumara. We would also appreciate any donations of meat that you are able to give.

Taranaki Cross Country

Life Education Trust and their educator, Tom, will be visiting our school next week with their mobile classroom and mascot Harold the giraffe. Life Education Trust is a specialist health resource, working to educate and inspire tamariki to make positive choices for their health and wellbeing. Our teaching staff have worked with Life Education to identify lesson topics that support our students learning needs and align with our teaching of the health curriculum. You can learn more about Life Education and the Healthy Harold programme at: www.lifeeducation.org.nz

The Life Education Truck will be visiting us from the 21st - 23rd of October. All classes will have two sessions with the focus for each class being as follows:

Room 1 - the importance of kindness and resolving conflict

Room 2 - being unique, kindness and being a good friend

Room 3 - being resilient and dealing with feelings and emotions

Room 4 - why we might react and respond differently to our world and those around us

Room 5 - being an upstander, keeping safe online

There will also be two parent sessions available for anyone who would like to know more about the sessions their children will be having or to just have a look inisde the bus.. The first session will be from 2.40 - 3.00 on Wednesday 21st October. The second session will be 10.30 - 11.00 on Thursday 22nd October.

Keycodes have been sent via email to families. As this is a new system, we have been asked to please remind you to check your junk, spam, or promotions folders, in case the message was filtered.

Free delivery applies to orders placed before midnight on Sunday, 25th October 2026.

Please note this date is different from the orginal email as they have given us an extra week.

Hoodie Order

Annual Toko Pig Hunt

This is run as a community event and is a major fundraiser for our school. All children who enter receive a prize pack regardless if you catch all or some or none of the big 3.

ENTRIES ARE NOW OPEN! Click on the link to access the entry form via our website or via the Toko Pig Hunt Facebook Page. Hard copies are available at the office.

Planning is well under way with lots of amazing sponsors. Below is a roster for parent help. If you are able to help at any of the times below please either call or email: office@toko.school.nz

Thank you to our wonderful Friends of Toko School (FOTS) for once again organising and providing hot lunches on a Friday. If you are able to assist with making a hot lunch once a term, please contact the school office, and someone from the committee will get in touch. We make the lunches in pairs, so you won't be left to make them on your own.

Click on the link for TERM 4 LUNCHORDERS.

Lunch orders must be made at the start of each term and placed by Tuesday 20th October.

2026

October 14 - Hall of Creativity - items made at school

October 15 - Calf and Lamb Day

October 19-21 - Life Education Bus at school

October 20 - Lions Speech Contest - Year 7 & 8

October 25 - Pig Hunt

October 26 - Labour Day

October 28 - Puanga Festival Week

November 2 - Rural Cluster Athletics Y5-Y8 pp 4/11

November 3 - BOT Meeting 5pm

November 13 - Year 8 Orientation at Stratford High School

November 18 - Rural Cluster Tabloids Yr1-Yr4 pp 19/11

November 26 - Learning Journeys available

December 8 - BOT Meeting

December 10 - Hangi Whanau Day TBC

December 14 - Year 8 Leavers Dinner

December 15 - Year 7 & 8 Big Day Out

December 16 - Term 4 Ends

January 29 - Whanau Interviews

Febuary 1 - Term 1 2027 starts

Term 4- Please see the school calendar on our website for all dates, this is just a summary of events.....

Email: office@toko.school.nz
Website: www.toko.school.nz
Location: 1057 East Road, Toko, New Zealand
Phone: 06 7622849
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TokoSchool/?ref=bookmarks