Kōkopu Newsletter

Kia ora koutou katoa,

Welcome to our latest school newsletter. It is hard to believe how quickly this term is flying by! We have been incredibly busy here at Kokopu School, and I am continuously proud of the energy, creativity, and dedication shown by our students and staff.

A very warm Kokopu welcome to Ayla Flemming, Khan Clapperton and Sam Caie, who have started with us over the last few weeks. It is always a joy to welcome new faces into our school. Seeing how quickly they have settled in and made friends is a testament to the inclusive, caring environment our students and staff foster every day.

Celebrating Our Students & Learning

The Magic of Stick Day!

"Stick Day" was an absolute success! We saw an amazing array of sticks across four distinct categories. The enthusiasm and creativity truly captured our school vision growing great kids. The judging was a serious matter, and the event reminded me just how special it is to be part of a vibrant, rural school community.

The story behind Stick Day starts earlier this year at the Tangihua camp when Alex Jesen found an incredible stick and shared his passion with me during our long walk back from an activity. As we chatted about the criteria for a "perfect stick," the idea of a school-wide celebration was born.

Alex stepped up as our Head Judge for the day alongside Vivienne McCormick. Together with Logan Plummer and Louie Reynolds, they developed an official set of stick criteria. Some of my personal favourites included the requirement that wizard sticks must have a good “THUMP” factor, and wands absolutely had to “swish well.” Ka pai to everyone involved, we are already looking forward to the next one!

Exploring Australia

Classrooms have been buzzing as students have been studying Australia. I have been super impressed by the high-quality writing reflecting their new knowledge, as well as the stunning dot art popping up around the school. Our teaching staff have done an exceptional job of bringing this unit to life, blending social sciences, literacy, and visual arts beautifully. If you have a spare moment, please pop into the classrooms to admire the completed displays.

Reports update

Just a quick reminder about reports. Teachers are busy finishing off assessment and writing student reports at the moment. Reports go home on Friday 24th July and Parent interviews will be held on Tuesday 28th of July. We do have some slight changes to our report format this year including the required Ministry of Education changes to the achievement descriptors.
Previously we have used:
Considerable Difficulty | Some Difficulty | Age Appropriate | Strength.
The MOE now requires us to be using the following:
Emerging | Developing | Consolidating | Proficient | Exceeding

What do these descriptors mean?

Developing

Consolidating

Proficient

Exceeding

There will be more changes required for next year and we will give more information about this in 2027.

Thank you all for your ongoing support, involvement, and partnership in making Kokopu School such a wonderful place for our tamariki to grow and thrive.

Ngā mihi nui,
Yaron Overeem

Principal

Kōkopu School

It is time to think about getting your calf, lamb, goat or chicken for Ag Day, which will be held on Saturday 17th October. All animals must be born after the 1st July. Information on raising an animal is on the school website https://sites.google.com/kokopu.school.nz/agday/

We have sourced chicks for those children who want to raise them. They will be a day or two old when you get them in the first week of term 3.

All order must be in by Tuesday 16th June.

Please click the link below to make your order.

https://forms.gle/Jj9GW7kzefpeUehe6

On Tuesday the 23rd June we are having an Australian meal at lunchtime to finish off our study of Australia, and to cut costs, donations of mince and lemons would be very much appreciated.

Please let us know if you can help us out.

Children should bring food for morning tea, and if they are fussy eaters it may be a good idea to pack a bit extra too please.

We are having school photos taken by PhotoLife this year. They will be taken on Monday 29th June.

A flyer has been sent home explaining how to order your child's photo online.

More flyers are available from the school office.

Orders for sibling photos must be handed into the school office before photo day.

Sibling photos will be taken from 8am onward on a first in basis.

Now that we have completed the majority of our property projects, our gardens need a bit of tender loving care. If you, or a group, are keen to come in on a regular basis and do some gardening, improving what we have, please call in and see Yaron, our principal.

We have jars of Tahi Bee Honey for sale for $8.00 for 400 grams.

If you would like to buy some honey, pop into the school office with $8.00.

Thank you.

Please come into the school to collect your children at the end of the day.

We have noticed children running out into the carpark to their parents cars and this is a cause for concern. No children should be in the carpark unsupervised.

Term 2 2026

Mon 20/4 Start of Term 2

Wed 22/4 Kapa Haka starts and every Wednesday this term

Mon 15/6 BOT Meeting

Tue 23/6 Country Study Meal (Australia)

Tue 30/6 Matariki Planting Day

Thu 02/7 House Day Winter Sports

Fri 03/7 End of Term 2

Term 3 2026

Wed 12/08 Taniwha Cross Country Challenge

Tue 18/08 Kokopu School Cross Country

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

Don't forget Lunch Orders are available at school

• Pizza Fusion - Tuesday
• West End Sushi - Thursday
• Titoki Store - Friday

Order for the whole term. Order the night before - or even by 9am on the day. Perfect for busy households and bare pantries. Scan the QR code above to order:

Lyn Moase takes guitar and ukelele lessons on Wednesdays. Please phone Lyn on 0212979437 if you would like to book your child/children in for lessons.

We would love to welcome new members to our PTA. Any help with events on the food stalls would be appreciated. i.e. Swimming Sports, Triathlon etc. If you are interested in joining us or helping out please contact Amy Pugh phone 0211729388.

As a parent at Kokopu School you have access to our free Qustodio – Parent Internet Monitoring App and online safety advice. The Qustodio Parent App is a comprehensive parental control and digital wellbeing app designed to help you manage and supervise your child’s online activities. With over 6 million parents and 24,000 schools worldwide using Qustodio, it stands out as one of the most trusted and best-rated apps on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

· You can learn more about how to set it up here: kokopu.onlinesafetyhub.nz/parent/topics/Qustodio

· Make your free account here: https://www.qustodio.com/en/30-days-school-special/?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=OSHub&utm_campaign=kokopu-nz

If parents/caregivers want to visit the website https://kokopu.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm to look over our school policies and procedures, please see the following instructions: Enter the username (kokopu) and password (0179). Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

Don't forget we are collecting Yummy Stickers. So please collect the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy apple stickers. Yummy apples are available from New World, PAK’nSAVE and participating Four Square stores. The more you collect, the more sports gear you get so get going and start collecting your Yummy cut-out labels and stickers now!

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