Pāpāmoa Primary

Update from Matt

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome to the midway point of the term. We are currently in week 6, which leaves us with five more weeks of a busy 11-week term.

The last three weeks have been action-packed around the school! We had a successful school cross-country down at Gordon Spratt Reserve and we were treated to beautiful sunshine. A big congratulations to all our tamariki who participated. For many, the challenge is simply getting to the start line, but I want to give a special acknowledgement to those who placed first, second, and third in their respective races. These children were recognised and celebrated in a special cross-country assembly.

You may have noticed a few extra bikes around the school recently. Over the last two weeks, our Year 5 and 6 students have been taking part in the Tauranga City Council (TCC) Kids Can Ride bike safety course. This programme supports both in-class learning and, more importantly, practical on-the-road lessons to keep our tamariki safe in our community.

On the sports front, we have had teams out at the WBOP Football Festival, and many of our winter sports teams have officially kicked off their seasons. It is fantastic to see our students getting out there and staying active.

By now, you should have seen via SeeSaw or Facebook that this Friday is the first of our Ministry of Education (MOE) approved Teacher Only Days for 2026. Please note that the school will be closed for instruction, so there is no school for your children this week on Friday. You will still see plenty of cars around however, as our staff will be on-site for the day.

A major focus for all schools across the country right now is the rollout of the new Government/MOE reporting guidelines. While it isn't compulsory for schools to adopt these new expectations until 2027, we will be starting to implement the new reporting components during 2026. You will see this new language describing your child's progress in the reports due home at the end of this term.

Our Teacher Only Day this Friday will focus heavily on our staff applying these new descriptors and moderating together to ensure consistency across all our teachers. This isn't the most straightforward task, as the guidelines and documentation from the MOE haven't been as clear as we would have hoped, but our team is committed to getting it right. I will explain these reporting changes in more detail in my final newsletter of the term.

As the world moves at a pace with Artificial Intelligence in all facets of life, education is no different. Next week, I am fortunate to be heading to Sydney for the EduTECH Conference. A large part of the programme focuses on moving AI past the novelty stage and into detailed applications that support real learning outcomes for our children. I have also been invited to attend a Leadership Masterclass hosted by Google at their Sydney head office, which I am very much looking forward to.

Finally, I would like to touch on student attendance. This year, we set a school target to have 72% of our children attending school more than 90% of the time. While this is slightly below the Government's target of 80%, I am pleased to share that at this stage of the year, we are currently tracking ahead of our school target!

We do need to address term-time holidays and extended time away. We often have families booking trips during the school term, and while we recognise this is a parent's choice, moving forward, any children who are away from school for more than three weeks for an overseas holiday will be unenrolled from the school, and you will need to re-enrol them upon your return. This is in line with the MOE guideline of when a child is not at school for more than 21 days we un-enrol them from our system

This approach is becoming much more common across schools, both locally and nationally. Please be aware that this will significantly impact whānau who do not live within our school zone, as it may affect your ability to re-enrol your child at our school.

We appreciate that this might feel like a hard line to take. However, children being away for extended periods of time impacts their schooling.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to prioritise our students' education.

Ngā mihi nui,

Matt Simeon

Principal

Smart Watches At School.

We love seeing our tamariki embracing technology, but we need a little help from you regarding smartwatches.

To help keep our classrooms focused and learning environments disruption-free, please remind your child that smartwatches need to be either switched off or zipped away in their school bags during school hours. When watches beep, ring, or receive messages during class, it can be a big distraction for your child, their peers, and their teacher.

Thank you so much for your support and partnership in keeping our classrooms a great place to learn!

Tweens To Teens At Pāpāmoa Primary.

Tweens to Teens!

Your pre-teen girl is changing fast… and she doesn’t have to navigate it alone.

Hi, I’m Mariana Sala, founder of Tween to Teen Queens — a confidence and wellbeing programme for girls aged 8–12 designed to support them through the powerful transition from childhood into the teen years.

Through small group coaching, fun activities, creative tools, and real conversations, we help girls build confidence, emotional awareness, healthy friendships, resilience, and a stronger connection with themselves and the adults supporting them.

I’m so excited to now be working with the community at Papamoa Primary School and to introduce myself to families who may not know about Tween to Teen Queens yet.

Thursdays | 2:45pm–3:45pm

Room to be confirmed

Expressions of interest for upcoming terms are now open.

Whooping Cough Information.

What is whooping cough?

Whooping cough is an infectious disease caused by bacteria and is spread through the community by coughing and sneezing, in the same way as colds and influenza. Young children, especially babies under six months, can become very ill from whooping cough. Older children and adults get whooping cough too, which if not diagnosed and treated, may spread to young children.

What are the symptoms?

Whooping cough starts with a runny nose and dry cough. The cough gets worse over the next few weeks, often developing into very long coughing attacks. In babies and children these coughing attacks may end with a ‘whoop’ sound when breathing in, or end with vomiting.

What should be done to help prevent whooping cough?

Immunisation is the best prevention - Parents should ensure that their children are up to date with their free routine childhood immunisations which include the immunisations against whooping cough. Children are further protected with booster vaccinations at four years and 11 years of age.
Whooping cough immunisation is also recommended and free for women during pregnancy from 16 weeks gestation as this helps protect their baby from getting whooping cough when they are very young and before they can get their own routine immunisations starting at six weeks of age.
A free dose of Pertussis vaccine (which also covers Tetanus and Diphtheria) is recommended for adults at age 45 and 65 years.
Good hand hygiene is always beneficial, and it is important to remember to cover your cough and not to cough on, or near, babies.

If anyone has symptoms of whooping cough they should stay away from work and see their doctor for assessment and advice.

If you are diagnosed with whooping cough you need to remain away from work/school/Kura until:

You have completed two days of the antibiotic Azithromycin, or
Five days of other appropriate antibiotics (including Erythromycin), or
Three weeks from onset of cough if no antibiotics given.

Further information on whooping cough: Whooping Cough | KidsHealth NZ

Attendance Everyday Matters.

Attendance Matters: Every Day Counts!

As shared in our previous communications, attendance is a major priority for schools nationwide. The Government has set a target for 80% of students to be at school for at least 90% of the time. In practical terms, this means having fewer than five days away from school per term.

While this is an aspirational national target, we recognise that "life happens"—children get sick, and there are times when being away is unavoidable.

To keep you informed, we will provide regular updates throughout the year on our school-wide attendance trends. We will also contact you at specific points to update you on your child’s individual attendance percentage.

How you can help: As parents and caregivers, it is essential that you notify us whenever your child is absent and provide a reason. This ensures our records are accurate and that absences are coded correctly.

The Image Below: This shows you how we are tracking in the first 5 weeks of Term 2 2026.

Growing Through Grief.

Growing Through Grief is currently running the Seasons for Growth programme at Papamoa Primary for 2026.

In small groups, young people are assisted to understand their experience of change, loss and grief. The programme provides a safe learning environment for young people where they can give their voice to their experiences, understand their feelings, learn skills that help them adapt, connect with others, and recognize ‘I’m not the only one’.

Young people attending may: • have a parent absent from their lives due to relationship breakdown or separation • have lost a close family member due to illness, age, suicide, violence, or accident • have a close family member absent due to time spent in mental health units, prison, or rehab • be living in alternative care away from their own parents or home • be experiencing other loss or change in their family life.

STORMBIRDS PROGRAMME – NEW ADDITION.

In addition to this programme and following the impact of recent weather events (flooding and slips) upon our region we are offering a new programme for tamariki which is aimed at managing post-disaster stress. This small group programme is called Stormbirds and provides tamariki who have lived through a natural disaster/natural weather events the opportunity to examine the impact of this experience on their lives. It supports them in understanding and managing the changes they have experienced, learning they are not alone in dealing with the impacts and supports them to develop coping, problem solving and decision-making skills.

If you would be interested in your child attending either of these programmes at school, Please fill out an online referral form on the Growing Through Grief website: https://acw.org.nz/acw-programmes-enrolment-form/

Both programmes have a cost of $20.00 per student. An invoice will be sent out by the school for any child/children attending prior to the programme commencing.

Any further questions please contact Jemma Rapson – (SENCO) or Tauranga Growing Through Grief Coordinator- Tracey Maris: tracey.maris@acw.org.nz

Gymnastics At Pāpāmoa Primary.

2026 Term Dates

USEFUL INFORMATION FOR WHĀNAU

SCHOOL BELL TIMES

School Starts 8:40am

Morning Interval 10:30am - 11:00am

Lunch 12:40pm - 1.30pm

School Finishes 2:35pm Years 0-2 and 2:40pm Years 3-6

ABSENTEE INFORMATION

Please contact the office if your child is going to be absent from school on :

Phone: 542 3261 (absentee message service)

or

Email: papamoaprimary@papamoa.school.nz

or

Website: http://www.papamoa.school.nz/report_an_absentee

Please include your child’s name, team and room number and reason for absence.

If your child arrives at school after 8.40am they are late. Please ensure they sign in at the office before going to class. Thank you.

As part of our attendance communication system, an automated text message will go out to all unexplained absences. This number is a reply once only.

While we understand that families sometimes need to take time away from school, it is essential that we as a school are notified.

Any absence longer than 20 school days will need to be approved in advance by the school principal. You can do this by sending an email to papamoaprimary@papamoa.school.nz explaining the reason for your child's absence and the dates they will be away. If your child is absent for longer than 20 school days the MOE instructs us to remove a child from our school roll. If you live outside of our school zone there is no guarantee that your child will be able to re-enrol at Pāpāmoa Primary School. It's important to keep communication open between us. If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please feel free to reach out to us.

Thank you for your cooperation and support in your child's education.

LUNCH ORDERS

School lunches are available everyday. Orders can be made via the School Shop by clicking here! Just one login for every school payment. Simple and easy!

You can order (or cancel) any time before 9am on the day or schedule in advance.

Lunch will be delivered to the school in time for lunch.

Get started now… Click here or go to www.mykindo.co.nz and click ‘create account’.

Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or tel. 0800 EZLUNCH (0800 395 8624) week days 8am-4pm.

CHANGE OF DETAILS

It would greatly assist us if you could please advise the office if you have any changes of address, phone numbers or emergency caregiver details.

In the event of an emergency, sickness or injury we need to be able to contact someone who can collect your child.

MEDICATIONS

All students are required to hand in prescribed medications to the office.

Office staff will only administer medicines to students once a form has been completed and signed by a parent or caregiver.

School Policies

Would you like to know more about our School Policies and Procedures?

We invite you to visit the site at https://papamoa.schooldocs.co.nz
(note that there's no "www.").

Our username is "papamoa" and password "3118".

Contact Details

Phone: 07 542 0865

Location: 312 Dickson Road, Pāpāmoa

Email: admin@papamoa.school.nz
Website: www.papamoa.school.nz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PapamoaPrimarySchool/

Update from Matt Update from Matt

Smart Watches At School. Smart Watches At School.

Tweens To Teens At Pāpāmoa Primary. Tweens To Teens At Pāpāmoa Primary.

Whooping Cough Information. Whooping Cough Information.

Attendance Everyday Matters. Attendance Everyday Matters.

Growing Through Grief. Growing Through Grief.

Gymnastics At Pāpāmoa Primary. Gymnastics At Pāpāmoa Primary.

2026 Term Dates 2026 Term Dates

USEFUL INFORMATION FOR WHĀNAU USEFUL INFORMATION FOR WHĀNAU