Kōkopu Newsletter

Our Year 5-6 students had a fantastic Lego day at the sports complex. They rotated around 4 Lego based activities making all sorts of wonderful things. It was great to see our school values on display as students mixed and mingled with other schools. One of my favourite builds was Cordia’s replication of herself. (See picture)
A big thank you to Poroti School for organising the event for our rural school’s community.

Year 7-8 interschool winter sports went well last week. It was a bit cold and wet toward the end of the day but our students thoroughly enjoyed it. This year students enjoyed hockey, ripper rugby and gymnastics. A big thanks to Scotty Delamare from Matarau School who has organised this event for many years.

Staff Changes
We have some upcoming changes to our office team. Bexs Waterhouse has accepted a new position at the Council and will be finishing with us on Friday, May 22nd. Bexs has been an amazing addition to our staff; her efficient coordination and organisational skills have been a true asset to the school. Vicki and the rest of the team will miss her greatly, and we wish her the very best in her new endeavour.
We are pleased to announce that Lindsey Riley will be stepping into the role starting May 27th. Many of you already know Lindsey, and we are confident she will do an excellent job.

SMART assessment tool

Your child may have mentioned participating in a new online assessment recently called SMART. This tool is a Ministry of Education initiative, developed as part of the updated national assessment and reporting framework.

As this tool is currently in its "build and trial" phase, there are a few important things to note:

• Refining the Technology: Parts of the assessment are marked by AI. This trial phase is specifically designed to "train" the AI to ensure marking is accurate and reliable for the future.
• Focus on Familiarity: Our current priority is ensuring both students and teachers feel confident navigating the platform. We want our learners to feel supported and capable before the system is fully implemented next year.
• Results: Because the tool is still being refined and we have some reservations regarding the current implementation process, we will not be sending formal results home during this trial period.

Our goal is to ensure that when SMART is fully launched in 2027, it provides a meaningful and accurate picture of your child’s progress.

Nga mihi nui

Yaron Overeem

PRINCIPAL

We have some old posts in the hut building area to give away. If you would like them, please contact the school office.

This Thursday 21st May we will have our Gymnastics competition. Everyone is welcome to come along and support the children.

Things you need to know;

• Competition starts at 9.15am
• 2 Rotations - Break - 3 Rotations
• Lunch around 1pm
• PTA are selling food

Term 2 2026

Mon 20/4 Start of Term 2

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

Thu 23/4 Gymnastics Practice starts and every Thursday until the comp.

Thu 21/05 Gymnastics Competition (note change of date)

Mon 01/6 Kings Birthday No School

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

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

Ordering Ezlunch through Kindo is quick, easy, and one less thing to think about in the morning. You order from home (or on the go), and your child's lunch is delivered to school, ready to eat.

Here's how:

1. Log in to the Kindo app (or set up an account at shop.kindo.co.nz)
2. Pick from the menu on your school's available days
3. Your child collects their lunch at school

💰 Order & win!

Every Ezlunch order placed between 27 April - 22 May goes in the draw to win 1 of 5 x $50 Kindo credits each week.

Order here 👉 mykindo.co.nz

T&Cs apply.

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 below 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