
Kōkopu Newsletter
Term 1 Week 2 Monday 5th February 2024
Principals Message
Welcome Back to School!
I hope you had a wonderful summer break and are ready for an exciting new school year. It has been a delight seeing all our students back and sharing their holiday highlights. It sounds like there was a lot of beach trips and time with family.
Welcome to our new students. Drew Shelley Room 6, Noah Adams, Kyah Allen, Beau Connelly-Maihi, Ryder Paul, Stanley Rose, Ted Wright, Mathew Tuhiwai who are all in Room 1.
Also welcome to our university students Sarah Fowlie and Gemma Turketo.
It has also been positive to see how quickly the students have settled back into their schoolwork. I am particularly impressed with how our students are already showing the school values of; Respect for Ourselves, Respect for Others and Respect for our environment. I have given out lots of “Caught Being Good” certificates already for students helping new students, picking up rubbish and working hard during class time. Some photos can be seen below.
This term we have lots of amazing events and learning ahead of us. At Kokopu School we try to have a varied and broad curriculum that allows our students to be successful while enjoying their learning. To start the term, we have a focus on positive classroom environments, goal setting, student wellbeing and setting ourselves up for a great year. Later in the term, we will be visiting Korokota Marae as part of learning more about our local environment, communities, and history. This will link nicely to a mural and beautification project later in the year. Also, this term we have our class camps, sports events, ePro8, puberty unit for room 6, and our term 1 House Day.
Student Attendance
Over the last few years, we have had fantastic student attendance rates here at Kokopu School, some of the highest in Northland. Last year we averaged 92% attendance. We know that great attendance starts at home, so I would like to thank parents and caregivers for the importance they place on their child’s schooling.
Parking
We have had a few dangerous near misses this week already with car parking and particularly pulling out onto the main road when parking at the front. Please be very careful when out the front. We would rather you park further down the road away from the front gate or pick up a bit later and park in the main car park.
Phones away.
As you will remember, the new government has implemented their “Phone Ban” for students. This includes phones and connected smartwatches. The ban doesn’t overly affect us on a day-to-day basis as we don’t allow students to bring devices to school anyway. However, this will affect our “bring your own device” days in room 3 and 6 at the end of term. If your child does need to bring a phone for special reasons, like sports practices after school or sleeping over at someone’s house, they must come to the office and be handed in for the day and not stay in bags.
Property
We are very pleased with the new Room 1 and 2 deck area. The coloured battens look great and the Perspex on the inside will be great to keep the wind and rain out in winter. It is going to be a real asset to both classrooms.
New Carpark. We have had a slight engineering delay with the new car park and it will now start in week 3 or 4. There is going to be some initial drain laying in the current parent car park to get started. Once this is completed, over a few days, then they will start building the new top car park up by the top field. Once this is completed, they again will start down the bottom giving access for us to park at the top. It is going to be a bit of a juggling act and we will put out some more information and strategies to cope with the disruption in a few weeks.
This year we also have our pool changing shed project, water tanks, septic system, roof upgrade, and class environment upgrades.
Nga mihi nui,
Yaron Overeem
Principal
Farewelling Pete
It is with great sadness that we share with you the passing away of Peter Stoneman our caretaker. Pete had worked at Kokopu School for the past 18 years and he will be greatly missed. He loved working here and he contributed in so many ways to Kokopu being a great school. Carol his wife wanted to pass on her thanks for your thoughts and the flowers we sent her. We will have our own remembrance event later in the term.
We have appointed Ray McIntosh as our new caretaker. He started today and will be doing a bit of catch-up work over the next few weeks. Please say hello to Ray if you see him around. He will work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. A big thanks to Shayla and Eva for mowing our lawns last week.
Dates to Note
Wed 7 - PTA Meeting 6.30pm. Venue TBC
Tue 13 Feb - Room 3, 4 & 6 Camp Meeting 5.30pm
Tue 13 Feb - School community picnic 6pm onwards
Mon 19 Feb – Fri 23 Feb - Room 3, 4, 6 camp
Wed 21 Feb – Fri 23 Feb - Room 4, year 3 students
Wed 28th Feb - Kokopu Swimming Sports
Thu 29 Feb - ePro8 parent v student challenge, 9am at school
Thu 29 Feb - Room 6 Puberty parent evening
Fri 1 Mar - Room 6 Puberty Unit
Tue 5 Mar - Zone Swimming Sports
Fri 8 Mar - Korokota Marae trip
Fri 29 Mar - Good Friday
Mon 1 Apr - Easter Monday
Tue 2 Apr - Easter Tuesday (no school)
Thu 4 Apr - Triathlon
Thu 11 Apr - House Games
PTA Meeting
This Wednesday 6th February the PTA will hold a meeting at 6.30pm. Venue to be confirmed. Everyone is welcome to come along and join our fundraising group. Any help is appreciated, so even if you can't commit to every fundraising event, but would like to help, you are most welcome.
Reminders
Hats and sun safety – Please make sure your child has a hat for term 1 and 4. Students also need to bring togs, towel and a drink bottle everyday.
Children are swimming everyday. Those with long hair must wear a swimming cap while using the school pool. Please ensure your child brings one along with their swimming cap, togs and towels everyday.
Lost property – Please name all your children's clothes, including togs and hats. We already have a growing pile. We gave a lot of unclaimed clothing away to charity shops last year.
CAMP LONSDALE 2024
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
A camp meeting will be held at 5.30pm on Tuesday 13th February before the School Picnic at 6pm.
Here is the information on camp LONSDALE for Rooms 4, 3, and 6.
All forms and paperwork below are due by Monday 12th of February.
Lonsdale Park Camp
208 Matauri Bay Road, Kaeo
Room 4, 3, 6
Years 4-8 (Rm 4, 3, 6) 4 Nights. Monday 19th Feb - Friday the 23th Feb.
Year 3 (Room 4) 2 nights only. Wednesday 21st - Friday 23rd.
This year parent help forms and permission forms can be filled out online. This will help streamline the process and record information accurately.
Please follow these 2 links.
• Parent helper and transport form - https://forms.gle/EGtN2zT7FgANZcHF7
• Student consent and medical form - https://forms.gle/WPbsFApVN2Jx92EW8
On camp, children will be staying in cabins with their peers. Food will be self-catered, so we will need volunteers to oversee the kitchen for the week and help organise the food before the camp. We will also need First Aid Officers. We will need parent helpers to be consistent with helping all children on camp and participate in activities and water safety supervision. Also, as per school policy, all helpers must be police-checked. If you have been police checked at Kokopu this will be valid for 3 years.
Basic itinerary for camp
Te Ahurea village, walking trail, beach, snorkelling, swimming, body boarding, fishing, Kawiti glow worm caves, confidence course, talent show night in amphitheatre.
The approximate camp contribution is $125 per person. (Adults will need to pay to go on camp)
We have received a charitable grant which will lower the cost.
Camp Lonsdale website https://www.lonsdalepark.org/
We have a scheduled a camp meeting on Tuesday 13th Feb at 5:30 pm (School picnic night)
Kind regards, Kokopu Middle/Senior Teachers
Mrs Hibbert, Mrs Woods, Mr Weavers, and Mr Ruddell
Kokopu School Senior Tee Shirts
We still have a huge amount of larger size tee shirts missing. Room 3 and 6 please have a good search at home for them. Thank you.
Guitar Lessons
Guitar lessons will start on Wednesday 14th February. If you are interested in getting lessons for your child, phone Lynn Moase on 0212979437.
Kōkopu Cookbook Orders
Cookbooks are still available, so if you want your copy, then get in quick. You can pick up copies from the school office for $25.00 each.
If paying online please reference your online banking with "Cookbook" and your name.
2024 Term Dates
Term 1 .. Thursday 1st February to Friday 12th April
Term 2 .. Monday 29th April to Friday 5th July
Term 3 .. Monday 22nd July to Friday 27th September
Term 4 .. Monday 14th October to Friday 15th December
Stationery
All children should have their stationery now. If not it can be purchased through OfficeMax. www.myschool.co.nz
Search for Kokopu School and the class your child is in. You are welcome to purchase it anywhere else but the list is available on the Officemax website.
Toni's Fundraising Dinner
Get your tickets quick for a night of entertainment to celebrate our community coming together to help Toni Wickman ..
We have adjusted the cost of tickets for this event to reflect the amount of generous sponsors we now have. Ticket price has reduced to $35 per adult and $15 per child. Family passes for 2 adults and up to 3 kids are now available for $100.
This cost includes a buffet dinner, disco and karaoke as well as impressively generous raffles available exclusively for ticket holders.
Playgroup starts on Tuesday 13th February.
Agri Kids
Kia Ora,
It's that time of year again with the AgriKids Regional Contest heading around the country kicking off on 13th of April for the Northern region! The practical day will be held at Mangakahia Sports and Community Complex and registrations are now open at this link and will close on Sunday 7th April - Register your AgriKids Team Here
There is no previous experience required to sign a team up, all activities are age appropriate and provide not only learning opportunities but also a great challenge. We encourage everyone to have a try, whether that is kids returning for another crack at the AgriKids title or even kids who have never competed before and are willing to give it a go!
The top three teams will be eligible to go through to the Grand Final in Hamilton to compete against the top three teams from other regions throughout New Zealand to win the AgriKids 2024 Contest. This will be held from the 11th to 13th of July 2024.
More information about AgriKids can be found here: https://www.youngfarmers.co.nz/contest/agrikidsnz
School Policies and Procedures Schooldocs
Kokopu School
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