Puketapu School Newsletter

Kia kaha - do your best * Kia māia - be courageous * Kia manawanui - have a heart

Kia ora Koutou,

It has been a delight to lead our kura while Matua Ngatai has been away spending precious time with whānau.

I am so proud of our kura, tamariki, kaiako, whānau and all those who help make Puketapu a wonderful place to be.

I would like to wish you all a happy Easter break. These few days will be wonderful to reconnect as a family and take some time for looking after our wellbeing.

Some of you will be familiar with the Te Whare Tapa Wha model for health and wellbeing:

Another great source of inspiration for caring for ourselves and whanau is allright.org.nz

Enjoy taking a look at the different aspects in these models and see if over the weekend you can try them out. I would love to hear how you got on.

Ngā mihi

Corinne Sattler

Kia kaha - do your best

Kia māia - be courageous

Kia manawanui - have a heart

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and replying to our Hero messages this week as part of our competition. We have been very pleased with the response and also with the messages and feedback we have received.

Competition winners so far are:

• Monday - Samantha Ferris
• Tuesday - Kowhai Teddy

You still have two chances to win - it's not too late to enter today, simply respond to the competition question using the app and you are in the draw.

Tomorrow's question is your last chance to win.

If you haven't downloaded Hero already, do it today!

Have you seen how cool the office looks? Thanks for our decorating fairies that helped us blow up balloons and make streamers to help advertise the Hero app.

We had to mention this lovely moment: After asking about the balloons in the office and being told they were for a Hero competition, Nevaeh replied right away

"I already know my Hero. My Mum is my hero".

We are delighted to announce that following our recent application and interview processes, we have some new staff for Term 2:

• Newly qualifying teacher Becky Wells will join us as the teacher in Totara 2. Becky has been completing her teacher training with a placement in our Kauri team and we are delighted to be able to keep her at our kura.
  
  

• From Waiuku Primary School, Lois Rushton will join us, teaching in Totara 1. An experienced teacher, Lois and her whanau are relocating to New Plymouth as her husband is taking up a teaching role at NPBHS so Lois is doubly excited to join our team.
  
  

• Currently at Puhihui School in Papatoetoe, but last year teaching at Lollipops New Plymouth, beginning teacher Prishlena Lawerance will join us in the Rimu team as our roll of new entrants expands at the start of Term 2. Prishlena is also very excited to join us.

It is hugely appreciated that Amanda, our AP, could travel to Auckland last week to observe Lois and Prishlena teach and make sure they will be a good addition to our kura and community.

We are looking forward to making our new staff feel welcome and have a strong sense of belonging in our school, hapu and community.

We are learning to be writers in Rimu 3. The tamariki are trying really hard to use the sounds they know to write a story. They love seeing the 'tickled pink' highlighter in their books (showing something they have done well as a writer) and the 'green for growth' highlighter (showing a goal for them to work on). Way to go kids!

Keaton Feather-Smith, Vidyasri Vathada, Erika Asai and Connor Scholtz

Totara 3 have been using their imaginations and writing some amazing Easter stories.

Aurelia Takerei is very proud of her Easter story and picture

"On Wednesday we went to Puke Ariki and it was a lot of fun, we got split up into 5 teams and my team started at the art centre. On Thursday we went to the movies, I had popcorn and a drink, we got to pick a movie and I picked the Dragon Rider. On Friday we went to the pools and we got to go outside if we wanted we could go inside. I jumped off the diving board and went on the hydro slide. Thank you to our teachers for taking us for a fun week of activities" -

Greta Phillips, Kowhai 5

"Last week we went to Te Wera camp. We did things like mud run, bush walks, Burma trail, spotlight, archery, flying fox, making bivouacs, ropes course and much more fun! My favourite part was the mud run because it was messy and challenging. The most challenging part of camp was the ropes course. The dinners were yum and different to what I normally eat. Thanks to Mrs Perry for helping me at camp with everything and the parents for helping too. I had the best time." - Kingston Benton, Kowhai 4

Year 6's waiting for the bus to go on their adventure!

And a HUGE thank you to the parents and teachers that made camp possible for our year 6s. It is wonderful to have so much whanau support at our Kura.

Who had more fun??? The parents or the students?

On Tuesday the 30th of March a group of our school leaders attended a leadership training with PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning).

There were a lot of other schools there. One of the first exercises we did was to share our school values with all the other students. It was really interesting hearing what other school values are.

This training was based on Student Voice and how we can make our opinions and ideas heard as students. We brainstormed some issues facing our school at the moment and what we can do to address those issues.

We chose one issue and looked at solutions then decided on a solution. We looked at what our next steps would be to try and implement our idea.

Because we had taken 10 students we sat at 2 separate tables and when we exchanged sheets we found that we both had exactly the same idea so we can't wait to get together at the next student council meeting to discuss this further.

Leaders Shaun Galiste, Shay Coomey, Achille de Bruyn, Kade Davis and Marley Sutherland

Another highlight of the day was the pizza and wedges for morning tea. It was YUM!!!!

On Monday the ākonga who are part of the Green Team had the opportunity to work with Toni Snooks.

Toni is training to be an architect. She brought in some architectural drawings and talked about how to draw plans. We then took her to our proposed Rubbish Refuse space. We measure up the area and then draw some plans of what we would like to have there. Hopefully, Toni will return and help us finish up our drawings which we will then propose to Mr Walker and the Board of Trustees.

It was a really great experience to be able to talk to a professional and understand better what is involved. Toni did mention that maths was really important!

Planning our Rubbish Refuse space with Toni Snooks

Winter Sports:

What fantastic season of sports we have ahead of us. We have 3 miniball teams, 4 basketball teams, 9 netball teams and 3 hockey teams.

Miss Sowman says she has never known of so many winter school teams in her time at Puketapu! This is about 160 children involved in school organised sports.

To make all of this run smoothly each team needs an adult to take responsibility for gathering the team, warming up, being the key person on the sideline and sharing information with whanau. We have had some amazing coaches and managers step up into these roles but there are still a few gaps:

Coaches still needed for:

Miniball

Years 0-2 x1 coach

Years 3-4 x2 coach

Basketball

Years 7-8 x1 coach ( teams confirmed after trials. See notice from Mr B)

Hockey

Year 7-8 x1 coach

Netball

Year 3-4

There is 1 team that needs a coach/manager. We have some of our intermediate players who are keen to support these teams however an adult needs to be responsible for the team.

Year 5-6

There are 2 teams that need a coach/manager. We have some of our intermediate players who are keen to support these teams however an adult needs to be responsible for the team.

If you have a child registered in these teams and are able to help can you let me know asap please.

All team notices will go out in the next two weeks. If you have registered your child then they will be in a team.

Touch Tops and Fees

Just a reminder that borrowed Touch Tshirts should now be returned as we will need them for winter sports. Please make sure they are washed and in good condition for the next person.

Also, if you have not yet paid for Term 1 Touch, please do this asap. If you are not sure if you have paid or not you can check on the Hero app.

Hockey Fun Sticks in Term 2

The Fun Sticks programme is developed for children in year 1 & 2 at school and 4 - 6 year olds who are ‘new players’ and relatively new to the game of hockey. It is an introduction to hockey with an emphasis on being a fun experience. This is an opportunity to develop fundamental skills, players to learn by self-exploring with full involvement for all participants.

A positive and quality coaching environment with regular changes of activities to maintain enthusiasm and interest within a safe environment.

Duration: 8 sessions (8 weeks)

NEW PLYMOUTH

• Starts: Saturday 8th May 2021
• Finish: 3rd July 2021
• Time: 9 - 10 am (Saturdays)
• Venue: NPGHS Tennis Courts on Mangorei Road
• Costs: $35 per child

Click here to register

Our student council has noticed that not everyone is showing their school values in the way they speak to each other on the playground, so they have devised a compeition to get students thinking about what they could do differently:

We look forward to seeing the posters!

With all this rain please make sure your children come to school with warm clothes. If your child likes to play outside and get muddy please pack a spare change of clothes in their bag.

YAY! We have found a new (local) supplier for our next hoodie order!

Keep an eye out in next weeks newsletter for more information.

We have a MOUNTAIN of lost property again!

There are swimming bags (with togs and towel), shoes, jandals, jackets, hoodies...

Please check for your child's lost items.

Anything left at the end of next week (Friday 9 April) will be donated to the Hospice Shop.

Lost property is in the foyer of the Whare Kai. Please come to claim yours or it will be donated to charity.

This past week their playground has looked a bit different for some of our ākonga...

Do you recognise any of these muddy monsters?

Great reading Damian! Damian celebrated getting a Duffy Award for his great reading by choosing another book - Disney's Maleficent.

Damian Paora with his Duffy certificate and new book

Well done to all our Superstars this week, spotted showing our school values. Here are just some of them:

Drevious Te Kura has been showing Kia Kaha

Big smile from Mikayla Scholtz to go with great listening and Kia Kaha

Pukauae Kipa has been showing Kia Manawanui with one of her peers. Well done Pukauae!

Carter Taylor and Farhaan Faruk have been doing their best and showing Kia kaha

Tino pai Charlotte Mangin, Channing Rajput and Kobe Liddicoat for all showing our school values in the classroom.

Millie Collinson has been showing Kia kaha and sounding out tricky words. Great work Millie!

Ryan Wharram and Madie Cadman with their big beaming smiles and certificates for showing our school values. Well done Ryan and Madie.

Well done Karla Spies for showing all of our school values while on office duty, especially Kia Manawanui caring for the younger children.

Keisha Lowry has been working hard on her maths problems and trying her best showing Kia kaha and Kia māia.

What an awesome story from Cassius Roberts, great Kia Kaha and Kia Māia.

Rynal Prasad and Slade Walker have been showing Kia māia. Well done Rynal and Slade.

Jada Moore has been showing Kia Kaha working really hard in phonics.

Luka Herewini-Kelsen and Caylin Weideman have grown some bunny ears in preparation for Easter, all while showing our school values.

Dear Rimu 1 & 2 Whānau,

Our class is using a newly available, research based, way of teaching reading and spelling.

It is called the Better Start Literacy Approach. www.betterstartapproach.com

You are invited to come and hear about this approach and learn about how you can support the reading journey for your child at home.

Day and Time: Wednesday 07 April at 3.15pm

Place: Rimu 1 & 2

RSVP: To your teacher

More info to come via Hero - keep an eye out for the notice.

Happy Birthday to all those with Birthdays this week:

• Teone Mundt
• Marlia Cooper
• Kobe Liddicoat
• Daetin Taylor
• Evelia Allen
• Elijah Sowter-Retter
• Jakaila Hori

Did you know you can see What's On any time with the Hero App? Check out Term Dates or the Events Calendar whenever you like.

Here are some of the main items on our school calendar for this term. More information will follow closer to the time:

Still to come this week...

Thursday 1 April

• Weetbix Tryathlon (replacement date)
  

Friday 2 April:

• Good Friday / School Closed

Week 10

Monday 5 April:

• Easter Monday / School Closed

Tuesday 6 April:

• Easter Tuesday / School Closed

Wednesday 7 April:

• Interschool Swimming year 6-8 (Bell Block Pool)
  
• Rimu 1 & 2 'Better Start Literacy Approach" afternoon tea 3.15pm

Thursday 8 April:

• Rippa Rugby (Kowhai) 11:10 - 3:00pm
  
• Kauri over night at school & walk to Bell Block beach

Friday 9 April

• Gumboot Friday (Wear your gumboots, gold coin donation optional)
• 10.00 Whanau Wā
• 11:45 Maria Gill Duffy Role Model presentation at Northpoint Church
  

Week 11

Monday 12 April

• Kapa Haka (Year 4-8) - 1130 - 1230

Tuesday 13 April

• Year 7/8 Immunisations 11.15am
  
• Rimu Trip To Brooklands Zoo & Pukekura Park 9.30-1.30
  

Wednesday 14 April

• Tony Kemp Cup Rugby League (Year 5&6 )

Thursday 15 April

• Rippa Rugby (Kowhai) 11:10 - 3:00pm

Friday 16 April

• 10.00am Whanau Wā
• Kowhai Ranui Colour Run - 1:30 - 3:00
  
• Last day of Term 1

Term 1 ends on Friday 16 April

Term 2 starts on Monday 3 May

Tired of sewage issues when it rains?

Worried about water?

Keen for the Multi Sports Hub or more outdoor walkways?

Have your say... Tell NPDC what you think are the most important issues to focus on.

Click on the link to complete the survey - you have just a few more days to have your say - closes 5pm April 6.

https://www.newplymouthnz.com/Council/Have-Your-Say/Consultations-and-Surveys/Your-Home-Your-Say

Email: office@puketapu.school.nz
Website: www.puketapu.school.nz
Location: Dillon Drive, Bell Block, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: 06 755 0973