Kia ora koutou parents and whānau.

Did you know your location in the country can determine which star marks the Māori new year? Since Matariki is the name of the public holiday, you may not be aware that another new year star exists.

Puanga (Rigel) is one of the brightest stars in our sky. Located above the constellation known as Tautoru, or Orion’s Belt, Puanga marks the new year for many Māori. Iwi and hapū from the west coast of Northland, Taranaki, Whanganui and Rangitīkei, parts of Wellington, and the South Island use Puanga to mark the new year.

Location has a lot to do with the use of this star because Matariki rises in the pre-dawn above the eastern horizon which means it’s hidden from view for those on the west with mountainous land in between.

Puanga/Matariki brings the past year to a close and marks the beginning of the new year and historically, was closely tied to planting, harvesting and hunting.

However this is also a time for:

Remembrance – Honouring those we have lost since the last rising of Matariki
Celebrating the present – Gathering together to give thanks for what we have
Looking to the future – Looking forward to the promise of a new year

Over this long weekend, I hope that you get to capture a little of the essence of this special time through whatever you have planned.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā. Have a great weekend!

Ryves

Congratulations to those children recognised by their class teacher for a Vogeltowner Award. This is a tradition that began many years ago and following this assembly we will have recognised an amazing 663 Vogeltowners since 2012!

These children have been selected because they consistently present the best version of themselves and bring to life our school vision of manaaki whenua, manaaki tangata, haere whakamua; and also our IROCK values of inclusive, respectful, original, courageous, and kind.

Well done to all the kids who received this award, you certainly deserve it!

Taranaki (Junior) Syndicate:

Room 1: Xavier O’Neill

Room 1: Nellie Stone

Room 3: Season-Rose Niwa-Smith

Room 3: Mack Cozens

Room 4: Paddy Yukich

Room 4: Trevor Daming

Room 5: Amber Hawkridge

Room 5: Sophie Bush

Room 6: Thomasin Coates

Room 6: Marlow Coutts

Room 7: Macson Korff

Room 7: Tayah-Jane McLeod

Huatoki (Middle) Syndicate:

Room 13: Isabella Gatenby

Room 13: Zavier Steer

Room 14: Lucy Lett

Room 14: William Palliser

Room 15: Felicity Donovan

Room 15: Carter Cross

Room 16: Maggie Stone

Room 16: Alba O’Donovan

Paetoki (Senior) Syndicate:

Room 8: Emelia Gooch

Room 8: Tetabo Nakaoti

Room 9: Zoey Flay

Room 9: Liam Van Zyl

Room 10: Audrey Coutts

Room 10: Jaxon Smith

Room 11: Emily Bush

Room 11: Olivia Palliser

Room 12: Willow Walker

Room 12: Elsie Stone

This week we had our final sports exchange-against Woodleigh School.

Many thanks to the staff who have coached teams and put in the organisation for these days and also to the many parents who have supported us from the sidelines.

Netball A

It was a good game. We were up by a little bit, then they caught up, and the final score was 12-7. They had really tall defenders and shooters, but we kept on getting the rebounds. Raine Donnelly

Netball B

It was a pretty tough game. At the start, one of our players got a goal, then Woodleigh caught up, and the final score was 1-4. Poppy Telfer

Basketball

We won! It was a great game. Woodleigh was great but did not score any goals, and the score was 16-0 to us. Tetabo Nakaoti

Chess

The games were good. They were hard and gave us a good fright, but in the end, we won 23-20. Siddansh Swamy

Football

It was a good game, but we had a big loss. Our goalkeeper made some good saves. Henry Salt

Rugby

It was a pretty easy game. We won 74-14. Foxie and Manawa scored three tries each, Joe and Luke scored one. Woodleigh scored two tries and got both of their kicks. Noah Schoeman

Emily competed in the Tauranga gymnastics competition and achieved some outstanding results:

• 2nd overall
• 1st on uneven bars
• 2nd on balance beam
• 3rd on vault
• 3rd in the team competition

We're all super proud of of her achievement!

It is important that we know if you have a child starting school sometime in the remainder of this year. This will allow us to put organisation in place for new students - especially those starting school, and to understand our predicted roll throughout the year.

You can do this by contacting the office to confirm that we have your child on our records, or by completing an enrolment form (which can be collected from the school or downloaded off our website).

If you know of anyone else living in zone that may be looking to enrol then please share this message with them.

TERM CALENDAR

Put all these dates in your diary or your phone! Remember we will put all updates on Facebook, Skool Loop and Seesaw.

TERM 2

1 July - Vogeltown School's birthday!

1st July - Enrolments open for Highlands Intermediate for 2025

3 July - Pizza lunch day

4 July - Paetoki speech finals

5 July - Term 2 ends

TERM 3

22 July - 27 September

24 July - Learning Conferences, 2:30pm to 7:15pm

25 July - Learning Conferences, 2:30pm to 6:15pm

7 August - Highlands Intermediate Info Evening, 6pm at Highlands

9 August - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

23 August - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

30 August - Highlands Intermediate Out of Zone enrolments close

6 September - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

20 September - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

TERM 4

14 October - 13 December

1 November - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

15 November - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

29 November - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

Our school policies, like many schools, are now in an online system through a portal called 'Schooldocs'. Any time you want to bring up a school policy, just log in to schooldocs and you can access the policies.

The login is: vogeltown

The password: huatoki

The website link to Schooldocs is below.

Stay safe and be kind to each other. Thank you for the ongoing support of Vogeltown School, we really appreciate the efforts everyone makes to ensure our kura is such a great place to learn and work!

On behalf of the Vogeltown team, ka kite ano!

Ryves Hunt and the VS team

Email: office@vogeltown.school.nz
Website: www.vogeltown.school.nz
Location: Vogeltown School Huatoki Street, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: (06) 753 6843