Pembroke Panui

Kia ora e te whānau,

Yesterday, during roll time in Kowhai Class, we asked, “Kei te pēhea koe?” and there were lots of tamariki feeling hīkaka (excited) about Easter and upcoming trips over the holidays. It's a reminder that this term has absolutely zoomed by — and before we know it, the holidays will be here!

We’ve been lucky with some amazing weather throughout Term 1, giving students plenty of sunny days to enjoy outside play and perfect conditions for school trips.

This week has been particularly busy:

• Rimu headed up the maunga to visit Dawson Falls and Wilkies Pools, with many brave enough to slide into the freezing pool!

• On Tuesday, some of our students tried out Futsel, a variation of football — and came home with some cool tops they got to keep.

• Rimu also visited Pukeiti Gardens for a “Meet the Scientists” day, as part of our Enviroschools programme. They learnt from a range of scientists about environmental science happening right here in our region.

This Friday, all classes will be working with Nicky from Taranaki Regional Council to test the water quality of Mangarangi Stream. Rimu took the testing kit up the maunga earlier in the week so they could compare water quality and clarity results.

Environmental science and hands-on learning came through strongly in our recent community survey — it’s exciting to see that what we’re doing aligns with what whānau want for their children’s learning.

On Sunday 16th, we held our Show and Shine event at the A&P Showgrounds. It was an incredible day — (keep an eye out for photos in the local paper!) — with amazing vehicles, delicious food, fun activities for the kids, and a fantastic atmosphere.

A huge thank you to our PTA, the parents, staff, students, and wider community who helped on the day — and to the families and businesses who sponsored prizes (see below). Events like this highlight the strong sense of community we’re proud of here at Pembroke. As a small school, working together is vital in supporting our tamariki and their education.

Our Totara building has become the multipurpose hub we hoped it would be!

• Tawa Class had a wonderful sleepover full of fun — making giant bubbles, pizza for dinner, and a movie to finish.

• Rata Class stayed after school playing hide and seek, making sherbet and bubbles, and enjoying games before joining with parents for pizza, ice cream sundaes, and a movie.

It’s a great way for parents to start building connections, especially as their children journey together through the next eight years of education.

Next week is Wai (Water) Week, and our teachers have planned exciting learning focused on Mangarangi Stream and other waterways.

We’ll also be taking part in Hoods Up Day on April 2, growing our understanding and awareness of Autism. Tamariki are encouraged to wear hoodies with their school uniform that day.

We’re also incredibly fortunate to be hosting Te Kahu Rolleston, an author and slam poet, who will be presenting to our Year 7–8 students — an awesome opportunity!

If you’re new to Pembroke, we have a couple of end-of-term traditions to celebrate the effort our tamariki put into their learning:

• The top house earns a pizza lunch in the final week of term.

• On the last day, we hold a shared potluck lunch, and present one student from each class with a 'Star Student' award — celebrating someone who has consistently shown our school values and a strong learning attitude. These students receive a Paper Plus voucher to enjoy during the holidays.

The potluck lunch will be held at 12pm, finishing by 1pm — whānau are warmly invited to join us.

Kia maiea tō rā

Wendy Single

As you will know from the previous panui/newsletter, attendance is one of the key strategies we are focusing on this year to help raise achievement.

Below you will see the STAR attendance report for our school. Our aim is to have 90% of students attending 90 or more % of the time. It is really good to see an improvement in our overall percentage of students with Good attendance and no students who have Serious Concern.

What really highlighted how important this is was recently going through our end of year achievement data for 2024 alongside attendance rates. As you can see below, for those students whose attendance is identified as Worrying, if this continues for them over the course of the year they will miss approximately 32 days/ over a month of learning. This makes it incredibly challenging for them to reach their potential and make the same rate of progress as their peers, over the course of eight years of school they will miss over a years worth of learning. All those little regular absenses really do start to add up. As mentioned in the previous panui, it is not just the day of learning that is missed out on, it is the impact on the other days where they are trying to play catch up. The key message is please support your child being at school unless for illness or justifiable reasons. If you are having difficulty with this for any reason, please discuss this with the school as we are happy to support you in achieving Good attendance.

One of the key themes that came through strongly in our recent Whanau Consultation was how welcoming and family focused Pembroke School is and you all play a big part in this through being the friendly, community minded people that you are. Raising children comes with lots of joys and challenges and having a caring 'village' around your whanau is important for our children and ourselves. We have new whanau joining the school throughout this year, please make sure you introduce yourselves and start getting to know one another.

It is important that we manage and future proof our roll. This year we have a strong cohort of new entrants coming into the school and at the end of the year we have our biggest cohort, our Year 8s leaving. In order to manage this well, we will be moving some, not all, of the older students through to the next class from Rata to Tawa, and Tawa to Kowhai. We have an excellent group of teachers who work highly collaboratively and a consistent curriculum approach so we are confident that this will be well managed and the students will continue to thrive in their learning. We will be contacting whanau in Term Two to discuss this further.

On Friday, all of our classes visited the Mangarangi Stream via Mr Dent’s property to study our local awa with Nicky from the Taranaki Regional Council. Students explored the health of the stream by investigating what lives in the water, measuring clarity, and checking the temperature — learning how each factor helps tell the story of water quality.

Earlier in the week, when Rimu Class visited Wilkies Pools, they took the water testing kit with them so they could compare results from two very different environments.

In our recent Community Consultation, whānau shared a strong desire to see more hands-on, real-life learning, a focus on science and a continued focus on the environment. This unit of learning is a wonderful example of that in action — connecting our local environment with expert support and authentic learning.

It’s fantastic to see our students engaging so deeply with nature and having access to knowledgeable experts like Nicky, who help to enrich their understanding and spark curiosity.

Check out this video from 9 Years ago when Pembroke School were doing Awa Studies with Mr Archer from the TRC. It is neat to see a new bunch of Pembroke School students getting to enjoy this timeless and important learning and developing a greater connection with their incredible local environment.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of our first fundraiser for the year — the Pembroke School Show and Shine!

The day was an incredible example of what makes our kura so special — the strong sense of community that shines through when we all come together. It was heartwarming to see staff, students, parents, whānau, and even ex-students pitching in to help out, side by side, creating a welcoming and fun environment for all.

A very special thank you to our PTA who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the event to life — especially Ron and Anna, who not only dedicated hours of their time but also generously donated the meat for our delicious nachos.

We’re incredibly grateful to our school whānau who supported the event — RE Automotive (Todd and Nicole) and Vickers Quarry (Noddy and Belinda) — as well as all those who helped out on the day, sponsored prizes (please see our sponsors below) , and baked amazing treats for the food stall.

Thank you also to Toi and Marie for creating the awesome trophies — a real highlight for the vehicle owners.

And finally, a huge thank you to the wider community who brought along their vehicles — your support made the event something truly special for our tamariki and visitors alike.

We feel incredibly proud to be part of such a connected, generous, and enthusiastic community.

Last Monday, our Year 7–8 class ventured up to Dawson Falls and Wilkies Pools to learn more about our incredible maunga. Along the way, they were lucky to meet Tāne, who works on the maunga doing trapping to protect native wildlife. Tāne generously took the time to share with the students about the important mahi he does, adding real-life context to their learning.

Measuring the temperature became more than just a science activity — many students bravely took a dip in Wilkies Pools! Even on a beautiful day, the icy water was a chilly challenge.

A huge thank you to the parents who provided transport and supervision — these trips wouldn’t be possible without your support.

On Thursday Rimu Class also enjoyed a trip to Pukeiti Gardens with EnviroSchools who had organised a day for students to interact with a range of scientists in our region whose work has an environmental focus. It was a highly informative day with lots of great links back to what we will be focusing on in our learning and a great way to expose our students to science based mahi that is being done in our local community.

Thank you to all the whanau who completed their 2025 Community Consultation Forms, the information has been collated and analysised for key themes that will help shape our Strategic Goals and Curriculum. It is not to late to add your voice. Please click on the link below to share your thoughts.

If you would like to complete a digital copy of the consultation you can do so

HERE: PEMBROKE SCHOOL 2025 COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

Your feedback is valuable and will help to shape the future focus and strategic direction of our school for 2026-2028.

At Friday's Hui-ā-kura (Assembly) students drew out the names of our whanau who were in the draw for having their Community Consultation in. All the children of whanau who completed the forms got house points - so a big thank you from them.

Congratulations to the following parents who won themselves a $20 Baking Co Voucher.

Raven and Justin, Ashley and Connor, Caitlin, and Stacey. ENJOY!

Earlier in March, four of our students proudly represented Pembroke School at the King of the Schools Motocross Event in Te Kuiti. It’s always fantastic to see our tamariki thriving in their personal interests and passions, and this event was no exception!

With 88 schools entered from across the country, our team achieved an incredible 11th place — an outstanding result!

Ka rawe to Joby, Sharuq, Lucas, and Locky for your effort, teamwork, and determination on the track.

A big thank you to our PTA for supporting the team with funding for their awesome representative tops.

Whole School – Wai Week Activities

A week of learning and discovery focused on wai (water)/awa (river) based learning.

🧩 Wednesday 2 April – World Autism Awareness Day

• Students can wear a hoodie with their school uniform to show support.

• Author Visit: Year 7–8 will enjoy a special presentation from Te Kahu Rolleston, an amazing author and slam poet.

⏰ Sunday 5 April – Daylight Saving Ends

• Don’t forget to turn your clocks back one hour!

🛠 Friday 5 April – Year 7–8 Technology

🏃‍♀️ Tuesday 8 April – Junior Athletics (Years 1–4)
📍 At Ngaere School
🗓 Postponement Date: Wednesday 9 April

🍕 Thursday 10 April – Pizza Lunch for the Top House

• A special reward for the house with the most points this term!

🌙 Thursday 10 April – Rimu Class Totara Sleepover

🍽 Friday 11 April – Last Day of Term

• Shared Potluck Lunch at 12pm – whānau are warmly welcome!

• Star Student Presentations – celebrating learners who have shown our school values and ambition all term.