Week 1, Term 1 2025

Tēnā koutou katoa

Welcome back to school, it has been so lovely to see everyone again and kick off the 2025 school year.

This term we have one new teacher joining our TPS team, Emilia Speirs. Emilia has hit the ground running and is doing a fantastic job settling into the TPS Way, we are thrilled to have her on staff.

The Whānau Connect Day was an excellent opportunity for our teachers to make individual connections with parents and students prior to the first day. We believe it is very important that we make time to build strong relationships between home and school, and also gain an understanding about what is important for you and your family in terms of schooling. The goal(s) you have set with your child's teacher will be reported against in the first formal report and learning conference in term 2. Teachers are contacting anyone who could not attend the whānau connect day to meet at an alternative time or at the very least have a chat on the phone.

During the holidays your TPS staff have had some fantastic professional learning and we are working now to implement new learning into practice. Learning sessions we attended in January were focussed on Writing and Mathematics.

This year we are introducing the Maths No Problem programme into our teaching, we have had an introductory professional learning session and received the first set of text books last week. The Staff Only Day on the 12th of March will be a continuation of our learning about the new mathematics curriculum. I am pleased to share that our local community of schools (Kāhui Ako) have collaborated on the implementation of a Mathematics programme and we have all elected to go with Maths No Problem so that the learning will be seamless between primary and Tauranga Intermediate School. We will share more about Maths No Problem throughout the year.

Information from previous parent surveys has clearly indicated what is important to parents in terms of schooling at TPS. We know that you want us to focus on:

• providing a strong foundation in Numeracy and Literacy
• creating conditions to support the health and wellbeing of our students
• supporting students to be confident, kind, resilient and respectful young people
• providing a variety of opportunities and experiences that enrich learning eg sports, camps, science, art, production, music and kapa haka

Our first Friends of the School (FOTS) meeting for 2025 will be on the 11 February. The meeting will be hosted in the staffroom on the senior site at 5.30pm. It is a fantastic way to meet new people, contribute to your school and get to know some of the senior staff of TPS. Grab a friend and join us, it's a friendly and inclusive group of parents and I promise you won't be given any big jobs on your first night.😁

On the 20th of February, we will host a family picnic 5:00pm- 7:00pm. The picnic is an opportunity to meet our school community and to view all of our classrooms and connect with our teaching staff. Classrooms will be open between 5.30pm-6.30pm, for parents/families to wander through all rooms and see our learning environments. Teachers will be in their rooms and available to chat if you have any questions. TPS families are invited to bring along a picnic style dinner to eat on the fields on the senior site. Thanks to our amazing FOTS team, there will food trucks and a coffee cart onsite, a big slide for the children to play on and ice blocks at the end of the evening. Mark this date in your diary.

Sunsmart School

The weather in February has traditionally been very hot. As a Sunsmart School it is very important to us to encourage safe practices in the sun. Please send your child(ren) to school with sunblock applied. There is sunblock available in classrooms for re-application during the day, however, it is also good to have a ready supply in school bags and develop the habit of regular application during any summer day. Hats are a compulsory uniform item for Term 1 and 4, and any student who forgets their hat must play in the shade during break times. Sunblock is helpful for protection, however wearing a rash shirt will ensure that your child does not get sunburnt when around water. We strongly encourage families to send rash shirts or long sleeved togs for school swimming. It is compulsory to wear a rash shirt, long sleeved togs or cover up between swims (competitive swimmers) for significant swimming whole day activities e.g. Year 5 Waimarino trip and swimming sports.

Road Safety

Entering and leaving the school safely is an ongoing challenge for our school community. We ask that parents consider the safety of all children and everyone else when dropping off and picking up your child(ren). Parking is limited close to the school, please allow enough time to park and walk to school.

To ease the congestion and increase safety at the school gate (at 3:00pm), we offer a 2:50pm "pick up and go" option for children in Year 1 and 2. Parents are able to pick up their child at 2:50pm, the intention is that they then leave and free up parking close to the school. The 2:50pm pick up is not intended for families staying to play on the school playgrounds. Only children picked up by a parent or caregiver can leave their class at that time, all other children will be supervised until 3:00pm. There are teachers on duty until 3.10pm and there are many parking spaces that free up from 3.05pm, maybe you could consider a slightly later pick up if your children are older .

Absentee - Sick children or children away from school

If your child is going to be away for any reason please ensure you let the school office know. We will make contact with parents if a child is marked absent on the school roll and it is not explained.

Please when you are notifying the school state your name, your child's full name, room number or teachers name and the reason for their absence.

The Ministry of Education is tracking attendance very closely this year, every school is required to submit daily attendance reports. The aim for children to attend school every day it is open, unless they are unwell.

You can let the school know your child will be absent in the following ways:

1. Email the School Office admin@tauranga.school.nz

2. Phone the school and leave a message on the phone system. The School Phone number is 578 6222

3. Absentee text: 027 418 7182

Worries and Concerns

At times, as parents, you may have a worry or a concern about your child's learning or behaviour or how the behaviour of another child is affecting your child.

Please share these worries or concerns promptly. Your key points of contact are as follows.

1. In the first instance make contact with your child's teacher to discuss. You can do this either by email or making a time to meet the teacher.
2. If you are not comfortable talking to your child's teacher please make contact with either the Team Leader of the team your child is in (our Team Leaders are: Junior School – Jana Smith, Middle School – Brianna Perfect, Senior School – Jo Howard). Team Leader emails are at the bottom of this newsletter.
3. If you believe your worry or concern is of a very serious nature, please make contact with Robyn Caley, our Assistant Principal with overview of the junior school, or Cathy Ediker Deputy Principal, with overview of the middle and senior school.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school.

Hei kōnei rā

Fiona Hawes

Principal

principal@tauranga.school.nz

The FOTS are a group of TPS parents who support the school by organising both fun and fund raising activities. They are focussed on building school community and creating fun school memories for our children. Joining the FOTS is a great way to meet other parents and contribute to your school. The first meeting will be a meet and greet time with some discussion regarding the year ahead and setting a calendar of events. Don't be shy grab a friend and come along.

It's imperative that we have your most up to date contact information, especially when we need to contact you if your child is unwell.

If any of the following details have changed over the summer break, please let us know:

• Mobile number
• Email address
• Home address
• Work number
• Emergency contacts

Please ensure we have at least 1 or 2 additional contacts in the event of an emergency and we are unable to reach you.

Please send through any updates to office@tauranga.school.nz and use the subject line 'updated contact details.

As TPS is part of the government's school donations scheme, to start the 2025 school year, the only cost that we request is for school stationery and year 4 camp. Stationery can be purchased from the school and all of your child's stationery needs for the year will be provided directly to the classroom throughout the year.

School Stationery 2025:

Your child's stationery for 2025 will be entered onto their school account in early January.

There are three ways you can pay:

• through the 'school shop'
• via eftpos at the office
• directly into our bank account Tauranga Primary School Board (12-3440-0009600-00) Please reference your child (SURNAME, first initials, Stationery)

We have negotiated with our suppliers excellent stationery prices:

• Year 1 $39.00 New Entrants - 5 year olds who are new students to TPS in 2025
• Year 1 $29.00 Returning 5 year old students who were Year 0 in 2024 @ TPS
• Year 2 $38.00 Rms 11, 12, 13 and the Year 2 students in Room 14 (new students to TPS will also need to purchase a book bag & whiteboard)
• Year 3 & 4 $47.00 MH3, MH4 and MH5 (new students to TPS will also need a purchase a book bag and whiteboard)
• Year 5 $38.00 SH1 and 2
• Year 6 $34.00 SH1 and 2 (new students to TPS will also need to purchase a whiteboard)

There is an updated Confirmation of Payee system coming into NZ to check if the account owner name and number match payments being made. It will either show as a Match, Partial Match or Not a Match.

To ensure our families with gain a Match for payments, please ensure that the school's bank account is noted as: Tauranga Primary School Board not just Tauranga Primary School.

Items that can be purchased via the school office. (see above for January office opening hours)

• Polo shirt - navy with school logo
• Navy shorts or skort.
• Polar fleece - royal blue with school logo.
• Sunhat - with school logo

Items that can be purchased independently of school supplies:

Sunhat: school logo hat or plain navy

Navy hat for Terms 1 and 4 – there are three options:

Aussie brim, drill flap legionnaire or bucket. No logos or basketball caps please. If children do not have a sunhat they will not be permitted to play outside of shaded areas in break times.

Footwear

Summer: sneakers, slides, crocs (no jibbitz on crocs please) or sandals. For safety reasons, jandals are discouraged as children are more likely to trip over when running with these or get caught up on play equipment.

Any hair ties or other accessories must be royal blue, navy, black, hair coloured or white. All hair shoulder length or longer is to be tied up as this helps prevent the spread of headlice.

Please keep sparkly and dramatic hair wear for the weekends :-) .

Jewellery: watches and plain ear studs or small hoops are acceptable.

Taonga (treasure) of cultural or religious importance can be worn.

Term 1 is a 'swimming term' please be prepared to send your child to school with togs and towel, your whanau teacher will inform you about swimming days. Our new entrant students will need to be able to get changed in and out of their togs independently. It may be worthwhile practising prior to school starting if this skill is not yet quite mastered. Clearly named uniform, underwear, togs and towel are essential for this process to be successful 😀.

No phones are allowed at school - this includes smartwatches with phone ability. Children who require a phone after school hours can leave these at the school office in the morning to be collected at 3:00pm.

LASTLY - please name everything clearly as it is impossible to return uniform items that are not named or the name has faded beyond recognition. Every term we have a significant amount of unclaimed, unnamed (or unreadable names) uniform items. Unclaimed uniform items that are in good condition are washed and sold as second-hand items or gifted to families.

2025

Enrolment for Term 2 2025 - ballot to be held on Friday 14th February 2025

Enrolment for Term 3 2025 - ballot to be held on Friday 9th May 2025

Enrolment for Term 4 2025 - ballot to be held on Friday 25th July 2025

Enrolment for Term 1 2026 - ballot to be held on Friday 17th October 2025

Enrolment packs can be collected from the office, or use our online enrolment form at www.tauranga.school.nz (code 1991)

Any queries or to check your child's name is on our pre-enrolment list please contact our

Enrolment Officer: Barbara Turley at office@tauranga.school.nz

• 2025

  • 6th February, Thursday - Waitangi Day, school closed
  • 11th February, Tuesday - Friends of the School meeting, 5:30pm staffroom, all welcome
  • 18th February, Tuesday - Board of Trustees meeting, 6:30pm staffroom
  • 20th February, Thursday - TPS Family Picnic, 5:00pm- 7:00pm
  • 26th February, Wednesday - TPS swimming sports, years 3-6
  • 6th March, Thursday- Year 4 camp
  • 12 March, Wednesday - Staff only day, school closed
  • 31st March, Monday - 11th April, Friday - Dental van on site
  • 10th April, Thursday - Year 5 Waimarino trip
  • 11th April, Friday - Last day of Term one

Principal

Fiona Hawes

principal@tauranga.school.nz

Deputy Principal

Cathy Ediker

dp@tauranga.school.nz

Assistant Principal

Robyn Caley

rcaley@tauranga.school.nz

Junior Team Leader

Jana Smith

jsmith@tauranga.school.nz

Middle Team Leader

Brianna Perfect

bperfect@tauranga.school.nz

Senior Team Leader

Jo Howard

jhoward@tauranga.school.nz

International Student enquiries

Cathy Ediker

dp@tauranga.school.nz

Business Manager

Susan O'Neill

business@tauranga.school.nz

Enrolment Officer

Barbara Turley

office@tauranga.school.nz