Porritt School Press

Kia ora ngā whānau o Te Kura o Porritt!

The first half of the year is behind us and we are nearing the end of our second term winter holiday break. Hopefully your whānau are having the chance to spend some time together as a whānau with the kids on holiday.

We enjoyed an amazing second term as a kura, so this newsletter partly celebrates that. There are also some reminders here about upcoming dates and events in Term 3, to help keep you organised as a whānau.

Importantly, we have our Student and Whānau Learning Conferences coming up in Week 2 of the term. Booking details for these conferences have been shared via Hero.

A reminder that all three of our Rich Records of Learning have now been shared about your child via Hero. You have some detailed information about your child's learning progress in Reading and in Writing and Mathematics and Statistics. Log in and check these Rich Records of Learning out ahead of your learning conference and ask any questions you might have about those during this time together.

We look forward to coming together for our postponed Matariki Evening event this Wednesday 24 July from 5.00pm - 7.00pm. Please meet on the front court to begin, so we can enjoy our opening kapa haka performances, before kai and marshmallow time.

Looking forward to catching up next Monday whānau. Kia pai tō wiki whakamutunga - have a lovely weekend.

Maaka Papuni - Tumuaki/Principal

Hit the button below and enter code 264c3 to book your korero today!

We have some warm welcomes and a notification of a departure as we head into Term 3.

We'll sadly farewell Matua Fergus Neil at the end of Term 3. Ferg has been a mainstay in our kura since beginning his teaching career here in 2019.

Ferg has accepted a new job opportunity where he will take on the Education Centre Manager role at the Guthrie Smith Centre in Tūtira. We know we'll miss Ferg about, but also congratulate Ferg on the awesome opportunity he has to enjoy more time with his lovely wife Julia and son Ardie in this new role.

We look forward to a farewell for Ferg at the end of this term to properly acknowledge Ferg's mahi here in our school community. A kaiako will be appointed to work alongside Whaea Han in this Team Toru space for Term 4.

We welcome three familiar faces into Team Tahi from Term 3 on.

Lisa Gannaway joins our amazing Learning Support team, and will assist each day in the New Entrant space in Team Tahi, as our group there grows. Lisa has two beautiful tamariki in our kura as a parent, with an older tamaiti that did attend here before intermediate, and she and partner Shelton have been supporters of our kura for some time. We look forward to the early childhood education experience Lisa brings and the mahi Lisa will do to support our newest Porritt School superstars. Welcome to the kura as a member of our staff group Lisa!

Miss Jody Ferrick and Mrs Anna Pera will teaching together in the New Entrant space alongside Mrs Leanne Heaven, as our numbers of five year old tamariki grow. Jody will teach on Monday - Wednesday and Anna on Thursday and Friday.

Anna is a familiar face as a part time teacher in Team Tahi already, and Jody has done some awesome mahi as a superstar reliever for us already this year. We are blessed to have this dynamic duo joining us in this new role.

Miss Ferrick introduces herself to our kura community below;

Our first Hautapu ceremony was a beautiful coming together of whānau, tamariki and our kaimahi - our staff.

For many of us present, this was a first Hautapu.

We are incredibly grateful to be so well supported by the amazing whānau we have as school community, that have helped bring richness into our children’s lives through the rebirth of tikanga Māori, customary practices like Hautapu. What was almost lost, has been observed again.

Thank you for joining us to be a part of it. And thank you to all those behind the scenes that helped make our Hautapu happen - ngā ringa raupa hoki!

Mānawatia a Matariki

Our tūāhu standing proudly!

Our kaikarakia preparing for their task.

As mentioned above, three of our Rich Records of Learning have now been shared about your child's learning progress via Hero.

You have some detailed information about your child's learning progress in Reading, Writing and Mathematics and Statistics. Maths Rich Records were shared on the last day of Term 2.

Log in and have a good read with your child...this is a great chance to have a good korero together about your child's learning - there is much to be proud of!

Isla happy to share some of her Maths mahi. Our tamariki are so keen to share their learning progress. Get onto HERO today to check your child's Rich Records of Learning.

A massive mihi of acknowledgement to the Porritt School Home and School Group that have recently poured some of their fundraising money into providing more resources for tamariki on wet days to be used for indoor play.

Here are some images from Team Tahi of our tamariki enjoying these resources

Thank you once again to this awesome group for your incredible support of our learners and our kura!

On Friday of Week 5 of this term, our Porritt School winter sports legends will be ripping into the annual Spooner Shield winter sports tournament once again. This is an annual competitive event that includes all Taradale and Districts Schools.

Porritt School has captured the Spooner Shield twice in the past five years. Could 2024 be the third time in recent years???

Last year's champion Porritt School Spooner Shield rugby team enjoying the spoils of their efforts.

We'll once again gather at Park Island for our annual Cross Country on Monday 26 August. Mark that date in your diary for some long distance running action!