Porritt School Press

Kia ora tātou e te whānau o Te Kura o Porritt,

As we look to the last week of Term 1 just around the corner, I want to share my excitement for some of the awesome learning that has gone on in our kura this first ten weeks of the 2025 school year. A highlight has been our current Learning Kaupapa Te Whare Pūtaiao - The House of Science. The fizzing, foaming, flaming and forces that I have observed around the kura in the last couple of weeks has been amazing! I am grateful to our kaiako and kaimahi for the work they have done in this area, and in all areas so far this year.

This is the last Porritt School Press for Term 1, 2025. Thank you for your support following a great start for the kura.

Next week, a brief newsletter will be shared with some key dates and events for the rest of the school year shared. Please note the Teacher-Only Day notification shared in this newsletter. The school will be closed on Thursday 19 June in the lead up to the Matariki public holiday on Friday 20 June.

There's a lot to check in with here in this edition of the Porritt School Press! Have a good read this weekend and we'll see your tamariki back on Monday ready for the final week of term.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā - have a top weekend.

Maaka Papuni - Tumuaki

Since our last Porritt School Press on 7 March, we have welcomed Riley O'Connor, Hana Paku, Ezekiel Barbarich, Hazel Keesom, Jade Tiger Taylor-Grey, and Camille McElhaney to our kura. Nau mai, haere mai tamariki mā! These tamariki and their families have had a brilliant start at our kura!

This brings our school roll to 310. We are growing!

Our New Entrant numbers keep building. Our Year 1 classes are full and we're on track to have 16 New Entrant learners due to begin between now and the end of Term 2. We need to plan around the numbers coming in. If you have a four year old at home, or you know someone that does...get them to follow the link below to enrol and begin our transition process.

Recently, we had the opportunity to recognise our awesome new student leadership groups in 2025 at our assembly, with badges presented for each of our student leadership groups.

Congratulations to these senior school leaders. All the best for your work ahead. Kia kaha ngā tuakana o te kura!

The student leadership groups we have this year, and the leaders in them, are;

Each year, our staff deliberate over and discuss these leadership groups at length. The process can be a challenging one for our senior tamariki. It can be really difficult saying no to some tamariki in favour of others, and we don't always get every aspect of the process right.

This year, we had a strained timetable around the selection of our PAL Leaders for example, with a training day sooner than we hoped for. This meant we didn't follow the advertised process via a letter home to inform our tamariki. It was regretful that some of our students found out they were not successful using their powers of deduction when they were not asked to come to a hui.

We do want to be better in all ways and we'd like your feedback.

We hold an internal review of these process and beliefs around student leadership each year, and this year we'd like to add the voice of our whānau and community to that review process.

Linked below, is a survey about Student Leadership at Porritt School. If you'd like to add your voice to this review, please click the link and share your feedback for us.

This is the second of a series of posts about our different teams of adults across the kura.

The second group to profile is Team Whā! Team Whā kaiako and kaimahi pictured here are;

L to R - Joel Hagen (EIT Candidate Teacher), Hannah Jones, Krysten Cottrell, and Karaitiana Aranui.

Hannah and Karaitiana teach in Team Whā with our Year 6 tamariki. From Term 2, we welcome Jasmine Hawthorne-Gray. The tamariki in Team Whā are our school tuakana - our eldest students and leaders in the kura. They are very well supported by Learning Mentor Krysten Cottrell - Whaea Duffy. This year Matua Joel has enjoyed a great practicum in Team Whā as a third year candidate teacher from EIT.

Our Team Whā tuakana are very fortunate to be supported by such an active team. Kia ora Team Whā kaiako and kaimahi!

Matua Karaitiana is departing for Melbourne, Australia at the end of Term 1. After looking to finish at the end of 2024, it has been great to have 'Matua K' begin the year with his home group in Team Whā.

We look forward to being able to recognise and mihi to Matua K at the end of the term for the work and energy he has brought into our kura.

We recently made an appointment following an advertisement of a teaching role in Year 6 for the rest of 2025. We are happy to announce Jasmine Hawthorne-Gray as the teacher in Team Whā beginning in Term 2 replacing Matua K.

Whaea Jaz knows our school well, having spent her third year of teacher training through EIT here with us last year. It was great to see Whaea Jaz in at school this week to get to know our Team Whā tamariki.

Whaea Jaz looks forward to meeting whānau and caregivers in due course in Term 2, and will join this home group at least once more before the end of the term.

Our tamariki and kaimahi, our staff, have been involved in some rich learning as part of our schoolwide Learning Kaupapa. The focus for the second half of this term has been centred around the Science curriculum. We have used resources, science kits, from Te Whare Pūtaiao - the House of Science. Our tamariki have looked at magnetism, fireworks, rockets and more!

Tamariki and home groups from across our kura have benefitted from the awesome learning and experiences here. We are looking forward to our science learning this week!

Team Heaven exploring balloon rockets!

Team Toru and Whā with safety gear on experimenting with flame and fizzing in test tubes!

The winter season is nearly upon us and we have some great sporting opportunities available for our tamariki coming up in Term 2.

Registrations are now live via our Porritt School website. Simply head over to the website and click on the Sports and Cultural tab at the top of the page. This will take you to the list of sports available for registration.

Or simply click on the link below! Registrations close Midnight on Monday 7th April.

Ngā mihi,

Hannah Jones - School Sports Coordinator

Term 1 sports have drawn to a close. It has been so great seeing teams out and active! Sport is a great vehicle for tamariki learning a whole host of skills.

We are very grateful to our coaches for their support of our teams in action - ngā mihi nui! Thank you to you all for your mahi and dedication this term!

Pictured here are two of our awesome netball teams from this week's last round.

The holidays are just around the corner! Do your tamariki need something fun to do in the holidays?

PorrittCare's April Holiday programme is now open!

We have a number of fun activities planned for your tamariki, including the a trip on the bus to see the Minecraft movie, Easter craft, Anderson Park and Anzac baking.

Reminder: Both Easter and Anzac Day fall in these holidays.

Pop in and see Katie or Michelle at Porritt Care between 2.00pm - 2.30pm to register or you can email porrittcare@porritt.school.nz.

If you're already registered, simply book in using the aimyplus login.

If you receive an Oscar subsidy you should have a declaration form to sign and get in to Michelle ASAP.

Please reach out if you'd like to know more!

Last week, we held our Spirit of Anzac Speech Competition preliminary finals here at school to decide who would represent our school at the Taradale and Districts School final on Friday 4 April.

Finalists that had prepared a speech to share were;

Year 4 - Colten Church

Year 5 - Hunter Matthews and Ella Fuiava

Year 6 - Kiana Rowden

All of these amazing tamariki did an awesome job of sharing their speech with judges Mrs Keesom and Mr Papuni.

These tamariki displayed pride in their whānau and their ancestors for their service.

Ella and Kiana were selected to go forward to the schools final. Hunter and Colten were encouraged to enter again in 2026 and really get to know the stories of their relatives to be ready for next year with more knowledge.

All four of these tamariki will be invited to represent our school at a schools Anzac service on Tuesday 8 April as a mark of respect for their entry and their effort today.

Today, Kiana and Ella shared their korero at this special event and did an incredibly great job. Ka mau te wehi kōrua! Kiana spoke with respect and pride about Sir Robert Bom Gillies, Ella about her tipuna, her ancestors, brothers Francis and Bailey Leger from Vavau, Tonga.

Tino pai tamariki mā...your kura and your whānau are proud of you!

Our four school finalists!

Kiana sharing her korero about Sir Robert Bom Gillies

Ella sharing her korero about her tipuna Baisley and Francis Leger, of Samoan and Tongan ancestry, both World War One servicemen.

Thank you to whānau and friends of the school for your generous contributions for our Easter Raffle, and the sheer numbers of tickets sold - we have been blown away with the generosity of our community! We have made well over $1000 dollars here.

We had ten amazing baskets to give away. The winners of these lovely hampers were announced today at assembly! Please check our school Facebook page and HERO app for results!

Mason and Amore with a hamper won by the Viljoen family!

These are some important dates and events coming up at Porritt School;

Tuesday 8 April - Taradale and District Schools Spirit of Anzac Schools Ceremony at the Taradale War Memorial Clocktower at 11.00am (Some school leaders involved).

Tuesday 8 April - Kōkiri Reo Rua trip to Te Ara Hou Kōhanga Reo

Friday 11 April - Last day of Term 1, 2025 (Matua Karaitiana's last day Assembly farewell at 10.00am)

Monday 28 April - First day of Term 2 (Pōwhiri at 9.00am)

Monday 2 June - King's Birthday Monday (School closed)

Thursday 19 June - Ministry of Education Curriculum Day (School Closed)

Friday 20 June - Matariki Public Holiday (School closed)

Friday 27 June - Last day of Term 2

We are taking one of our two Ministry of Education Curriculum Days in 2025 on Thursday 19 June. This is the day before the Matariki public holiday. School will be closed on this date.

These days are to help our teaching staff come together to be involved in professional learning around the refreshed NZ Curriculum, particularly in the area of Pangarau/Maths and Statistics.

PorrittCare will be open for enrolled tamariki and families. A special day will be available to book soon.

Further reminders will be shared, but please note this date in your diary.

This year we reach a grand age - 50 years! We are planning some celebratory events and activities between Thursday 17 October and Wednesday 22 October. This is the week leading into HB Anniversary Weekend and Labour Day.

More information will be shared soon about specific events. For now...mark the diary and let any old girls and boys and ex-staff know!

It will be awesome to mark our progress together and look ahead to the next 50 years as a kura.

"Titiro whakamua, kōkiri whakamuri" - Look back and reflect so we can move forward.

I recently spoke to my twin brother Johnny. He lives in Australia. Johnny told me he had recently been 'let go' from his job as a pig farmer.

I asked Johnny why he was 'let go'.

He said it was on account of the pigs at the pig farm being stolen under his watch by a pig thief.

I told Johnny I was sorry to hear that.

He said "Yeah, thanks for your support brother...now, do you know what you call a pig thief?"

"A ham-burglar!"

And that e te whānau...is a true story.