Pāpāmoa Primary

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2!
It’s great to see everyone back after the break and settling quickly into routines again. There’s a real buzz around the place as we head into another busy and exciting term. I hope your tamariki had a restful and fun holiday.

New Timing for our Newsletter
From this term, we’re moving to three newsletters per term rather than fortnightly. We know this change will still give you a clear picture of what’s happening across the school and in between, we’ll still keep you updated via Facebook, Seesaw, and direct communication from classroom teachers.

Staff Changes – Farewells and Welcomes
This term, we say a fond farewell to Mike, Joyce, and Amy, who have each made a big impact on our kura. We’re incredibly grateful for the care and commitment they’ve shown to our tamariki and community.

Joyce is retiring after 24 years service to our school community. She has been a cornerstone of our school office team and support to the Board of Trustees as minute secretary during her time at our school. We have been fortunate to have such a dedicated and committed finance person in our kura. We wish her all the best for her retirement. Joyce’s last day will be Friday June 6th.

Mike our caretaker has unfortunately has complications with his shoulder surgery that he had in June last year and has made the difficult decision to step aside from a position that he really enjoyed.

Amy in the office is also moving onto permanent full time work having won a position at Seeka. The nature of an office in a school is that our work is only term time and mostly part time so the opportunity for a full time role is a timely next step for Amy. Amy will finish on Tuesday 27th May.

With the changes mentioned above we will warmly welcome new staff into the Pāpāmoa whānau

In the Office Rochelle will be moving into a school Business Mangers role, covering the finance, HR and school administration.

Jason who many of you will already know who has been filling in for Mike has moved into our permanent Property Manager position.

We will welcome Tessa White into the Office Administrator role. Tessa has had previous experience in schools having been the receptionist / PA to the Principal at ACG in Pyes Pa.

We will also welcome Hayley Stockman to the front receptionist role. Hayley has relocated from Hamilton and brings years of experience in administrative and customer facing roles.

Cross Country – This Friday!
A reminder that our whole school Cross Country is happening this Friday. Tamariki have been training well and showing great determination and encouragement towards each other. Whānau are more than welcome to come along and support. If you have not seen the news, we have changed the course with the aim of setting up better viewing for tamariki and whānau. Make sure you check out our dedicated sports website to know where you need to be:

https://sites.google.com/papamoa.school.nz/ppssportsevents2025/cross-country

As always, thanks for your continued support and the positive vibe you help bring to our school community. We’re looking forward to a productive and engaging term ahead.

Ngā mihi nui,
Matt Simeon
Principal
Pāpāmoa Primary School

Building Update – Progress You’ll Notice!
There’s plenty happening behind the fences over the last term. Lots you can see and lots that you can’t!

• 6 Classroom Block (Block X): Internally these classroom are all completed and ready for use—move-in is just around the corner. We will begin this move on Wednesday next week, with the aim to have the Matakana tamariki and Tūhua 7 moved in by end of day Friday 23rd May. This will mean from Monday 26th May, these tamariki will be in their new classrooms. Access to the new block will remain limited for a period of time while the landscaping is completed. Temporary fencing will remain in place for the children’s safety and access will be from the big middle playground area.

• Library (Block Y): The middle block/library is tracking about four weeks behind Block X. This will mean that we will aim to move into this building and set the library up over the term 2 holidays. We want to ensure that the landscaping in this area is all completed before we move into here so that there is safe access for everyone. There are some some pretty cool additions to the landscaping that will really make the place ours! We will look to have an official opening for our spaces once this is all completed.

• Landscaping: The challenge with some MOE buildings projects is that the school can be left with big blank concrete areas. We have managed to make some minor alterations to the concrete and get them shaped with some gardens and pathways. Our designs are shaping up well and we’re working with some key people in our community to bring the spaces to life and may be calling for a working bee if we think many hands will make light work!

• Admin Building: This part of the project has proven trickier than hoped, with some unexpected challenges due to old asbestos walls. It’s taking more time and advocacy than expected, but we’re committed to getting it right. You will see from the photos that our current staffroom is an ‘open air space’ and about 1/3 in size. There is a high likelihood that we will need to move out of the admin building towards the end of the term. This will mean that we will establish the staffroom, office, sickbay and other parts of our admin in the two classrooms that are adjacent to the hall. We will keep you updated on this move when we know more.

• Swimming Pool: Many will not know that the pool is also going through a major make over. During 2024, we secured significant funding from TCC, TECT, Grassroots Trust and some investment from the school board to update/upgrade the pool pump room and pool surface. We had hoped that we could do the changing rooms at the same time, but the costs were greater than we could raise in the time frame we had. Our pool is coming up 50 years old and the technology of pool filtration and surfacing has improved considerably. Work on the pool is progressing but with some of the rain we have had over Easter and since then has slowed some progress. We are looking forward to seeing the finished product.

We appreciate that the school is somewhat of a bomb site at the moment. I would like to thank our teaching team, tamariki and you our whānau for the patience and support with the ongoing work—it will look amazing once completed.

We’re thrilled to announce that our 2025 Cross Country event is set for Friday, 16 May, with a postponement date of Tuesday, 20 May. This year, we’ve introduced a brand-new course designed to enhance viewing and connection for both whānau and tamariki.

Event Schedule:

11:10 AM: Year 0/1 Girls & Boys (Karewa + Matakana 1 Year Ones)

11:20 AM: Year 2 Girls & Boys (Matakana)

11:30 AM: Year 3 Girls & Boys (Tuhua + Te Manawanui)

11:40 AM: Year 4 Girls & Boys (Tuhua + Te Manawanui)

11:50 AM: Year 5 Girls & Boys (Motiti + Te Manawanui)

12:00 PM: Year 6 Girls & Boys (Motiti + Te Manawanui)

What to Bring:

Pou shirt

Sports shorts

Drink bottle

Following the event we will have prize-giving at 1:45pm in the school hall. Certificates will be awarded for the first three boys and girls in each year group.

For more details, including course maps and additional information, please visit our Cross Country event page:

https://sites.google.com/.../ppssportsevent.../cross-country

Let’s come together to support our tamariki as they take on this exciting new course. Your presence and encouragement mean the world to them!

We will be having a Pink Shirt Mufti Day on Friday 23rd May.

The 'official' Pink Shirt Day is on Friday 16th May but we will be holding our cross country event that day.

You're welcome to visit the ‘Pink Shirt Day’ website if you’d like to make a donation - https://fundraise.pinkshirtday.org.nz/donate

Going overseas for the school holidays? Everyone travelling into New Zealand must complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration, including returning New Zealand passport holders.

Its FREE and you can do it on the online form or on the NZTD app.

If you’re travelling as a family or group and completing multiple declarations, the NZTD app allows you to copy your travel details into another declaration, making it easier to complete multiple declarations for the same journey. The submitted declarations are then all easy to see within the app.

The New Zealand Traveller Declaration collects travel, customs, immigration and biosecurity information and aims to improve the safety and security of New Zealand. It replaces the paper card you used to fill out on the plane.

To make your arrival easier, do your digital declaration before your flight back to New Zealand.

Head to travellerdeclaration.govt.nz today!

Term 1: 03 February – 11 April

Term 2: 28 April – 27 July

Term 3: 14 July – 19 September

Term 4: 06 October – 16 December

School Starts 8:40am

Morning Interval 10:30am - 11:00am

Lunch 12:40pm - 1.30pm

School Finishes 2:35pm Years 0-2 and 2:40pm Years 3-6

Please contact the office if your child is going to be absent from school on :

Phone: 542 3261 (absentee message service)

or

Email: papamoaprimary@papamoa.school.nz

or

Website: http://www.papamoa.school.nz/report_an_absentee

Please include your child’s name, team and room number and reason for absence.

If your child arrives at school after 8.40am they are late. Please ensure they sign in at the office before going to class. Thank you.

As part of our attendance communication system, an automated text message will go out to all unexplained absences. This number is a reply once only.

While we understand that families sometimes need to take time away from school, it is essential that we as a school are notified.

Any absence longer than 20 school days will need to be approved in advance by the school principal. You can do this by sending an email to papamoaprimary@papamoa.school.nz explaining the reason for your child's absence and the dates they will be away. If your child is absent for longer than 20 school days the MOE instructs us to remove a child from our school roll. If you live outside of our school zone there is no guarantee that your child will be able to re-enrol at Pāpāmoa Primary School. It's important to keep communication open between us. If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please feel free to reach out to us.

Thank you for your cooperation and support in your child's education.

School lunches are available everyday. Orders can be made via the School Shop by clicking here! Just one login for every school payment. Simple and easy!

You can order (or cancel) any time before 9am on the day or schedule in advance.

Lunch will be delivered to the school in time for lunch.

Get started now… Click here or go to www.mykindo.co.nz and click ‘create account’.

Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or tel. 0800 EZLUNCH (0800 395 8624) week days 8am-4pm.

The mobile dental unit is currently onsite at Te Manawa ō Pāpāmoa School.

For emergencies, or to make an appointment please phone 0800 TALK TEETH (0800 825 583).

If an appointment cannot be attended please phone in advance to cancel so they have time to reschedule others who are waiting to be seen. All requests for appointments are triaged before an appointment is made.

It would greatly assist us if you could please advise the office if you have any changes of address, phone numbers or emergency caregiver details.

In the event of an emergency, sickness or injury we need to be able to contact someone who can collect your child.

All students are required to hand in prescribed medications to the office.

Office staff will only administer medicines to students once a form has been completed and signed by a parent or caregiver.

Would you like to know more about our School Policies and Procedures?

We invite you to visit the site at https://papamoa.schooldocs.co.nz
(note that there's no "www.").

Our username is "papamoa" and password "3118".

Phone: 07 542 0865

Location: 312 Dickson Road, Pāpāmoa

Email: admin@papamoa.school.nz
Website: www.papamoa.school.nz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PapamoaPrimarySchool/