Porritt School Press

Kia ora ngā whānau o Te Kura o Porritt!

It haas been a really awesome start to Term 3 here at Te Kura o Porritt! We welcomed our ākonga hou, our new learners Viktor, Darsh, Sky, Azari, Alfie, Parker, Rongomatāne and Xenith - nau mai, haere mai ki tātou kura! That brings our school roll to 325 currently.

I trust your eyes have been fixed to the TV watching these awesome Kiwi athletes competing in France right now. To capture the magic of this event, our school-wide learning inquiry is focused around the Olympic Games right now. Our tamariki are getting stuck right in to the learning here focused on two of our school values Excellence and Individuality.

Thank you for your attendance at our Student and Whānau Learning Conferences last week! These are a great chance to catch up and korero around your child's progress and set some markers and focuses for the rest of the year. We had a total of 228 bookings. We would love to catch those whānau and caregivers that weren't able to make it in for a korero. Feel free to contact your child's teacher to make a time to connect and catch up.

On the sporting front, in the week's ahead, we have many of our older tamariki competing in Spooner Shield on Friday 16 August, and the school Cross Country at Park Island on Monday 26 August. Mark those dates on the calendar whānau.

We'll also have a celebration and sharing of our Olympics Inquiry with you, our families. This will take place on Friday 6 September. We'll be hosting a mini-Olympics of sorts and showcasing our learning. We'll circulate more detail with you as soon as possible - no doubt our tamariki will be very keen to share!

Kia pai tō wiki hou - have a lovely new week ahead.

Maaka Papuni - Tumuaki/Principal

This term, our tamariki are all about the Olympic Games! Our Schoolwide Learning Inquiry is titled 'Te Kura o Porritt Olympics 2024'.

While there is some awesome learning going on about the Olympic Games in general, we are also focusing on two of our school PRIDE Values - Excellence and Individuality.

These values are framed by two whakatauki - pictured above. We are looking closely at;

• What our special talents and skills are, and what our gold medal event might be
• Where we fit in the global village and what countries and peoples we have a special connection with

We look forward to sharing some of this awesome learning with our whānau soon. Circle Friday 6 September in the calendar for a school celebration here.

Team Rua Learning Support legends Whaea Katie and Mrs Wickham have created an in-class podium to light up our guiding whakatauaki and give our superstars a chance to sit atop the podium.

Pictured here are last Friday's Pride Award winners and sports certificate winners feeling proud!

Last week's Team Rua gold band recipient Ava-Leigh on top of the podium!

Matua Ben is not to be found around the kura right now. That is because he and his lovely partner Alice welcomed a baby girl into the world on Wednesday 31 July - Parker Rose Martin, weighing 8lb 9, or 3.89kg. A beautiful little sister to big brother Beau.

Congratulations whānau! Nau mai, haere mai ki Te Ao Marama Parker Rose!

This year, with the help of one of our awesome EIT Candidate Teacher trainees Hannah Hunt, we launched a Porritt School team into the exciting world of canoe polo - the Porritt Paddlers! Hannah is a pretty handy canoe polo player herself, representing our country in the NZ Under 21 Paddle Ferns. Ngā mihi nui e te whānau, many thanks to the families supporting these canoe polo players, and Miss Hunt for your awesome support of this team.

Read Hannah's report about our team below;

The Porritt Paddlers have been competing in a regular competition on Sundays against other kura. They finished the season in third place after missing out on the final by one point. The tamariki should be proud of themselves as they developed massively throughout the season.

Recently, they competed in the Hawkes Bay Junior Champs and finished 6th after some very close games. It was a big weekend as they faced teams that spent the year playing in the top grade. The Porritt Paddlers showed great sportsmanship and displayed the PRIDE values throughout the weekend.

It was massive to watch the tamariki give it their all in the final on Sunday, and be a part of their journey throughout the year.

- Hannah Hunt

Miss Hunt with the Porritt Paddlers!

Yesterday, the Government announced wide-ranging changes to the teaching of Mathematics in all primary and intermediate schools in Aotearoa, New Zealand. These changes, rushed in under urgency, are to be implemented as early as 2025.

Little is known at this point about the content and detail surrounding this approach. More information will be shared with our school whānau when this content and detail is released.

We have been very fortunate for the past two weeks to host Todd Astill of Quality Coaching Services working with our Team Rua, Toru and Whā.

He has been sharing his hockey coaching skills and expertise. Our tamariki have gained a great insight into the skills and nuances of the game. This opportunity could well encourage the next layer of Porritt School Hockey players!

Ngā mihi nui Todd...your expert coaching is appreciated.

Our senior kapa haka crew are sounding awesome at regular kapa haka practise at kura on Thursdays. Whaea Puhi, Matua Kane, Whaea Han, Whaea Bernie and Matua Karaitiana are putting in the mahi alongside these tamariki.

The Ahuriri Kāhui Ako Kapa Haka Festival is not far off - Monday 16 September. To get organised and hone the performances of this kapa before this event, we are holding some weekend wananga - some extra practices on three Sunday's this term.

The dates are:

• Sunday 11th August from 9.00am - 3.00pm
• Sunday 8th September from 9.00am - 3.00pm. This will be a dress rehearsal and an afternoon performance for whānau – all tamariki must attend
• Sunday 15th September from 9.00am. This will be a shorter final run through before the performance on Monday 16th September.

Kai will be provided for tamariki and whānau attending.

It would be mīharo to have as many whānau along to āwhi with actions, poi and kai, so nau mai, haere mai e te whānau.

This term, the Porritt School Board, Community and Staff are invited to review the current policies as part of our regular policy review cycle;

• Concerns and Complaints Policy
  
• Performance Management
• Protected Disclosure

If you'd like to participate in policy review, head to https://porritt.schooldocs.co.nz/ and enter the following details;

Username: porritt

Password: pride

From our school policy landing page, click on 'Current Review' as pictured below, to see all the policies listed for review each term. You can select each policy and click 'Start Review' to begin the process.

The mahi is being put in right now whānau! Our senior school teams are training hard for this annual winter sports tournament on Friday of Week 5. The whānau and caregivers of tamariki involved should have received information via HERO about this event. Make sure you put that date in the diary.

The Spooner Shield rugby team training with Matua Ben recently

Mr Papuni has a twin brother Johnny. Johnny resides in Australia and it's fair to say, has a colourful employment history. We haven't heard about Johnny in a while!

Recently Mr Papuni spoke to his brother:

"I called my brother Johnny recently and he told me that he had moved into a new line of work! He is now a Kangaroo Wrangler!"

"I asked Johnny, 'What is a Kangaroo Wrangler?'". He replied "It's someone that can be called to trap kangaroos that roam into public areas, and return them to the wild".

"I said 'That sounds like a tough job Johnny! Kangaroos are big and strong and can jump very high!'".

"He replied 'They do indeed brother'". "I asked my brother if a kangaroo can jump higher than him? He said 'Yes they can brother'".

"I asked my brother if kangaroos can jump higher than a house?'"

"Johnny replied 'Of course! Houses can't jump!'"

That is a true story 😉