Porritt School Press

Kia ora ngā whānau o Te Kura o Porritt!

Somehow we have made the midpoint in the term already! I don't quite know how that rushed up so quickly...it must of been the Olympics flying by. How good were the Paris Olympics??! The Kiwi team were awesome, the best ever medal haul in our country's history. Much to be proud of!

We are proud here too, of the learning that has been going on in our kura in Term 3, and the effort our tamariki put in to making learning progress. It was great to tour parts of the school recently to observe Structured Literacy lessons in actions. Seeing the sparks flying and many lightbulbs glowing brightly for our tamariki was very affirming.

We look forward to sporting excellence and determination on the Cross Country track very soon, and pay tribute to the little Porritt Pride stars that gave it their all at Spooner Shield last week as well.

There are details below about various upcoming events etc. Have a good read whānau.

Kia pai tō wiki - have a lovely week ahead.

Maaka Papuni - Tumuaki/Principal

Community notice here of two significant emergency procedure practice drills.

• We will be practising our Lockdown Procedures tomorrow - Tuesday 20 August. We will communicate a 'drill' message via Hero, as per our policy.

• We will practise our Earthquake drill next Wednesday 28 August.

Your tamariki are well prepared for these drills and practises, but if you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher.

Hey team,

Please see the poster reminder about our Porritt School Cross Country next Monday 26 August. Mr Papuni incorrectly advertised this event occurring in September in the last newsletter - sorry!

Thankfully Whaea Hannah, our awesome sports coordinator, had nailed it with sharing the flyer below via HERO.

Our tamariki will need their house colours on...can't wait for this awesome day out!

It was a pleasure to spend time deliberately checking in on Structured Literacy learning that happens across our kura recently. Our tamariki have responded amazingly to the embedding of this approach in our school since the beginning of 2023, following a successful trial in 2022.

We have followed the Liz Kane Literacy Approach supported by high quality facilitation from Kirsty Tatere and amazing resources Little Learners Love Literacy and The Code.

We are very pleased with the impact of these programmes on successful outcomes for our learners. Another reminder of how fortunate we are to have such a capable group of kaiako, teachers, and Learning Support staff that have taken on this approach professionally and effectively for our learners.

On Monday 2nd September, we celebrate our learning during the our schoolwide Learning Inquiry 'Te Kura o Porritt Olympics 2024'.

We are hosting a Closing Ceremony! We'd like whānau and caregivers to attend with us. Originally this was supposed to take place on Friday 6 September, but we're bringing this forward!

We have children in our kura with whakapapa, genealogical connections with so many countries across the world. Many of us have a connection with our beautiful whenua. We also have tamariki, whānau and staff that claim ancestry from;

• Australia

• Cambodia

• South Africa

• The Philippines

• Fiji

• India

• Samoa

• Wales

• Tokelau

• Sri Lanka

• Portugal

• Cook Islands

• China

• Tonga

• Brazil

• Poland

• Papua New Guinea

• England

• Scotland

• Ireland

• Italy

• Greece

• France

• Spain

• Austria

• Russia

• Denmark

• Norway

• Solomon Islands

Tamariki are encouraged to dress in a costume from one of the country's they have ancestry from, or dress as a Kiwi legend! If there are more countries to add to this list, please tell your child's teacher. We'd like to purchase flags from these countries to display.

We will also be having a shared kai after our closing ceremony, and whānau and caregivers are invited to join home classes and invited to bring kai from the country your family is from.

It is going to be an awesome day! Nau mai, haere mai whānau - we look forward to sharing it with you.

Last Friday 16 August, our Spooner Shield representatives took to the field, the turf and the court in the black and yellow.

Our team finished a very creditable third place, behind joint shield winners Greenmeadows School, and Taradale School. Not too shabby in a field of eight schools.

A big mihi to these tamariki, and their coaches and supporters, for all of your energy and commitment for the Porritt Pride!

Year 6 Netballers

Year 5 Netballers

Boys Football and Girls Football

Our second placed hockey players

Our third placed rugby team

We are running a trial at our drop off and pick up zone right now by placing a barrier at the entry to discourage some users from parking here before 3.00pm. This zone is for pick up after 3.00pm, rather than parking up and waiting in this zone, creating hold ups.

We even had a report of one person parking in this zone and leaving the vehicle to walk into the school, leaving a huge tailback in her wake, out to Ranfurly St.

We are also looking at a left turn only sign at the exit to this drop off and pick up zone, so we don’t see cars endanger others entering Lyttelton Cres. We have seen far too many near misses in this area. We recommend turning left and going around Lyttelton Crescent to the exit onto Ranfurly St nearer Freyberg Ave. We also had a report from one of our families that live on Lyttelton Cres about a vehicle running into a parked car outside their house. If you have any information about this, please contact the school.

We’d actually like to see more vehicles park on York Avenue, where there is always lots of space, and have your tamariki cross out in front of the school at Lyttelton Crescent, and take a very short walk around to you and your car, particularly our Team Toru and Whā tamariki.

The mid term goal for this area, is to add permanent bollards, and add seating and cover for our tamariki to wait here safely for whānau to collect them.

Your patience, commonsense and support is appreciated here to keep our tamariki safe and well.

Last Tuesday, our Porritt School Year 3&4 Barefoot 10's Rugby players played a match vs Onekawa School at school during our lunch break.

It was a very cool and supportive seen, with lots of our tamariki cheering on their schoolmates with chants of "Porritt, Porritt, Porritt!!" from the sidelines - it was a vibe!

The match finished 5-5 . Well done to these kids for giving it their all.

The first of these weekend wananga on Sunday 11 August was awesome! It was so great to hear these tamariki giving it their all, and the progress was noticeable at Thursday's regular kapa haka practice.

What was also noticeable was those tamariki that did not attend. They were significantly behind.

The next wananga is on Sunday 8th September. This session is compulsory to get all tamariki involved up to speed.

The two remaining wananga dates are:

• 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. Ngā mihi nui - many thanks to all whānau that helped and supported on the 11th. This was awesome! Your awhi and tautoko is appreciated.

Our staff will be part of a day of school visits to other kura on Thursday 24 October. Our school will be closed for instruction.

A decision around PorrittCare availability will be shared soon.