Monday, 9th August 2021
Tena koutou whānau
Last week I was at the New Zealand Principal’s Conference in Rotorua. It was such a great opportunity to meet a wide range of Principals from all of NZ and hear some really engaging speakers.
One of my favourites was Sir Ian Taylor. He is a 71 year old Māori/Pakeha man who has had an incredibly interesting life, from being a presenter on Playschool to creating an animation company and flying around the world tracking thousands of sporting events.
He talked a lot around Cultural Responsiveness, STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and the importance for our tamariki learning about the history of Aotearoa. You may have seen his company’s work on animations for the top sports games in the world. He has now been part of setting up this innovative website to help us to teach our tamariki about Aotearoa - www.maatauranga.co.nz/. Feel free to check it out with your children.
Ngā mihi
Maree Lucas
Tumuaki/Principal
School Notices
Multipurpose Space
Our new building is just having the final few things completed on it and hopefully when it dries out a bit we will start with the landscaping around it. We will be holding a blessing for the building in the next couple of weeks with our tamariki and our Board of Trustees, led by Pone Taite (Kaumatua) and Melanie Taite-Pitama (Tuahiwi Education Team Member), then we will have an official opening in term 4 where our community will be invited.
Agri Sports/Pet Day
For the last few years Leighton Croft has organised our Agri Sports and Julie Wells has organised the Pet Day. We are looking for new people to help with this year’s event, so they could then take it over next year. Please let me know if you are keen.
Spring Ball
A reminder to please send in a grocery item for our raffle at the Spring Ball. Plus tickets are on sale and we would love to see you there. It is a great opportunity to catch up and have a dance! Or just enjoy the band and yummy food! Tickets are at www.iticket.co.nz.
Ski Trips - 10th and 17th August
I will email everyone and put a message on the school’s Facebook page at 6.30am to let you know if the ski trip is going ahead or not.
ERO - Education Review Office
In two weeks we will be meeting our ERO evaluation partner, which we are really looking forward to. Our last review was in 2017 and we were thrilled with our report. There is a new approach since that last review and our evaluation partner will be with us for a longer period of time now and working alongside us to review our kura. We look forward to keeping you updated along the way.
Community Notices
Resilient Hurunui presents guest speaker John McCaskey talking on "Water - A lifetime of living and farming in drought-prone Waipara". On August 19th at 7.30 p.m, Amberley School, Douglas Road, Amberley. $5 donation appreciated. All Welcome. All Resilient Hurunui talks can be found on YouTube.
Mt Cass Wind Farm
The Mt Cass Wind Farm project team continue to work hard to get the project ready for financial close. If you would like to be kept updated about progress, sign up for the Mt Cass Wind Farm newsletter - https://www.mtcasswindfarm.co.nz/
They will be hosting a series of community meetings around the region closer to construction. These meetings will be an opportunity to meet the project team and hear about what to expect during the construction phase of the project.
