Welcome to Term 3

Greetings and a warm welcome to existing and new students for Term 3. I have been so impressed with the way our learners have started the term. We talk about our synapses firing in our brains to make new pathways and this is certainly happening as I walk in and around classes each day.

I am thrilled to welcome new staff members to our teaching team:

In the Wee Sprouts room we have Liz Kriel and Nicole Johnson. They are both super excited about welcoming our five-year old students to school and have great ideas for making transition to school and first steps for learning successful.

                Nicole                                                                                                Liz

                                                                              

In Room 8 we welcome Tim Stanley who is back home in NZ following a teaching stint in Africa. Students across the school are certainly excited to see Mr Stanley out in the playground at break times.

                                                                 

As you will have noticed the newsletter has been redeveloped, bringing to you school news in a mobile friendly format. We are hoping to minimise the number of paper copies being printed so if you are not already receiving the newsletter by email and would like to, then please email the school office with this request.

At the end of Term 2, there were a number of celebrations that as a learning community we were extremely proud of and certainly acknowledged that we are hugely competitive out in the wider field – you can read about these successes in the articles of this newsletter. Well done and thanks to the staff who have supported these opportunities to happen which in turn have enabled our students to create the many successes.

Success with a TECT application has resulted in the purchase of 84 ipads and storage / charging cupboards. Existing ipads have been updated and streamlined by ITed Services, our IT service providers so all classes have access to a number of devices. We are extremely grateful to TECT for their support as this has enabled us to have a healthy injection of new technology into our classes.

Thank you to all families who are using the drop-off area each morning and afternoon, your consideration for each other at these peak times is certainly appreciated. A reminder to all that vehicles must not be left unattended in the access lanes.

The chilly mornings have certainly kicked in recently with a couple of crisp frosts. Make sure those extra pieces of clothing are named so that as they are shed during the day they don’t end up in our lost property box!

All in all - an awesome start to Term 3! Thanks again to our amazing staff for all their hard work over the break in preparation for the term ahead.

Lisa Rose 

Acting Principal

To read our full newsletter please click here:  Newsletter No 7   

Leadership Week

KIA ORA KOUTOU KATOA, TALOFA LAVA, MALO E LELEI, NI HAO, ANYOUNG HASEYO, KONICHI WA, GRUETZI, GUTEN TAG, BONJOUR, OLA, HELLO. 

This week we proudly celebrated our motto "Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow". This week is an annual event where our students celebrate the many opportunities they have to develop their leadership skills and they listen to inspiring speakers. Photos of all events are on our "Events and Celebrations" page.

This year Flynn Kelly (Tauranga Boys College Head Boy) and Madison Randall (Tauranga Girls College Head Girl)  talked to our senior students on Tuesday to share their view of leadership - what it means, who great role models are and how they became leaders.

During Leadership week we celebrated the opening of our library and our Writers Club and Librarians spent time with Rebecca Larson as she discussed ways she gets her inspiration for the writing and illustrations of her books. 
This morning, as the week drew to a close, we cut our Library Refurbishment cake and enjoyed every piece. A huge thank you to Sarah Clark from The Cake Tin, one of our amazing parents who made this for us.

Yesterday we had our leadership assemblies where two students in each class are awarded. Steve Bocock, the branch manager of the Westpac Bank awarded the Sir Peter Blake award for leadership to Jessica Hayman at the Year 3 - 8 assembly. Congratulations to Jessica, this is a huge accolade and well deserved.

Today all students attended our Junior or Senior discos in the morning over at the Tauriko Settlers Hall. Many came dressed "Wild and Wacky".  It was a wonderful surprise to see who walked in the door today! I'm sure your children will return to you today excited about their wonderful day - a great end to an awesome week and an amazing term!

Leadership Week is always a huge celebration of the many leadership opportunities students have at Tauriko School and of the focus the school has on growing young leaders who practice their leadership at all times today and who will be leaders of our country in so many different ways in the future.

Growing staff in leadership is also a passion of mine. We grow staff in formal Deputy Principal, Assistant Principal and Team Leader roles. We also have staff who grow their leadership as leaders of curriculum teams or in leading students in the activities they are involved in  eg Jump Jam, Choir, Kapahaka, Ukelele bands, the Green Team.
I am away on sabbatical for Term 3. As part of this time I get to spend time researching and thinking about ways in which we might further grow leaders across our school

I am proud of the strong, effective Leadership Team team that we have at Tauriko School. I know that the school is in good hands and that the school community will support Lisa Rose, as Acting Principal, and the leadership team over Term 3 while I am away.

Mathathon

On Wednesday, sponsorship packs were sent home with each student for the upcoming Mathathon (to be held on Tuesday 8^th August at 9am).  If over the holidays, your child was able to spend some time learning the questions they have been allocated and seek some sponsorship to support their learning that would be great! All funds raised will help the PTA fund a new outdoor maths learning zone at Tauriko School.  There are some great individual and class prizes up for grabs  including a class trip sponsored by Flipout for the top fundraising class.

Further information is available on the school website (with a link from the homepage) however if you have any questions please do not hesitate to email pta@tauriko.school.nz or call 027 233 2676.  

I wish you all a safe and restful holiday and I look forward to seeing you all when I return in Term 4.

Suzanne

Quality Learning Opportunities Across The Curriculum

KIA ORA KOUTOU KATOA, TALOFA LAVA, MALO E LELEI, NI HAO, ANYOUNG HASEYO, KONICHI WA, GRUETZI, GUTEN TAG, BONJOUR, OLA, HELLO. 

Learning across the curriculum for students continues to be exciting and varied for students at Tauriko School and provides opportunities for many of our students to shine and to take part in events and activities outside our school grounds. Students are actively involved in their community.Recently Tall Poppies students took part in Cross Country across farmland at Whakamarama, our Year 4, 5, and 6 students took part in the West Cluster Cross Country, our Year 5 & 6 and Year 7 & 8 marimba bands performed for the opening of the Gull station across the road and our Tall Poppy students took part in the EPro8 Science and Technology Challenge against other Intermediate students.
Several teams were entered over two nights. All teams displayed excellent teamwork and problem solving skills. The Wednesday night team (Kelly Duffin, Jessica Hayman, Luka Bryan & Felix AndersonPodmore) was exceptional. They came second with a score that was in the top five scores of all time! They now go on to the final in Week 10. Watch this space!

EPro8 Challenge

Marimba Bands at the Gull Tauriko Opening

Students teaching Gull staff how to play the Marimba!

Tauriko School Quiz night

Our PTA were thrilled to make approximately a record $10,000 at our recent PTA Quiz. The "Wild West" themed night was a wonderful community event which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. The local Tauriko Settlers Hall was decorated and looking stunning, the costumes of the wise and knowledgable participants were outstanding and the food and drink was well within keeping of Western type fare.

Thanks you to the PTA and their RAFTs (Relations and Friends of Tauriko School) who worked hard to bring such a wonderful night to fruition. Thanks you to all of you who bought tickets and of course to our wonderful sponsors who helped make the night such a success. I would encourage the community to support our sponsors when considering purchasing a range of items - it's nice to give back to them if possible too. Their support of our school makes great things possible for our students.

Learning Partnership Meetings - 4th and 6th July

Information recently went out for parents/caregivers to book Learning Partnership meetings with teachers. The link to do this is at the top of our website front page. A notice has gone out that clearly outlines the dates and times of these and bus organisation on the day. Please take time to read this so you can make any arrangements necessary for your children.

This year these are during Leadership Week, an annual celebration in our school of student, staff and community leadership. A notice about events over this week will come out shortly, so look out for this. 

This week will also see the official opening of our renovated library and the PTA will be hosting a wine and cheese as parents are able to visit the library to see how amazing it looks.

Traffic and Parking

Greg Simmonds, our BOT Chairperson, recently contacted the Ministry of Education again to ask about decision making around our carpark. We will continue to keep this at the forefront for the MOE until we have this carpark in place.

I have been in touch with NZTA around the variable speed signs as parents have told me they are not always working and I have also contacted the police again to ask for a presence out on SH29. We have also put "No U-Turn" signs in each driveway to try to alleviate this particular problem.

Thank you for your continued patience at busy times. Please be aware that should you hold up traffic to let traffic on the median strip turn into the school this can create real safety issues. We have had several instances where trucks behind cars doing this have nearly collided with cars in front. I know this is being done to help turning traffic but please be aware of the dangers this causes and resist the temptation. Gaps in traffic do happen for turning traffic.

I would like to thank the staff who continue every afternoon to work hard to support buses to leave the school grounds quickly and safely and who get children into cars quickly in order that your time in a queue is as limited as possible. 

I want to thank you for being so wonderful at staying in your cars in the afternoon and rolling through the carpark. In the mornings also the "kiss and drop" system is working so well. This consideration for other families dropping off students I know is much appreciated.

Staffing for Term 3

Next term we have new staff joining us in our NE and Year 3 & 4 classrooms. Tim Stanley, will be teaching in Room 8 after returning from Eritrea and Liz Kriel will start in the Wee Sprouts room. We are also currently advertising for a second New Entrant teacher to team teach with Liz.

I want to thank Kelly Soutar for her 2 1/2 years service in our school. We will miss her calm, gentle manner and her expertise. We wish Kelly all the very best in her next adventure - teaching Internationally in Penang.

Thanks too must also go to Donna Olsen for the wonderful start to school her students have had in the last eighteen months. Donna has settled students in beautifully and supported parents new to schooling for their children also. I wish Donna all the very best for the future.

Principal Sabbatical

I was fortunate to win a Principal's sabbatical this year. This will involve a research project in which I will look at enhanced ways to grow professional leaders in a school. Lisa Rose will be Acting Principal over this time and other staff will step up to cover aspects of her DP role at this time also. I know that the school is in fine hands and will continue to be the amazing place it is while I am away for Term 3.

Suzanne

Countdown to Maui The Magnificent

KIA ORA KOUTOU KATOA, TALOFA LAVA, MALO E LELEI, NI HAO, ANYOUNG HASEYO, KONICHI WA, GRUETZI, GUTEN TAG, BONJOUR, OLA, HELLO. 

Students are all getting excited now as the last practices for our Maui The Magnificent production happen. Next week will be a busy week for students as they spend Monday at School running through the show and the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday down at the Bethlehem College Performing Arts Centre running through the show and performing. Details around this have come home as a notice with students this week, check their bags if you haven’t seen this and make yourselves familiar with the organisation and times for this.

A huge thank you to the PTA for funding the buses for each student to travel to Bethlehem College, Tuesday to Thursday. We encourage all parents to have their children at school on time to go on the buses as Bethlehem College will not allow Tauriko School parental traffic through the school as this is a busy time for their own parents dropping students at school and after school picking them up. Remember students need to be dropped off at the theatre for evening performances at 6pm and they can be picked up after the show outside the side of the theatre at 8:30pm.

Tickets are selling fast and be aware there is a matinee performance on Thursday that is great for pre-schoolers to attend, instead of them having a late night. Extended family members may also find this a great option if they can’t make the night performances.

There is a public consultation for the Tauriko West development proposed for around our school and the future roading options for SH29 currently being held down at The Tauranga Crossing in the building right next to Eves Realty today, Friday, and Saturday. There are big posters up outlining where the planning is at so far, options being considered for roading and staff/consultants from NZTA, TCC, WBOPRC and MOE there to answer your questions. This will have implications for our school. I encourage you to get down there at some time over the next two days to learn about what is being proposed and give feedback to these staff. Dallas Collett and Gavin Sowry from the Ministry of Education will be there to talk to about what this means for schooling in the area. There is a feedback booklet you can fill in which will mean you are able to have your say about what is important to you about the wider Tauriko Area and what you would like the project team to consider in planning for the future.

The feedback period closes on 16 June 2017. You can also fill in an online survey if you wish.

Currently our library is being refurbished due to wonderful fundraising from our PTA two years ago now that the space is no longer being used as a classroom. A team has supported Lisa Rose in this refurbishment – Emma Cumming from the PTA, Fay Burke, our past BOT Chairperson  and Cathy Ball our part-time librarian. Yesterday they, other parent volunteers and student helpers from Aquinas College helped to get books back on the new shelving. It is so exciting to see this happen! Furniture is soon to arrive. An opening of the refurbished library will happen at the end of this term in Leadership week, with our Library leaders taking on leadership roles as part of the celebration.

Look out for information coming out after the production around our annual Leadership Week. Of course our school motto is “Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow” and growing leadership in all students from Years 1 – 8 and amongst our staff is a focus of our school. Active citizenship is promoted and supported and of course often this also means our parents and whanau stepping into leadership roles. The PTA and the BOT provide fundraising and governance leadership and often there is a call out to parents and whanau to lead utilising their expertise – hangi, our Creative Community Curriculum (CCC), sports coaching and management to name but a few.

Recently one of our parents, Cherie Bulley, approached me to have an amazing “Time Mangement guru” speak at our school. I have heard Robyn Pearce speak around time management in professional roles and thoroughly enjoyed listening to her and found her ideas both practical and hugely helpful. Robyn has just put out a book for parents. I know the practical advice she has to offer around this will be hugely beneficial to all parents and I encourage you to obtain tickets. Put Monday 26 June in your diaries and look out for further information which will be coming out shortly. I will certainly be going along to pick up tips!! Having a speaker of this calibre at our school is wonderful. A big thank you to Cherie for stepping up and organising this for us all.

Have a great weekend and to those of you out there on the side of sports fields building lasting memories with your kids - wrap up warm and enjoy!

Suzanne