Newsletter Friday 16th May 2025

Ngaere School

School Newsletter

Living & Learning with RESPECT

16/05/2025

Kia ora koutou e te whānau,

Ngā mihi nui o te rā me te wiki katoa.

I hope this week’s newsletter finds you well. We are definitely heading into the change of seasons with some wet and fresh starts of late.

PTA – Update

I’d just like to take the time to acknowledge those parents who were able to come along to the PTA AGM last Monday. It was heartwarming to see a staffroom full of parents willing to get on board in support of the school and our tamariki. This helps ensure that the parent voice is reflected in the learning experiences we are able to provide our children.

A big thanks to Kara Prankerd, who was nominated and accepted the role of Chairperson for the next year, and to Stacey Clough, who’ll take on the Secretary role. Karen will continue in the role of Treasurer. We’re very grateful to these people and the 15+ others who are all part of the wider team. “He waka eke noa – we’re all in this together.”

Student Leaders, 2025

On another note, it was great to see the hall jam-packed with parents and members of the wider community who came along to support our student leaders and learners of the term. It was also a highlight for the students to get the chance to showcase what they’ve learned so far in Kapa Haka.

We’d like to celebrate the following students who’ve been named as our first Student Leaders for 2025:

Tessa Savage: Even though she has only been with us for a short time, Tessa has already proven she has what it takes to be a Ngaere Leader. She is extremely determined and always strives to be the very best. Tessa is a great role model to those around her and always displays our Ngaere values. Tino pai tō mahi rangatira, Tessa!

Grace Kane: Grace is a kind, caring student. She is inclusive of everyone and always puts her best foot forward. Grace is extremely hardworking and always tries her very best, even in the most challenging situations. Ka mutu pea, kia koe a Grace!

Toby Waite: Toby shows great enthusiasm towards everything he does. He is always looking for ways to help others out. Toby accepts challenges and is creative when finding solutions — just what we need for a Ngaere School leader. Kei runga noa atu koe, a Toby!

Connor O’Brien: Connor has a very kind, caring nature. He always displays the Ngaere values. He consistently looks out for those around him and is willing to help out wherever he can. Kei te tino pai rawa atu koe, a Connor!

We look forward to working with you all to see what you can achieve throughout the year.

Winter Sports

Our winter sporting codes are now in full swing at various times throughout the week. I’m aiming to get along to a game or two as the season progresses.

We’d love to celebrate and promote our students’ achievements and extracurricular activities, so if you are able to send through any results and/or pictures captured, that’d be greatly appreciated!

Have a great weekend, and as always — just reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Ngā manaakitanga

Shane Burgess – Tumuaki/Principal

principal@ngaere.school.nz

022 451 5809

Statement from the Ministry of Education regarding “Reporting to Parents”

“As part of our focus on lifting student achievement we have introduced new, knowledge–rich and internationally–comparable curriculum this year for Maths in Years 0–8 and English in Years 0–6.. This means we are currently changing from the old to the new curriculum. We want to acknowledge that schools and kura will only have been using the new curriculum from the start of 2025, which includes new teaching and assessment methods and content. Because of this you could see a change in your child’s progress or achievement compared to previous years which may be the result of changes in the curriculum expectations for your child’s year level.

Announcement of webspace for parents and whānau:

The Minister of Education launched a new and informative webspace for parents and whānau today, designed to help you support children’s learning at home and strengthen the relationship between families, schools and kura.

What is the new webspace and what does it include?

The Parent Portal is an online platform that provides parents and whānau with easy-to-use resources and tools to support their child’s education at home. It allows you to work in partnership with their school or kura and to keep informed about what their child is learning

The Parent Portal can be accessed HERE

The Improving Attendance project and why it matters

Researchers at the Education Review Office (ERO) are doing some research about school attendance. They want to hear your thoughts about what makes a difference. Please help by clicking on this survey link

Enviro Team Update…..

Over Term 1, the Enviro team has been hard at work, continuing the amazing efforts of previous years to keep our school looking great and staying sustainable.

Some of our key activities last term have included:

Recycling and Waste Management: We ensure that rubbish and recycling are collected and properly disposed of, keeping our school environment clean and tidy. We are in the process of upgrading our Recycling bins, so they look pretty cool in our classrooms. Our Recycling Station is being used for paper & cardboard, and we are still thinking hard about how we are going to set this up permanently.
Gardening: Our gardens are thriving! We’re growing seedlings to use within the school or sell, helping to support our projects. We are doing some science experiments with the vegetable gardens over the winter to make sure we can grow great produce. Our tomatoes went crazy in our propagation house!
Chook Care: We look after our chooks by feeding them, cleaning their area, and ensuring they are healthy and happy. We love to use their eggs for baking!
Worm Farm Maintenance: We take care of our worm farm by feeding the worms regularly, which helps us maintain rich compost for the garden. Some worm pee will be available to purchase soon.
Frank the Food Cart: Our food cart, “Frank,” is stocked with fresh produce and plants for sale. The items on the cart change regularly, so be sure to check it out. Your donations are greatly appreciated, as they help us continue our sustainability initiatives.

School Gala Day: We helped prepare and tidy areas for our Gala Day, which was a great success! It was cool to have a produce, baking, plant, and book stand to raise funds for our school. Thank you to everyone who donated items or helped out.

There are always so many things to care for around our school, and we are proud to do a great job. Thank you for your support!

William Pike Passion Projects

Tessa

This week I started my second 1000 piece puzzle. This puzzle is a bit different to the last one I did because the last one was a Wasgij mystery, so I could use the box to guide me. This one is a Wasgij destiny, which means we have to puzzle the future so I have to look at the picture on the box and think what the future is going to be. While I have been separating the edge pieces out, I have had a visitor. The cat, George, loves boxes and really wanted to help me by sitting in the box. I have had a really good start on my new puzzle, and I’m really enjoying the challenge of having no guidance.

Isabella

For my passion project I chose to do French Knitting. Firstly I decided to actually learn how to do it properly and then I got started practicing and attempted to make a coaster I started by testing how long the I cord ( The rope ). It took a few try’s but eventually I got it to the right size. I watched a video on how to knot a coaster and found a video that showed me exactly what to do and I copied it step by step until I had a coaster. I grabbed out my needle and began to sew the leftover yarn into the middle of the coster. After a lot of mistakes and progress I finished with a coaster (I made this coaster for my Grandma).

Toby

My auntie and uncle from Australia got me this thing for my birthday that I’ve never heard of. It was Pickleball. I decided that I am going to spend 10 hours of my passion project to try and learn new skills and get better at playing the game Pickleball.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Mia

On Sunday, the 16th of March I went to Womad to collect money for Rotokare. This was a part of my senior ambassador program and was really fun. I had to greet everybody with a smile on my face, saying good morning. I talked a little bit about what I was doing and asked them if they wanted to donate. I was there for 4 and a half hours and I eventually got sick and tired of standing on my feet for that long. Overall we collected a couple of hundred dollars. With everyone who collected money and gave their time over the three days, it helped us make over a thousand dollars.

Connor

On Sunday the 4th of May I went and did pest tunneling at Lake Rotokare. We met up at the Rotokare education centre at 8:45AM to find out what to do and how to do it. We were given peanut butter, rabbit meat, a map, instructions, ink cards and a walkie talkie. We set off to our designated area of the bush surrounding the lake. We walked around our area of the lake up and down tracking lines and placing ink cards inside the tracking tunnels. Each tracking tunnel had a number written on the top which I copied onto the tracking card with the date of when it was placed. I then put a bit of peanut butter on the ink side of the card and on every odd numbered tunnel I also put a piece of rabbit meat on the ink. Once I had put the card and bait inside the tunnel, I then stapled each end of the card down so that birds and Pukekos could not take the bait and card. I had to walk up and down the different tracking lines, looking for the tracking tunnels until all the tunnels on that line had been fully set up with an ink card and bait. Once all tunnels were set up on a tracking, I could then move onto the next tracking line. At the end once I had completed all the tracking tunnels, I walked back to the education centre to drop off the remaining supplies.