Newsletter, Term 2, Week 3

Ngaere School

School Newsletter

Living & Learning with RESPECT

8/5/2027

Kia ora koutou,

It’s been fantastic catching up with everyone over the last few weeks. I’ve been out and about quite a bit, and it’s been excellent to see the classrooms really humming; there’s a real hive of activity across the school and it feels great to be back into the swing of things for Term 2. It’s also been nice to see the weather finally playing ball; despite those chilly starts, the sunshine has been a very welcome change!

Kaponga Football Tournament Winter sports have kicked off, and it’s great to see so many of our kids getting amongst it on the fields and courts. We recently had our first time at the Kaponga Football Club annual tournament, and we had an absolute blast! A massive thanks to Kaponga Football for their organisation and delivery of such a huge event – and for turning on the amazing weather.

It was great to see so many of our supporters out there on the day. A huge thank you to Pete, Marie, and Nicole & Amber for coaching and managing the teams (and for taking on the reffing!). Thanks also to everyone who helped with transport to get the kids there and home again.

I’d love to continue celebrating these successes, so if you are coaching or supporting a team, please flick me through any photos and results. We’d love to share them with the rest of the school community.

Staffing Update We wish Miss Lisa Hulme all the best as she heads off on her European adventure for the remainder of Term 2! We hope you have an incredible time, Lisa. In her absence, we are very happy to welcome Miss Gemma Smith, who will be covering Room 7.

PTA Update A big thanks to those who came along to the PTA AGM last week. We continue to have real strength in numbers and truly appreciate everything the PTA does for our kura. We thank Kara Prankerd for continuing as Chair, welcome Kylie Keller into the role of Secretary, and appreciate Karen’s willingness to oversee the finances. These guys will continue to work alongside a sizable number of other parents who give up their time to help provide awesome opportunities for our kids.

It is so good to be back into the swing of things and seeing our tamariki thriving in and out of the classroom. There is plenty more to look forward to this term, and I can’t wait to share more of those ‘fun things’ with you all soon!

As always, please reach out should you have any questions/concerns.

Ngā mihi nui

Shane Burgess – Tumuaki/Principal

principal@ngaere.school.nz

We’d love your support at our upcoming Ngaere School Community Working Bee. It’s a great opportunity to come together, pitch in, and take pride in our kura while spending some relaxed time as a community. There’s a wide range of jobs, so there’s something for everyone; and kids are absolutely welcome to come along and be part of it too.

If you’re able to lend a hand, we’d really appreciate it. Please take a moment to complete the quick survey HERE so we can get an idea of numbers.

We’ve recently completed our first Wellbeing for Learning (Pivot) check-in for 2026, and it’s great to see a positive shift from our baseline survey. Across the school, all three key areas have lifted — Belonging increased from 3.85 to 3.99, Resilience from 3.57 to 3.76, and Safety from 4.00 to 4.19. Just as importantly, by the end of the cycle around 85% of students were reporting they feel “good” or “great”, showing an overall improvement in how our tamariki are experiencing school. We’ve also seen strong growth in key indicators, including a 7.5% increase in students feeling they can talk to an adult when they have a problem and a 12.4% increase in students persisting when learning is challenging.

This tool gives us a clear picture of both strengths and next steps. While the overall trend is very positive, a small group of students are still finding it harder to look forward to school, ask for help, and bounce back from challenges, and we know not all students who need support are reaching out. To strengthen this, we have a Youth Mentor working with students each week, a full-time Pastoral Support Worker, and a continued focus on wellbeing through our classrooms and weekly assemblies, where we celebrate progress and deliberately grow the positive across our kura.

Room 1 & 2 – Term 1 Highlights

Room 1 and 2 had a very busy and exciting Term 1! We began the year with lots of swimming sessions, where students built confidence in the water and had plenty of fun along the way.

Throughout the term, we explored our “Letter of the Week” programme with many creative activities. From making penguins to creating cuddly teddy bears, our classroom was full of hands-on learning and creativity.

We also took time to celebrate special events and occasions, including Easter and ANZAC Day. As part of our ANZAC learning, the children made delicious ANZAC biscuits. They were a huge hit, and our taste testers certainly enjoyed sampling the finished products!

It has been wonderful welcoming many new children into Room 1 and 2 this term. We are looking forward to meeting and celebrating even more new entrants joining our class during Term 2.

Rooms 4 and 5 enjoyed learning more about ANZAC Day.

Room 3 enjoyed their visit to Junction Zero Waste Hub this week. We learnt many important facts about waste, reusing, and recycling. The highlight was seeing the amount of waste that fits in a recycling dump truck and learning how it is sorted.