School Growing, Teachers Changing, Road Safety and Students

Kia ora koutou, as you may have noticed our school is growing! This has led to our class sizes in the junior room being higher than we would have liked. However, help is here! We have received great news from the Ministry of Education. They have re-assessed our school numbers and the growth we are undergoing. As a result, they have given us staffing for another teacher, this means we can open up room 9 as a classroom! The students that are transitioning into Room 9 were notified last week (Year 2 students from Room 7 and Room 8). This week we have been running a transition programme with them.

This exciting news means that this week we had the pleasure of welcoming to our school a new teacher. Miss Gina Davis, who will be the full time Room 9 teacher. Miss Davis has taught in Matamata and Auckland schools and now she joins us after having travelled the world and teaching in England. We are all so excited to have yet another passionate, enthusiastic and caring staff member join the team!

On a sadder note, Mrs Jodene de Andrad who was teaching one day a week in room 5 has left us as she has taken up the Acting Principal’s position at Waihi Central School. Well done and congratulations on this exciting adventure Mrs de Andrad. We welcome Mrs Robyn Prole on staff to teach Room 5 when Mrs Frew is on management release.

A lot of our winter sports has wrapped up, a huge thank you to all our parent helpers, coaches and supporters. A huge congratulations to all our budding sports stars, check out our netball teams end of season photos below, at the top year 4 ‘Suns’ during ‘Closing Day’, below left year 5 ‘Shooting Stars’ and to the right year 6 ‘Comets’. Congratulations to our teams who performed amazingly all season. At prizegiving on Saturday they received the following awards:

Year 4 Suns - runner up promotion/relegation round, runner up championship round, winner least goals against, winner most goals scored.

Year 5 Stars - runner up promotion/relegation round, winner least goals against.

Year 6 Comets - runner up promotion/relegation round, winner championship round, runner up least goals against, winner most goals scored. I look forward to coming and seeing you on the field / court again next year.

Student Safety Note: Slow Down, Pay attention and Drive Defensively. Many of our students walk to and from school crossing multiple roads. Please drive with caution along Mataura Road, Gladstone Road and Donnelly Street. Watch for students crossing or about to cross. If you see drivers speeding, driving carelessly and endangering pedestrians please take their number plate and report them to *555 or the online report form https://forms.police.govt.nz/…/online-community-roadwatch…/9. Also mention it to the school office. Equally if you see students not being responsible crossing roads etc let us know at the office so we can educate them further on road safety. We have some very proactive parents that have petitioned the council to make our roads safer. Work is underway to try and find solutions that keep our tamariki safe.

Nga mihi, Zac