You will probably have heard recently about Aotearoa's poor achievement results in Mathematics with only 22% of students reported to be meeting the expected level by the end of Year 8. We have recently analysed our school achievement results and can proudly say that this statistic is not representative of how children at Tawhiti are achieving. We currently have 77% achieving in reading, 62% in writing and 71% in maths. 

At Tawhiti we have a schoolwide improvement cycle whereby leaders and teachers are constantly collecting progress and achievement data and analysing this to ensure that we are adapting teaching approaches and programmes to ensure our children progress with their learning and reach their potential. Below are some key facts and figures from our latest analysis. If anyone would like any further information or discussion on our results, I am always happy to chat. 

Thank you to those of you who read our notice last week around uniform - we appreciate your support. 

The majority of the Tawhiti uniform can be purchased at the Warehouse in Hawera, with the exception of the navy Canterbury pants (these can be purchased from Off the Cuff or online) and our school PE top (this can be purchased from our school office).

Boys Uniform:

• Black (long or short) socks
• Black shoes or sandals
• Navy pants (Canterbury or Schooltex navy track pants from Warehouse)
• Blue Tawhiti polo shirt
• Blue Tawhiti long sleeve polar fleece
• Navy Tawhiti shorts (there are two type - elastic waist with cargo pockets and navy with button and zip)
• Black or Navy thermal

Girls Uniform:

• Black (long or short) socks or black tights
• Black shoes or sandals
• Navy pants (Canterbury or Schooltex navy track pants from Warehouse)
• Blue Tawhiti polo shirt
• Blue Tawhiti long sleeve polar fleece
• Tawhiti tartan culottes
• Black or Navy thermal

PE Uniform

• Plain black shorts (cycle shorts are acceptable for girls)
• Tawhiti sports top 

If you are having problems providing a uniform for your children, please pop into the office and see us. We have some second hand pieces that have been donated that we can pass on. 

Practices are well underway and the excitement is building. We can't wait to hit the stage and entertain you...Tawhiti Style!

For many, this will be your first production experience at the theatre. Below is some key information and there will be more to follow as we get closer to show time... 

Shows

• There are 4 shows - Weds 11 Sept and Thurs 12 Sept at 1.00pm & 6.30pm
•  A lot of work goes into our show, so it is important that children attend and perform in all 4 shows
• We know our little people get tired during this week, so we welcome sleep in's and late starts over these two days

Tickets

Due to the number of families we have and the seats that are available in the theatre, we need to put in place a ticket allocation system to ensure that everyone has the chance to watch a show. Our ticketing system has been refined throughout the many shows we have performed at the theatre over the years. Please bear with us and show kindness to our lovely admin team who organise this, as we try our best to accomodate everyone! 

• 4 tickets are allocated per family (not child)
• The eldest child from each family will bring a ticket booking form home.
• Tickets are $10 each - please return the ticket booking form to the box in the office by WEDS 21st AUGUST and indicate on the form how the tickets are being paid for. Cash can be enclosed with the ticket booking form or you can make an online payment to the school.
• We will then go through the forms and allocate tickets/seats 
• If you are free during the day and are able to attend a day show rather than a night one, please do. This will allow space for those who work in the evenings and make sure that everyone gets a chance to come along.
• If you don't need 4 tickets - please leave them for others who might need more.
• If you would like more than 4 tickets, you can select to be on a waiting list for extra tickets and you will be contacted if there are any available. This will also be the case for people outside of the school who wish to come along. 
• More info will come out on Hero when the tickets are available to pick up or be sent home with children.
• Children under 2 are free if they are sitting on your lap. A seat will need to be purchased for all children aged 2 and over. 

Leading up to the show...

During show week children will be walking to and from the Memorial Theatre to practise. We will send further details about this closer to the time. 

Exciting times are ahead for our Tawhiti Rugby League team as they gear up to participate in the Graeme West Tournament at Hawera Primary this Monday. Good luck to our incredible team! We can’t wait to see you showcase your skills and sportsmanship on the field.

Touch Rugby

Registrations are now open! If your child is interested in joining, please fill out the online registration form. Touch Rugby will commence in Week 8, starting Thursday, 12th September. Games will take place every Thursday afternoon from 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM at the Turuturu Soccer grounds. Sign up here https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/251239. ALL children will need correct sports uniform in order to play. 

We want to encourage our community to Be a Sport Hero! We are in need of more coaches to ensure all our players and teams can participate in touch. Without enough support, we may not be able to field all teams. If you have a passion for sports and coaching, please reach out via email. Teams also require to have a ref, and Hawera Touch are running a rules night for coaches, refs, and managers shortly.

Cross Country

Looking ahead, the Cross Country events are approaching! For our senior runners, the event is scheduled for September 17th at the showgrounds, while juniors will compete on September 24th at our school. A quick reminder: the senior age for this year is 8 years and older as of September 25, 2024, which aligns with the Taranaki cross country event. I have a list prepared to properly categorise all participants, and a timetable will be shared as we get closer to the event.

It’s fantastic to see the whole school engaged in cross country training! The students are working hard. We can’t wait to see how fit our children will be!

Go Tawhiti!

Sheri

Email:sheri@tawhiti.school.nz

In the māra kai (garden)

We have had an great start to the term in the māra kai. The tamariki had a decent harvest of potatoes and have replaced these with elephant garlic bulbs. There have been many different vegetable seedlings planted, kindly donated by Bunnings. Thank you Bunnings for your continued support...you are amazing! We also have some future builders in our group, who have been busy building us two new planter beds. We plan to do some lasagna layer gardening in them in the coming weeks. 

Our gardening group recently had the opportunity to go and visit Daz and Rose’s permaculture garden (across the road from school). They checked out their chicken coop and asked many questions about keeping chickens, coming back with many ideas for our own. Again any support with this from materials to helping build it would be appreciated, please get in touch with Whaea Anna. 

Healthy kids are happy kids! 

Hauora is one of our school values and something that we are passionate about. At Tawhiti we have the following things happening in our kura to teach the health curriculum and help create resilient, confident, happy and healthy tamariki.

The topics that are specifically covered in our Friday social skills lessons include:

• School values
• Classroom and playground behaviour expectations
• Bullying and kindness
• Diversity, acceptance, identity and self worth
• Sportsmanship
• Friendships
• Sunsmart, firewise, beach and water safety
• Preparing for natural disasters
• Personal boundaries and healthy relationships
• Leadership
• Communication
• Self regulation

We monitor children's wellbeing at school through a PIVOT survey that the children in Year 3-6 complete every week, through circle times in our classrooms and through our behaviour incident data. Our data tells us we are doing a good job and children are expressing a sense of belonging and safety at our school. However, every two years, we seek feedback from you to improve our health curriculum as you know your children best!

So we would love to hear from you on what we are doing well and what we could do better. Please take some time to fill out the following survey. 

Health curriculum survey: