Sarah Neyens will be taking on the role of Pastoral Lead. She will oversee and lead the attendance and wellbeing initiatives, social and emotional curriculum, and behaviour management systems across the school. Sarah already has wonderful relationships with whānau and tamariki at our kura so this is a role that she will step into easily. 

Tayla Carlson will be taking on the role of Curriculum and Assessment Lead. Tayla will lead the development, implementation and review of our curriculum. She will use data to track the progress of our learners and monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning programmes. Tayla runs an excellent classroom programme and her learners make accelerated progress, so I look forward to her positively impacting the learning programmes across the school. 

Renee Clegg will take on the role of SENCO (special education needs co-ordinator). As SENCO, Renee is responsible for identifying and supporting students with special educational needs, ensuring they receive appropriate interventions and resources. She will work closely with teachers, parents, and external agencies to create inclusive learning environments and promote student success. If your child has an IEP, ILP, or MOE funding Renee will be your go to person! 

In addition to the appointment of a new leadership team, we are also excited to announce the promotion of Whaea Narnz into a new position. Narnz will be moving into the role of Arts and Cultural kaiako. She will ensure that te reo Māori, matauranga Māori, kapahaka, te ao Māori and the arts continue to thrive and grow at our school by working with kaiako (teachers), ākonga (learners) and whānau (family).

I am sure that you will agree these appointments will aptly fill the shoes of those who have come before them, adding their own spin and flavour to do the best they can for our tamariki. 

As mentioned above, on Monday and Tuesday this week we have a number of staff away attending Structured Literacy training. Below are the staff attending as well as who will be covering for them in their absence. 

Important dates to mark in your calendar for Term 4:

Week 2.

• ERO (Education Review Office) will be visiting Tawhiti. The Education Review Office (ERO) evaluates and reports on the quality of education in all New Zealand schools. ERO provides feedback to schools and communities to help improve teaching practices and ensure positive outcomes for all students. We look forward to welcoming them to Tawhiti and sharing the many great things that we have happening. 

Week 3

• Monday 28th October. Labour Day - School will be closed. 
• Wednesday 30th October. Puanga festival

Week 4

• Monday 4th November. Senior athletics at the HUB.

Week 6

• Monday 18th November. Junior athletics at school. 
• Wednesday 20th November. Dixon Banner interschool athletics competition.

Week 9 and 10

• Beach Education visits for Totara, Pohutukawa, Kahikatea and Kauri. Dates are on community calendar. 
• Wednesday 18th December end of year assembly at 11:30am and school finishes for the year at 12:30pm. 

We will send regular reminders leading up to each of these events to keep you all in the loop! 

This friday we invite all grandparents, kaumatua, special people and whānau to school. There is loads going on from pet judging to art exhibitions to scavengar hunts with our grandparents. A fun and action packed day...thats the Tawhiti Way right?! 

Outline of the day:

Pet Parade at 10am

• This will occur in the courtyard before formal judging begins
• Dogs should meet on the courts at 9:55am
• Calves and lambs should meet on the field by the library at 9:55am
• Children will lead their pet around the courtyard, allowing the rest of the school to see / pet it.
• Children are also welcome to bring any other pets that they wish to parade and share (eg turtles, guinea pigs etc)
• The dogs will parade first, followed by any other small animals. The calves and lambs will parade last once the dogs are cleared out. 

Pet Judging from 10:20am

• Dog judging will begin at 10:20am on the courts. They will be judged on a dog project which must be completed at home prior to pet day and brought along, leading, sitting on command, trick of choice (on the lead) and dress up. 
• Dog prizegiving will occur at 11:30am and then we ask that all dogs are taken home. 
• Calf judging will begin at 10:30am with prize giving at 11:30am. Calves will be judged on leading, rearing and connection. 
• Lamb judging will begin at 10:30am. Lambs/children will be given a number and they will then move through 3 judging stations in order - leading, rearing and connection, and calling. Calling will be done individually without a bottle so get practising. At the commencement of this, children and lambs will get dressed into their dress up costumes for the final section of judging followed by prize giving. 

Welcome to our grandparents and special people at 12pm

• We will have an official welcome for our grandparents and special people at 12pm. Weather permitting this will happen beside the playground in front of Manuka. There will be chairs set up so please let grandparents and whānau know to head there on arrival to school. 

Lunchtime / Market Day / Art Exhibition from 12:20pm

• After the welcome, we will have an hour to spend with our whānau, grandparents and special people. During this time, you can purchase food to enjoy together, view our art exhibition that will be set up in the hall and purchase products that our children have made with love. The products include candles, wheat bags, cookie jars, pickles, earrings and heaps more. Profits made by the children from their market stalls go towards their camps. 
• The hot food that will be for sale needs to be pre-ordered. An order form will come home tomorrow. Please order for your entire whānau / grandparents etc and return this to the office in an envelope with the money before THURSDAY 9am. You will then be issued tickets for the purchased food which you can pass over when you are ready to collect your kai. Tickets will be named and will be delivered to children's classes on Friday morning. Alternatively, you can collect these from the office before school Friday if you would prefer an adult to hold onto them. 

Scavengar Hunt 1:20pm

• After lunch a bell will ring and children / special people will return to one of our classrooms. 
• From there, you will be given a scavengar hunt sheet to conclude the day together. It would be great if all our tamariki had a special person that is able to come along and do this with them. 
• The scavengar hunt will finish at 2pm and we will meet once again in front of Manuka. Here we will sing a quick song to farewell you all. If children are leaving early with their grandparents or whānau please let your child's teacher know. 

I am sure you will agree that our production was amazing and we have some stars in our midst. 

Thanks again to Grant and Erana Watkins for capturing some magical images. We are pleased to be able to share these with you. Here is a link to our google drive with pictures. There are folders with photos snapped by teachers as well as the ones taken during the show by Grant. These are in the folder titled "Shrek 2024 show pics".

Click here to access the photos

We have also received the video of the show on a USB. We will let you know how you can get a copy of this in the next week or so. 

This term marks the end of the Primary School journey for our Year 6 ākonga. 

Children who are transitioning onto Te Paepae o Aotea will go on 2 transition visits this term. The first will occur in Week 4 on Wednesday 6th November and the second will occur in Week 6 on Thursday 21st November. Those children who will go on to attend other schools will remain at Tawhiti on these days. If you haven't filled in an enrolment form for your child yet, we encourage you to do this ASAP. This can be done on Te Paepae's website or by collecting a paper enrolment form from their school office. 

At the end of this year, we will have a Year 6 leavers celebration. This will be held at the theatre. It will start with a formal assembly and presentation of awards and will conclude with a disco for our Year 6 children. We are still waiting to confirm bookings, once this has been done we will advise you of the date. 

Term 4 is a busy one with classes heading out on camps. These will be fabulous experiences that children will remember for many years to come. A huge thank you to everyone that put their hand up to accompany us on camp - we are hugely appreciative. We understand that experiencing camp with your child is a fulfilling experience so we do apologise that there are number caps for many camps, meaning we are unable to take all parents that wanted to come. 

If you are still to pay your child's camp contribution, could you please do this as soon as possible. Payments can be made online into the school bank account with your child's name as reference. 

Tawhiti School BOT: 15-3950-0412950-00

**Term 4 - Sports Update**

It’s full steam ahead for sports this term!

We’re excited to welcome Taranaki Cricket to school on Thursday, 24th October, for cricket sessions with our junior classes.

Touch rugby kicks off this Thursday, 17th October—make sure to check the draw for your game times.

During PE lessons we’ll be focusing on athletics for weeks 1-5, including high jump, long jump, and shot put. Senior Athletics (ages 8+) will be held at the Hub on Monday, 4th November, with Dixon Banner selections coming up for Wednesday, 20th November. Junior Athletics (ages 5-7) is scheduled for Monday, 18th November at school.

Our school pool is getting a new filter installed and we are set to open for lunchtime swimming starting in Week 3! Year 4-6 students can swim on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while Year 1-3 students swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Classes will also head to the pool during the week - teachers will communicate these days and times with you. 

Water safety takes the spotlight from weeks 6-10. We’re thrilled to have Cecilie from Swimsafe Taranaki here on 26th-27th November for water safety sessions with every class. Plus, our junior students will enjoy water confidence lessons with Sheri during this time. Our seniors are also lucky enough to have Beach Education sessions thanks to funding that Sheri has secured: Totara on 9th December, Pohutukawa on 10th December, Kauri on 16th December, and Kahikatea on 17th December. 

It’s going to be an action-packed term!