Dates:

• This term is a busy one and there are many dates for your diary, including camps, puanga festival, athletics, production, Year 6 leaving celebration and end of year assembly. We will update you as the term progresses, however, if you want to mark these down in advance they can be found on our community calendar which is available both on HERO and here on our website. 
• Please take special notice of our Teacher Only Day on Monday 20th November. School will be closed on this day. 
• Our first assembly will be held in Week 3 (Friday 27th October). Rimu will be running and presenting this. 

Learning this term:

We are straight back into learning programmes from day 1 of Term 4. For the first two weeks, we continue on with multiplication and division in maths before moving onto algebra / patterns.

In PE with Sheri, children will be doing athletics - running, jumping and throwing. We have had some hiccups with our swimming lessons that were planned for our seniors in Stratford this term. Sheri is working hard on a solution and will contact those classes involved, confirming whether these will go ahead or not, when and where! 

Safety will be the focus of our wellbeing curriculum this term. Children will be involved in road safety, internet safety, emergency response, sun safety and water safety. This leads nicely into a reminder about sunhats. All children need a Tawhiti hat for Term 4. You can order a named bucket hat through the office for $15 (cash, eftpos, online payment). These come in two sizes, with an adjustable toggle - 54cm & 58cm. Please come in and order them ASAP, as they take a few weeks to make. Alternatively, you can purchase a royal blue, wide brim or bucket style hat from the Warehouse or Postie.

We have no formal scheduled whānau hui in Term 4. These only occur in Terms 1, 2 and 3, however, please feel free to make contact with your child's teacher if you want to make a time and come in to discuss your child's progress. You will receive learning updates on HERO throughout the term as you normally do as well updated graphs and a 2023 summary comment at the end of the term.  

Staff Changes

We are sad to be farewelling Paula Thompson and Chloe Gardner-Harrison at the end of this year.

Paula has been with us for a number of years but the time has come for her and her whānau to start a new chapter of their lives in the Manawatu. Throughout Paula's time at Tawhiti, she has been instrumental with our gardening group, teaching our senior students, organising many school events, and designing all our certificates, graphics and yearbooks! She will be hugely missed as a teacher and colleague but we wish her all the very best at Ashhurst School. 

Chloe has completed the first two years of her career with us. However, the travel has become too much! With her heart and home in New Plymouth, she has been successful in securing a job at Bell Block School. Congratulations!

Thank you both for the many hours, blood, sweat and tears you have put into Tawhiti and our children - you will be missed! We are currently advertising to fill these positions and will let you know once new staff have been appointed. 

Class Lists

At this time of year, we start to get requests and questions about class lists for next year. Creating class lists is very lengthy, important and challenging task! There are many variables we consider to ensure we have balanced and healthy classroom dynamics. 

Below I have outlined our process for class creation as I know this is always a hot topic as the end of the year approaches. I hope this information is helpful; rest assured we have a team of amazing teachers, we know your children very well, and their best interests are at the heart of any decisions we make.

Teacher Knowledge of Students

After working together for a full school year (over 1,000 hours), teachers have in-depth knowledge of students’ learning styles, academic strengths and needs, personalities, friendships, and social interactions, including possible difficulties. All of this information is taken into consideration when making placements.

Relationships and friendships

We know that students (and parents) are often nervous about starting a new year in a new classroom, so relationships centre heavily in our decision making and we always ensure that there are two or three familiar faces that children are friendly with in their class.

However, we also know that it may sometimes be a disadvantage to have too many friends or even “best” friends together for another year. It can impact concentration and learning and can discourage them from broadening their social circle and skills. We believe it is important for children to make a wide range of friends and develop the skills of making new friends in the safety of our small kura before heading off from us and transitioning to the big world of high school.

Balancing Classes

It is important that each class is similarly composed. We strive to balance boys, girls, academic abilities, health concerns, behaviour issues, and students with special needs.

The number of children we have in the school also determines whether our classes our straight year levels (eg year 6) or mixed (eg year 5/6). Regardless of the make-up of each class, children are still taught at their level and to their learning goals.

Because of the many variables that go into the careful consideration of the make-up of each class, it is very difficult to accomodate requests for a specific teacher or placement with a particular friend. However, we do value your input so if you have any important information that you feel impacts your child's educational development or wellbeing please pop in and see me so we can take this into consideration. We also ask that if you are moving and your child will not be returning to Tawhiti in 2024 that you let myself, Emma or their current teacher know.

Our class lists will be drafted up before the end of this term and children will have the opportunity to meet their new class and (hopefully) their new teacher before the end of this year. Whānau will have the opportunity to formally meet their child's new teacher at the beginning of the new year, however, we encourage you to pop in and say hi at the end of this year.

From 2024, Tawhiti will be using a cohort entry enrolment system. Cohort entry is when new entrant children start school in groups through the year rather than on their fifth birthday. This helps children settle into school life and routines better.

How does cohort entry work?

New entrants start school in cohorts but only after they have turned five. There are two entry points per term, one on the first day of term, and one at a mid-point during a term (usually the Monday of the 6th week). The image above shows how children turning 5 become a Cohort group, and start school together:

What are the 2024 Cohort Entry Dates?

Common questions:

My child turns 5 the day after a cohort entry date, can they begin a day earlier with the cohort?

• Unfortunately not. Children in New Zealand can’t start school until they are 5 years old.

Will this affect my ECE funding (20 free hours)?

• No, Children can remain at their ECE until the cohort entry date after their fifth birthday and they will continue to receive funding to attend ECE until they start school.
• It is important to communicate with your early learning service so they know the school enrolment date. Please refer to the cohort entry dates.

Will my child start as a Year 1 or Year 0?

• Children enrolling during Term 1 (at start of term or midterm cohorts) are considered Year One students for the year.
• Children enrolling from the start of Term two onwards are Year Zero for the remainder of the year and become Year One students the following year.

Starting school is a very big step for both whānau and children; we are here to make this transition as smooth as possible. We will email everyone with a child starting in 2024 to give you transition and starting dates but please feel free to pop in and see me, phone or email if you have any questions about cohort entry.