I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the new members of our Tawhiti team! It can be a daunting time when your wee ones start school for the first time or you move between schools - rest assured your babies are in great hands with teachers who will care for them. 

Below is some 'need to know' information - if you have been around for a while, feel free to scroll on or browse through as a reminder. 

Water only school: We are a water only school - this is us living into our value of hauora. We ask that all children bring a drink bottle filled with water to school daily. Reducing sugar and encouraging children to drink water helps support their learning, behaviour and health. There will be the odd time that children earn a reward enabling them to bring a special drink to school as a one-off treat. In these circumstances teachers will make contact with you.

Rubbish: We encourage children and whānau to look after the environment - this is us living into our value of manaakitanga. Therefore we ask that you consider ways to reduce rubbish in your child's lunchbox. Children will be asked to take all rubbish from their lunches back home in their lunchboxes for you to sort and recycle where possible at home. 

School lunches: School lunches. We have Subway available on a Wednesday and Sushi on a Friday.
Subway - please have your order in before school on Wednesday morning. Order envelopes available from the office and classrooms.
Rimi Sushi - please have your order in before school on Thursday. Order forms available from the office and classrooms. Please provide the correct amount as no change is given. 

Hats: Hats are compulsory in Term 1 and Term 4. You can purchase a named bucket hat through the office. These are $15 each and come in two sizes - 54cm & 58cm. Payment can be made by cash, eftpos or online to: Tawhiti School BOT   15-3950-0412950-00    REF: student name / hat

Attendance / absences: Every single day counts towards your child’s learning at school and gives your child the best chance to gain qualifications and do well in life. Legally children are required to be at school every day. We want your children here and we will continue to contact you and work alongside you to make sure this happens. If children are sick or you have a genuine reason as to why they cannot attend, please notify us by calling the school office or by clicking the report an absence button on HERO. If your children are absent due to financial reasons, please contact us and we will see if there is anyway we can support you. The Ministry of Education states that family holidays or attending extra curricula activities are not acceptable reasons for being absent. 

Our school day: Children can arrive at school from 8:30am (no earlier please). Below is our common practise model, outlining how we structure our days. 

Important Dates

What else is coming up this term?

All events are on our school calendar which can be viewed on your HERO app. Here are a few important dates that you want to make sure you have marked on the fridge!

• 14 Feb - Valentines Day (That is just so your loved one remembers!)
• Every Tuesday (2-3pm) - Kapa haka. We welcome any whānau who would like to come along to tautoko this. 
• 21 Feb - Senior swimming sports at the Hawera Pools. 
• 23 Feb - First assembly for the year. 2:15pm in school hall. 
• 26th February - Patea Dam camps begin. A newsletter with permission and further details will come home this week. The cost of this camp is $30 - please pay this as soon as possible to Emma in the office.
• 12 March - Junior out and about days to Te Wera begin. A newsletter with permission and further details will come home this week. There is a small cost of $10 for this day camp - please pay this as soon as possible to Emma in the office.
• 26 March - Junior swimming sports
• 29 March through to 2 April - School closed for Easter
• 12 April - Last day of school for Term 1. 

Our learning this term

Over the next two weeks we will be working hard to establish learning routines with children in classes. We will be unpacking what our school values of ako, whanaungatanga, hauora, and manaakitanga mean and what these look like as actionable behaviours in the classroom. Teachers will share these with you via HERO. 

What are we learning this term?

• Our unit "do you accept the challenge" will see children engaged in technology challenges designed to develop their skills of perseverance and collaboration.  
• The theme of perseverance and collaboration will also carry over into our wellbeing lessons which take place on Monday afternoons. 
• In maths we are starting with an addition and subtraction unit before moving into measurement later in the term. 
• Reading will continue to focus on the core skills of reading and understanding texts.
• In writing we are focussing on sentence types as well as moving into paragraph learning for our seniors later in the term. 
• We have explicit Te Reo Māori lessons every Friday morning. To begin the year we are looking at how to greet, farewell and acknowledge people, as well as how to respond. 

I have attached our draft strategic goals for the next two years. These goals are a representation of the voice that we collected from you at the end of 2024 - thank you for your involvement in this. It was nice to hear both the things we are doing well as well as the areas you would like to see us prioritise moving forward. 

If you have any feedback you would like us to consider before we move these goals at our next BOT meeting, please feel free to email me principal@tawhiti.school.nz 

Support our school through Fuel for schools. t’s very simple. Customers can nominate a participating school to receive 50 cents for every 100L of bulk fuel they have delivered. So, as you keep your wheels turning you are giving back to your local community too.

Once a participating school reaches their $1,000 target / goal they can redeem product from the variety of technology, sports or literature packages on offer. It’s that simple. The more people involved and nominating a school the sooner they will be rewarded.