Issue 33: Week 3, Term 4 2024

Principal's Message - Karere a te Tumuaki

Happy Diwali - Shubh Diwali! Wishing you a Diwali filled with love, laughter, and good times. We hope that our families celebrating Diwali this week have a special time with family and friends.

On the school front, we were really lucky with the weather yesterday for our whole school Athletics Track Events (although we also know Mrs Sutton is pretty good at keeping the rain at bay when she needs to!). I was really proud of the effort all our learners put into their races, and also for the nurture and camaraderie I saw everywhere I looked. Our House Leaders did us proud warming up each year group for the 200/400m finals and I really enjoyed listening to everyone cheering on their fellow house competitors - that House Relay was a pretty exciting finish to the morning! We're looking forward to finishing off our Athletics with the Senior Field Events/Sprints tomorrow morning. A huge thank you to the PTA for putting on the delicious bacon & egg bap and coffee fundraiser too - it definitely went down a treat!

I have some news on the staffing front for next year. We are pleased to announce that while Miss Agate leaves us to embark on her next adventures with her second baby due in January, we have appointed Miss Chelsey Waters to take over in Pateke for all of 2025. Chelsey joins us after quite a few years at Pakuranga Heights School where she was a Team Leader, before heading off on maternity leave herself halfway through last year and relocating with her family to her new home in Ramarama. We look forward to welcoming her on board next year. After quite a big restructure of classes, teachers and learning spaces heading into 2024, I am pleased to say that all our other spaces will remain the same for next year, which will ensure some continuity for all our teams.

Last week I said I would give an explanation into the purpose of our PTA and Ag Day funds and why it is a little different here at Karaka to other schools. Ag Day is such a tremendous community event and is also the biggest annual fundraiser for our school. This is extremely important for us because we are deemed by the old language 'high decile' and therefore not eligible for the government donations scheme. This means we receive less government funding than other 'lower decile' schools and rely on this type of fundraising for large scale property upgrades (such as installation of turf, droppers/shade areas etc) or the purchasing of IT equipment in bulk. However, this has also meant that to ensure we don't come anywhere near the threshold for non-profit organisations now and in the future, we have kept our Ag Day Committee a separate entity from the PTA. In most schools they are one and the same which means PTA fundraising is often tagged for large scale projects.

We are extremely lucky that over the past few years the PTA has supported our learners, teachers and teams to ensure high quality EOTC programmes (Education Outside the Classroom) take place. This means that among other things, the PTA puts a considerable amount of money into subsidising the cost of camps and trips that we as a school, deem important. We have camp in Yr 5&6 each year, as well as Yr 7&8 which the PTA puts $5000 towards for each. We have a Yr 4 Sleepover coming up this term which the PTA have pledged $2000 towards helping with the cost (in order to help prepare children for camp in Yr 5). In 2025, there is likely to be a different overnight camp opportunity at a new venue and be opened up for Yr 3 as well (more detail to come about this soon). Our strong EOTC programme at the Intermediate years are a big draw card for our families to have their students stay on with us for Yr 7&8 rather than look to bigger Intermediates for different opportunities. With my own 'parent hat on', this was a draw card for my own child who thrives on EOTC activities. This isn't something we want to lose.

While it may look like the PTA allocates a lot of money to what seems like the upper half of the school (which every child will benefit from once they reach those year levels I might add), what you may not realise is that the PTA also paid for the bus for the Middle Team trip to Summerset Village ($350), as well as the Junior Team trips to Mrs Wishy Washy trip this term ($1392), their Yates Farm Trip last term ($350) and their trip to Clarks Beach back in Term 1 ($415).  Just one bus trip to Manukau and back costs just over $400 per trip and this was paid for by the PTA to save parents having to pay that cost (if I had a choice for a second job it might well be to own a bus company!). 

At the end of the day, we want to ensure our Karaka learners get the best out of their experiences here at school - and this means opportunities both inside AND outside of the classroom. If the PTA money is put towards other projects (such as turfing our Top Flat), then the EOTC component gets taken from our Operational Grant (which we really can't afford to do at the expense of classroom programmes and resources) or our Ag Day fundraising. It's like the old saying - we rob Peter to pay Paul. I am always happy to discuss any of these things with parents who have an interest (in fact I welcome it to gain better clarity and understanding in our community) - and my door is always open. I hope to see lots of you at tonight's PTA meeting where anyone and everyone is welcome!

Lastly, this Friday is NZ Teacher Appreciation Day. I know that I am incredibly privileged to work with such an amazing, dedicated and fun team of teachers here at Karaka, and I try to ensure they know they are valued. I urge you, if you have the chance, to also let them know what an amazing job they do - even if it is as simple as an email to say as much. I can assure you, it's the little things that make all the difference to a teacher's day!

Ngā mihi nui,

Anna Powrie

Notes from the Office

At assembly this Friday we will be handing out the Junior and Middle Team Athletics certificates. We will hold off on the Yr 5-8 certificates as we have 4 teams out at the ECCS Touch Tournament that day (it was postponed from today due to the weather) and Mrs Sutton, Mr V and Mrs Redshaw will also all be at Touch.

End of Year Trophies

We are starting to collect in all the trophies awarded at last year's prizegiving. Please can you return these to school by the 11th of November, undamaged and in a clean condition so we can get them ready for this year's event.  Thanks

Fees

Please make sure you have paid all fees due especially bus, mathletics, Education Perfect, consumables, camps etc. We have had to pay outside providers for these and would appreciate payment to cover these costs.

PTA News

**Reminder - PTA meeting tonight at 7pm in the staffroom.  We have a few Christmas fundraisers in the pipeline and would love some help from our amazing school community**

The PTA are excited to present our Sports Disco on Friday 15th November 6pm - 8pm. Pre-orders for tickets and hot food will open on Kindo on Monday 4th November through to Tuesday 12th November. Lollies, Ice Blocks, Drinks and Glow Accessories will all be available to purchase on the night - cash only. Door sales will also be available on the night. Can't wait to see you there!

Updates from the Wider Community