Issue 9: Week 9, Term 1 2024
Principal's Message - Karere a te Tumuaki
Kia ora Karaka friends and whānau. With Good Friday only a couple of days away, we are all looking forward to the Easter break so we can spend time with our families and enjoy a break from work and school. For those who are working through the Easter Holiday, I hope you find some precious moments to unwind too.
I have had one student (and one teacher!) rise to the little research challenge I put out a few newsletters back to explain why schools have Easter Tuesday as a holiday. Would you believe that the entire reason stems back to the change between Summer and Winter uniforms following Easter, and this gave schools and families a day to get this sorted? So this became the law in 1954 and has not changed since. Ka pai to Emma M and to Miss Cheyne for their expert research skills! I have to admit that with Easter usually falling in the April holidays, I am selfishly really looking forward to have the Easter Tuesday off this year... And to finish the term off with some Easter excitement, we will draw our Easter Raffle tomorrow morning as well 🐣.
In terms of things happening at school currently, we have the auditors on site next week to go through our 2023 finances. While Mrs Withers (our Office/Finance Manager) is used to this process having worked with the auditors many times before, this will be my first time and I'm sure it will prove to be a valuable experience. Once this process is complete, we can go ahead and publish our Annual Report on our website as we do each year.
On the staffing front, we have some exciting baby news to share relating to Mokomoko class. The extra special thing is that it's not just one teacher.... but both Mokomoko teachers are due to have baby girls later this year (only a few weeks apart too!) 👣 👣 💗 💗. Mrs Fielder is due to have her second baby in July, and Mrs Fong is expecting her third baby a few weeks later. They will both work up until the end of Term 2 when they will head off on Maternity Leave at the same time. This means that we have plenty of time to work out who will take over Mokomoko from the start of Term 3.
An upcoming event I would really like to highlight (and urge every household to put in their calendars now), is our Cyber Safety event on July 3rd. There is a short promotional video link you may want to watch to get more of an understanding of the evening. While the session is for parents/caregivers only, we will be able to provide childcare supervision in some of the classrooms if we have a need - these details will be confirmed closer to the time. Our school and Board really feel this will be a valuable experience and are hosting this evening at a reasonable cost - we hope all our families will see the value in it as well.
Lastly, with next week being a three day week, we will not be posting a newsletter in Week 10. You'll be able to get the updates for the last two weeks of school in Week 11 (just in time for the April Holidays).
Nga mihi nui
Anna Powrie
Welcome to the Karaka School Whanau -
- Charlie H
- Dhaevina LS
Celebrating Learning and Achievement
Notices From the Office
Photolife Class, Individual and Sibling Photos
Photolife will be coming on Monday 8th April. They will be taking class, individual and sibling photos. We will be using the online ordering system again this year.
If you wish to have a Sibling photo taken, please call into the office to pick up a Sibling Photo Request form - sibling photos will not be taken unless this form is signed.
Photolife Sibling Form - link below
Easter Holidays - School Closed for Instruction:
Good Friday (March 29th)
Easter Monday (April 1st)
Easter Tuesday (April 2nd)
Uniform Reminder
The mornings are beginning to get a bit cooler as Autumn makes itself known. With this change in temperature, please ensure your child(ren) have the correct school jumper and closed in shoes and that these are named. A reminder that shoes are to be black or navy in colour only. Please leave the fancy colours, sparkles and logos for the weekends. Wearing the correct uniform instills confidence and pride in ourselves and our place of learning.
PTA News
- Sushi - Due to Friday being a holiday this week, Sushi will be available to order for delivery on Thursday (tomorrow).
- School Lunch Options - As of next term, we will have Sushi and Subway available through Dollar for Schools. Subway will be available on Wednesdays and Sushi on Fridays. We will also be looking into another option (Little Ed) - we will let you know when this is available. As a result, we have decided to shut down the Tuck Shop on a Friday morning at the end of this term. We would like to thank Anne Birkenshaw for all her help and support in managing and running the lunchroom over the years.
- AGM - The AGM was held last Wednesday. Congratulations to the following: Renee Parlane and Stu Powrie (Co-Chairpersons), Navin Singh (Treasurer), Kirsty Clark (Secretary) and Hayley Ballard (Staff Rep).
- Uniform Shop - The uniform shop will be open on Wednesday 3rd April (due to Monday and Tuesday being holidays) and all Kindo orders will be processed then too.
Any questions/fundraising ideas or if you require uniform items urgently, you can email us on karaka.pta@gmail.com
The Karaka School PTA account number is 12-3031-0851231-00
Updates from the Wider Community
