From The Principal's Desk

Dear parents and caregivers

Welcome to Term 2! The weather is beautiful, the colours around us are glorious and we are looking forward to exploring our learning together this term as we learn to navigate our changing world.

Student inquiries for this term are the following:

Juniors: How do we safely navigate around? So that we confidently and safely know how to get to places that we want to go.

Year 3/4: How have navigators shaped New Zealand and the world?

Year 5/6: How can exploration and navigation lead to discoveries, opportunities and new learning?

I am sure that your child or children will share their learning with you and show you aspects of their inquiry of which they are proud during the Student led sharing in week 10 of this term.

We are continuing with our own learning as a school in regard to learner agency. I am so impressed when I walk into a classroom after a break time and the children have just come into class, that they pick up their tools to help them learn, whether they be devices or books or equipment, and they continue with their learning. Or they may begin a new aspect of their learning, all without the teacher having to tell them what to do. Self-managing, independent, problem solving individuals! Plus the room has a sense of engaged learners with a focused noise level. Ka rawe!

Throughout all our student inquiries, we are focusing on how we show respect, resilience and responsibility (The Mellons Bay Way), so that we can be confident, communicative, caring, creative and connected individuals. Classes have created their own class matrix around expectations for The Mellons Bay Way in the classroom.

We would like to let you know that Mrs Betts has a healthy new baby boy called Darcy. We welcome Ms Clough to Rm 11. Ms Clough has relieved in the school before and also spent time with Mrs Betts at the end of last term meeting the Rm 11 parents , which we appreciate.

Over the holidays we had Easter and Anzac Day. You may have heard of, or seen on TV, one of our local gentleman, Mr John Sato, who is 95 and caught 4 buses to attend the rally in Auckland for the Muslim tragedy in Christchurch. He also attended the ANZAC Service and again he featured on TV. Room 5 wrote to Mr Sato in regard to his efforts to get to Aotea square for the Christchurch rally and Mrs Glennie took their letters to him. He has responded with a wonderful card below and is coming to our school this Friday to talk to Room 5, which is wonderful.

Our Board of Trustees elections are coming closer and you should have received your nomination letter in the mail this week. I know you are invested in our school and our students; we are a great community. If you are keen to learn or to contribute your knowledge and experience and perspective as a parent of our whole community, then this is a wonderful opportunity to work with a great team of people. You don't have to have previous experience on a Board, we are all here to learn together.

Please see the details below re the timeline. We have about 8 meetings a year. If you have any questions or are considering nomination, then please do not hesitate to call me or pop in at any time for a chat. It is a very worthwhile and rewarding position.

Due to Health and Safety reasons, especially due to the weather becoming colder and more rain on its way, we do ask that children come to school from 8.15am onwards. Our teachers are very diligent and hardworking and they want to be prepared and organised for the day. Our teachers use the time before school to organise resources and therefore if your child/ren are at school from 8.15am they will have time to do this as well as be available for your child. The bell goes at 8.25am for children to enter class but when the weather or ground is wet, we do please ask that 8.15am is the earliest that children are at school.

Our Kapa Haka are beginning to practice and we are keen to support them as we know how fantastic they can be. Unfortunately our guitarist from last year is not available, if you have any contacts for someone to fill this role, we would appreciate it. Please contact Mrs Holland at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

I wish all our mothers, grandmothers, aunties and anyone who fills the role of a mum, a wonderful day on Sunday.

Ngā Mihi

Colleen Margison

Principal 

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