Kia ora e te whānau,

Here is your update for the week ahead across our school.

This week is Rail Safety Week. Please take some time to talk with your tamariki about staying safe near railway tracks and crossings. Simple reminders about stopping, looking, listening, and staying well back from the tracks make a big difference in keeping everyone safe.

Nīkau Class is hosting our school assembly this Friday at 2:00pm in the hall. We warmly invite whānau to come along and celebrate our learners' progress.

Our Kauri and Kahikatea classes are heading off on an exciting trip to the Ōmaka Aviation Heritage Centre this Friday! The tamariki and staff are looking forward to a fantastic day of learning and discovery.

A paper notice regarding trip permission processes is coming home today. With multiple trips throughout the year, our kaiako can't phone individual whānau to secure last-minute verbal permissions. Moving forward, please ensure you read trip information sent via HERO and complete any permission surveys promptly. If permission is not given via HERO, your child will unfortunately need to remain at school during the trip.

If you are having any trouble accessing or using the HERO app, please pop in to see Mrs McManaway in the school office for help.

There are a load of winter bugs going arouud at the moment! Splitting a class is always our absolute last resort. However, there is a significant nation-wide reliever shortage that is particularly challenging here in Marlborough. When staff are unwell, we exhaust every available option before making the decision to divide a class.

We really appreciate your ongoing patience and understanding. On that note - if you know any registered teachers who might be available for relief work, please encourage them to get in touch with our office!

Lastly, we are thrilled to announce that our school has been selected as one of the first 500 schools in the Ministry of Education’s Solar on Schools initiative!

Following site assessments, we hope to have solar panels installed on our grounds. This project will not only lower our energy costs allowing us to direct more funds straight into classroom learning, but it will also offer our tamariki a fantastic real-world learning tool for sustainability and green energy.

Have a wonderful week, thank you for your ongoing support & pop in anytime! 

Kia ora e te whānau,

Nau mai, haere mai! A huge, warm welcome back to everyone for Term 3! 

It's wonderful to see our playground buzzing again, and we want to extend a special welcome to all the new faces joining us - both in our New Entrant cohort and across the school. We are thrilled to have you as part of our school whānau!

This is shaping up to be a fantastic term. Teachers are already busy booking exciting trips, and we are all looking forward to the arrival of that beautiful spring weather come September!

Here is what you need to know for the week ahead:

Friday: Sports Dress-Up Day!

We have some very exciting news to celebrate! Our amazing Learning Assistant, Mondre, has been named in the U20 Tasman Mako team!

To celebrate this massive achievement, we are holding a Sports Dress-Up Day this Friday. Tamariki can wear:

• Red and Blue to support the Mako, OR
• The colours/jersey of their own or favourite sports team.

Let’s get behind Mondre and show our school pride!

Matariki Celebration at Waikawa Marae

• This Sunday at 2pm
• Waikawa Marae
• Full school uniform

Everyone is welcome to join us for this beautiful community celebration. All of our tamariki are welcome to join in performing our Kapa Haka bracket, and we would love to have a big turnout to sing! We hope to see you all there!

Breakfast Club Volunteers Needed

Our Breakfast Club is a vital part of the morning for many of our tamariki, but we can't run it without our awesome volunteers.

If you can spare some time between 8am and 9am on any weekday, we would love your help. Whether you can do one day a week or one day a month, every bit counts!Please reach out to Katrina at katrina@picton.school.nz to get involved.

Have a wonderful first week back, everyone!

Ngā mihi nui,

Katie

Kia ora e te whānau,

We made it! Welcome to the final week of Term 2. An 11-week term is a massive effort, and our tamariki (and staff!) have worked incredibly hard. We are so proud of everything achieved this term, and the holidays are just around the corner. Before we wrap up for the break, we have a very busy and exciting final week ahead!

Last Friday’s Wellbeing Expo was a standout event! We had around 150 people from our community join us. A massive thank you to our School Board, Katrina (our Pastoral Care Worker), and Louise from Maataa Waka for their incredible work in organising such a valuable afternoon.

We also want to extend a huge mihi to our amazing sponsors who made the event possible:

Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, Event Cinemas & Stadium 2000 Pools for their fantastic support.
Picton Four Square for generously sponsoring the community BBQ.
We hope our whānau managed to make some great connections with the wide range of local services that attended.

Senior Basketball Registration

A big thank you to Mondre, who is doing an awesome job organising our two senior basketball teams at the moment and who will also coach them next term during lunchtimes.

Important Reminder: If your child is playing and you haven't done so yet, you must register them as soon as possible. Please use this link to complete the registration: Senior Basketball Registration Form. Senior Basketball Registration Form

Mid-Year Reports (Coming Friday)

Mid-year reports will be released this Friday via the Hero app.

These reports will look a little different as they share your child’s achievement against the new curriculum in Reading, Writing, and Maths. We are using the new Ministry Progress Descriptors to give you a clear picture of where your child is at. We are really looking forward to sharing these with you, and they will also include handy tips on how you can support your child's learning at home.

✨ Matariki Celebrations This Week✨ 

We have two wonderful opportunities to come together as a community and celebrate Matariki this week:

Matariki at the Library (Tuesday/Tomorrow): Our tamariki have been invited to join the Matariki celebrations at the Picton Library. We will be performing waiata at 5pm. All tamariki are welcome to join us! Please meet us there at 4:45pm in full school uniform.
Whole School Matariki Breakfast (Friday): Come and share some kai with us! We are hosting our school-wide Matariki Breakfast this Friday morning at 7:30am in the school hall. We would love to see you there.
Thank you all for your ongoing support throughout this long term. Let's finish the week strong!

PAID UNION MEETING

On Friday 22nd March a number of our kaiako teachers are attending a paid union meeting in Blenheim at 1.30pm. 

School will remain open as we have the Duffy Theatre performing in the afternoon. You are most welcome to come along and watch. 

Please note - there will be no assembly that day. 

If you have any pātai questions at all please email me at katie@picton.school.nz

Thanks! 

Kia ora e te whānau,
We are excited to run our first assembly at 2.15pm in the hall this Friday.
If you can make it, you are most welcome to join us!