“Ko Maihiihi, Ko Au - Ko Au, Ko Maihiihi
Maihiihi is Me - I am Maihiihi”
“Kia mau ki tena, kia mau ki te kawau maro - Hold fast to that, hold fast to the swoop of the cormorant.”
Term 2 Week 6
He mihi mahana i te waa o Takurua - Warm Winter Greetings to you all
The above whakatauki hails from Ngati Maniapoto. This can be translated as, "Our future well being and destiny will be determined by the strength of our commitment to stand together united in spirit, mind and purpose.” As a school community we can certainly take heart from these words as we have faced not only Covid-19 but the temporary closure of our school due to asbestos disturbance! In the end we rise above it all and can count ourselves stronger for it. We dust ourselves off, look after each other, reflect and move on.
Our current renovation project is back on track and it is hoped this will be completed by the end of the upcoming term holidays. As a result, we will have a new multi-purpose room that will have kitchen facilities to enable Food Technology learning experiences as well as another break-out learning space. We have tentatively named this space our Kapai Kitchen. We have also rejoined the Fonterra Breakfast Club initiative and this will run out of this space once finished. Volunteers are needed to help run the morning breakfast club for Term 3. Please contact the office if you can help out with this next term. Our Learning Support Coordinator will also use this space when she visits with us.
Also included in this 5YA build are a new teachers resource space (the old boys toilet), a full refit of old room 1 into a new library/ multipurpose learning space, revamp of the wet areas in room 1 and room 2 and a new toilet block for both boys and girls out of the old girls toilet.
We are also highly excited about the recently installed double Flying Fox. We are just waiting on the final tweaks and installation of the platform/launch-deck and then it will be ready to go!
Teachers are gaining momentum with the teaching and learning programmes in their classrooms. Teachers’ and students' abilities to quickly switch over to distance learning during our recent school closure need to be applauded. While we acknowledge some of our families faced challenges navigating the digital platforms, the amount of work completed by a lot of our students during this time is to be commended. The Ministry of Education are encouraging a Hybrid Learning approach which means integrated teaching and learning using a digital platform so that any future interruptions to learning can be navigated in a more streamlined process - in essence, teachers can teach from anywhere and students can learn from anywhere. An interesting concept and consultation with our community is important as we look to the future of education.
Until next time, please remember my door (or phone or email) is open if you have any feedforward you would like to give to make our school the best place it can be for your / our children.
Lastly, thank you to both our teachers and our parents/grandparents for everything that you do.
Mauri tu, Mauri ora,
Vanessa Hinerangi Koroa