Wednesday 18th August

 Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all. We hope you are well.

Here we are again! Fortunately, we are familiar with what teaching and learning look like during Level 4, we have systems already set up, and our team has been in communication this morning. Today we are having staff Zoom meetings and getting our online learning programmes ready to go live tomorrow. If you are keen to have your child engaged in learning today - encourage them to do some of the regular online mahi that we engage with on a daily basis. This includes: Epic Reading, Xtra Math, Solve-Me Puzzles, Free Writing Docs, or our Olympic Inquiry Site. Our Learning at Home Site will be live tomorrow and you will receive a notification of this.

Hopefully, we can all make the most of this situation and use it to spend some extra unexpected time with the people in our bubbles. Our wellbeing, as always, takes precedence and our message to you is to do as little or as much as is suitable for your situation. Ahakoa he iti he pounamu - although it is small, it is precious. Noho ora mai, stay well.

Finally, we are using this as a chance to initiate whānau communication through our new management system HERO. Moving forward, Hero will be our primary way of making contact with you. We would like to ask you to please log on to HERO and open this communication there as well. We will call those who haven't been able to connect with HERO later in the week to get everyone on board. 

Pōhutukawa News, Term 3, Week 2

Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all. 

We are off and racing! Pōhutukawa has gotten Term 3 off to a fast start. We are into the second leg of 10, going strong and looking good for a podium finish! Yes, well, as you may be able to tell, the Olympics is at the forefront for us at the moment. It has been great to listen to the students chatting amongst themselves about the Games, and seeing them embrace the rich learning experiences that are accompanying the event. Here is an update for you on the term so far.

School Duathlon Next Week

Our school duathlon will be held next Tuesday, August 10th (postponement day for rain will be the following Tuesday on August 17th). This is an optional event and the students have been invited to fill in a Google Form on 2021 Pōhutukawa Google Classroom to register. The duathlon requires each student to have a bicycle in working condition, a helmet, and a lock. Please take a moment to go over the course with your tamariki and decide whether they would be up for this challenge, nau mai te wero!

Code Club

This term we are lucky to have a member of our Pōhutukawa whānau Kate Allen visiting us on Friday afternoons to run Code Club. Kate, alongside Rae, will be teaching students who have elected to be part of this club about coding (extending what the children learn during our programme), robotics, and using circuit boards to make programmes. The interest in this club was so high that there will be 2 groups this term. Our first group had their first session on Friday, and our second group will start from Week 6.

Trading Cards

We have noticed an increase in students bringing trading cards at school - particularly Pokemon Cards. Unfortunately, due to the tendency of these cards to go missing, or trades to be regretted, we have asked all students to not bring trading cards to school. This includes trading cards before and after school. It is much easier for everyone if cards are kept at home. 

Thank you for your support, have a great week, kia pai tō wiki!

The Pōhutukawa Team.