Our inspiration this week is  ‘Mā te kōrero, ka ora’ (take time to kōrero) inspired by Mental Health Awareness Week. So many problems in the world are solved when we communicate with one another so this is a wonderful theme. We invite you all to just take time to kōrero whether it’s checking in with a friend or colleague, having a kōrero over some kai, or saying hello to a stranger. Everyday conversations create connections.

Strategic Plan- thank you to the wonderful whānau that have taken the time to read through our tamariki’s ideas for the strategic plan and sent in yours - we are so appreciative of this. Your voice is invaluable so we ask the rest to take time over the holidays to complete this and send it to school on our first day back.

Grandparents Mass and morning & Pōwhiri for our new families 

We go forward in faith that by November 3 we will be at Level 1 and so are able to proceed with our long-awaited Grandparents Mass and morning. We will combine this morning with our beginning of term mass and pōwhiri to welcome our new tamariki and families. We are delighted to welcome Anna, Mason, and Riyanshi to our school this week and into Te Ākau Class. Level 2 and wearing masks is a difficult way to join a new school so please go up and chat to their whānau when they are standing at the gate. 

Te Maunga Camp
Our grateful thanks to all of you who have so actively supported the fundraising for the senior camp. We were incredibly grateful for this support and with Teapot Valley Christian Camp working with us to ensure that our week could go ahead despite Lockdown. Week 9 for Te Maunga was simply amazing! Once again the senior students showed the value of going on camp as we witnessed the personal growth in each student as they overcame the fears, worries, and of course, being out of their comfort zone. These are lifelong lessons learned and we are proud of each one for making the most of every opportunity. A huge thanks to Mike Blades and Ollie Meech who were superb parent help - they worked incredibly long days to ensure that all our tamariki had the best opportunity and outcomes possible. Ka Pai Mike and Ollie!

I extend my thanks to all the staff and especially Francesca for their continued hard work and support while Helen and I were away. It takes a great deal of pressure off me when I know the team will go on as usual and for this I say thanks. 

Te Maunga wants to thank you all for your fundraising efforts by running the film evening as a fundraiser with the profits going to FOSA. Please see below the details for this night.

Nature Area with Red Slide
It was with great excitement that Phase 1 of our nature area with the much-loved red slide is now planted with both Jack Spratt Flax and stepping logs. A huge thanks to Craig Smith for his time and effort to support Helen and Te Maunga with this phase. Tino pai all! Phase 2 will be the sanding and replant of the slide as well as a mural being planted along the white fence. We would love someone to volunteer to water blast the area including the wooden slat fence in preparation so if you are happy to do this please email Denise. 

A huge thanks to Kirsten, our wonderful office manager for organising the school photos - always a busy event it was compounded this time by the endless rescheduling and then reworking of the timetable to ensure our tamariki could be in their school photo.  - Thanks Kirsten as we know it was challenging and we are grateful for your endless patience!

Thanks to everyone for the donations of coins today for our end-of-term mufti. We raised $88.  Following on the tradition of being a Mercy school, these donations will go to helping those more vulnerable than ourselves.

Please take time to look at our tamariki's learning about being a Mercy School as we celebrated that along with Catholic School's Day yesterday. Our tamariki had a fun time yesterday looking at Tūrangawaewae - Catholic Schools our place to stand and we have displayed their thoughts and illustrations on the notice board. Thanks to Amy Troy for leading this. 

We have our Teacher only Day tomorrow which was postponed from Lockdown but we also remind you that we have the one scheduled for Friday, October 22. This is attached to Labour Weekend so that families can get away earlier. As you know these days are part of the 8 days negotiated in the teachers' collective agreement in 2019 and must be used by the end of 2022.

We hope you all have a wonderful whānau time over the next fortnight and for those who are traveling, travel safely and we look forward to seeing you all again in Term 4. Don't forget this is the term that everyone needs their sunhat :)

Ngā manaakitanga

Denise