The end of term is upon us already and what a busy term it has been with our fantastic Bazaar, Beach Safety for our seniors, our school trip to the Marine Reserve, the Movin March effort and breakfast celebration, Eastern Zones competitions- all on top of the wonderful learning that our tamariki have achieved as they explored our theme - The Power of the Ocean. Ka pai to all our akonga for some very creative responses to this term of inquiry. I would like to extend my thanks too to our outstanding staff - Francesca, Kirsten, Sam, Penny, Sophie, and Lesley for everything they do for all our tamariki. They are an awesome team!

Like any school, we rely on the generosity of our wonderful whānau to help with all these activities and you have been fantastic. Please know that we are incredibly grateful for all the support and help that you give to ensure that our tamariki can make the most of every opportunity. Ngā mihi nui ki a koe | huge gratitude to you.

Each week we have also held school-wide music sessions - exploring beat, and rhythm through the sounds of the ocean. We had some very clever music pieces as our tamariki created their own musical instruments as well.  

Last week I was privileged to attend the Wellington Regional Primary Principals Conference at Te Papa for two days. The theme was ‘Telling our Story’ and it was inspiring to hear the many speakers but in particular the key notes of 

• David Downs, who was reflecting on the lucky series of events that saw him beat cancer, and on his new approach to life
• Cam Calkoen, who dreams of a world where everyone is inspired to embrace their opportunity and our physical being is no barrier to succeeding in our dreams and aspirations.
• Ngahihi-o-te-ra Bidois, an award-winning International Leadership Speaker, author, businessman, leader, husband, and father who presented his life story of how he embraced his whakapapa, 
• Joanah Ngan-Woo who part of the 2022 Women's Rugby World Cup-winning Black Ferns side. A member of the inaugural Hurricanes Poua team in 2022, Ngan-Woo has enjoyed a meteoric rise up to fame

Each was inspiring in that life threw many curve balls at them but none of them gave up which has made them the success they are today. A couple of quotes that summarised some of our learning journey for the two days were:-

As we think so too we become - Bruce Lee

Leaders think, thinkers lead

We were very proud of our tamariki for the wonderful liturgy they presented to you on Tuesday following the Passion of Jesus. Thank you to all our whānau who came along. I asked Freddie to reflect on how he felt and what he thought about as he portrayed the last few days of Jesus’ life. Here is what he said:- 

‘It made me think about why? Jesus was a really nice person and yet they wanted to kill him - surely they would accept him because he only did good for the community. 

I felt compelled to do it well because the person I was portraying was a very important person that I was playing so I needed to focus and do a good job. 

I felt sore when I was whipped and it made me consider that I was lucky I was only doing the reenactment, unlike Jesus’

Some excellent points that Freddie has made for us all to reflect on. 

On behalf of the team, I wish you a happy and holy Easter. May those who are traveling, travel safely and we look forward to seeing you all again after the holidays. 

Don't forget school begins for our tamariki on April 26 as we have a teacher-only day on April 24.

Ngā manaakitanga.

 

Denise

I always find Palm Sunday such a contrast in the lead-up to Holy Week as it seems incongruous how people can move so quickly from celebration and love to anger and hatred. Our tamariki worked hard over the past few weeks to bring the Passion of Christ to you from their understanding and I hope this allowed you a chance to reflect on the journey of Jesus that he undertook for us all.  I share with you the thoughts from GPBS eNews

I Wanna Be Like Christ

 To me, the whole point of being a Christian is so that I will never have to stand on the side of Jesus’ torturers. If I am true to my faith, then such depravity and inhumanity will be impossible for me. If I follow Jesus’ way of love, then I will never be in Pilate’s camp, washing my hands of the one I know to be innocent. Caiphas and the high priests, with their cowardice and power-mongering, will not be part of my coterie, either. No good people will get sold down the river by me – if I choose to follow Christ.

That’s a big if, of course. I fear that without vigilance, I could become one of these dealers in death. We may all be capable of such extreme acts of sin – think of torturers in prisons since the beginning of time. 

If we constantly and consistently choose to deny God’s loving presence in our lives, we will become our own worst enemies.

 So I am committed to keeping God before me and taking up my cross each day. It’s true that by following Jesus, I must bear ridicule, swallow my pride, go against the status quo, fight social injustice, show extreme mercy, and, all in all, do things that do not come easy to me. But, the good news is: I will save my soul in the process. Better that than losing my soul, which, as Jesus showed is, is a fate worse than death – even death on a cross.

So as we head into Good Friday - the question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘What will my choice be?’

My favourite thing we have done this term is banks because I really like what we have been learning about. Banks makes me feel good because it helps me be smarter and the questions are simple but hard. 

-Mya 

My favourite thing we have done this term is discovery time. We have done origami, drawing and playing role plays with our drawing. I like discovery time because we get to play fun games like going on an island and using our imagination. 

-Sakora

My favourite thing we have done this term is writing acrostic poems because it was hard to think of all sentences for all the letters but I liked what I wrote in the end. 

-Olivier

My favourite thing we have done this term is discovery time and maths. I like discovery time because I really like discovering new things like making jewellery using loom bands, origami and drawing. I enjoyed maths because in banks we almost started to learn our times tables when we worked out how many tens are in a number. It was very exciting!

-Lola

In Te Moana we have been reading Gangsta Granny. Here are some of our book reports and posters about Gangsta Granny

Gangsta Granny is written by David Walliams and this book is very interesting. This would be a seller book, it is really great.

These are the characters, the first one is Ben. Ben is 11 years old and he likes to sit down and read his Plumbing Weekly. Ben’s parents love ballroom dancing and every Friday they drop Ben off at Granny’s house to watch ballroom dancing. Finally there’s Granny. She likes to play scrabble and read. 

Ben and Granny go into a pipe and try to steal the crown jewels. Ben had got this idea from his Plumbing Weekly. They have wetsuits on for the robbery so they can swim through the sewage pipe.

I would recommend this to 9-11 years old and if you’re into gangstas. 

By Charlie

This book is by David Walliams and illustrated by Tony Ross. Hope you enjoy the report.

Introducing the main characters Granny, Ben and his mum and dad. This was all held in London and that’s where the drama and the adventures begin. Oh! Yeah I forgot on more person, the QUEEN!

This adventure began when Granny told his grandson Ben all her crazy and scary stories. Granny told Ben about her adventures robbing jewels from around the world. Granny and Ben decided to steal the crown jewels. 

This book can be for 9-10 year olds and for Grannys and want to be gangstas.

By Gila

As part of their “City Experience”, Te Maunga went to an amazing exhibition by New Zealand artist Reuben Paterson, whose dazzling artworks play with the properties of light through glitter, diamond dust, shimmer discs, and iridescent crystals. He has large-scale paintings, sculpture and animation that range from kaleidoscopic compositions of kōwhaiwhai to a life-sized tree in sparkling gold, and themes around light, pattern, and identity. 

Here is a sneak peak of their designs, based on colours and patterns from Reuben’s wild cat and kōwhaiwhai patterns. 

Keep an eye out for a beautiful, interactive display in our classroom space next term.

- Thomas: The art was extremely powerful because it drew me in. It was mesmerising, you could sit there for hours watching it. 

- Alice: Reuben Paterson uses glitter in amazing ways. It is really effective. He challenges us to think of sand as the ‘original glitter’ and uses symmetrical animation.

- Nikki: Reuben Paterson’s art was a treat for the eyes.

We are offering FREE Swimming Lessons for Children and Women again next term.  See below for details.