Number 4 Term 4 - 10th December

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Friday saw the culmination of several weeks of very hard work and a good deal of authentic learning. As you will be aware, the production this year was the Pied Piper of Puhoi. Children from Room’s 3 & 4 have been busy learning lines, dance moves and other production related activities, with Room 2 joining us towards the end for their part.

We combined our Grandparents Day with the matinee performance which gave our students their first live audience.

Following the performance, our grandparents were treated to a fantastic morning tea. This was also prepared by our students, who have been baking and preparing food with Whaea Susan across several weeks.

This was a very special event and we had a great turnout. Grandparents are a real taonga and it is especially rewarding to see them at school with their grandchildren-a very unique relationship.

Later that evening we welcomed the remainder of the school whānau to our evening performance. It was another amazing turnout and spectacular performance. Once again we managed to include every child in some capacity; the vast majority performing.

This year’s show was more demanding of the main characters than last year. There were significantly more lines to memorize which they all did brilliantly. There were times at rehearsal when we felt we may have to split the role. However, it is a testament to the perseverance they all showed to get through  to such a polished event. As an audience you would have been impressed with the natural way the conversations went and how competently the actors interacted with each other. As always, hidden talents emerged and I hope that some of those talents are pursued.

This was a full school event. Each staff member played a part together with the inexhaustible support of our PTFA & other parents. Thank you to Whaea Christine, whose voice was a part of the show, and also coordinated ticket sales and Grandparents Day catering with Whaea Susan. Whaea Anna was chief prop maker and script prompt, Mr. Steele had the complex task of providing the sound at the correct time and Whaea Becky corralled Room 2 into learning the YMCA dance moves. Both Whaea Renee & Mackenzie were also involved with various roles including costumes, make up and other support roles.

Well done everyone for making this such a memorable part of the children’s schooling. You can see the pictures by following this link and the cast is overleaf: Pied Piper of Puhoi

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Number 3 Term 4

The Pied Piper of Puhoi: Our production rehearsals are in full swing and we are looking forward to entertaining you next week. We are holding our Grandparents’ Day on the same day so that they can watch the matinee performance before spending lunch with their grandchildren.

The matinee will begin at 10am and runs for one hour. The evening performance will begin at 6.30pm, so please lock those times in. A separate communication will come out about the final preparation details and will be more specific to each class.

Are you able to help? If you can spare some time I have a few prop creations to be finalised and the costumes will need organising. Please contact me or just turn up at school and I’ll get you started.

Christmas Market: The Christmas Market will take place at school on Friday 13th December, beginning at 4.30pm. To make it easier on families we will look after children at school until the market opens. We will provide them with an afternoon snack and drink and then they will help prepare the event. Please complete this form if you give permission for them to stay.

There will be a wide range of products available and we hope that you will be impressed by your children’s creativity.

Final Whānau Time: The final Whānau time will be at the earlier time of 1.45pm on Tuesday 17th December. We still aim to be finished by 2.30pm and the buses will run as normal. It will take place in the community hall.

Swimming Pool Keys are on sale for public use of the pool. We will need some help with maintenance over the summer period when school is closed. If you are able to help in any way please let the office know.

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Number 2 Term 4

Coastal Heritage Art Mahurangi School Competition

For the second year in a row, we entered a range of art pieces into this competition. Whaea Susan undertook the preparation, and the art has been on display over the last two weeks. Once again our talent has shone through and Charlotte, Klaas and Sakura all received placings in the top three of their catagories at the prize giving last night in the Warkworth town hall.

Horse riding Achievement

Congratulations to Darcie Scheer (and mum, Sorella) who took their Kaimanawa, Skai, to Equifest for the Kaimanawa Stallion Challenge. This is a competition for stallions who are only 6 months out of the wild. Darcie rode him in the Freestyle,  which she  won, and did an amazing job, dragging a tarpaulin at canter, jumping him, standing up on him and more. They also took home overall Stallion Challenge champion, which was pretty exciting. 

Production

Back by popular demand! This year’s production is The Pied Piper of Puhoi. We will begin the preparation for this event over the next few weeks and children will soon be coming home with scripts. Please encourage them to practice, but turn a blind eye and deaf ear, so that you don’t spoil the surprise. We will also need support with costume and props closer to the production time. The plan at this point is to do the matinee and evening performance on the same day as Grandparents Day-Friday 6th December.

Ahuroa School Former Student Success

We received news this week that Tessa Berger has been named Head Girl of Mahurangi for 2025. This is a fantastic achievement for one of our former students and her family can be extremely proud, as should the school community. It is always a proud moment for a school when they hear this type of news. Congratulations Tessa and we look forward to seeing where you go fom here. Additionally, awards or scholarships were won by the following former students: Troy Mullany, Liam McNabney, Samuel Meyer, Nikita Pennial and Mahana DeMuelemeester.

Gumboot Whānau Time

Thank you for supporting this worthwhile fundraiser. This afternoon’s Whānau time will have a gumboot theme and be on the court.

​Number 1 Term 4

Last Friday was AG Day and what a fantastic day it was.

Building on last year’s succes, there were a range of new activities for everyone to enjoy, in addition to the pet judging and calf club.

It was great to see the animals walking up the driveway and then seeing the interaction of animals and children. There was a really enjoyable atmosphere all day long and demonstrated the great sense of community.

These events do not happen easily. Our PTFA and others have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to make this such a special day. On behalf of the school community, thank you so much and we trust that you had a well deserved rest over the weekend.

Thank you to the following sponsors for their support:

· Lothlorien

· Tuck In Healthy Pet Food Supplies

· Southern Paprika Limited

· The Gibson Family

· Sculptureum

· STIHL Shop Warkworth

· Bridgehouse Lodge

· Detour NZ

· Puhoi River Motors

· Charlies Gelato

· Morris & James

· Matakana Cinema

· Menzshed New Zealand

· O’Brien Whitebait Gatherers

Please think of them when you need services.

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Term 3

We recently hosted the education team from Wai Care & Whitebait Connection.

Whitebait Connection is an action-based, environmental education programme for schools and communities, focussing on the health of our streams, rivers and wetlands.

Our students carried out a range of activities using the waterway below the school. They learnt about its importance, particularly for whitebait. Whitebait rely on healthy waterways to survive and one of the learnings our students gained was the importance of riparian planting. This brought authenticity to our recent planting day at the farm.

Teacher Only Day

Last week the staff used our teacher only day to do some work around mathematics which is our current focus. We spent time developing indicators for success at years 2, 4, 6 & 8. We also had the opportunity to view the refreshed mathematics curriculum.

Matariki Pre-Dawn Star-Gazing and Breakfast

We are planning a Matariki celebration at school on Thursday the 27th of June. We will gather at 6.30 am so we can view the stars of Matariki. We need to know who is interested in participating in this event as we will be catering a warm breakfast for everyone. Also, we need to know if there are enough early-birds amongst us to make it worthwhile going ahead with such an early start! A form will be sent separately.

The event is weather dependent, a final decision will be made on the afternoon of Wednesday 26th June. Please note that buses will not be running any earlier on that day, so if children are wanting to participate they will need to be brought to school by you, or you might be able to carpool with neighbours/friends. You are welcome to stay and enjoy star-gazing and breakfast with us, but you can leave your children and go as all staff will be present from 6.00am onwards.

Together with our Matariki Morning, we will be supporting the “Give a Kid a Blanket Appeal” by having a PJ day (makes sense when we’re getting up so early!) and collecting gold coin donations. On behalf of the appeal, we would welcome donations of excellent quality pre-loved and new items. Please, no rips, stains, tears and from a smoke-free home. Pre-loved items should be laundered (bagged or boxed) before donating please.

Blankets, duvet inners and covers, sleeping bags, infant sleep sacks, NEW pillows, NEW hot water bottles, warm infant, child, teen and adult clothing, pyjamas, robes, socks, beanies, jumpers, track pants, hoodies.

We love receiving donations of hand-crafted items such as crocheted blankets, and knitted infant and children’s jumpers and cardigans, and beanies in all sizes.

For more information, go to www.giveakidablanket.co.nz/ or check out the “Give a Kid a Blanket” Facebook page.

Ngā mihi,

Terry.

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Term 3

We have had a range of visitors and other events in the last few weeks to supplement our class programmes.

We finally managed to attend an interschool sports competition, sending two teams to the interschool hockey tournament. Both teams performed extremely well and were both unlucky not to make it into a semi final. The improvement on last year’s performance was noticeable and we are fortunate to be able to draw on our regular hockey players to provide a talented skill set. Thanks to Bradie and Anna for their coaching on the day. Well done to the team members for their tenacity and good sense of fair play.

Our next event is cross country and daily practice has begun.

Room 4 were treated to a visit from the Sir Peter Blake Trust. They provided virtual reality programme showcasing underwater sites across New Zealand with the ultimate aim of connecting and inspiring students to care for our ocean and environment. They provided a class-set of virtual reality headsets and delivered an engaging, inspiring and educational one-hour session. Listening to the whoops of joy from the classroom, I feel they enjoyed it!

Our Robotics team will be heading to their competition on 30th August. They have been  working very diligently to prepare and we wish them well.

In preparation for our Christmas craft market, and building upon our reduce, reuse and recycle learnings, we have begun art and craft teaching and learning topics.

We have been donated several items which lend themselves to beautiful art pieces. Both, rooms 3 and 4, are currently learning  about blending colours, compositon, perspective as well as presentation methods. Here’s a sneaky preview.

If you have any part tins of paint, vinyl, tile or wood glues we would welcome those. Or do you have artistic talents that you could demonstrate to our students? Please get in touch if you do.

Ngā mihi,

Terry.

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