28 February 2025

Ever since the mihi whakatau I've been thinking about that word community and the qualities that make for a great 'school community'.

Our karakia ...

E tau nei ki runga i a tātou katoa te wairua aroha

Settle upon us the loving spirit

kia ngākaunui tātou ki te hāpai i ā tātou mahi katoa

to enable us to work together

i roto i te hari me te koa me te aroha anō o tētahi ki tētahi

in joy and with respect toward one another

kia pūāwai tātou katoa.

so that we all grow and blossom together.

Whakakahangia tātou kia mahi tahi kia manaaki,

Also strengthen us to work together to nurture and

kia tiaki i tō tātou kura, tō tātou hāpori, ā tō tātou taiao hoki.

look after our school, our school community and our environment.

Mauri ora!

Life force!

...really nods to this sense of nurture and growing together. On my office wall I have a poster from a project I completed about 10 years ago which is all about language and has 'Encouraging a Community to Flourish' as the title.

When I look through our document "What does success look like for our Worser Bay Children?"  It really holds up what the community values. I'm also aware that community members arrive often , via a child's birthday or another mode of transport!, and we need to make sure what we hold up is still relevant for all.

I'm hoping the interviews you have with the teachers on starting to find out a little more about your desires for your children area. good way to check in and see that all voices have been captured. In the meantime please do reflect on what we came up with and let us know if you can see any omissions that you feel are important. 

On Tuesday evening we were ever hopeful of having a chance to continue to build that sense of community - always a chance to chat with someone you don't know....yet. 

The wind wasn't our friend. However the stay and play will hopefully be our friend before the next chance of the hikoi!

Next week our Year 5 and 6  students will be at Camp Kaitoke Wednesday-Friday, so we will not have the student road patrollers- just the associated adults so just be a bit more cautious please.On the Thursday , when the Year 4's join camp  , our Year 3s become the ' biggest kids at school for the day'............as you may imagine, they relish it!!

Speaking of community- the camp experience is one of those times when belonging to a community really comes to the fore. Teamwork, reciprocity, tolerance, gratitude........for starters.

Here's to a terrific week ahead and a joyous camp- with plenty of sleep for teachers and parent helpers.