Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, welcome back to Term 2 of the school year. I hope you all had a lovely term break and the chance to spend time with whānau and friends. Kaiako have been at school for a planning day this week, and all seem refreshed and raring to go! We have had some kaimahi (staff) heading to far flung and exotic places, such as Japan, Australia, and Palmerston North, while others have stayed closer to home and enjoyed a slower pace. I headed to the Gold Coast, to spend time with whānau. My dad managed to run the gauntlet of flight changes and uncertainty by transiting through Dubai, heading from the UK to Australia. It was lovely spending time with him and the rest of my whānau, and delightful to see some sun.
We have another busy term ahead, starting with a bang, literally, as we all head to the Science Roadshow on the first day of term. (Please see the Roadshow article in this digest for more details of this trip.) Because of this trip, our termly mihi whakatau (welcome) and new families session will be on Tuesday of this week, instead of the usual Monday.
As we start the new term, I have a few pieces of admin information to let you know about:
New kaimahi (staff) this term
We welcome back Trē Love, who will be returning as a teacher aide in Te Rito for this term, in the mornings. Trē was with us for a few weeks in an interim capacity last term, and we loved having him as part of our team. Many of you will know Trē from Kelly Club, where he is a very valued member of the team. Trē is also a former student of Amesbury School, and we are delighted he will be joining us again.
This term we also welcome back Katherine Somcio, who was a release teacher with us last year. Katherine will be a release teacher for one day each week this term in Koru Hub. We are delighted to have Katherine back with us.
We also have Angela Kennedy joining our team this year as our international student recruitment manager. She will be working with us on Tuesdays each week, helping us to grow our international student body. Angela was part of our parent community for many years, as her three tamariki, Tayla, Riley, and Jacob, went through our school. It is lovely to welcome her back again to our school team.
Term dates for 2027
Our term dates for 2027 have been confirmed and approved by our School Board.
Term 1 will be starting on Thursday 28th January and finishing on Friday 9th April. (11 weeks)
Term 2 will start on Tuesday 27th April and finish on Friday 2nd July. (10 weeks)
Term 3 will start on Monday 19th July and finish on Friday 24th September. (10 weeks)
Term 4 will start on Monday 11th November and finish on Friday 10th December. (9 weeks)
Our dates also include one staff only day, which will be for our Tarikākā Staff Learning and Expo Day at some point in Term 2. The date for this will be set a little later this year.
Update on request to have year 7 and 8 students at Amesbury
Towards the end of last year we put in our fourth request to the Ministry of Education to allow us to have Year 7 and 8 ākonga at Amesbury School. We have always strongly believed that ngā ākonga and their whānau deserve to have a further choice of where to complete their intermediate (Year 7 and 8) years. We are incredibly lucky that whānau who live within our school zone are zoned for two fabulous intermediate schools - Rāroa and Newlands. While both schools are fantastic, we also believe that some ākonga would benefit from reducing the number of transitions before they move to college. As such, being able to choose between Amesbury, Newlands and Rāroa would be the ultimate outcome we want for ngā tamariki.
Our application is still open with the Ministry, and is being considered. They have already begun to go out to other local schools to seek their input into this request.
Two other primary schools in the Wellington area also applied to extend to Year 7 and 8 students last year - Island Bay Primary School and Crofton Downs Primary School. Both schools have had their applications denied. I have been closely following the applications of both schools, particularly Crofton Downs School, which is in our local cluster of schools and in a similar position to Amesbury School. Crofton Downs School was informed late last term that there was already a well established pathway and sufficient provisions for Year 7 and 8 in their network, and no extra capacity was required in the Wellington North schooling network currently.
The decision for Crofton Downs is quite possibly indicative of the outcome of Amesbury's application, given that we are part of the same network. We retain some hope while our application is still open, but we also urge whānau of our Year 6 ākonga to ensure they have enrolled their tamaiti (child) at another school for 2027 - please don't rely solely on our extension application. If we are successful, it is always possible to withdraw enrolment at other schools.
As soon as we hear more from the Ministry of Education regarding our application, I will let you know. Here's hoping!
As we move on through the school year, we are already looking ahead to next year, especially at term dates and major school events. We are very aware that this will allow our whānau to book trips and family events.
Our starting date for the 2027 school year is Thursday 28th January. In previous years we have held a connection hui (meeting) day just prior to school starting, to allow parents and whānau to meet with whānau teachers and share key information, aspirations and goals for their tamaiti (child). Our uptake of this opportunity was quite low this year, with just on 70% of families choosing to make a time to meet with kaiako. Before we set a connection hui date for 2027, I would like to gauge whether this is a valuable endeavour for our community.
Whether you have ever attended a connection hui with us or not, it would be extremely helpful if you could please complete this short feedback form. This will allow us to plan for 2027 and beyond. Even if your tamaiti will not be with us next year, we would still appreciate your thoughts on the process. Thanks in advance for helping us with this.
And so, onto Term 2! Have a fantastic weekend with whānau and friends. I'd like to tell you to enjoy the sunshine, but the outlook for the weekend and next week is fairly grim. However, enjoy a fun filled weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone back with us next week.
Ngā mihi
Urs Cunningham
