June 25th 2025, Week 9

Principal's Message

Term 2 Week 9 2025

Wednesday 25 June

Kia ora koutou

We would like to congratulate Holly, Reuben and Aidan who ran in the Regional cross country competition on Tuesday. Both Reuben and Aidan qualified for the Inter- Regional’s, which are held in Christchurch during term 3. 

We are at the end of term two and on reflection, there have been many opportunities for learning both in and out of the classroom this term. Children have increased their knowledge of curriculum areas related to astronomy, navigation, pūrakau, financial literacy and they have also used skills in both English and Maths to show their understanding. 

During our end of term hui (or shared slideshow) we are really proud of the learning both children and teachers have made throughout mahi rangahau this term.

Through our rōpu and buddy classes, children have developed friendships with children across the school and we look forward to further leadership opportunities in the second half of the year.

Our teachers have now completed writing children’s reports, informed by observations, data and a variety of work samples. We have been teaching the revised  Maths Curriculum from Year 0-8 and the revised English Curriculum from Year 0-6. These reports will show the new phases and the previous level.  The English reports for Year 7-8 will show the previous curriculum only as we wait for the confirmed English Curriculum for Year 7-13.

We will upload all midyear reports to HERO on Friday 27th June at the end of the day. We appreciate you may like to have a conversation with your child’s teacher about the report, please make contact with them at the start of term 3 to arrange a time.

Learning conversations will take place in week 6 and week 8 next term. The focus for these conversations will be on learning and progress made during term 3.

We really appreciate your support and it has been great to see so many parents attend various events, offering to help for sport events, and engagement in all of our matariki celebrations this term. I would like to thank the staff for a busy term and hope the two weeks of non contact time provide some family time and refreshment. 

If you are travelling during this break take care and stay safe. 

If you have any questions or concerns about your child, please follow our process:

• Classroom Teacher as the first point of contact. 
• Team Leader/ Deputy Principal if unresolved. 
• Principal (if further support is needed). This will ensure the right people can address things efficiently.

Ngā mihi

Andrea

NEW - Matariki- te Mātahi o te tau (Matariki- the Māori New Year)

Kia ora tatou,

I would like to thank all of our Northland Whānau for your support of our three events to celebrate Matariki. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our Northland staff who supported our celebrations as well. 

Stargazing with the Wellington astronomical society- on Thursday 5th of June we gathered at school to view the night sky. Our celebration on Tuesday the 17th of June, began with a stirring performance from our school kapa haka. Our group this year numbers around 90 students from Year 4 to 8. 

A new feature this year was a market with goods made by the students. Our market raised around $700 to be split amongst our two charities, The Māori Women's Welfare League and Our Local Foodbank.

Our final celebration was on Thursday 19th of June with a shared vegetable hangi. Thank you to our students who helped with this final event from food preparation to delivering to the classrooms. 

I would also like to acknowledge Evan's whānau who kindly provided the dip. This would not have been possible without the support of Haley-Wolf whānau who bought the steamer down from Taranaki.

Mānawatia a Matariki.

Grant Henderson

Deputy Principal

REPEAT - Upcoming School Board Elections

Every three years, state school communities elect their parent and staff representatives to help govern their schools. The School Board has confirmed that the 2025 election day will be on Wednesday the 10th of September 2025. 

For further information on the role that School Boards play in the governance of a school, and what the work of the Board looks like, see:

NEW - Kidz Club After School Care pickup update

Starting next term kidz club after school care will be meeting the children in the school Library during terms 3. This is to keep them warm and dry before heading to After School Care. In term 4 they will meet at the Tiger Turf.

NEW - Jo Robertson on Parenting in the Digital Era

It was great to welcome approximately 250 parents from across our Kāhui Ako last Wednesday night for our Parent Information Evening featuring Jo Robertson.

A hugely entertaining presenter, Jo used humour to lighten some very serious messages about the need to keep our children and teenagers safe from online harm.

Jo emphasised the need to be speaking to our children from an early age about sex and online safety. This is because as parents we want to create the ‘anchoring bias’ - young people are most likely to believe an idea when they hear it for the first time. So we want to be the first people to talk to them about issues such as pornography.

She also encouraged us to just give these conversations our best go, even though we will feel uncomfortable and afraid that we’ll make mistakes. It’s better to do our best than leave a void that our children and teens will fill with information from other sources.

Topics included

• The prevalence and accessibility of online porngraphy - “It’s harder to avoid it than see it” say young people
• The frequency of violent and non-consentual pornography that our young people see
• Pornography being increasingly marketed at children and in what we may think of as child-friendly spaces, such as YouTube Restricted Mode
• The need to keep phones and other devices out of bedrooms and bathrooms
• The rapid increase in young children being ‘groomed’ for online sexual exploitation, including on apps such as Snapchat and Roblox
• The need to talk to young people about consentual, caring sexual relationships

Jo suggested frequent but short conversations, at an age-appropriate level - covering one question and one idea, and then circling back a month later.

If you would like more information you can sign up to Jo’s online parenting course at trickychatsparenting.com. You can use the discount code WELLINGTON for 30% off.

Please also look out for our next Kāhui Ako Parent Information Evening.

REPEAT - 2025 June Board Update

Tēnā Koe

We have several items to report back to you on from our last meeting.

We would like to start by thanking all of the teachers for all their hard mahi this term, particularly in adapting so quickly to a different reporting scheme – we are very lucky to have such a fantastic teaching team. There will be many adjustments to make over the coming year as the new curriculum is rolled out, and we will need to ensure that teachers and kaiako feel supported during this period of transition. As a board, and as parents, we are grateful for the commitment our teachers show towards our tamariki. 

Parent Curriculum Meeting

We would like to thank all those that were involved in preparing the slides and materials for the Parent Curriculum Meeting that took place on June 3rd, 2025. It was clear that a lot of hard work went into the development of the presentation and ensuring that parents would have a good chance to look over all the resources that support the English; Reading – Writing, and Mathematics Curriculum. The chance for parents to learn more detail about the changes to the New Zealand Curriculum and to gain insight into how to support their children’s learning at home was invaluable.

Playspace portfolio 

Work has been progressing at pace in the playspace portfolio. The Board has engaged Nice Pozi Landscapes, Wellington based landscapers that did the designs for Kelburn Normal School, Island Bay School and Ridgway School. 

Nice Pozi are finalising a high-level concept for the playspace improvements for several areas within the school (such as the area outside Ruru iti, inside of the fence line between gate number 1 and 2, and between the two existing playgrounds). These areas will be developed in separate phases, beginning with the upper courtyard between Ruru iti and Ruru Nui.

We’ve begun the process of collecting quotes for a whare to be built using funds from the colour run. If there are any qualified builders and/or craftsmen in the wider school community that would like to build the whare and are prepared to quote for it, please contact Jono Weir (jonoweir@gmail.com) to discuss the small project.

We will have a further update for you when the high-level concept has been refined and can be shared. 

Achievement 

In late 2024, the Government introduced a new requirement for all schools to assess students twice a year in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Schools may select from a range of approved tools to meet this requirement, including PATs (Progressive Achievement Tests), e-asTTle, and Te Waharoa Ararau – each offering different strengths depending on the needs of learners and the local curriculum. 

At Northland School, we have chosen to continue using the PAT assessments to monitor progress and identify long-term trends in Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, and Mathematics. These are administered in Term 1 and Term 4 to track shifts in progress for individuals within the year. Teachers use the information to develop programmes that meet both class and individual needs. They also look for changes from one year to the next and investigate further when major differences in cohorts or individual results are seen.

Overall, our performance across all three PAT tests shows the majority of our students are performing slightly above the national norm and the majority of our Māori students are performing either at the norm or slightly above. 

For those who would like to read further information on the results of the 2025 PAT Achievement assessments, a summary document has been prepared and can be found in the pdf below.

Information on new reporting

At least twice a year, schools and kura are required to report to students and mokopuna, their parents, and their whānau in plain language on the student’s progress and achievement across the curriculum and in literacy and mathematics. 

There are no changes to these requirements, but schools and kura are now required to report progress against the new English and te reo rangatira Years 0-6 and Mathematics & Statistics or pāngarau for Years 0-8 learning areas. For the English Curriculum 7-8 – Reading and Writing, schools will continue to report against the previous Curriculum.

The strengthened national curriculum is organised into five phases of learning and includes year-by-year teaching and learning sequences. It sets out what your child is expected to learn over their time at school including the intended levels of knowledge, understanding and skill to be achieved.

We will continue with the reporting format we have and will replace the previous curriculum levels with the new phases. 

Property

The school buildings are well maintained and the current project within our 5YA is to upgrade staff toilets in the administration block. This will begin in the holidays. Finally, we have the last of our signage being installed on Te Kōhanga, Kāka and Ruru Iti. 

Ngā mihi nui

Katie & Andrea on behalf of the Board

REPEAT - Ballot for out of zone enrolment Term 3 - 4 2025

Enrolment at the school is governed by an enrolment scheme, details of which are available from the school office. For more information about our school visit www.northland.school.nz 

 The board has determined the following out of zone enrolment places are available for Term 3 and Term 4 2025. 

Year 0 - 5  places (DOB:  1 July 2020 - 17 December 2020)

Year 1 – 5 places

Year 2 -  5 places

Year 3 - 2 places

Term 1 2026

Year 0 - 5  places (DOB: 17 December 2020 - 2nd April 2021)

Applications for out of zone places are being invited for those students who are eligible for enrolment as outlined above. Please enquire at the school office regarding available spaces or email office@northland.school.nz  Applications close on 26th June 2025. 

If you live in the home zone and have not yet signalled your intention to enrol your child for Term 3/ 4 2025 or 2026  school year, please contact the school office , or complete the online enrolment form www.northland.school.nz  to assist us to plan appropriately. 

REPEAT - Parent and School Group update

Thank you to those that filled out the survey regarding the Parent & School revamp, we really appreciate it! The results are in, and we’ll be moving forward with a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) as chosen by the majority of respondents. 

It is our hope that the Northland School Parent Teacher Association (PTA) will foster the existing relationships amongst the school’s community and continue to build strong links between home and school. The PTA aims to assist the school community and support your children’s Northland School experience by helping to coordinate parent involvement, organising school events, providing resources for the school, and fundraising for the school community.

In order to operate smoothly, a PTA needs a quorum of three roles: a Chairperson, a Treasurer, and a Secretary. These are roles that would suit those that would like to know more about how the school functions and would enjoy organising or coordinating the high-level details of school community events across the year. 
Many more opportunities exist for parents to help, and we would love to have you help wherever possible; the possibilities are vast, and the PTA is flexible. The reality is that most of us have day jobs and/or other commitments, so the roles are manageable and very adaptable. Possibilities for helping include:

• Acting as team lead for an event & coordinating those that have offered to help,
• Assisting with events/fundraising on the day,
• Helping to plan out events in advance,
• Assisting at events without attending PTA meetings,
• Assisting at events as well as regularly attending meetings, 
• Donating items such as baking for bake sales and raffle prizes,
• Contributing at meetings without any pressure to take on a defined role, and more.

We have plans in the works for several community and fundraising events for the remainder of the school year and are looking for people who’d be willing to help however possible. The events/fundraisers that we are looking at currently are:

• Fundraising pies
• Quiz night
• School Disco
• Year 7/8 bake sale

We’re also interested in hearing your ideas about other fundraisers/events that could be held (movie fundraiser, raffles, etc.).

Please fill out the PTA helpers form here (https://forms.gle/WspDACMKh221tQXa9) and let us know whether you would be interested in helping and in which respect (PTA role, event team leader, event team member, on the day, donating items/skills, etc.). 

Thank you very much and we look forward to hearing from you. 

Term Dates

The bell rings at 8:50 am. Any student arriving after this time will need to sign in at the office and will be marked late. We encourage students to arrive by 8:30 am to meet with friends and get ready for the day. Lessons will begin at 9am. 

Before School Care available from 7:30 am -8:30 am in the Library. Please email the office for further details, office@northland.school.nz

Term 3 -  14th July - 19th September

• Teacher Only Day - Friday 22nd August (Mathematics curriculum)

Term 4 - 6th October - 17th December

• Labour Day - Monday 27th October

CAMP DATES 

• Year 5 / 6 Camp - Term 4 Forest Lakes 29th October - 31st October 2025
  

Community Notices