Published by Hokowhitu School

MUFTI DAY (no school uniform required)

The student council have decided to join with The Breeze Manawatu radio station to support their annual community charity campaign – PACK THE BUS!
The children can come to school in mufti next Thursday 5th December, but instead of a gold coin donation we are inviting them to bring in a non-perishable item of food or a Christmas gift to donate so we can help to ‘Pack the Bus’ (we expect the bus to arrive here at approximately 10am.) These donations will be distributed to families in need through Barnardos and the Methodist Social Services Food Bank.

We are sorry that the weather/ground conditions got in the way of this year’s athletic sports/ fundamental skills. We will still have a team to represent our school at the upcoming interschool athletic sports as the older students have completed each event over the week.

We wish the selected athletes all the very best when they compete at the Massey track next Thursday.

THANK YOU

In spite of the weather, the sausage sizzle went ahead successfully on Monday. Thank you so much to our ‘chief elf’ Julia Mutch and our ‘chef’ Philip Steer, who were both ably supported by the rest of their ‘elves’ – Patrick Henderson, Anne-Marie Langvad, Sarah Steer, Tabitha Prisk and Haifa Naffa.
This team collated orders, collected, cooked and distributed more than 580 sausages over the lunch hour – we are very fortunate to have parents/grandparents who are willing to help us out with these things. We couldn’t do it without you – thank you for showing your kindness by giving us your time!

COMMUNICATING WITH STAFF

We hope that you find our staff welcoming and receptive to you – we pride ourselves on trying to be friendly and responsive. However, I ask that you are also respectful of ‘out of hours’ time for the staff too. If you email us after 5.00pm (or even before then on days where we are in meetings) or at a weekend, please do not expect a response until the next business day.

Please do not contact staff at any time with school related matters on their personal cell-phones or by social media accounts (unless by mutual agreement).

A reminder that our preferred methods for reporting an absence are through the school app, by email to the OFFICE, or a phone call to 06 3579667 (answerphone available).

Thanks so much for your support – I’m always happy to receive feedback on alternatives that may work for us all.

Thank you to the families who have assisted us by letting us know that you will not be attending our school in 2020. We are in the final stages of placing the teaching staff into their 2020 kete and then will be able to complete placements of learners in whanau classes.

Please keep in mind that it is to be expected that everyone will spend two years in at least one kete over the time they are here at Hokowhitu School– e.g. if a child is a Y4 in TKA this year and is then placed in TKA as a Y5 for next year – they are NOT being held back. The New Zealand curriculum is spread over levels and each level of the curriculum is designed to take 2 years to complete. Additionally, we teach each child from ‘where they are at now’ and ‘move them on’. Our system does not consider that ‘one size fits all’ and therefore everyone will be completing the same work simply because they are in the same area.

It is, in fact, often when the second year in a kete occurs, that increased opportunities for leadership responsibilities are given as being one of the more senior members of the kete.