Kia ora e te whānau, it's hard to believe we have reached the end of another term. The time seems to have flown by but it has also been a term full of challenges. The winter weather helped the bugs to have a big impact on families and our team, so we are all looking forward with optimism to the warmer months ahead after the upcoming break!
Over the school holidays we are having a number of property projects undertaken around the school. A number of large trees and a couple of louvred shade structures will be put up to help give us some welcome shade from the summer sun. We are also having the upstairs deck area ground back and resurfaced to fix up a mistake from the original construction. This means the school site may be full of noise, equipment and contractors on different days. The grounds are still open but please check the site to see what is happening each day rather than just blindly sending your kids down to a potentially dangerous area on that day.
Important Upcoming Dates
- Friday 19th September 2.15pm - End of Term Assembly
- Friday 19th September - Last Day of Term
- Monday 6th October - First day of Term 4
- Monday 27th October - Labour Day public holiday
- Tuesday 4th November - Photo Day tbc
- Tuesday 16th December 12.40 - Last Half Day of School
Wearing Purple for Learning Support
On Friday 5th September, our teaching union held a purple day to celebrate and draw attention to the team of people involved in supporting and educating our diverse learners. This day was used to promote the work of these people under less than ideal funding conditions.
Not all our staff are union members, but all of us support better government funding for the large group of children who require support over and above the standard classroom teaching. At Nukumea we have a range of children with extra needs in literacy, numeracy, behaviour, English as a second language and social learning. We love having this diversity in our school and aim to do the best we can for all children. We would love to see the union goals come to pass which includes better funding for specialists to support learners and a teacher aide in each classroom. Therefore we were all out in purple for this day.
Kickstart Breakfast
From Week 2 Term 4, Nukumea Primary will be offering breakfast to all students. KickStart Breakfast is a free programme where we receive Sanitarium Weet-Bix and Anchor milk for our students to have access to at school. Everyone is welcome to join our KickStart Breakfast programme for some kai, a chat and to connect with peers. The programme is a community partnership involving Fonterra, Sanitarium, and the Ministry of Social Development, which has been running in Aotearoa since 2009 and currently includes nearly 1,500 participating schools. Our Breakfast Club will be open to all, and we look forward to watching the programme grow in our school.
At Nukumea Primary School Kickstart Breakfast runs Monday - Friday from 8:30 - 8:50 in the hall. Please indicate on this form if your child may like to participate. At this point Mrs Burnett will be running the programme but we may seek parent or student support later in the term. It would also be nice to offer tinned fruit to go with the Weetbix. If you would like to donate some, these can be dropped off to the school office.
Game on, whānau – we're in for KidsCanBall!
We’ve joined the nationwide team, and we’re ready to support KidsCan by rallying for Kiwi kids in need. This October, our students are hitting the courts for KidsCanBall, an epic handball-a-thon to help raise $1 million for 10,000 Kiwi kids living in hardship. It’s all about having fun and making a real difference – one bounce at a time.
Here’s how you can help:
- Sign your child up at kidscanball.org.nz and join our Nukumea team
- Share your child’s fundraising page and cheer them on.
- Celebrate each game – every dollar helps provide food, jackets, and shoes.
We have a school target of raising $500. The Manaakitanga Leaders will be running lunchtime Handball games to help add up the minutes. We'll end the month with a Handball competition between those students who log the most minutes. Let’s show Aotearoa what Nukumea Primary School can do. Game on, team!
Code Cracking with the Community
Local Real Estate Agent Rika Kirstein is working with our school by highlighting different elements of the school in her monthly newsletters. If you missed her latest newsletter, there is a competition that we are running together. Our Year 5 and 6 students have created codes that need to be cracked and there are some great prizes to be won. If you have misplaced the newsletter/flyer then here are the codes below:
Declassified Report: Operation Escape - From the desks of the Kererū Intelligence Agency
Agents-in-training from the Kererū Intelligence Agency, who have spent this term exploring the world of codebreaking and secret communication, were deployed on a high-stakes mission: to infiltrate and conquer the Escapism escape rooms in Stanmore Bay. Armed with sharp minds, eagle eyes, and teamwork, every puzzle cracked brought them one step closer to extraction. The operation was a complete success.
Back at HQ, the recruits didn’t rest. Instead, they transformed into masterminds, designing their own escape challenges and lockbox missions filled with codes, ciphers, and hidden traps. On Tuesday afternoon, the doors of the Agency were opened, and parents entered as guest operatives. What they thought was ��just a game’ quickly became a battle of wits as they raced in teams to break the codes and unlock the boxes.
Reports confirm high levels of excitement, creativity, and teamwork throughout the mission. Parents commented that it was a brilliant way to meet and collaborate with fellow operatives.
Final verdict: Mission Accomplished. The Kererū Intelligence Agency stands ready for its next assignment.
Bricks4Kids Holiday Programme
Nukumea is excited to host our Bricks4Kids holiday programme. Facilitated by one of our parents, Andrea Wright (Education Manager), this looks like an action packed and fun week! A special discounted rate for Nukumea students, too.
Other Holiday Programmes in the Area
Have a great and safe school holiday break, we look forward to seeing everyone back at the start of next term!