I am writing this newsletter from Carey Park Camp where Te Whānau Harakeke are having an amazing time at their camp. 
It takes a whole community to make a camp like this work.  Ngā mihi nunui ki ngā whānau katoa!  In 2 weeks time our Kura auraki | English medium Y4-6 classes will head off to their camp in Tamaki Makaurau and early next term our Y0-3 tamariki will have a local adventure too. 

We have reviewed all of our health and safety processes over the last year and the processes we now have involve police vetting for all whānau who attend camps as helpers.  There is also more paperwork for our kaiako to do and a focus on talking about health and safety.  If your tamariki have returned from a camp or a sports or cultural event and had an amazing time, it would be great if you could feed back to teachers how appreciative you are of the time they have spent preparing and also their willingness to be away from their own whānau overnight. 

Having an attitude of gratitude is one of the ways we can look after our wellbeing - so do not be shy about telling our kaiako what an amazing job they do!

Ngā mihi

Helen 

In Term 4 last year we asked our whānau 2 questions.  The first one was:

The second question was "What would you improve about Ruakākā School.  We will publish your answers to that question in the next issue.  Your feedback has been used to create our Strategic plan 2024/25.

We have recently completed our Ruakākā School Strategic Plan for 2024/25.  It incorporates your feedback as well as feedback from kaiako and tauira.  This diagram is a summary of our goals.  The full strategic plan can be found on our website here

Shade sails: Last week our new shade sails were raised over the playground.  They will protect our tamariki from the sun while they play and, because we chose sails in all of the SHINE colours, they look amazing too! 

New classrooms: Our 5 new classrooms are almost complete - the wall coverings are up and flooring will go in soon.  Te Whānau  Harakeke will be moving in towards the end of Term 2.  Our Year 6 English Medium tamariki will then be next door to our Tau ono rumaki tamariki. with a covered deck area that both classes can share  This will mean that our tuakana can build relationships and see each other at work in their classrooms. 

Next steps: When our 5 new classes are handed over, classes in Rooms 11-14 will move out into the classrooms currently used by TWH.   Rooms 11/12 will then be turned into our new staffroom and Rooms 13/14 will be taken away to create more play space.   

Playground areas:  One of the messages we got loud and clear from our whānau survey was about how much playspace we have lost due to the new construction.  When Rooms 13/14 are removed we are then planning to build a new artificial turf playground (marked out for basketball/tennis/netball).  Our BoT have also approved the replacement of our current playground which is 17yrs old and getting pretty tired.  We have also been offered funding to create a new bike track - watch this space!

Last week, our staff meeting was led by Arwen and ____ from Bike Northland.  They got our staff out on bikes and taught us some bike safety and also some really cool games we could use to teach our tamariki new bike skills.

The next day we got an email from Arwen offering us funding for a new biketrack.  We love Bike Northland!

  Te Kōrari

Ritchies buses use the following names when referring to each bus.
Morning:
WD5 - Takahiwai/OTP 
WD6 - Oakleigh 
WD8 - Springfield/Beach
WD9 - OTP/Village

Afternoon:
WD3 - Village 
WD5 - Takahiwai/OTP
WD6 - Springfield

Last Friday our kapa haka represented our kura at the opening of 6 new Kainga Ora homes on Peter Snell Road/Buoy Way, Ruakākā.  These houses will likely become kainga for tamariki attending our kura in future, so it was great to be part of this blessing. 

Zephyr Marshall, who organised this event, sent us an email:  "I wish to extend my most sincere thanks to you and your Tamariki for attending the Open Day event on Friday.  I was very impressed with the conduct of the Tamariki before and after the formal kōrero. The kapa haka was the highlight of the event for me, with the beautiful voices and mana shining through.  My manager even received a call this morning from a member of the community expressing how impressed they were with the kapa haka!" 

 Hello everyone. I am Whaea Kelly and I teach in Room 9. I have been teaching at Ruakākā school since 2021 and love the supportive and caring environment of this school. I was born and bred in Whangārei. After living in Auckland for 30 years it is so nice to be home! I am married to Andrew and have a son Finn who is 24, an electrician who is currently training to be a fireman, and a daughter Olivia who is 23, a nurse who is currently on an OE in Italy playing hockey. My favourite things to do are to be with family, camping and being in the outdoors.

I feel so very grateful to be working at this amazing school and to be part of this wonderful community.

 

Kia Ora I’m Amy Wawatai aka ‘The Office Lady’ 

as all the kids call me when they see me outside of work. 

I had worked in the travel industry for 15 years but when COVID hit I decided to find a new job. I have

worked at Ruakākā School in the office for nearly 3 years and love this role!!  I love helping all the tamariki and have become very used to dealing with cuts and scrapes (I used to get squirmish at the sight of blood)

I have two daughters, Georgia who started at Bream Bay College this year and Indie who is in Whaea Ash’s class. 

I love spending time with my whānau, travel, beach days, cooking and Pilates. 

Ngā mihi

Amy

A small group of students with additional needs at Ruakākā School have been selected to attend music therapy sessions. These sessions will be held at school and will be led by Registered Music Therapist Cici Kong from the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre.
This amazing opportunity was only made possible through funding from 'The Wilson Home Trust'. We would like to thank this organisation for their generosity.

Today we had Interschool Swimming Sports at Bream Bay College. This was planned by Whaea Abby & Mr T and pit our best swimmers in a range of races from 5 different kura; Ruakākā, One Tree Point, Waipū, Kaiwaka & Maungaturoto. Our tamariki did amazingly and made us very proud by demonstrating a never give up (papahueke) attitude. 

Results will be posted in the next newsletter but in the meantime here are some photos

Jimmy and Cooper installing the new netball bases and upgrading the netball stands on the courts under the canopy.

Has kindly donated money for whānau needing a helping hand to pay for stationery, camp etc. 

Seaweek 
2 - 10 March 

Eat a Range of Healthy Food

Whangarei Theatre Company are holding auditions for Frozen Jr in just a few weeks time  (18-22 March) and would love to have your tamariki and rangatahi (ages 8-18) turn out to show their talents and join our cast for this wonderful show. 

Each year, the PTA hold an Easter raffle and we are asking families to donate Easter related items for the PTA to create gift hampers. This doesn't have to be just chocolate items - it could be an Easter craft or book. There will be a box in the office for the donations, please send along items as you have them. Raffle tickets were sent home earlier this week. The raffle will be drawn on Wednesday 27th March. Please make sure to return your tickets (whether sold or not) to the office before the date drawn. A big thank you to Nicole Whyte for the amazing display in the office. 

 

Please make sure your tamariki has a change of clothes in their bag every day. We only have a small amount of clothes in the office incase of emergencies, so we may need to call you to bring in some clothes for your child. 

 

The Breakfast Club will be continuing to run this year. It is for any of our tamariki that would like to hang out and have some Weet-bix, even if they have already eaten. All welcome from 8.20am in the Multi Purpose Room every morning. 

 

Our PTA is offering Hoodie and Tee orders and this time we’ve made it much easier for you! Place your order online anytime and get it delivered to your home.  

Go to https://designbyem.digitees.co.nz/page/ruak-k-school (website names don’t like macrons) to place your order. 

If you are not in a hurry and would like to save on shipping costs, there is a link on the website to a form to fill in to place your order. When we have 20 orders we will process them and get them all delivered to the school.

Thank you to Emma for offering the Hoodies and Tees at cost price to our school whānau. 

Any questions, please get in touch with Emma, info@designbyem.co.nz