A warm welcome to our new students: Keira Griffin, Amelia Cilliers, Lachlan Churchill, Juno Adams & Ataahua Toma-Barbarich

Kia ora e te whaanau,

We’ve had a lovely start to Term 2, and it’s been heart-warming to hear that many of our tamariki enjoyed quality time with their whaanau over the school holiday. During the break, Miss Matthews (Puaawai 5/6 teacher) got married. Karen's married name is Mrs Karen Burkhart. Congratulations to Karen and Ash!

Although we have only nine weeks this term, it’s action-packed. Our Year 5–8 students have already begun preparing for our annual school production, with planning, auditions, and script writing now well underway. There’s a great buzz around the school as creativity starts to flourish. We also have plenty of sports events, such as Cross Country, Hardcourts Day, and Morrinsville Fun Day. At the same time, our teaching teams are also beginning the work of preparing for end-of-term assessments, deciding on children’s overall achievement levels and reporting.

Over the last term, a tremendous amount of work has taken place as we worked to implement the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. While the goals of the refresh are positive, the scale and pace of change have placed considerable demands on schools. Teachers are redesigning their planning templates—ranging from unit plans to daily lessons—to align with the new structure. They are also trialling and reflecting on teaching practices that best support curriculum implementation while ensuring careful differentiation. In addition, teachers are engaging in ongoing professional learning to deliver the curriculum effectively, all while maintaining classroom programmes and meeting the diverse learning needs of their students.

One of the key shifts in the refreshed curriculum is the structure built around the three pillars of Understand, Know, and Do. ‘Understand’ refers to the big ideas and concepts that help students make sense of the world. ‘Know’ refers to the specific knowledge and content that students are expected to learn. ‘Do’ is about the application of learning. Together, these three elements form the framework that now underpins the English and Mathematics learning areas. Progress outcomes describe what development in each of these areas should look like over time, which teachers include in their planning.

To give you a sense of the curriculum's scale, take Mathematics as an example. Beyond the big ideas in the Understand, Know, and Do learning intentions, each year level includes detailed concepts to be taught. For example, Year 6 now covers over 50 specific maths concepts, many of which are more complex than before and require multiple revisits to master. In Literacy, the Year 6 curriculum has around 90 components. The curriculum is not only content-heavy but also pitched at a higher level, making it more challenging for children to meet these demands.

It’s important to understand that the shift in expectations doesn’t mean your child hasn’t made progress. Rather, it reflects the higher standards and additional content now required at each year level. Children who previously met curriculum expectations may temporarily fall below the new standards due to changes in the curriculum, not a lack of progress. These new expectations apply to all year levels, and some specific concepts were not taught in earlier years as part of the previous Curriculum. We will work to identify and address learning gaps over time, ensuring your child receives the learning they need to continue progressing.

Erica Standford, Minister of Education, has said “The refreshed curriculum is internationally benchmarked and more demanding — particularly in lower primary maths.”

Another challenge for teachers during this assessment and reporting time is the fact that many of the traditional assessment tools we have used in the past are no longer fit for purpose. These tools do not align with the refreshed curriculum, and updated tools from the Ministry of Education are not expected until 2026. To support our staff, we have been redeveloping our assessment tools to help align with the new curriculum, including designing some of our own tools to help capture evidence of learning the best we can, alongside our everyday observations, discussions with children and monitoring of learning.

While we are committed to keeping you informed and supported, we are still awaiting formal guidance from the Ministry of Education about how schools are expected to report to parents under the refreshed curriculum. We are not expecting this to overly impact our current decision-making for Term 2 reporting, however. At the end of this term, students in Years 1–8 will receive a digital report via HERO, which will include a Powerful Learning comment, a short statement about Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, along with an achievement graph. These reports are designed to complement the ongoing Learning Journal posts in HERO, which will continue to update you regularly on your child’s learning throughout the year. We will also run our Student Led Conferences in Week 9, as another opportunity to engage with your child's learning. 

Thank you for continuing to partner with us in your child’s learning. As always, our door is open if you have questions, and we’ll continue to keep you informed as we move forward.

Ngaa mihi nui,
Nyree Olliver
Principal

Roopuu Kaakano 1 - Smoke Damage Remediation Work:

• Although there is no health risk from the slight smoke smell that has been present in Kaakano 1, the MOE has been compliant with our requests for continued work to take place. 
• Over the break, the ceiling and roof insulation have been replaced. The new ceiling has allowed for an upgrade in lighting, which has brightened up the room and improved the overall aesthetic.
  
• New carpet has been laid throughout the area.
  
• The Autex walls will also be replaced during the next break.
  
• Once this last aspect has been done, we are satisfied that all avenues have been explored and addressed. 
  
  

Junior Playground:

• We are currently in the design and quoting stage for this project while awaiting the closure of the Waste Water Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE).
  
• The new playground will be located near the pool, in front of the grass mound that houses the underground wastewater system.
  
• The planned dimensions for the playground are 8m x 10m.
  
• We have consulted with some of our junior students to understand which features they would like to see in the playground, helping us shape the potential design. 
  
• We aim to have this project reinstated as soon as possible and are working quickly on our end to help move things along.

Other Updates:

• Cladding Work- Starting this term, recladding work will begin on the Admin Block as part of the Ministry of Education's weather-tightness remediation project. The work is expected to cause some disruption for approximately one month, starting early June. Two fenced-off areas will be set up to accommodate the workers. One area will be located on the field side of the Admin Block, while the other will likely be in the central area of the school, near the tree and seating space to work on the front white wall of the Admin Block. 
• The new fence and gate near the bus bay area have been completed.
  
• There is no new information regarding the PAC rebuild. 
  
• There are no updates on the MOE’s decision not to rebuild Kaakano 0. However, the board is working on their escalation appeal to the MOE. 

Request- If anyone has office partition walls available, please email Nyree on nyreeo@puketaha.school.nz. 

 Welcome to Term Two everyone, especially to new families to the school’s community.

Nothing much to report, except to remind everyone we are again participating in the Yummy sticker promotion so please collect the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) or individual Yummy apple stickers so we get a share of the $200,000 free sports gear prize pool. Collection sheets can be found at https://www.yummyfruit.co.nz/schools/ or you can just collect them and we can do that step for you. We use the sports gear for prizes.

This term we are hoping to have a quiz night and a movie night, but do not have finalised details just yet, plus we’ll be looking for helpers and donations for our cross country stalls.

Our first meeting is in Week 3, Tuesday 13^th May 7.30pm in the school’s staff room. All welcome. Hope to see you there.

Kind regards

Merynn Connors

PTA Chairperson

M:027 629 6820   E: pta@puketaha.school.nz

School Policies are reviewed regularly. Parents/caregivers are welcome to be a part of this review process.

1. Visit the website http://puketaha.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm

2. Enter the username (puketaha) and password (puketaha).

3. Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

Update on  Telephone Road crossing re-opening

Work to upgrade the rail crossing at SH1B Telephone Road and adjacent Holland Road intersection is progressing well, with work on track to finish around mid-May.

When the roading part of the project is complete, Holland Road at the intersection with Marshmeadow Road will reopen to traffic, after being closed at the start of work in February.

SH1B and the rail crossing will remain closed to traffic until railway signals have been put in place and both KiwiRail and NZ Transport Agency have agreed that it is safe to do so.

KiwiRail have advised that their signal work is scheduled to take place in the second half of July, however they are investigating options that may allow the crossing to reopen to traffic sooner.

We will keep the community updated when we have a confirmed date for the rail crossing to reopen.

News from your local Waikato District Councillors

Have your say on the Council’s Long Term Plan that sets the rates for the next two years
and establishes a new model for managing our waters services.
Consultation on the Waikato District Council’s proposed Long Term Plan opens on
Friday 11 April and runs to 11 May. Drop-in sessions will be run for those interested to
discuss the plan with Council staff.
For this and more Council news, see your Tamahere-Woodlands ward councillors'
monthly update for March-April here: www.crystalbeavis.com/updates

Contact your Tamahere-Woodlands Ward Councillors:
Crystal Beavis, mob 0275 957 927, email crystal.beavis@waidc.govt.nz
Mike Keir, mob 027 449 3012, email mike.keir@waidc.govt.nz

HDBC_Juniors_poster_25.pdf