Term 2 Week 2 Newsletter

Term 2 Week 2 Newsletter

Principal’s Message….

Local history in action

I was very lucky to visit Bryan Weatherstone and the McMaster family cemetery that is surrounded by his farm and with which Bryan has strong family connections. Bryan is a wealth of information about the area and the cemetery itself is fascinating. 

On the top of the hill are two headstones that represent an early success in partnership between Māori and Pākehā. One belongs to Angus Mcmaster the original runholder and the other belongs to Te Hiko Pīata Tama-i-hikoia, one of the leading Wairarapa rangatira from the 1840s to the 1880s. It is poignant that they are buried side by side. There is much more to say about the story of these two important personalities and the cemetery itself, but I’ll leave that for another forum, because ultimately I was visiting the site simply to support our overall work in Aotearoa NZ Histories and our ‘local’ curriculum. 

Big thanks to Bryan for hosting me.

In other news, things are ticking along nicely as we head into the early winter months. Cross Country continues in earnest and with the mild weather we have been able to be outside on the field and court most days. 

The working bee that was to tidy up a boggy area is on hold due to us being offered free pebbles for the project from PJ Warren but just need to wait until they have a slot where a truck is coming down to their Pirinoa yard. Meanwhile the autumnal fall of leaves into the roof guttering is building up nicely so we’ll likely coordinate a working bee where we can tackle both tasks. 

Urgent: House needed for young family at school

Just putting the feelers out as one of our families really needs a house at the moment. If you can help please get in touch with me directly and I can connect you.

ROOM ONE NEWS:

Kia ora e te whanau.  In Room One this term we have welcomed Kauri and have Ava visiting a couple of times a week before she turns 5 and starts school.  They are both settling in well and we love having new friends to join our learning journey.  This term we are learning about shapes in maths. We are learning about the different attributes that make up 2D and 3D shapes – it’s been fun so far!  We are also starting to work on our pieces of art for our art show.  We are learning lots of new techniques with paint and other materials to produce some amazing pieces.