Kia ora koutou,

The end of the school year is very fast approaching, and although we are excited for the holidays, it also comes with the realisation that this is the last few days with our wonderful Year 8 students. We are incredibly proud of our Year 8's, watching them grow and mature over the years is a real privilege and they truly are a special bunch of students. They are kind, caring, and respectful and encompass all of Puketaha's 6 C’s. We will be holding back the tears on Monday when we formally farewell them. 

On Monday night, we held our last Board of Trustees meeting for the year, where we shared our End of Year data report and analysis. Our students overall, are experiencing high levels of progress and achievement. I would like to acknowledge the huge effort, skill and dedication of our teachers to help our students experience success, as well as the ongoing partnerships with families. Here is an overview of the school-wide data. 

Overarching Statements for all three Curriculum Areas

Reading- 94% of children are At or Above Curriculum Expectations

• 6% are achieving Below Curriculum Expectations
• 68% are achieving At Curriculum Expectations
• 26% are achieving Above Curriculum Expectations

Writing- 85% of children are achieving At or Above Curriculum Expectations

• 16% are achieving Below Curriculum Expectations
• 77% are achieving At Curriculum Expectations
• 8% are achieving Above Curriculum Expectations

Mathematics- 90% of children are achieving At or Above Curriculum Expectations 

• 10% are achieving Below Curriculum Expectations
• 67% are achieving At Curriculum Expectations
• 23% are achieving Above Curriculum Expectations

Our Maaori tamariki are performing slightly higher than non-Maaori in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. While girls and boys achieve at similar levels in Reading and Mathematics, there is some disparity in Writing, where girls are performing slightly better than boys. Boys writing achievement in certain year groups will be a focus for 2025. 

We also had ERO (Education Review Office) in week six of this term. The Education Review Office evaluates schools to ensure they meet legal requirements, provide high-quality education, and support improvement to help all children succeed. Although we were glad when the week was over, we were proud of the positive feedback ERO gave us. The full report will be published early next year, but here is an insight into some of the aspects that will be reflected in the final report…

Strategic Planning & Relationships: The school is committed to a collaborative approach to strategic planning, fostering strong relationships, and creating conditions that support learner success. A deliberate focus on building relationships with mana whenua and improving communication with parents, families, and whānau has strengthened partnerships for learning.

Effective Leadership: Leadership at the school builds a learning community focused on equity, excellence, and shared decision-making to ensure continuous improvement.

Teaching Consistency: Clear guidelines and expectations for teaching are regularly monitored to maintain high-quality teaching practices across the school.

Responsive Curriculum: Teachers deliver a rich and responsive curriculum that engages students and promotes achievement, supported by targeted assessments.

Cultural Learning: Strengthened learning in te reo, tikanga, and mātauranga Māori supports the holistic needs of Māori students and enriches learning for all students.

Student Support: Students at risk of not achieving are identified early, and interventions are implemented to meet their diverse learning needs.

Professional Development: Ongoing professional learning, coaching, and mentoring align with school priorities and support effective teaching practice.

Differentiated Planning: Highly detailed and differentiated planning is well-informed through a range of assessment information and effectively responds to learners’ strengths and needs.

Our Next Steps will include…

• Continue to sustain high levels of overall achievement and challenge students to excel and achieve excellence.
• Enhance opportunities for all students to grow as self-determined learners and experience success.
• Review the school’s expectations and progressions to align with the new Curriculum and Government priorities for teaching, learning, and assessment.

This being our final newsletter for the year, I would like to thank everyone for their support over the year, and in particular with the events of the fire this term and we are all very proud to be part of such a fantastic school community. Have a lovely Christmas and we look forward to 2025!

Ngaa mihi,

Nyree Olliver

On Monday next week, our Year 1–8 students will bring home their Written Reports. These reports include a Powerful Learning Comment, along with comments on Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Health and Physical Education/Hauora, providing a summary of your child’s learning throughout the year. The reports also feature graphs that visually represent your child’s progress in relation to the New Zealand Curriculum. On the back of the report, there is a chart explaining the Curriculum Progressions and how the Curriculum Levels span multiple years. These levels are broad, encompassing a wide range of learning intentions designed to be achieved over time.

Here is a bit of a guide to understanding your child’s progress graph on their reports. 

(Please note, over 2020 and 2021 with School Closures due to Covid, data was carried across which resulted in many children having multiple dots in a row. These dots would not be a true reflection of your child’s learning over that time). 

The graph will help you see the overall progress over their years at Puketaha. It’s important to note that there is no typical pattern in how children progress within the curriculum. Also note, that this is the last year that reporting will be based on Curriculum Levels. 

Not long now until we as a PTA start to put our feet up and say goodbye to the 2024 year. It has been a really well supported year from our point of view so thank you all.

Just two more things to go. The Friday Christmas Picnic, where we will have bacon rolls,sausages and drinks for sale, plus the Nestle raffle. Santa will arrive at 5.30 pm to say hi and take any lists and letters children have written, and be available for a photo.  Then on Monday, our final event is the school disco in the Puketaha Community Hall. There, we will be selling sausages, pizza, drinks and sweet treats. We ask for a gold coin donation to help pay for the DJ.  We require parent helpers and if you can bring along your recycle bin and take it home at the end of your child’s session it helps with minimising rubbish.

If the Friday picnic gets cancelled due to rain I will try to get Santa to come along to the Kaakano and half of the Maahuri part of the Disco on Monday. Finally we wish you all a happy, fun and safe festive season. Merry Christmas.

Kind regards,

Merynn Connors

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

Raffle for sale $5 ticket

We are delighted to start the launch of our new communication and reporting system for 2025… Hero. 

Here is a little bit of information about Hero… 

Hero allows schools to build an online environment that reflects our unique context. The software is secure, easy to use and brings together all school-related information in one place. 

We are excited about the features that Hero has to offer families and it means we will be able to consolidate a lot of the features from our other apps, into Hero. These include the ability for parents and caregivers to

• Read and comment on posts relating to your child’s learning (Online Learning Journal with teacher comments- this will support our ongoing reporting to parents process)
• See the news feed, sharing what’s happening in the learning environments (Like Class Dojo)
• View information on your child’s progress and goals (Mid and End of Year written reports will be published on here)
• Read school notices sent to the class or groups your child is part of, including alerts (Like our school app)
• View school term dates
• View a school calendar of events
• Notify the school if your child is absent or late
• Navigate to other school-related webpages (Website, KINDO)
• Customise your account by adding a profile image
• Select how you wish to receive notifications

We will officially start using the platform in 2025, but the first step is to get signed up and ready for the new year. Our School App will not be carrying on next year so get set up now, to ensure you don't miss any messages early next year. Please keep sending attendance notices via our current system until next year. 

Click this link to get started or if you received an email notification a few days ago, you can follow the prompts to set up an account from that email too. You must use the same email address that we have for you at school to connect you to your child’s account. If there is an issue with your account, contact office@puketaha.school.nz.

We will be rolling out the features of this app slowly and some features won't appear until the 2025 school year, so please be patient as we work through fully implementing this new system. We are looking forward to having a more streamlined system for 2025, which also can report to parents in a way that is aligned with the new Curriculum.

We will send further information about this again next year, but in the meantime, please set up your account. 

Click here to sign up

Over the last two years, we have been planning an upgrade to our school's Waste Water System. The current system has caused issues over the years and includes aspects that no longer meet regulations. We are pleased to share that we are now at the stage where this much-needed upgrade will take place. The work is scheduled to commence during the school holidays.

This project involves:

• Installing new septic tanks.
• Removing the Oasis System located between the Staffroom and Kaakano 2.
• Removing the grey water dripper lines from the tree area in Puriri Park and replacing them with a new underground bed for grey water lines.

The new system will be more efficient and fully compliant with current regulations.

Due to the high water table levels on the school field, the underground greywater system will need to be installed in a large raised bed. This bed will occupy an area of approximately 130 square metres, which requires the removal of the little kids' playground. While this space will not accommodate structures, we plan to relocate the playground to a new location in the future. Some fencing will also be installed in this area as needed.

Additionally, you will notice a change to the vegetation between the Staffroom and Kaakano 2. This vegetation currently disguises the above-ground Oasis Treatment plant, but since the new system will be installed below the surface, the area can be repurposed.

We are excited to see this project completed and appreciate your understanding during the transition.

Jouney Kids are again running a holiday programme at Endeavour School.

To book please head to www.journeykids.co.nz & click BOOK NOW and select ENDEAVOUR before booking

WINZ registered and OSCAR SUBSIDY supported.
Children must bring their own lunch, snacks, water bottle and sun hats.

Programme run time: 7:30am - 5:30pm

Programme location: Endeavour Primary School - Phone Number - 0272865097
We also run programmes from Hillcrest Normal School and Cambridge East School

Full Details Here

Term 1:   Monday 3 Feb to Friday 11th April (Teacher only day Friday 21st March)

Term 2:   Monday 28 April  to Friday 27 June (Teacher only day Friday 30th May)

Term 3:   Monday 14 July to Friday 19 September 

Term 4:   Monday 6th October to Wednesday 17 December