Newsletter 

Friday 24 February

He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa
Bonjour à toutes nos familles

Union Meeting - school closing Wednesday 1st March at 1.30pm

The majority of our teachers are attending a paid union meeting on Wednesday at 2pm.  We are closing the school at 1.30pm. If you are unable to pick your child/ren up, please fill out this form and the remaining teachers will supervise them until 3pm.  Teachers will be back in time for the Wednesday goal setting conferences. 

Request for emergency food

Last week we delivered all of our emergency food to Te Puni Kokori who are collecting for Hawkes Bay  and now we need to replace it.  We are asking for donations of non-perishable food such as cans of spaghetti and baked beans, muesli bars etc.  These can be given to the classroom teacher.  (This is different to the individual bags of emergency food that go home with your child at the end of the year, if unused. You can find a further explanation about this on our website.)

Dodgy driving and suspect parking!

There has been some inattention to road rules recently.  People (parents at school) have been spotted by our man in the hi-vis, barrelling around the corner and not noticing when there are children waiting to cross.  Also, there is parking across driveways (which annoys the neighbours and is illegal), stopping on the yellow lines to pick up and drop off, turning into the driveway when there are children and not stopping for children waiting to cross at pedestrian crossings.  A reminder that the drop off zone is literally a drop off zone, rather than for parking while you go into the school. If we keep the drop off zone clear, people are less likely to employ other dodgy drop off and pick up manoeuvres. Help us keep our tamariki safe by working together and obeying the rules.  Remember the speed limit around schools is 40 km p/h before and after school. Safer roads together everyone! 

Adventure playground on the bank

The work on this exciting part of our kura will start in the next holidays, hopefully! We will give you any updates about progress and can’t wait to see who gets the first slide!

Old Ridgway t-shirts

Despite the shout out in the last newsletter that everyone obviously read and nodded sagely about while stroking their beards, we are still down on Ridgway t-shirts. If you have any old ones at home that your child has grown out of, we’d appreciate it at school as a loaner. We are replacing our t-shirts soon so we don’t want to have to order a whole batch of the old style for the sake of a few months’ wear! 

Movin’ March

We’re a Movin’ March school and counting down to Wednesday the 1st March when we’ll start stamping passports at the gate as part of the Walk or Wheel Passport Challenge all through March.  Walking or wheeling to school is a great way to get active, know your neighbourhood, kick start learning for the day AND take care of the environment.  Remember students don’t have to complete their passports to go in the draw to win a $400 MYRIDE voucher at the end of March! 


Fancy going in the draw to win a scooter?  Parents who take part in the council’s Whānau photo competition on Facebook or Instagram will be in to win 1 of 5 adult or child Micro Scooters and helmets or a Family Pass to Staglands or Zealandia.  Check out the Movin’ March website for more on these competitions and how you can take part.  


If you live ‘too far away’ why not try a Park and Stride?  You can still get your passport stamped at the gate!  It helps reduce congestion around the school gate, gives tamariki exercise and whānau get to share precious moments on the way to or from school.

Goal Setting Conferences (reminder)

Click here to make a booking for goal setting conferences. When you click on ‘make a booking’ use the event code hk4xc.


Please book one conference with your child’s kaitiaki teacher.  The conferences will be in classroom spaces so please head there and wait until your time.  (Conferences with Harriette for Kākā students on Tuesday from 9am to 3.00pm will be in Tūtaki - please come and sign in at the office.) We only have space for one conference per child. 


Days and times as follows: 

Mon 27th Feb 3.30 to 5.00pm - whole school 

Tues 28th Feb 9am to 3.00pm - Kākā only, 3.30 to 5.00pm - whole school

Wednesday 1 March 3.30 to 5.00pm - whole school

Thursday 2nd March 3.30 to 8pm  - whole school


Upcoming Events

Week beginning 27 February: Learning conferences 

All of March:  Movin’ March

Wednesday 1 March: school closes at 1.30 for union meeting

8 March: Whānau Hui evening 6 - 8pm

23 March: Athletics Day Newtown Park 

6 April: Teacher Only Day

7 April: Good Friday and start of school holidays

Community News


Ngā mihi,
Sarah Patterson
Deputy Principal
Ridgway School


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