Tawatawa News

14 August 2025

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

Union Meeting Next Tuesday

The union have arranged a meeting next Tuesday at 2pm.  This meeting is for support staff, teachers and principals, the whole shebang.  We have the added complication of being at noho marae that day! 

We will be running an alternate programme on Tuesday afternoon supervised by the non-union staff and staff who are able to attend a meeting on a different day.  You do not need to collect your child early. Allow us to take the juggle out of your hands and do some juggling here at school with a skeleton staff. (Which sounds way more fun than it actually is and will not involve any skeletons called Geoffrey or any juggling.)

Harold - farewell old friend with long eyelashes

We’ve said farewell to Harold for the next two years, hopefully your child enjoyed lots of healthy lifestyle information and they have regaled you with tales from the truck. The mystery of why all the children (and Derek) were mistakenly calling him Gerald was revealed by Harold’s mum.  The giraffe in Giraffes Can’t Dance is called Gerald, thus confusing kids (and Dereks) all over New Zealand!  

Year 7 & 8 boys handball 

We found out on Tuesday that our  Y7/8 boys' handball team made it to the finals, which were held yesterday. Cue mass scramble to get them there!  The team did a great job, working very hard on the court and showing solid teamwork. They received the ‘Most Fair Play Award’ and the ‘Most Impressive Defense Award’, and Ivo received the Most Impressive Playmaker award! Congrats to all of them! 

Upcoming noho marae

With supreme skills of organisation we are (almost) ready for our two nights of noho marae for our Year 5 - 8s at the very beautiful Marearoa Marae in Waitangirua.  It all seemed so simple at first, so we threw in some added complications of a basketball tournament on Wednesday, Year 7 & 8s normal basketball game on Wednesday afternoon, a union meeting and two different groups on two different nights. Looking forward to it! 

So long, and thanks for all the mulch! 

Thanks to Living Planet for kindly giving us mulch, mulch and more mulch for our Food Forest!  Get in touch with these tree and garden doctors for all your gardening needs!  

Calendar Art

You can get your child’s masterpiece immortalised as a calendar, diary, mousepad and more! Order through this form by Monday 25th August. These will be delivered in Term 4. 

Upcoming Events

• Swimming from second week of term:  Year 1-3s Tuesday starting 22 July, Year 4-5s Friday starting 25 July

• 19 August - NZEI Union meeting 

• 19 and 20 August - noho marae for Year 5 - 8s (two separate groups)

• 20 August - Miniball tournament at Ākau Tangi Sports Centre

• 22 August - Calendar Art orders due

• 18 September - end of term hui 2.15

• 10 September - Board Elections

• 19 September - Athletics Day at Newtown Park and end of term