Final newsletter 2020

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Families
Kia ora, kia orana, talofa, malo e lelei, fakaalofa atu, hello and greetings

From the Principal

Merry Christmas everyone and welcome to our final newsletter of this crazy year 2020. It has certainly been the most interesting year that I have ever experienced, but we made it, we survived, and we are all the stronger for it.

Happy birthdays this week to Riley-Jane Clapham and Genevieve Murray. I hope you had days full of sparkles and butterflies!

This evening we have our grand Picnic and Pizza end of year celebration and opening night. I hope to see you all with your whanau from 4 pm onward. We have a few special guests that will cut the ribbons to formally open some areas. The pizza oven will be hot, so if you want to have pizzas for dinner, bring your own bases and toppings and cook away. There are a lot of things to celebrate: our new school sign; the changing sheds, the AstroTurf; the Rainbow Garden; the Pizza oven; the new vegetable gardens, the Carters chook house; the fencing around the orchard; our bees; and finally our new composting system which is being constructed today! All of these things will compliment the school vision that you, our parents, developed way back in January this year. They will also play integral parts in our exciting curriculum and activities planned for 2021. So do please come to celebrate your school with us.

On Friday we have our Prize- giving to celebrate student achievement and success.Parents you will be notified if your child is receiving an award. It starts at 9 am and students will be able to go home following the end of the ceremony. Please note that no buses will be running in the afternoon, so you will need to collect your children after prize giving.

Our Year 8 students had a marvelous Big Day Out last Friday, and survived the night. Apparently we have some particularly musical snorers in the group. The students also received their Year 8 hoodies, which is a Tomarata School tradition.

Congratulations to Levi Gray in Room 5 who featured in the NZ More-Pork Pig Hunting magazine. There was a large article, and great photos about the pig hunting adventures and successes that Levi has had with his dad. It is so nice to acknowledge activities and events that our children take part in out of school. And Levi, if you have any spare pork from your next hunting expedition, Mrs Neels would LOVE some!

Many , if not most of you, attended our Guy Fawkes fundraiser in November. It was a huge success, and we have a rough calculation of approximately 4,000 people who attended the night. As you can appreciate, this event is getting larger and larger every year, and due to that it is a job that needs to committee to run it. Because of this we have decided that to cater properly for the amount of people, we will look at hiring an event co-coordinator, with experience with running large events. If you have such experience, can you please contact Anne Richards or myself asap.

We have put photos on our Facebook page of Hunter Lusty’s fabulous trolley that he constructed from 2 broken bikes, and an old hand cart. Hunter took part in an alternative education project designed by Ms Wade, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and which allowed him to use his passion for technology to direct his learning. We had the grand first run last week, and despite a few tumbles , it worked well. Hunter is already designing the modifications it will need to be even better. This type of programme is one that we will be trialing next year as part of the Tomarata curriculum we will offer to students.

Lastly I would like to thank you all for your support of Tomarata School after a very difficult year. I have appreciated all the help you have given to the school and your children. Have a safe and happy Summer holiday break, and I look forward to seeing you all in February. There will be some very exciting things happening in Term 1, including a sailing adventure, and dance. 2021 will rock your socks!