Nau mai, hoki mai ki a koutou ki te kura o Waitohu for the 2025 school year.  

A very special welcome to our new students who are joining us at Waitohu School this year: 

Aria Willis-Bregmen, Jaz Janasi, Armani Mita, August Gibson, Mars Kellaway, Scarlett Roberts, Sebastian Kean in 
Room 1, Arya Cook, Carson Johns, Braxton Wooller- Emke, Mereaira Lardelli Pereira, Lexarni Soe, Nevaeh Murphy, Riley Te Maari, Rena Manuel, Tiana Kirifi-Law, Tritan Neumann, Eva Mudhoo and Millie Howatson in Room 2, Luca Arlidge in Room 8, Akaia Willis-Bregmen in Room 10, Aria Horan and Keira Fox in Room 5, Sapphire Barrett and Sapphire Churchill in Room 4.

Tomorrow, Friday 31 January at 10.20am we will be having a pōwhiri welcome for all of the new students and whānau who are joining us at Waitohu School. Please feel very welcome to join us for our pōwhiri.

Congratulations to Elliot Isaac and Mia Zander, joint recipients of our 2024 Winstone Aggregates award for exemplifying the qualities of our core values, To Be Our Best.

Congratulations also to Emily Downes, recipient of our Senior Language of Learning award for her living of these words. Ngā mihi nui to Shay-Marie Peneha for gifting Waitohu School the magnificent raranga that we will cloak this recipient with, each year . A huge amount of aroha, time and skill from Shay-Marie has gone into creating this beautiful taonga. It will be treasured for years to come.
 

Big congratulations to our award recipients below:

Maths - Zi Catalan 
English - Harper Smith
PE - Mason Te Maari
Cultural - Meia Putu and Brendan Angove-Kahui
Arts - Kingston Allan
Service - Ryan Paroli
Junior Language of Learning - Amaia Waara

A big thank you to Callum McMurchie for organising a crew of firefighters to delight our senior students at the end of last term in a ‘water fight!’ Special thanks also to Soapbox for donating the suds that generated many smiles - a much loved end of year tradition!

The Lunches in Schools programme resumed today. Our break times for 2025 are outlined below:

Band 1 - 9.00am  - 10.45am  

Kai time (Lunches in School) 10.45am - 11.00am 

Play  - 11.00am - 11.20am 

Band 2  - 11.20am - 12.45pm 

Snack and play - 12.45pm - 1.30pm 

Band 3 - 1.30pm  - 3.00pm  

We ask that you also send a snack with your child to eat during the day. This is to ensure they have enough food - in a short amount of time your child will be able to inform you whether or not the provided lunch is enough. 

If at any time you have questions about the ‘Lunches in Schools’ programme, please don’t hesitate to contact the school office.

Student Absences - We ask that all parents contact us if their child is absent from school. To assist parents who only have mobile phones, we have a school mobile phone for the specific purpose of receiving text messages. If your child is going to be away please text the full name of your child, their room number, and the reason for their absence. The number is 027 545 0530.  Another option is to send an email via our dedicated absences email which is: absences@waitohu.school.nz  As always, our landline is also an option, the number is 364 8272.  

 

Road Safety - If your child walks or cycles to school, the start of the year is a good time to remind them about safety around roads. Perhaps over the next weekend or two, you could ride or walk to school with your child to check that their road safety habits are in place.

School Patrol - Thank you to the students who have volunteered to be school patrollers this year. This is a very important job and we appreciate your willingness to help in this way. A huge thank you to Vicki Cracknell (Mondays), Emma Cracknell (Tuesdays), Niki Hurliman (Wednesdays) and Ben Tennant (Thursdays) for supervising the Te Manuao Road pedestrian crossing between 8.30 – 9.00am. We need one further parent volunteer for Friday mornings to support in this key safety role. Please seriously consider if you could help and contact the office if you can (06 364 8272). Ngā mihi nui. 

Sun Hats - During Terms 1 and 4 students are required to wear a school hat at morning tea and lunchtime. These hats are generously provided by our Home and School Association. As well as the hats, I encourage you to ensure your child has sunscreen on before they leave for school each morning.

HE WĀHI MARINO
As you enter the school from Te Manuao Road the space between the old dental clinic and the office end of the hall has been established as He Wāhi Marino - a place of calm and slow. During the school day students who are seeking a quiet and gentle space will be able to spend time within this area. Ngā mihi nui to Mike Lethbridge for his care in creating the beautiful planting and the garden boxes. The bench seats under the tree surrounded by these 'soon to be' well established hedges make this a special place within our school.

NEW PATHWAY
Around the perimeter of our field a wide path has been installed. It looks brilliant. The purpose of this path is to enable students to be active on their scooters, running or walking. On days when the field is too wet to play on yet the rain has stopped it will be extra awesome to use to get to the swings and to scooter around.
Ngā mihi nui to the Home and School Association for enabling this improvement to our school to happen. Funding from the Fireworks Extravaganza and the many hands that make this event possible has enabled this path to go from an idea to reality. Special thanks to Waitohu whānau Nathan Howell of Koastal Kerb and Laurie and Hayden Rasmussen of Rasmac Contractors for giving us a great deal and doing an awesome job.
We are going to trial students being able to bring and use their scooter at break times on this new pathway any day of the week. Hopefully it will be all good for congestion and safety!

We will not be distributing a paper newsletter this year. Each Thursday a link to our online newsletter will be emailed to you.  The newsletter is available on our school website www.waitohu.school.nz

    Term 1      Classes begin Thursday 30 January to Friday 11 April

    Term 2      Monday 28 April to Friday 27 June

    Term 3      Monday 14 July to Friday 19 September

    Term 4      Monday 6 October to Friday 12 December

 

 

Our fun, safe and friendly ‘on-site’ Before and After School Care Programme has casual and permanent spots available for Waitohu School students for 2025 and beyond!  Enrol, book and manage your bookings ONLINE! And ….. our breakfast club is free of charge! Come and visit our team after school at the Waitohu School Hall from 3.00pm for more

information or find us online at  www.funzone.co.nz, email info@funzone.co.nz or contact us on 021 711 531 
or 0800 543 9696.  
We are OSCAR approved and WINZ subsidies apply.

On Wednesday 26 February we will be having our annual school picnic at Waikanae Pools. We will be departing at 10.00am and returning by 2.30pm. This was such an awesome day last year, that we are all looking forward to it again this year. To make it happen we need:

- A signed permission slip and entry money ($5.00 per child - includes entry and hydroslide; please note all students are able to use the hydroslide). A separate permission notice will been given to each student.

- You and the rest of your family to join in

(Standard costs apply of $5.90 per swimming adult, $3.30 per adult with a community services card or a senior citizen, $2.00 per preschooler and $1.90 for an adult if swimming with a preschooler – please pay this money at the pool on the day. Children under 4 years are now required to wear a swim nappy, they are available at $1.60 each from the pool).

- We will be travelling to and from the pool by bus. If parents are able to come for the day (and we hope there are lots) they are very welcome to transport their own children.

This year the district commemoration of Waitangi Day is happening here in Ōtaki. An invite form Ngā Hapu o Ōtaki is below:

Waitangi ki Taumanuka
E ngā huiia, tauti mai ki Taumanuka e
Te wahi i tāngia Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Hoki mai, hoki mai rā .....

Ngā Hāpu o  Ōtaki warmly invites you to join us in commemorating Waitangi Day at our event at Taumanuka
Thursday 6 February - 9.00am to 3.00pm - 29 Health Camp Road, Ōtaki - parking available onsite
Please assemble at the pōwhiri tent at 8.30am in preparation for the 9.00am Pōwhiri

Please RSVP to office@nhoo.nz or 0276424278 by 31 January

POWERCUT - LIVE - ŌTAKI MEMORIAL PARK - SUNDAY 2 FEBRUARY
Local ex Ōtaki College band POWERCUT are performing a free event this Sunday 2 February at the Ōtaki Memorial Park (next to the Ōtaki Civic Centre) between 5.00pm - 7.00pm. All friends, whānau and community are welcome.
Bring a mat to sit on and some kai or buy some local fish n chips! Please note Memorial Park is a no alcohol and no smoking/vaping area.