From our Tumukai / Principal

Kia ora e te whānau,

Tukua kia tū takitahi ngā whetū o te rangi; Let each star in the sky shine its own light.

This whakatauki (Māori proverb) is particularly fitting for my editorial this week, as we look to celebrate some of the fabulous people in our school community.

Firstly, a staff celebration of three of our wonderful kaiako who have become, or are currently in the process of becoming, full registered teachers. Kaiako in Aotearoa New Zealand start their teaching career under a Tōmua certificate - provisionally registered, while they are inducted and mentored into the role. This typically lasts two years, although this can vary depending on circumstances. Once they have completed successful mentoring and professional development, they move to Tūturu - becoming a fully registered teacher. We have three fabulous kaiako who are now moving to Tūruru / full registration.

• Hannah Sadler: Hannah has been at Amesbury School for three years, first as a student teacher for the year on the Masters of Teaching and Learning programme, and then two years as a beginning teacher. She is based in Kōwhai with Angela, working with our new five year old students. We adore Hannah’s enthusiasm, her dedication and advocacy for her ākonga, and her sense of fun (Hannah is always first on the bouncy castle when it arrives!). Next year Hannah will be working in the Main Group of Koru with Year 1 and Year 2 students, and she is also excited about creating a Dance Splash group for students interested in dance.
• Davina de Witts: Davina has been teaching at Amesbury for the past two years, in the Koru Main Group, with our Year 1 and 2 students. Davina’s calm presence and quiet, approachable nature soothes us all when it feels busy, and we love having her as part of our team. Her creative energy has seen her produce a range of performances and celebrations of learning, and her motivation and strong desire to see every ākonga succeed makes her a wonderful advocate for our students. Sadly, Davina is heading back to Chile with her whānau at the end of the year, and we will miss her hugely. However, we are delighted she achieved Tūturu full teaching registration during her time with us.
• Rupert Webb: Rupert is based in Harakeke with our Year 3 and 4 students, and has been at Amesbury during his two Tōmu provisionally registered years. Rupert has a fabulous curiosity about the world and can pull out a diverse range of interesting facts about a wide range of topics. We manage to skirt around the slightly dodgy aspect of Rupert’s support for Manchester United Football Club, and love his banter and calm, measured approach to things. Rupert will be based in Pōhutukawa Hub next year, with our year 4-6 ākonga.

We are delighted for all of our kaiako moving to Tūturu / full registration. Their hard work, dedication and strong advocacy for ākonga means our kura and our students are very lucky to have them as part of our amazing learning community.

Along with our kaiako, we also celebrated ngā ākonga and their fabulous learning this week. We had a wonderful learning celebration on Thursday afternoon, with our cross-school buddy whānau groups sharing and celebrating the learning they have been doing this term around being part of a team. The games they created were so much fun, and I particularly enjoyed the way all games included everyone, tamariki and adults alike. It was great to see so many parents and whānau members attending and being part of the fun - thanks for your willingness to get involved!

We also held our Amesbury Awesomeness celebration this week, celebrating ākonga who have shown particular skills, strengths and growth over the past year. Huge well done to James in Koru Hub, Ashwath in Harakeke Hub, and Greta in Pōutukawa Hub. We are extremely proud of our fabulous Awesomeness recipients, and there will be full detail about their awards in next week’s digest.

Finally, as we celebrate the many stars shining in our community, a huge shout out to Seruwaia, who is the recipient of our Wellington North Primary Year 6 Citizenship Award for 2024. We are so proud of Seruwaia’s consistency in showing kindness and respect to all students, and we are delighted to be attending the citizenship award ceremony with Seruwaia and her whānau on Friday, where her award will be presented by Mayor Tory Whanau. As with our Amesbury Awesomeness award winners, there will be an article celebrating Seruwaia in next week’s digest.

And so, with celebration and shining stars in mind, we head into the weekend. Have a wonderful weekend with whānau and friends, and we are looking forward to heading into our EOTC Week (education outside the classroom), with trips, overnight stays and lots of fun.

Hei tērā wiki, 

Urs Cunningham