Kia ora e te whānau, it’s great to be back at school, and we’ve had a fantastic start to the term. We began the week with a lovely pōwhiri on Monday morning to welcome our new tamariki, whānau, and staff. Ngā mihi to everyone who came along and shared in this special experience.

A warm welcome to the 12 new tamariki and whānau who started this week—Vatemo, Franz, Lily D, Bull, Leo, Lilly V, Hugo R, Ollie, Hugo B, Jaxon, Florence, and Elektra 

The school really comes to life with the energy and happy sounds of our children arriving on Monday morning followed by our pōwhiri!

This term is shaping up to be action-packed, with a school-wide focus on outdoor art. All classes and pods will be getting creative and producing artworks that will be displayed around the school. We’re excited to host an evening event later in the term to unveil these creations alongside a school Matariki hangī. This event will be called Te Ara Toi o Kapakapanui—The Creative Journey/pathway of Kapakapanui!

This morning 40 sheets of plywood arrvied from Placemakers. Thank you to Rebecca and Tim Sunderland from David Reid Homes for helping to arrange this for us and to Sophie Jones for arranging the paint from Dulux in Paraparaumu for us as well! A huge thanks to Dulux for their donation of some of the paint as well. We have a great team of parents/grandparent helpers coming in on Monday to help get our undercoats underway. 

Another highlight will be training for our cross-country event, Whakapau Kaha, which means “to give one’s all.” While we know running isn’t everyone’s favourite, our focus is on encouraging every student to give their personal best. Many whānau enjoy joining in with a jog or walk too! The event takes place on Thursday 22 May — Years 3–8 will be at Waikanae Park, and Years 1–2 will race at school. Please pop this date in your diary.

Last week, you would have received information about our upcoming Health lessons on Relationships and Sexuality Education. A reminder that Ngā Kaitoro and Ngā Kākano (Years 0–4) will use the Navigating the Journey – Te Takahi i te Ara resource, while students in Years 5–8 will have lessons delivered by Nest Consulting. Please get in touch with your child’s teacher if you have any questions regarding the Years 0-4 programme. 

Nest will also be running a parent/whānau information evening for the Years 5-8 programme via Zoom, which we’ll be hosting in the Pōhutukawa Pod (classroom on the field) on Thursday 22 May, from 6.30pm–7.45pm. As these sessions are led by an external provider, this is your opportunity to learn more about the programme. 

Finally, we’ll wrap up the term with Student-Led Conferences (SLCs) and mid-year reports on Thursday 26 June.

Please pop this date into your diary. Our local schools are sharing a Teacher Only Day and we will be having a conference at Paraparaumu College.  School will be closed for the day.

Ngā mihi to everyone who completed our Health and Sexuality survey last term—67 responses! Your feedback is already helping to shape our programmes. I’ll be presenting a summary report to the Board of Trustees at our next meeting and will share this with the community afterwards.

Our school sports tops are starting to return, but once again, we are noticing many are coming back dirty, stained, damaged or not at all.  This is a real concern, as 18 months ago, we purchased 200 new tops at $40 each, and our stock is already running low.

To help ensure our uniforms are well cared for and returned, we are introducing a $15 bond for the loan of a school sports top from Term 2 onwards.  This bond will be charged to your school account each time a top is borrowed and refunded when the shirt is returned in good condition.

A reminder that new tops can be purchased for $35 each-cheaper than what we paid for them!

We appreciate your support in looking after our school uniforms so they can continue to be available for all students.

Ngā mihi nui!

Craig

Ms Whitaker is away for a few weeks so we will be putting this on hold until she is back. Stay tuned!

The University of Canterbury is once again offering students the opportunity to participate in the KIWI English, Mathematics and Science competitions. These competitions take place annually and are designed by New Zealand teachers for New Zealand students based on the New Zealand Curriculum. The competitions are open to all Year 5-8 students in English, Mathematics and Science. Students can enter in one or more subjects. Each competition will provide parents/caregivers with an individual student report of their child’s overall performance. The supervised online tests will take place in the last 3 weeks of Term 2 and the first few weeks of Term 3. All participating students will receive a certificate and a prize will be awarded to the top student nationally in each competition. For more information see https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/cam/kiwi-competitions/ 

To register your child please pay online at  https://www.kindo.co.nz/ and select the tests you wish your child to participate in from the shop. The cost to do each test is $9.90 per student. Entry and Payment to be made by Friday 2nd May (End of first week of Term 2).

Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand provides a vision screening programme for all Year 7 students.

* Vision - pupils will be advised of results at the the time of screening.  If further assessment is recommended you will be notified by mail.
* Children who wear glasses and/or are under professional care and have regular checks will not require a vision check from our service.

Non-consent: Please notify the school office if you do not want your child being screened.
This screening is not a full assessment of your child's vision.  If you have any concerns. please see an optometrist.

Registration Information:
This year, the grades and playing days will be:
Years 1 & 2 (5 a-side) – Sunday 9.00am - 9.45am
Years 3 & 4 (5 a-side) – Sunday 10.00am - 11.15am
Years 5 & 6 (6 a-side) – Wednesday 3.45pm – 6.15pm
Years 7 & 8 (7 a-side) – Tuesday 3.45pm – 6.15pm

Season: 
The 2025 season starts the week beginning Sunday 4 May.  Competitions go for approximately 16 weeks.  The season will run all of Term 2 and three-quarters of Term 3.  There will be no hockey during the school holidays or on King's Birthday weekend.  The first two weeks will be skill sessions, with the competition beginning the week beginning 20 May.

Practice: 
This year we will have all our trainings on the Kapakapanui School Turf on Thursdays beginning at 3.15pm. This includes the Year 3/4 players (3.15pm-4.00pm) Year 5/6 and 7/8 players (3.15pm-4.15pm).  Our first practice date will be circulated by email later.  There will be no training for Years 1/2, they have their session on a Sunday morning at the Kapiti Turf from 9.00-9.45am.

Equipment: 
Some sticks are available on loan from the school. They are well-used and well-loved sticks. Mouth guards and shin pads are compulsory for all children to play. Uniforms are compulsory for Yr 3-8 teams and a Kapakapanui sports shirt will be provided by school, or you can purchase your own.  We play in black or navy blue shorts and black or navy blue socks.  The Year 1&2 players do not have shirts as their sessions on a Sunday morning at the turf are skills and mixed games where uniforms are not required.

Registration fees after 28 March 2025:
Year         1st Child                      2nd Child                    3rd Child
1 & 2           $80                                $70                            $70
3 & 4           $90                                $80                            $80
5 & 6         $105                                $95                            $95
7 & 8         $105                                $95                            $95

Managers: 
We are on the lookout for Managers for the 5&6 and 7&8 teams.  If you are interested in managing a team on the night of games, please contact Matt Wynne (email below). Trainings will be run at school by Kapakapanui staff. As Manager, there is no requirement to attend these, just the games on game night.
Any queries, please contact Matt Wynne - matt.wynne@kks.school.nz

The netball season got underway with a tournament in Levin during the holidays. I was thrilled to recevie this email from Kāpiti Netball

Good Morning,

This is the perfect way to begin the season and long may it last. There should only be smiles, cheers and claps from the sideline and on the court. Let's ensure Kapakapanui School displays exemplary behaviour on and off the court all season!

We're urgently seeking a coach for our Year 7/8 netball team. If you're available, we'd love to hear from you! Please urgently contact Jaimes at jaimes.hamill@kks.school.nz. 

We have a stock of these at the school office (size 6, 8, 10 & 12). They are available to purchase for $35 via myKINDO or at the school office. 

Parents have commented that it is great to have their own shirt which they can keep track of, clean and pass onto other  family members.

A reminder of our bond system-please see note above.

All stationery packs are still available to purchase via Qizzle online ordering and delivered to your home.  
If your child needs individual items throughout the year, their teacher will send them to the school office to get and will then be added to your account.  This billing/invoice will show as '2025 Stationery', where possible we will itemise what the item/s is.

Your childs class will visit the library every week and get to explore all the awesome books our librarian has provided.