Kia ora e te whānau, 

Welcome back to the new school term—it’s great to have everyone back! We hope your children enjoyed a restful and relaxing break and made the most of the beautiful weather, even if Mother Nature reminded us of her power for a couple of days. The weather events over the last few days have certainly reminded us of how vulnerable we are to big storms, and we are relieved that the Kāpiti area seems to have got off fairly lightly. I hope that was the same for you. 

There’s a real buzz around the school as we get underway, and we have an exciting term ahead. We’re looking forward to reconnecting, settling back into routines, and making the most of the many learning opportunities and experiences planned.

Kia ora and a warm welcome to the following new tamariki and whānau who have started at Kapakapanui School
Annie, Ada, Teddy, Charlie C, George, Emmett, Athena, Harrison, Selby, Hugo, May, Charlie R, Kendra and Kirata. It's awesome to have you all at our school! 👍

Ngā Kapātai syndicate are visiting Ngā Manu this term. Here's a few pics from Rātā and Mātai's trip today-we love the very awesome Ngā Manu bird santuary! 🦜🌳

Tomorrow we're sending our Year 5 & 6s to the 'Meet the Warriors' day in Raumati-up the wahs! 🏉💪🏽

Since late 2024 we have been working on refreshing our school values. This has included collecting ideas from students, teachers and whānau on what the values should be. We have then spent considerable time with students and teachers developing what these would look like visually and also unpacking what they mean and what they would look, feel and sound like at Kapakapanui School.
 
We are excited to announce our final designs for these. A huge thanks to one of our parents, Gavin Mouldey, who kindly donated his time and design skills to create these for us. We have a design to represent each of our four values with a NZ native bird and ponamu shape to represent each one. Over the next term we will be displaying new signage in the classrooms and around the school. Look out for these amazing designs!

Manaakitanga – kindness, caring for and supporting others 

Manawanui – perseverance and resilience

Whakaute – respect for ourselves, others, and our environment
Whanaungatanga – building strong relationships and a sense of belonging 

During Term 2 we will be specially focusing on Whanaungatanga. Below is some information about this value that we will be unpacking with the students during the term. 

Ngā mihi to everyone who came to our pōwhiri yesterday, it is always a lovely way to welcome our new whānau, staff and tamariki and to reconnect as a school after the holidays. Ngā mihi Matua Ngatai for guiding us and to all of our amazing rangatahi who spoke and did the kai karanga 🙏 

Attendance continues to be a key focus from the government, highlighting the importance of students being at school regularly to support their learning, wellbeing, and connection with others. As part of our responsibilities within our 'attendance management plan', we will be sending letters out this term to families of children who have been away for five days or more this term, as we are required to make contact after this point. 

We do want to acknowledge that many of these absences are for genuine reasons (eg illness and family events etc), and we appreciate the efforts of whānau who have kept us informed—thank you for your ongoing communication and support. Ngā mihi. 🙏

For your information here's how our whole school attendance is currently tracking since the beginning of the year.

The Ministry of Education have developed a useful website for families to help their child with maths at home. Click on the link below and look for your child's year level. It covers from Year 3 to Year 8. Click here

The MOE have provided all schools with 2 teacher only days to support the implementation of the curriculum for 2026 and 2027. These days are for teachers and leaders to engage in professional learning and planning, focus on new curriculum content and assessment approaches. Our first day this year will be next week on Tuesday 28 April-the day after ANZAC DAY.

We’re delighted to continue offering delicious lunches from Bakehouse Waikanae on Fridays and Sushimi Sushi on Wednesdays. This will resume again next week-yum, yum, yum! 

Ngā mihi nui!

Craig

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 24th April (End of first week of Term 2).

We’re delighted to share a collection of delicious, good old-fashioned recipes kindly provided by the Kāpiti Food Poverty Project. These are simple, family-friendly meals that don’t cost a lot to make but taste great. A link has been added to our school website – perfect if you’re looking for some fresh inspiration for dinners at home

Check them out

With the rising cost of living and increasingly busy lifestyles, it's understandable that pre-packaged snacks on supermarket shelves can seem like a convenient option for lunchboxes. However, these convenient choices often come at a cost—both financially and nutritionally. Individually packaged biscuits, chips, and other lunchbox fillers are typically more expensive and often lack the essential nutrients children need.

At the Heart Foundation, we're here to support you with nutritious, cost-effective lunchbox ideas. Our recipes and tips are designed to help you create balanced meals that keep children nourished, focused, energised, and satisfied throughout the school day.

Our lunchbox guide poster provides a simple framework for building a healthy school lunch, including recommended food groups and nutritious snack options. Over the coming weeks, we'll be sharing easy-to-make recipes that offer a healthier homemade alternative to common lunchbox treats.

Please help us keep our tamariki—especially our younger children—safe by making sure our school gates are closed. From time to time, gates can be left open when classes head out on trips. If you happen to notice a gate open during the school day as you pass through, we’d really appreciate you closing it. Ngā mihi.

Please let the office know asap if your contact details have changed. You can do this online-click here

Thank you to all the Whānau who use the crossings safely. This includes waiting for the signal to cross now and walking across the crossing with small children. 

Please remember that children are always watching our behaviour as adults, so use the crossing, even if it is just you crossing.  Also, to continue respecting the children who are working hard on the patrols to keep all our tamariki safe, such as waiting patiently, not pushing past etc.  

We really value and appreciate the support we get from parents and whānau as coaches and supporters and Kapakapanui School has an excellent reputation for playing hard while being great sports-on and off the field/turf/court.

Click here to read our school sport code of conduct

Registrations and fees are now open on KINDO.
This year, the grades and playing days will be:

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. 

*  It is VERY IMPORTANT that the parents select the CORRECT ENTRY, DATE & VENUE for their child
* WE ARE ATTENDING AS A SCHOOL GROUP -  when entering please select, THE TEACHER WILL PICK UP THE RACE NUMBER when they come to the Bib Collection question. (this way Emma collects them all and your child just collects from her - it is alot less stressful.
* Please write the School Name in FULL and is spelt correctly (i.e. South Wellington Intermediate School not SWIS)
* Here is the Online Registration Link: https://eventplus.net/ccj26
* Entries close - Wednesday 20th May

We will do a fluoro theme as usual. Dress up and paint up for a day of fun in the mud. 

Best to have old clothes to wear and old shoes. Best to tape (with electrical tape) your shoes onto your feet. 

Bring a change of clothes and shoes. towel. and food/water. 

Any questions - please email emma.swanson@kks.school.nz

It's that time again, Kapakapanui. Whenever you see a yummy sticker, please collect it and send it to school. Last year, we a great numner of stickers, resulting in $720 worth of free sports gear for our school. it was such an amazing result. 
Please send any stickers to your school. All classes will have a sheet for the tamariki to place the sticker on. 

Please, it can only have the yummy brand name on it. Either the individual sticker or the 10-count square on the bag.

The stickers will be counted every Friday this term - so lets get collecting.  

Whānau points to be given to the class with the most stickers collected each week.

2026 Stationery Packs
These are now live and ready to purchase and can be sent to your home, these will remain live throughout the year.  Qizzle School Packs

Stationery Items on your Kindo account
If your childs teacher has sent them to the office last year or this year for additional items (eg, book, pen, ruler etc) these have been added to your account.  This billing/invoice will show as '2025 Stationery or 2026 Stationery', where possible we will itemise what the item/s is.

Weekly trips are made to the library with your childs class where they can browse or loan books.