Te Rā Rehia 2026
As previously highlighted, on Wednesday 18th November, Matua School is hosting Te Rā Rehia 2026. This annual festival is a celebration of Kapa Haka that brings together kura from around the Otūmoetai Kahui. School will continue as normal on the day however, we will also have hundreds of visitors from other schools as we enjoy a day of Kapa Haka performances. These will include children from primary schools through to college groups.
Our Matua School Kapa Haka will be opening and closing the day. Further information will be sent out to families; however, if you’d like to come and support, you may want to mark it on your calendar.
Teacher Appreciation Day
Today is highlighted on the calendar as Teacher Appreciation Day. As a school leader, I see firsthand the personal care, extra time, effort, and resources our wonderful teachers put into the tamariki at Matua School. We are blessed to have a quality group of teachers who are committed to seeing our students flourish, along with a strong passion for our local community. We all know that it’s not always what we see that makes the difference, but the many unseen things that have the biggest impact. So I want to express my genuine thanks to the wonderful teachers of Matua School – legends!
Ngā mihi nui
Marcus Norrish
Principal
SCHOOL CALENDAR
Helen is Matua School’s Premium Sponsor
Want to buy or sell a house? Give her a call – she’s really nice!
NEW UNIFORM OPTIONS
The Matua School Board has approved two new options in our uniform range. Sports shorts (popular with the boys) and Bike Shorts (popular with the girls) can now be worn at school. These two options are light and suitable for sporting activity, so we expect them to be popular when worn with sports tops. The new sports shorts and bike shorts are currently in stock at NZ Uniforms.
As you know, from the start of 2027, students will be expected to be wearing the approved Matua School uniform. We are nearing the end of a three-year transition as we have phased out old uniform styles.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Emily, Hunter, Elise, Henry, Harry, Diego, and Evelyn from room 5 wrote this poem working in pairs. They were studying poetry and poetic techniques.
Busy artists in room 23 created these Cool Cats.
LIBRARY NEWS
- Heart warming reads try authors Hannah Gold (The Last Bear) and Sara Pennypacker (Pax and The Lion’s Run (mature readers). plus Ride North by New Zealand Author, Maria De Jong
- War Stories …Running with Ivan, We are Wolves (mature readers), The Silver Sword, The War that Saved My Life
- Books for Harry Potter Fans …the Impossible Creatures series and the Nevermoor series
- for topical New Zealand adventure stories try any David Hill books
- for a Wonder lookalike book try Fish In A Tree
- … and if you’re looking for mystical reads try the Fireborn Series, the Inkbound Series, the Dragon Born series, and the Ottilie Colter series)
SPORTS NEWS
We had some fantastic parent support on the sidelines, creating an enthusiastic and encouraging atmosphere for the young athletes. A huge thank you goes out to Kellie and Delyse for generously volunteering their time to drive the students and make the trip possible.
Matua School walked away with some outstanding podium finishes and personal milestones after a series of hard-fought matches:
Every member of the squad gave it their all. Minhyuk and Harvey had a great day out on the courts, enjoying the competition and playing some excellent points. Austin and Georgia worked fantastically together as a duo, showing incredible growth and improving massively over the day. Beck also showed wonderful determination, lifting his game and improving with every single match he played.
SMASH PLAY CRICKET
The Māhuri classes had some fantastic cricket sessions at school this week delivered by the WBOP Cricket team. Our Tūpu and Kākano tamariki have sessions planned next week. If the kids are interested in cricket there are sessions available at the Domain on Friday nights and super handy sessions at Ferguson Park on Saturdays.
MATUA SCHOOL UKULELE GROUP
This week we had Jill Doidge join us from Jack Dusty’s Ukulele Group to sing with our ukulele group. We are collaborating for a show at Radius LIfecare on 12 November and at Christmas in the Park 5th December. If you would like to dust off your ukulele or guitar skills – we’d love for members in our community to join us! reach out to Jeremy jeremyh@matua.school.nz or show up to a practice Tuesday lunch times.
KIDS CAN RIDE
Kids Can Ride is Travel Safe’s year 5-6 cycle skills programme.
Kids Can Ride consists of two grades: Grade 1 (year 5) – Preparing for on-road riding, and Grade 2 (year 6) – Introduction to on-road riding. Students will complete grade 1 learning before being able to undertake Grade 2.
Grade 1 is held at school, usually in a field or on a court and is designed to encourage and develop basic bike control skills. The session also covers how to check and fit a helmet, and a basic bike safety check.
Grade 2 takes place on quiet local roads and is designed to give students real cycling experience to build skills and confidence for making short journeys on local roads. Grade 2 covers how to see and be seen, communication, road positioning and cooperating with other road users.
SKIDS NEWS
Get ready for Term 4 at sKids!
From 21 October, Lights, Camera, Action invites children to express themselves through singing, dancing and acting through the magic of performance. Every child gets the chance to shine in a supportive, playful environment – celebrating individuality and creativity!
Then, from 18 November, Festive Celebrations brings four weeks of creativity and celebration to life. Through crafts, games and mindful moments, children connect with friends while making festive memories leading into the holidays.
SINGING LESSONS AT MATUA SCHOOL
SCHOOL HOURS
A friendly reminder that school is not open until 8.30am. If you require childcare before these hours, please contact SKIDS either by email – matua@skids.co.nz, phone – 027 586 0408, or book online – www.skids.co.nz/Matua.
SCHOOL INFORMATION
LUNCH ORDERS – EVERY FRIDAY
Lunch orders are available for delivery to Matua School each Friday.
SUBWAY
Simply order your SUBWAY lunch online through you myKindo account by CLICKING HERE
Order (or cancel) any time before 9:00am on the day or schedule in advance.
Help? Visit support.mykindo.co.nz or call 09-869 5200 Mon-Fri, 8:00am to 4:00pm.
TERM DATES 2027
- Term 1
Tuesday 2nd February to Friday 9th April 2027
Waitangi Day (8th February), Easter (26th–30th March)
- Term 2
Tuesday 27th April to Friday 2nd July 2027
King’s Birthday (7th June), Matariki (25th June)
- Term 3
Monday 19th July to Friday 24th September 2027
- Term 4
Monday 11th October to (TBC) December 2027
Labour Day (25th October)
SETTING UP KINDO
Setting up with Kindo
Kindo is our prefered payments system. To help you learn how it works, we’ve added their new help sheet and video. We hope it helps.