Heron Herald Term 3, Week 3, 2025

2 weeks ago

Kia ora koutou,

Term 3 is well underway, with many wonderful learning opportunities ahead. Last week, we hosted schools from around Tauranga as part of the Tauranga Schools Choir, which will be performing at Baycourt later this term. The Matua School choir, led by Mr. Hantler, is progressing well, and we look forward to hearing them perform.

Our Gobsmacked Production, ‘Maui the Magnificent,’ is also happening later this term, and preparations are well underway. Characters have been selected, and classes are getting their first look at the songs. We expect tickets to go on sale next week, so please keep an eye out for information on Hero.

Staff News

Congratulations to our wonderful Deputy Principal, Sara Lambert, who has announced she is expecting a baby! We are so pleased for Sara and James as their family continues to grow. Sara will remain at school until the end of this year, after which she will be on maternity leave.

Whānau Curriculum Evenings

This week, we have the first of three Whānau Curriculum Evenings, led by Sara Lambert. Thank you to those who have already booked their place at one of these events. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the work Matua School is doing to effectively implement the new curriculum being rolled out across the country.

Board of Trustee Elections

The Matua Board elections are coming up soon. You will have received an email from ‘Schooled, Election Pilot’ with information on the process. Please let us know if you have any questions about this.

On a personal note, it’s great to be back on board after my sabbatical. We have a fantastic school and community, and I count it a privilege to be part of it. I am looking forward to reconnecting over the term and continuing to support our children in their learning making Matua a wonderful place to learn and grow.

Ngā mihi nui

Marcus Norrish
Principal

SCHOOL CALENDAR

The school calendar is also available in Hero. Please use this calendar to stay in touch with upcoming events.

Helen is Matua School’s Premium Sponsor

Want to buy or sell a house? Give her a call – she’s really nice!

JUMP JAM ROCKERS!

Congratulations to the Matua Rockers, coming third place at the Jump Jam Competition held at Ōtūmoetai College over the weekend. In addition Matua was the only school to receive a sportsmanship award for displaying kindness and cheering on all the other schools. Go Matua!!

RĀKAU TEAM – KIDS CAN RIDE

Last week, classes in the Rākau Team took part in the Kids Can Ride programme. The children have a fun day developing skills, building confidence and learning how to ride safely on the streets. Riding bikes is a great skill to develop, allowing children to gain independence and increase their fitness as they get older. If you can, now is a great time to reinforce this learning by taking the kids for a ride as a family.

MĀHURI TEAM

These awesome Māhuri students were celebrated at our recent team assembly for their hard work and great progress. We love shining a spotlight on individual success and giving big cheers for all the effort that goes into learning!

SPORT

Please check out the before school gymnastic programme available on a Thursday morning- everyone welcome – all levels catered for!

SPORT – Continued

The Western Bay Of Plenty Netball tournament was played on Wednesday. Matua entered 2 teams and everyone had a great day. Both teams played very well and gave it their all. We had lots of supporters and family there on the day.

Both teams improved massively over the day and we had some great games. The Tui even went unbeaten in all their games. Well done everyone!!! Massive thanks to the coaches and managers and parents for all the help on the day legends!

Here is a write up by Penelope from the Matua Heron team

Netball is a cooperating game, it can be competitive or social.My team is social and the games are easy to turn into fun. My first game was exciting pass after pass, goal after goal. Buzz- half time and we switch positions. We finished but lost then we headed back to our tent, had a snack, did some warm ups and most of my family came. A few games later and we had finished our last game, tired but happy when I got home. I’ll have a hot spa.

LIBRARY

Book Fair and Book Character Day Wrap Up

Thank you for a fabulous last week of Term 2. The Book Fair raised $2000 for new library books!! Families, students and teachers alike, are asked to share any book recommendations for our school library. We will be purchasing new books over the next few months. Incredibly, one student may share a new much enjoyed book and it becomes a favourite amongst many!! Our school library collection is continuously changing and evolving, and it is driven by its local and wider community.

New Librarians Term 3 and 4

Currently, we are training new school librarians to assist with library lunchtimes. We had over 80 students applying for 24 spots. Year 6 students get precedence to become school librarians over Year 5 students, although we also take a small group of Year 5 students who will assist with training librarians come 2026. A big big thanks to our Term 1 and 2 Librarians, especially recently with their help with the Book Fair and in training our up and coming super library stars.

So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me, and reminded me that there are good things in the world – Vincent van Gogh

ART ROOM THANK YOU

Big thank you from Jenni Scott to those families for their kind donations of the sewing machine and overlocker – very much appreciated and will be put to some fun use!

SCHOOL POOL

The school pool is now closed until Term 4.

There are still a few people to return keys so if you could do this soon and collect your $25 key bond would be appreciated.

SKIDS

UPTON MUSIC SCHOOL

ROLL GROWTH CLASS

We are in the process of looking at our roll growth classes.

If you have a child who is turning 5 within the next 12 months, please can you complete an Intention To Enrol Form by clicking on the following link.

https://www.matua.school.nz/enrolment/

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 2025

Term 1, 2025 – Monday 3rd February – Friday 11th April

Waitangi Day – Thursday 6th February

Teacher Only Day – Monday 17th March

Term 2 – Monday 28th April – Friday 27th June

Teacher Only Day – Friday 30th May

Kings Birthday – Monday 2nd June

Matariki – Friday 20th June

Term 3 – Monday 14th July – Friday 19th September

Term 4 – Monday 6th October – Tuesday 16th December

Labour Day – Monday 27th 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.

Kindo Help