Kohimarama School News - 11th December 2024

School News

A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers

As the year draws to a close, it is with great pride and gratitude that I reflect on what has been an extraordinary year for our school. 

Together, we have achieved so much and I am immensely thankful for the contributions of our students, staff and whānau in making Kohimarama School a place where excellence and community spirit thrive.

Celebrating Our Achievements

This year, we have seen outstanding successes across academic, cultural and extracurricular domains:

• Academic Excellence: 94% of our students achieved at or above expected levels in Mathematics and 87% in Reading Comprehension in Term 1 assessments. These results affirm the impact of our knowledge-rich curriculum and evidence-based teaching practices.
• Music and the Arts: Our music program continues to flourish, with our school bands and vocal groups shining brightly in local performances.
• Sports and Leadership: Our students represented Kohimarama with pride, showing skill and teamwork in various competitions. Leadership opportunities, from student councils to Year 8 responsibilities have helped nurture future leaders.

The Inaugural Colour Run 

I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to our incredible PTA and, in particular, Helen von Detton, for organising the amazing inaugural Colour Run held on Sunday afternoon. 

What an event! It was wonderful to see so many students and parents coming together, whether as runners, enthusiastic supporters hosing down runners, or helpers throwing colour and supervising obstacles along the track around our school grounds.

A huge shoutout to everyone who supported this fantastic event - it was truly a team effort and the turnout was phenomenal. A special thank you to Helen for her exceptional coordination. She ensured that the event was not only fun and vibrant but also safe and well-organised for everyone involved.

I thoroughly enjoyed participating and am already looking forward to next year’s Colour Run. Thank you all for making this event such a memorable success!

Gratitude for Our Community

A heartfelt thank you to our supportive parents who continue to partner with us in the education of our students at Kohimarama School. Your encouragement, support and generosity are deeply appreciated and make a significant difference in our school community.

Thank you to our PTA and parent volunteers who supported events, from fundraising efforts to fun events that enriched our students’ experiences. 

To our wonderful staff, who consistently strive to provide engaging and enjoyable learning experiences while supporting and encouraging our students to accelerate their progress - thank you. Your care, dedication and passion for fostering a love of learning embody the Kohimarama Way and make a lasting impact on our students' lives.

A special acknowledgment goes to the students who will be leaving Kohimarama School at the end of this year. Whether moving to new schools, both local and private, or embarking on fresh opportunities, you leave here ready to excel and contribute positively to the wider world.

Looking Ahead

2025 promises to be an exciting year of growth and innovation:

• Structural Changes: These changes will better meet the needs of our learners and support teaching and learning to thrive.
• Curriculum Developments: With the Revised Draft English Curriculum, our commitment to structured literacy and excellence in teaching and learning will continue. The revised Mathematics and Statistics Curriculum that focuses on students' development in Maths in a structured way. 

Season’s Greetings

As we enter the festive season, I encourage everyone to take time to rest, recharge, and enjoy quality time with family and friends. We look forward to welcoming our students back in 2025, refreshed and ready for another fantastic year. Best wishes for a safe and joyful holiday season.

The Kohimarama Way - Commitment (Manawanui)

Final Assembly

• Where:  Sacred Heart College Auditorium. 250 West Tamaki Road, Glendowie
• Parking: On the surrounding streets, some carparks within the school grounds
• Choir: 9.30, Kapa Haka:  9.45 sound check
• Time:  Students arrive at 10.00am to meet with their teachers.  (Kiri Team students will sit with their parents for assembly)
• Start time:  10.30 am
• Finish time: approximately 12 noon.  

Year 8 students and families, please stay behind to celebrate your child's time at our school with a speech from Mr Viggo and Mr Engles with some nibbles and drinks.

Final Assembly - Changes to trophies going home

A large number of our trophies have a special and specific history associated with them.  In order to preserve these for future generations we have purchased two trophy cabinets, which you may have already seen in the office area.  This year for Final Assembly students who receive their trophies will be given a medal and the trophy on stage, they will come off stage and have their photo taken with the trophy and medal.  This allows us to honour each student individually and recognise the significant achievement or contribution they have made to Kohimarama School.  By photographing each recipient we have a record for all to look back on.  After the photo students will be asked to then leave the trophy on the desk and return to their seat.  The trophies will be returned to the trophy cabinet and if at any time the students want to come and see the trophy, or bring in their grandparents or other family members to see it  they will be able to.  This will hopefully preserve these taonga for future recipients.

2024 Yearbook

The very popular Kohimarama School Yearbook is now available for pre-order.
This 64 page, full-colour book has a page featuring each class. 
It also showcases the highlights of the academic, sporting
and cultural year for the school. 

Costs: Digital PDF download $10 
Orders close: Thursday December 5th
Distributed to classrooms: Tuesday December 10th

Make your orders through Kindo - get in quick.  Limited stock
                       
Any queries, please email Anna Crow - acrow@kohimarama.school.nz

Students Leaving

As we begin our classroom planning for 2025, we ask those families who have made plans and have a student who will be leaving Kohimarama School at the end of 2024 school year to complete this form.  The last day of school is 17 December 2024.
Note: The form does not need to be completed for Year 8 students.
Many thanks for your support in assisting us with our advance planning.

EPRO8 results

Last week two of our year 6 teams competed at the EPRO8 finals.
To get to this event they had to qualify at the in school heats and come top 3 in both the interschool heats and semi-finals competition.

Both teams made the water bomb dropping crane. It was a tricky construction with complex bracing and counter weighting required. The electronic component was more advanced than anything we have seen before.

Team Bananas came 4th and The Hot Shods came 5th in a very tight competition with only 10-20 points in it.
This means they are 4th and 5th best from 160 teams. Something to be very proud of.

Sports News

Returning School Sports Uniforms/Equipment Bags

All basketball and netball items can now be returned to the main school office, unless you are the 3 teams still competing in Term 4. Those teams are asked to return their equipment promptly at the conclusion of the Summer competition. There is a bin located at reception to place the gear in, and no need to name items as these all have an identification number recorded. Missing uniform items will attract a $65.00 replacement fee.

Certificates & Awards

The Kohimarama Way Values - "Greenies"

Thank you to all our students who are continuing to show the Kohimarama Way Values during break times.  It is fabulous seeing you encouraging others to join in with your friends and games and everyone doing something that they enjoy.  Congratulations to:

• Remy                 Rm 2                      for Friendliness                Atkin
• Layla                  Rm 2                      for Reliability                   Selwyn
• Maya                 Rm 8                       for Reliability                   Selwyn
• Georgia             Rm 15                     for Respect                     Selwyn
• Oliver                Rm 18                     for Reliability                   Atkin

Road Patrollers of the fortnight

Thank you to our Road Patrollers still working hard to keep all of us safe on our Roads.  Our Road Patrollers of the fortnight are Joshua O and Hobson R - we really appreciate your service, thank you.

PTA News

As we begin to wrap up 2024 and end our year with such a Colourful Splash, we would like to take a
moment and thank everyone for the hard work, creation and dedication so many of you have put
into the social events held by the Kohimarama School PTA.

We had a year filled with the return of our annual events such as the parent quiz night, kids Quiz-a-
thon, Muffins with Mum (Mothers day celebration), The Blokes Breakfast (Fathers day celebration)
and the kids Calendar Art. The second hand uniform shop is now online and proving to be hugely
popular.

The sushi, ice-block and pizza lunches have continued to be a hit this year again. There was also a
working bee earlier in Term 4 which tidied and trimmed the gardens and grounds beautifully.

But 2024 also saw the creation of 2 new events . The Pre loved Sale in June which raised over $7,500
and the Colour Splash, which was a huge hit with kids and parents alike and raised an estimated
$2,000!
The money raised from these events will be spent in 2025 on the following;

• Sliding doors between Rooms 25 and 26
• Erecting a new memorial garden to honour past students
• Library Books
• Sensory Room
• Replacing IT equipment across the school. Mainly LED screens and some devices.
• Library furniture
• School Publicity
  

Each event that you have either helped run and create, or that you have attended and
donated to, is massively beneficial to all of us across the school community. They
strengthen the overall morale across our parent community, build unity amongst our
children, and help provide better resources across the school.

2025 will be another exciting year ahead. The PTA have put together a tentative calendar of
events for the year ahead so keep an eye out for details in term 1 next year. Our parent/
Teacher meet and greet will be one of the first events to help everyone re-connect.

If you or a group of parent friends have an event in mind, or want to help in any way, we
would love to hear from you. Email us at kohiptachair@gmail.com . We would love to
support you in its creation.

Term 1: Feb 3 rd – April 11 th

• Parents/Teachers Meet and Greet
• Kiri Picnic
• Wine and Cheese evening

Term 2: April 28 th – June 27 th

• Muffins with Mum
• Grandparents Day
• Parent Trivia Night
  

Term 3: July 14 th – September 19 th

• Kids Quiz-a-thon
• Blokes Breakfast
• Gala Event

Term 4: Oct 6 th – Dec 19 th

• Halloween Disco
• Calendar Art
• Kohi Dads Evening
• Colour Splash
  

From Valerie and Alan and the extended PTA team, we would like to Thank You again for all
your time and effort. It is so lovely for our children to experience a strong sense of school
community and witness how amazing volunteer activities can be!

We wish each of you a very Happy Christmas and an exciting New Year.

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