Firstly a huge big congratulations to Ngunguru School Tamariki and Staff with our school being amongst the finalists in the Prime Ministers Excellence in Education Awards Focus Prize – Environmental and Sustainability Education.  This is evidence of the amazing mahi we do which is constantly growing and having positive influences in our school and our community.  I look forward to sharing some of the stunning footage captured by the film crew once the winners are announced at the Awards Ceremony at the Parliamentary Building in Wellington on the 7th September.

Term 3 brings with it lots of investigations into Maramataka – the Maori Lunar Calendar which focuses on the phases of the moon and how this influences our day to day life – tides, planting, gathering and hunting food, moods, new life.  This means the senior year levels will be involved in planting in our community to re-establish ecosystems in both the beach and forest.  Whanau support is vital to our being able to participate in these events and also a way of giving back to the environment and supporting our community initiatives.

Also, I’m excited to share that we will be welcoming the return of the ‘Tahi’ Beehives in late August and I will have the challenging task of selecting 10 beekeepers from the Kete Aronui Group to care and maintain our hives during their stay with us.  The honey sales from our last hives was a huge success thanks to all the honey lovers out there and our super efficient Kete Aronui Honey Production Team.

An upcoming event later in Term 3 is a Trapping Workshop which will be organised and run by the Senior Kete Aronui Team to get our trapping library back out into the community and work towards the 2050 Pest Free Goal.  Keep your eyes out for this date and come along to support the tamariki and their goals to run a successful community trapping programme.  Remember – the nearest rat at any point of time is only metres away!

Ka kite ano

Whaea Heidi