Kia ora Kio Kio Whānau,

Tēnā Koutou – A Warm Welcome to Term 4! ☀️

What a fabulous start we've had to Term 4! I hope you all enjoyed a restful and restorative break. The energy across the school grounds is vibrant, and it's wonderful to welcome all our tamariki (children) back, ready for a term full of learning, growth, and sunshine.

Our dedicated staff certainly didn't rest on their laurels over the holiday break. They spent a significant amount of time in professional development, adding valuable knowledge to their kete (knowledge basket), and meticulously planning the term's activities. The positive changes already evident in the classrooms promise an engaging and educational term for all our students.

We ended last term on a high note with our Celebration Assembly, and I'm thrilled to share an extraordinary moment with our wider school community. For the very first time this year, a student has earned the Principal's Award! 🎉

This award is not given out lightly. It is reserved for students who truly and consistently embody our P.O.W.E.R. values—Perseverance, Ownership, Wonder, Excellence, and Respect—every single day.

Congratulations to:

🌟 Darcy Cherrington! 🌟

Darcy, you consistently demonstrate outstanding all-around excellence. Your leadership in learning and the playground, your resilience in the face of challenges, and your positive character inspire all those around you. Darcy, you are always kind, caring, and polite. You uphold our P.O.W.E.R. values in everything you do and have made a lasting, positive impact on Kio Kio School. Your future is bright! Congratulations!

We invite all our families to join us this Friday at 9:15 am for a Mihi Whakatau (formal Māori welcome ceremony). It's a special occasion to officially welcome new students, their whānau, and staff into our school community, acknowledging their arrival and making them feel part of the Kio Kio family. Please join us! 👋

This term, our teaching staff are continuing to implement Structured Literacy throughout the school. This is an evidence-based approach that teaches reading and writing in an explicit, systematic, and cumulative way. It focuses on the crucial link between letters and sounds, giving children a strong foundation for decoding words. The senior syndicate teachers, including myself and our learning support coordinator, will be continuing our professional development in Structured Literacy for the next three terms, to give us the most up-to-date knowledge and teaching strategies. I am looking forward to attending and supporting this vital work.

Parents, this one is for you! Ever wondered how to navigate the tricky conversations with your children about what they see or do online?

Join us for “An Evening with Jo Robertson”—an experienced therapist and educator—who will speak about keeping our kids safe online and building your confidence to have those essential chats.

The Ministry of Education has moved into phases rather than levels for the national curriculum that we teach from. This shift focuses on strengthening the foundations of literacy and numeracy across all year levels. Our end-of-year student achievement reporting format has been updated to reflect these changes, allowing us to communicate your child's progress more clearly against the refreshed curriculum goals.

Sun Smart School: A friendly reminder that we are a Sun Smart School 🧴. Please ensure your child wears a hat and sunscreen every day to school.

Measles Outbreak Information: We are monitoring the information provided by the Ministry of Health regarding the recent measles cases in the North Island. Please remain vigilant for symptoms. If your child is showing any signs of illness related to measles, please keep them home and contact your GP immediately. Vaccination is the best protection. We encourage all families to check that their children's measles vaccinations are up-to-date. 🩺

Next week, our Pohutukawa class is heading off to school camp at Pirongia Forest Lodge! A huge thank you to Miss Beck for the incredible time, energy, and meticulous effort she has put into preparing an amazing itinerary. This camp is designed to develop lifelong skills and creates lasting memories

Students are busy preparing for Ag Day! Please note that students who are not bringing a pet will be supervised in the classroom by a teacher. This initiative ensures that all students are looked after and engaged in meaningful activities while allowing our staff to fully support the students participating in the Ag Day competitions and running the events.

Athletics practice is well underway this week, and we are excited to announce a new format for our whole-school event! A massive thanks to Mrs Telfer and Miss Beck, who dedicated time over the holidays to revitalise the way we run our day.

This year, we will run all athletics events for the whole school on one day: Wednesday, October 29th. Students will rotate through the skills in their year levels. All levels this year will be competitive. Please save the date and come along to support your children!

Please be aware that an intended teacher strike is planned for Thursday, October 23rd. Should the strike go ahead, the school will likely have to close for instruction as we will not have sufficient staff to ensure student safety. We will communicate the final decision to all families as soon as possible.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Kio Kio School. I look forward to seeing you at our next school event!

Ngaa mihi nui,

Pip Were - Principal - Kio Kio School

At the end of Term 3, Mrs. Katie took a small group of Kio Kio students to Lake Ngaroto for Sailability experience. The students have been working incredibly hard this term continually demonstrating the Kio Kio Power values. Sailability is a program where children are given an opportunity to sail. We arrived at Lake Ngaroto and it was a very windy day, perfect conditions for sailing on the water, and each student put on a life vest and got right into the boats. Each student had a turn riding in a small Paralympic sailboat and learned about managing the sails, with an experienced volunteer sailor. The kids also went for a ride and had a turn driving the rescue boat. At the end of the experience we all jumped in the rescue boat for a quick fast ride (most of us who sat in the back got wet). We thanked our incredible host, Dr. Michael Moloney, and volunteers, then went on a short bush walk on the track around Lake Ngaroto, identifying native trees such as tōtaras, rimus, Silver Ferns and cabbage trees(Tī kōuka.).Some of the highlights of the students were “driving the rescue boats and going in the sails boat 2 times." Being asked to describe one word for the whole experience, Zyrah said “Fun”, Logan said, “Amazingly fantastic day.” Koltyn said the day was “Super fun”. All in all it was an awesome experience for all the kids and we are very grateful for the time and dedication of the volunteers and organisers of the Sailability group. Experiences like these give the children opportunities to develop more of the Kio Kio POWER values in an outside of school setting and being brave to give new things a go.

All class, individual, team and requested sibling photos were taken on Thursday 4th September by Photolife Studios. These photos can be purchased online, families have been emailed their Photo Access Key information direct from Photolife Studios.
Free delivery to school is available for orders placed before the 19th October.

If you have not received the email, please contact the school office as soon as possible.

Term 4 - Mon 6th October - 17th Dec

15-17th October - Pohutukawa Class Camp
20th October - Board of Trustees Meeting 5.30pm
21st October - AG Day
24th October - Group Day
27th October - Public Holiday - Labour Day
29th October - Athletics 

5th November - COPS Athletics
7th November - Celebration Assembly
7th November - Gumboot Friday
24th November - Board of Trustees Meeting 5.30pm
28th November - Fireworks Gala

2-3rd December - Yr8 College Interviews
5th December - Christmas parade
15th December - Prizegiving Assembly
15th December - Reports 
17th December - Last day of Term 4

Term 1 - Monday 2nd February - Thursday 2nd April
Term 2 - Monday 20th April - Friday 3rd July
Term 3 - Monday 20th July -  Friday 25th September 
Term 4 - Monday 12th October - Monday 14th December  

All students are to wear a hat when playing outstide. NO HAT- NO PLAY!  Those students without a hat are asked to sit under the large tree on our Cobham Lawn.  Please name your child/ren's hats.

Please check the Lost Property rack that is on the back deck at the moment and encourage your children to take a look too. Named items will be returned to students, but unnamed gear is starting to pile up.

If your child is going to be absent from school, please advise the office by phone (078731816), email (admin@kiokio.school.nz) or the absent tab on the @School Parent APP with the reason so the absence can be marked correctly for the Ministry of Education. If the school is not notified, the child is deemed TRUANT and marked accordingly. If your child is late to school, they must come to the office and sign in on the electronic register.

Please ensure that the school office is informed early if your child won't be on the school bus in the afternoon. We also need to be contacted if your child/ren are getting off at another stop. You can do this by phoning the school office on 07 8731816 or emailing admin@kiokio.school.nz

We have a student in Kahikatea class with a severe peanut allergy who cannot come into contact with peanuts or products with peanuts in them. We ask that parents do not send peanuts or any peanut related products to school, so that we can keep this student safe. Thank you for your understanding.

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