Marriene Langton Principal/Tumuaki

Marriene Langton Principal/Tumuaki
Tēnā koutou e te whanau. This is my 17th year as tumuaki of our lovely kura. I am one-eyed when it comes to providing the very best education for all of our tamariki, strong connections to whanau and applying Attachment Psychology so every child has a champion adult at our school who believes in them unconditionally. I just can’t see past it. Our kaiako and kaiawhina go the extra 50 miles to give our children the best chances to succeed. My family is number one. After 20 years of camping holidays in Kaiteriteri, Graham and I are recidivist “glampers “ and ready for new adventures in our latest caravan. It’s brilliant when our family joins us too. I've had the privilege of being part of the design team so we could build a new school after the earthquakes and now we are full-on working with architects to design a new hall. That's a dream we never thought that we would see. Watch this space.

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Fono Hui

Fono/Hui Tuesday night was a great success as our Pasifika and Māori whānau joined us for a night of kai, games and feedback. I am so proud of our kaiako and our trainee teachers who spent a long night at school serving our community. The food was delicious and the games were hilarious (I’m totally unco and got out of it by being the Royal Photographer). The questions we asked whānau/fano are the same ones that we want all families to respond to please. We are focusing on attendance as per the government's legislation and we are genuinely interested in why we are seeing a drop off in attendance and a reluctance for whānau to share some of the real reasons why children don’t get to school. This is a no shame game and we are here to help. Ok I confess that I had some leftover rēwena bread for morning tea and I persuaded whaea Janice to surrender some golden syrup. Oh my my!!!
The questions we want all whānau to consider are: Attendance: What gets your tamariki excited to jump out of bed and head to school? Retention: What do you think keeps your family and child/ren keen to stick around and learn with us? Engagement: What school stuff does your child come home buzzing about? Achievement: What dreams do you have for your child's learning and what they achieve here?

Babies Assembly

Puna Hao Assembly I know I shouldn't call them babies, but they are. Our little ones were so cute when they took their assembly last week. They always steal the show and they were so well rehearsed, confident and sweet. It’s such a hard act to follow. Congratulations to the kaiako and tamariki for their fabulous celebration.

Pink Shirt Day

Pink Shirt Day We had almost 100% participation in this beautifully organised event. Thanks to Libby and her team. Our message is that the grown ups have to take responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our tamariki and that to ask a child to stand up to a bully is Mission Impossible. Please let us know if you are aware of any bullying issues for your child; they are always there and thereabouts and generally rumble away underground and out of sight of the teachers. All children, staff and parents have the right to feel safe in our kura. We do have a Code of Conduct for parents and ask that you respect that. We expect you to treat us with respect and you can expect the same from us.