Term 3, Week 7, 25/8/2025 - 29/8/2025
From the Principal's Desk
Kia ora koutou katoa, Parents and Caregivers
Kaphaka and Cultural Festival
Again a huge thanks to Whaea Briar, Lucy, teachers and parents who supported our Kapahaka group to get ready and to perform at the cultural festival. It was great to see the Mana they showed as they got involved. Mauri Mahi. Mauri Ora!
Toys and digital devices from home
We would prefer that students not bring toys/devices to school. If your child/ren are keen to bring a special something to show and share, you must organise this with the classroom teacher. If an item does get confiscated, it will be either given back to the child in the afternoon or put in a bag to be picked up from the office by parents.
AIMS Games
Our Hip Hop Girls did us proud on Saturday, as our first group to enter the Hip Hop AIMS Games. The football team start to play their games from Monday 1st - Friday 5th of September. We also have individuals competing in the cross country, mountain biking and golf. A huge thanks to the coaches, managers and everyone who have supported/helped our students meet their goals.
Camp
Room 6 and 7 go to camp in term 4, The cost is $400, this has already been subsidised by the Cooks Beach Carnival group and BOT. If parents need help with fundraising or require assistance with covering costs, please come in and have a catch-up and chat. Let's work together to get everyone to camp. One fundraiser that we are keen to run will be either a Mathsathon or a Spellathon. Information on this will come out before the holidays for students to seek sponsors.
Thanks, Nga mihi, Gary Veysi - Principal
Getting ready for the opening ceremony of the AIMS Games
Joining in on the fun
Dancing to the live music at the opening ceremony
Board Of Trustees
Property Project Updates
Nga iti Kahurangi programme - This is the re-carpeting of classrooms in the school and will happen on the 22nd - 26th of September (first week of school holidays)
Water Upgrade - We have gained funding to replace the water tanks and gain more water storage off the roofs. We will go from 3 water tanks to about 9 water tanks (almost 3 times the capacity) The water will be diverted off the roofs and from the natural spring. This will go through more fitering/cleaning.
Fields - Recently, the BOT signed off on the lease of the land behind the school. We have been working in conjunction with Don and Dawn Walker on leasing this space and have had final approval from the Ministry of Education. This means we can create more space for the students to investigate and play in. Next year, the size of football fields also needs to be at least 70 metres, and we are also keen to have a proper rugby field and running track. For this to happen, unfortunately, we will need to move the dripper lines for the effluent field to the end part of the grounds and chop down some trees. We will have more information after our next BOT meeting on the 21st of August and will run community consultation around this and the specifics of what will need to happen to meet council consents.
As this is a community asset and we have no money, we need community help. If you can help with taking some trees down, removing and mulching, levelling fields, re-grassing and putting up a 7 wire fence. We have already had some very kind donations of work and resources. please contact - principal@whenuakite.school.nz
Quiz Night
Pet Day Wednesday 17th September 2025
School Carnival 2026 - Pet Day, Local Farming Families - Daisy Dung Drop – Can Your Calf Help?
Our much-loved Daisy Dung Drop raffle is one of the biggest fundraisers at our School Carnival, helping to support valuable resources and opportunities for our kids.
This year, we’re on the lookout for a friendly calf to take centre stage at the carnival – and with Pet Day coming up, it’s the perfect time to find one!
If your child is raising a calf for Pet Day, it could be the next Daisy! We’d love families to consider whether their calf might be suitable for the big event. After Pet Day, it’s important to keep up the care and handling so your calf stays friendly and calm for carnival day.
Thank you for your support – it really makes a difference! Contact April if you can help 0274224988
Being a K.I.T.E Kid Awards
Certificates presented to: -
Room 1 - Molly Jenkins, Elias Cooney
Room 2 - Sayul Rathnayaka, Daisy Land
Room 3 - Benji Norriss, Luca Shortland, Harper Monrad
Room 4 - Florence Probett, Elfie Jensen, Lacey Fraser
Room 5 -Digby Palmer, Kate Walker, Noah Goodwin
Room 6 - Corey Fraser, Charlie Bowen, Beaudyn Yearbury
Room 7 - Jesse Barnes, Kurtis Seath
Principal Awards -
Speeches
Whenuakite Senior Speech Competition
Congratulations to the amazing students who presented their speeches to the senior syndicate. You all did a fantastic job and should be proud of yourselves. Well done!
The winners, who will be presenting their speeches at the Eastern Coromandel Speech Competition on Friday 12th September, are:
Year 5/6
Emerson Orbell: Why Dogs are the Cutest.
Valerie Dewitt-Fisher: Why we Should Exercise.
Year 7/8
Izzy Pauling: Monsters.
Thea Dozell: Why Phones Should Continue to be Banned in Schools.
Sport
What great season it has been and sad to see it come to an end. The Whenuakite under 12s took a full squad to travel to Ngatea to face Hauraki Plains Hawks for our last game. It was a very tight match with lots of stand out performances all over the field but the Hawks defence this time round was too tough to break through with only one goal scored by Louie Jenson for a 2-1 win to Hawks. PLAYER OF THE DAY - Hunter Velvin-Turner for his improvement , confidence and reading the game well. Our Team has really grown in skills this year and its a credit to all the hard work put in from the team and our Coach Nick.
Cross Country
Pickleball
Mercury Bay Pickleball Club are excited to introduce a next generation of young stars to the fastest growing sport of Pickleball.
We are holding a free "give it a go" session on Sunday 21 September 3-4pm, come try it out!
The program is a 4 week block of hour long sessions on Sundays 3pm to 4pm. Starting Sunday 5 October and ending 26 October. We will also have the option to extend for a further month if popular.
Head to the link - [https://forms.gle/7gP8eBg9v9A5uGhu9](https://forms.gle/7gP8eBg9v9A5uGhu9?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExWlQ4d0Rwdm04ZGRxeUtScAEe4tDiBAXXzaDr5bWAUq0DMr6tXaYGCm4yYXMLpcUqrUUuXwrx23-EzwL-qrw_aem_I89y3q8V1-CnwC8c4rUWkQ) - for more details and to register for either the free "give it a go session" or the 4 week block in October:
Up and coming events
Term 3
Week 8
AIMS Games tournament
Week 9
Netball Prizegiving in Activity Room - Wed - 3.30pm.
Mathex - Thursday.
Interschool speech comp - Friday.