Term 1, Week 4 2025

Kia Ora Koutou,

Last week, we had 470 parent hui (meetings) booked with teachers. Your commitment to our whakawhanaungatanga hui has been very much appreciated. I know teachers enjoyed meeting you and learning more about your child and whānau. Knowing about your child and their whānau helps teacher's build a positive relationship with them and you! At Rototuna Primary School we strongly believe that building educationally powerful connections with whānau is crucial for creating a supportive and positive learning environment for students.

Y4-6 Swimming Sports – A Fantastic Day in the Pool!

We had a fantastic time at our Y4-6 school swimming sports yesterday! A big pakipaki to Anna Beveridge and Deana Sewell for organising this even for our students. It was wonderful to see our tamariki giving it their all, showing great determination, teamwork, and sportsmanship. A huge thank you to our staff, whānau supporters, and everyone who helped make the event run smoothly. Ka mau te wehi to all our swimmers – we are so proud of you! 🏊‍♂️🏆

A special thank you to our incredible parents who came to watch their children participate and got given a job! They were incredibly supportive and encouraging of each and every student who participated.

Keeping Our Students Safe – Locked Gates During School Hours

The safety and wellbeing of our tamariki are our top priorities. With multiple access points to our school, it has become increasingly difficult to manage visitors to our kura and ensure the safety of our students. At times, we have also experienced unwelcome visitors entering the school grounds.

To create a safer and more secure environment, we have decided to lock all entry gates from 9:15 am to 2:45 pm each day. During these hours, the only access to the school will be through the front office, where all visitors must sign in and out.

If your child arrives after 9:15 am, please drop them off at the front of the school, as all other gates will be locked. If you need to collect your child early, please come to the office so we can sign them out safely.

We are currently in the process of upgrading our lock system signange and will implement this change as soon as possible. We will let you know when the locking of school gates during school time is activated. Thank you for your support in helping us keep our kura safe for everyone.

There is lots of information in this edition of our newsletter!
I hope you find some time to read it and stay up-to-date with all of the Rototuna news.

Enjoy your week,
Ngā mihi
Kylie

Mathematics: The New Zealand Maths Curriculum has changed!

As part of these changes, the expectations for student achievement in mathematics have been adjusted, meaning the goals that students have to achieve by the end of each year level have significantly changed. This means a whole new set of SPOTLIGHT progressions for each year level have been designed to align with the revised NZ Curriculum.

As a result of these changes, we have tested your child against the new progressions to ensure they are being taught at their level. Depending on your child’s results, you may notice on SPOTLIGHT that your child is working at a different year level compared to last year. This is because the curriculum has changed significantly.

The government has provided our school the PR1ME Maths programme to support teaching and learning in mathematics. This only arrived at our school on the first day of school so we are in the process of making sense of this programme as well as implementing the new maths curriculum.

We will continue to report on your child’s progress each term so you can stay up-to-date with their progress. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher if you would like any further information regarding your child’s progress and achievement in maths.

Reading and Writing - The New Zealand English Curriculum has changed!

As part of these changes, the expectations for student achievement in reading and writing have been adjusted, meaning the goals that students have to achieve by the end of each year level have changed. This means a whole new set of SPOTLIGHT progressions for each year level have been designed to align with the revised NZ Curriculum.

As a result of these changes, we have tested your child against the new progressions to ensure they are being taught at their level. Depending on your child’s results, you may notice on SPOTLIGHT that your child is working at a different year level compared to last year. This is because the English curriculum has changed significantly.

We will continue to report on your child’s progress each term so you can stay up-to-date with their progress. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s classroom teacher if you would like any further information regarding your child’s progress and achievement in reading and writing.