Kia ora e te whānau

Welcome to the 2026 school year.

We start our school year with a hui a-whānau day, the goal for the day is for our kaiako to get to know you and your tamariki so that they can build a strong learning relationship.  

On that day please think about what we need to know - you might want to think about the following: What are your child's strengths?  Is there anything they struggle with?  Have they had any health issues or diagnoses we need to know about?  Have you had any changes in your whānau in recent times?  Any bereavements, separations or new whānau members?  Have you moved house?  Are your contact details up to date?  

In the first weeks of the school year we talk a lot about our SHINE values and how we show these values in different places around our kura.  Our school values help us to give meaning to our vision :Nurturing and celebrating students’ individual talents, needs and abilities by ensuring that all tamariki at our school are given opportunities to SHINE".  

SHINE is an acronym that helps remind us of each of the five values that, after consulting with students, staff, whānau and the community, we have found to express what is most important to us at Ruakākā School.   Our values are based on our belief that to SHINE we must Show respect | Whakaute, Help others | Manaakitanga, be Inclusive | Kotahitanga, Never give up | Papahueke and be Environmental Guardians | Kaitiakitanga. 

We expect everyone in our kura community to work on showing these values.  On our kura signage you will see Pīata the kākā - Pīata often reminds our tamariki how to SHINE. 

We look forward to a great year ahead!

Ngā mihi

Helen 

In 2026 the per child funding we receive for this programme has been significantly reduced.  The good news is that our fantastic team has found a way to keep going and kai will continue to be made on site.  We will be offering the same amount of kai as this year - but instead of splitting it into morning tea and lunch, it will all be delivered to classes at lunchtime.  

This cuts down the preparation time and cuts costs.  We will also be having 2 sandwich days a week - sandwiches are a very popular option.  

All tamariki need to bring a snackbox with their morning tea | paramanawa.  We will be providing lunch at 1pm as usual.  Since we are an Enviroschool, please look for a box with sections and provide a snackbox free of plastic wrapping. 

These are our suggestions for a Nude Food morning tea snackbox. 

Since we are an Enviroschool - tamariki will bring home any plastic wrappers etc from their lunchbox kai.  

While we have been offsite there have been lots of changes!  Huge thanks to our caretaker team Jimmy & Ken and the teams from Carus (painting) Guyco (construction) Robinsons (concrete and drainage) D&D signs (window and Whānau signage) and Speedy Signs (playground sign) who have been working hard to get our kura looking even more amazing.

The new court area with a drainage upgrade will be complete by the time school starts and a turf marked out for sports will be added over the Easter break.  

The carpark is still due to be remarked in the coming weeks to make the spaces slightly larger and address the chipping paint markings.    We still have funds to enhance the new junior play area.  Next steps will be to plan seating, use of the fundraising bricks, enviro areas, storage and improvements to the bike track.  Exciting times!

We are proud of our SHINE Whānau leaders for 2026.

They go through a very comprehensive selection process involving taking part in a leadership wānanga, writing & presenting a speech to their Whānau (house group), Whānau voting and kaiako discussions. We look forward to seeing what they will achieve this year!
Our SHINE Whānau leaders are;
Piroa: Alessia Costello, Brodie Bowden, Reade Murrie
Taranga: Caroline Grieve, Frankie Samu, Manaia-Rae Donaldson
Te Whara: Alyssa Johnston, Daisy Matthews, Fred Rawson
Manaia: Atama Reid, Harry Staite, Scarlett Anderson
Pukekauri: Amalia Chamberlain, Nikora Rakena, Zoe Subritsky

On Monday we were privileged to gather all of our staff and kaumatua of Patuharakeke at 6am to name all of our akomanga | classrooms.  We followed the tikanga of Patuharakeke and visited each space, asking  3 times : He aha te ingoa o tēnei akomanga?  What is the name of this classroom?  The name was repeated 3 times and staff members read out the name and why it was chosen. 

In 2025 after many years of discussion, we decided to rename our English Medium classrooms. With Te Whānau Harakeke being named many years ago, an idea was shared by Angeline McDonald (Mana Potential) to link the names to those of Te Whānau Harakeke and Patuharakeke. These names were chosen through wānanga with Patuharakeke and are related to steps within the weaving process (raranga). This not only binds Te Whānau Harakeke and English Medium classes together, but links us back to Patuharakeke. We met with Ari Carrington alongside iwi members of Patuharakeke to discuss names that align with the raranga process. This hui helped us to gain an understanding of the process ourselves and create a plan of action, including video creation of Whaea Hanna Pirihi-Carrington going through each step of the process. The videos are now on this site and can be used to teach the tamariki what each class name means.   Photographs taken on the day have also been used to create signage for each classroom which was unveiled on Monday.  

Following our ERO review earlier this year, we have now received our ERO report.  This is a summary of the comments around learner success which indicates that there have been progress and improvements made since our previous ERO report back in 2019.  The full report can be found here and will be placed on our website.

If you need any support please call the school office who will be happy to support you.

Skool Loop App

We will hold a pōwhiri for new students and whānau on Tuesday 10th February at 9am under the canopy. Can new whānau please meet at the office at 8.45am.
Here is a link to slides that will explain the way we run pōwhiri at Ruakākā School

If your tamariki would like to learn an instrument in Term 1 - guitar, piano, ukelele, recorder, music therapy or keyboard, please give Alexis Westlake a call on 09 4330298 or 0273419535.

Ruakākā School hoodies and tees, Whānau t-shirts and Te Whānau Harakeke hoodies and tees can be ordered online here. These are not being done as a fundraiser and are being sold at the lowest possible price for you all.
Happy shopping.
Any questions, please get in touch with Emma, info@designbyem.co.nz