Newsletter 4 February 2026

Newsletter 4 February 2026

Kia ora whaanau,

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome all our tamariki and their whaanau back to Waterlea School for the start of the 2026 school year. It was fantastic to see so many smiling faces returning for our Waananga Day on Monday, 2 February. If you haven’t had a waananga time please chat to the classroom teacher to see if they can meet you after school this week. It was lovely to welcome our new whaanau, tamariki and  kaiako to Waterlea at our powhiri. A special thanks to Saul, Tony, Marama and Nanny Mavis for supporting us in this process. We’ve had some really hot days this week so it is essential that we all stay SunSmart to keep our tamariki safe while they learn and play outdoors. Please ensure your child is prepared each day with a named sunhat and water bottle. Also please apply sunscreen before school and we’ll also encourage tamarik to use the classroom sunblock for reapplication throughout the day.

Waterlea Powhiri

We have updated our whole school calendar on the Waterlea School website Calendar and this is a great place to get dates for events coming up. This is where you’ll find MANA assembly times where tamariki receive MANA certificates for demonstrating our MANA values- Maanakitanga, Aumenga, Ngaakau Pono and Ako.

Last week we held our Teacher Only Days and our kaiako engaged in planning and learning. Alongside delving into numeracy, literacy and music, we revisited the concept of whawhanaungatanga and the conflict resolution framework our Student Peer Mediators use when supporting tamariki on the playground. Our Year 6 Peer mediators will undergo their training in the next couple of weeks and then will be on duty in the playground at break times. We will feature the Peer Mediation Programme in depth in next week’s newsletter to unpack further this important tuakana-tiena relationship.

We look forward to a sun-safe and exciting term of learning ahead.

Ngaa mihi,

Andrea Jamieson and the Waterlea Team

Some of our kaiako doing the Mahi on teacher only days:

Important Dates:

6 Feb – Waitangi Day (school closed)

13 Feb – MANA Assembly (9:45am)

17 Feb – Senior School Kayaking (Rm 7, 9 and 5)

18 Feb – Senior School Kayaking (Rm 6, 8 and 5)

23 Feb – Senior School Snorkling (Rm 6, 7 and 5)

24 Feb – Board of Trustees Meeting 7:30pm

27 Feb – Senior School Snorkling (Rm 8, 9 and 5)
             – MANA Assembly

5 Mar – Goat Island (Rm 7, 9 and 5)

9 Mar – New Entrant Cohort 2 first day

12 Mar – Goat Island (Rm 6, 8 and 5)

13 Mar – MANA Assmbly

2 Apr – Last day of Term 1

20 April – First day of Term 2

A message from the PTA…

Music Lessons at Waterlea School!  Our good friends at Musiqhub are happy to announce that they’ll have some spaces opening up in Term 1 for new students.  They offer Keyboard, Guitar and Drum lessons onsite after school hours.  Please get in touch with paul.barry@musiqhub.co.nz for more info or to reserve a spot!