Newsletter 18 March 2026

Waterlea School

Newsletter

Week 7 – 18 March 2026

Wow Week is coming to Waterlea

Kia ora Whaanau,

Waterlea is excited to be taking part in WoW Week – Walk or Wheel to School

from 23 – 27 March.

This is a fun, Auckland wide event encouraging tamariki to walk, scooter, bike, or wheel their way to school. It also is our way of being proactive in helping to reduce traffic around our kura at pick up/drop off times.

Throughout the week, tamariki will be encouraged to get to school in an active way.

Each child will receive a WoW Passport to tick off their active travel each day.

These are collected on Friday and counted towards fun schoolwide celebrations and

prize draws.

We’ll also be celebrating daily themes:

Move it Monday – everyone is encouraged to start their week Walking or

Wheeling to school

Travel Together Tuesday – Celebrate walking and wheeling together with

friends and whanau

Wheelie Wednesday – Show off your wheels as you roll to school

Thoughtful Thursday – Consider how Walking and Wheeling helps create a

healthier planet and makes us fitter and feel better

Funky Feet Friday – wear your funkiest footwear or add some bling to your

shoes to show us your styles!

Here are some simple ways whaanau can take part:

Walk or Wheel from home – If you live nearby, join us by walking, scootering or biking to school each day.

Park & Walk – If you need to drive, consider parking a little further away and walking the last

5–10 minutes to school – this helps reduce congestion at the gate.

Share the Fun

We’ll be inviting whaanau to share photos of their active journeys during the week for next week’s newsletter

Why Participate?

Walking or wheeling to school helps us:

– Reduce traffic at the school gate

– Improve the air our tamariki breathe

– Support children’s social, physical and mental hauora/wellbeing

It’s a wonderful way to build healthy habits and enjoy time together as a whaanau.

We can’t wait to see everyone walking, wheeling and having fun!

Ngaa mihi

Andrea Jamieson and the Waterlea Team

Attendance:

As we are aleady passed the halfway point of this term, it’s great to see our attendance still tracking well with most of our tamariki attending school regularly. Our attendance rate as a school for the seventh week at school is at 90%. As always, please remember to let the office know if your child is going to be away and the reason for the absence. This information will allow us to enter the correct attendance code for your child. You can phone the office on 096364233 or email reception@waterlea.school.nz.

If your child is going away during the school term please email principal@waterlea.school.nz with the details for the absence and the dates your child will be away.

Keep up the great effort ensuring your children are coming to school each day!

Pedal Power comes to Waterlea

The good folks from Pedal Power are here this week, supporting our Middle School tamariki. Pedal Power cycle skills programme delivered by Counties Manukau Sports. It provides opportunities for kids to learn to ride in a safe, fun environment. Pedal Power is another intiative that helps to support our tamariki’s physical hauora/wellbeing. Here are the key details about the programme:

Target Audience: Primarily Year 3–6 students, with sessions often covering skills for younger children as well.

Key Features: It focuses on safety and confidence, it also provides the bikes for everyone to enjoy.

Focus: It is a key part of the Counties Manukau Sport school sporting initiatives designed to promote an active lifestyle.

We’d like to acknowledge Counties Manukau Sport for their mahi supporting our tamariki. If you’d like to be apart of another event promoting physical hauora, join us on our whole school walk to Ambury Farm on the last day of this term-more details will come out soon.

Room 11’s Recount of Pedal Power

We had such a good first session with Pedal Power this morning! It started with a discussion about the safety rules for the day. Then we went to the trailer to get our bikes and helmets. Helmet safety was 1, 2, 3. One finger only between the chin strap and our chin. Two fingers in a ‘V’ by our ears to show how the side straps should fit and then three fingers between our eyebrows and the helmet. Our bike safety was A (air, make sure the tires are pumped up), B (brakes, do they work properly?) and C (chain, is it attached properly?). A big thanks to Coach Isaac and Coach V who looked after us so well today. We even got to ride on the field!

MANA Values Assembly

MANA Certificates

Important Dates:

19 Mar – Goat Island (Rm 6, 8 and 5)

16-19 Mar – Middle School Pedal Power sessions

20 Mar – PTA Sausage Sizzle

23 Mar– WoW Week-Walk or Wheel to School

27 Mar – MANA Values assembly

27 Mar – PTA Casual Clothes Day

28 Mar – PTA Brick Show

2 April – Whole School Walk to Ambury Farm -11am

2 Apr – Last day of Term 1

20 April – First day of Term 2

Collaborative Poem by Room 10

Moth Busters Latest count…

970 Pods collected, thank you!

Over South Auckland 14,000 pods have already been collected and recorded for the competition so far!

Kapai Waterlea, keep them coming in!

SECONDHAND UNIFORMS

If you are after any secondhand uniform items, such as tee-shirts, polo shirts, skorts, shorts or sweatshirts, please get in touch with the Waterlea PTA and we will do our best to help you find what you need.

All items are $2, except the fleece sweatshirts which are $10

Gmail: waterleapta@gmail.com
Facebook: @Waterlea PTA | Instagram: @waterleapta

You can download your sticker collection sheet here if you would like your own one, or pick one up at the office

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Call us on 09 636 4233

Email us at reception@waterlea.school.nz

17 House Avenue Mangere Bridge Manukau 2022 Auckland

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Term Dates 2026