Newsletter, Week 4 – 13 May 2026

Term 2, Week 4 – 13 May 2026

Trips to Ihumaatao

Kia ora Whaanau,

This term we are visiting Ihumaatao as part of our learning programmes. Ihumaatao is not only a sacred place in our local area, it is also home to one of the oldest, continuously occupied papakaainga/villages in Aotearoa.

The entire Ihumaatao peninsula is a rare cultural heritage landscape embedded with identity, meaning, and significance. A critical history of Ihumaatao binds together land and people. The name Ihumaatao, or, Te Ihu o Mataoho, recalls the tupua/deity Mataoho, who is responsible for the volcanic formations throughout Taamaki Makaurau. Around 800 years ago, Ihumaatao was the place where tohunga Hape, a revered ancestor, arrived on the back of a giant whai/stingray named kaiwhare. Soon after, Ihumaatao became a landing place for the Tainui waka .

For more than 20 generations Ihumaatao served as a place of great significance to ahi kaa or whaanau who ‘keep the home fire burning’ and who established strong socio-economic and cultural ties to the land before the arrival of European explorers. Skilled gardeners, elite soils and bountiful waterways made Ihumaatao a highly productive place. Thriving trade with the settlers, arriving in numbers from the 1840s, made Ihumaatao a food bowl for the developing city of Auckland.

Ahi kaa know Ihumaatao as a waahi tapu/a sacred place and a waahi tuupuna/a place of ancestral significance. Our national heritage agency Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga also recognises Ihumaatao as an outstanding cultural heritage landscape. 

Our tamariki visit Ihumaatao once every couple of years to help them feel connected to the land by understanding the stories of this local place. For more than 800 years, ahi kaa have exercised the role as kaitiaki/guardians for the land and our hope is our children continue this guardianship in the future. 

Below are photos of our tamariki and whaanau visiting Ihumaatao. We’d like to thank our guides who have taken the time to host us and share their stories and knowledge.

Enjoy the rest of this week.

Ngaa mihi,

Andrea Jamieson and the Waterlea Team

MANA Values Assembly last Friday

We had a great MANA Values Assembly last week and thank you to all our whaanau who joined us. Being Sign Language Week it was a great opportunity for our school to practise signing and in particular the sign for clapping as seen below. A big thank you to Whaea Annabel and the Ukelele Group for also supporting us with our signs. Congratulations to all our tamariki who received MANA certificates for demonstrating our values in their work and play. 

Junior School MANA Awards

Middle School MANA Awards

Senior School MANA Awards

Senior School Mountains to Sea Project Awards

As part of our MANA Assembly we also acknowledged our tamariki who created a sustainability learning project stemming from their mahi during the Mountains to Sea learning. All our senior students partook in this project learning and we’d like to acknowedge everyone’s hard work and ideas, and wonderful kaitiakitanga. Three students did outstanding work – Charlie, Elle, Zoe, and we learnt about their projects at the assembly. Charlie and Elle recieved the runner up prizes, and Zoe was acknowledged as the overall winner by Mountains to Sea, and will be joining them later in the year for her chance to snorkell at Poor Knight’s Island, which is a fantastic prize.

Attendance

Our attendance rate as a school for the fourth week at school for Term 2 is at 94%. This  continues the trend of high attendance since the beginning of the term. 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 this great start to Term 2 ensuring your children are coming to school each day!

Important Dates

13 May – Year 4 – 6 Weekly swimming begins

14 May – Royal Oak Visiting Waterlea – 2027 Intake – 2:00pm – 2:30pm

15 May – Ihumaatao Rm’s 24 & 12 – More information coming from teachers

                 PTA & Parent meeting 2.45 – 3.45pm 

20 May – Year 4 – 6 Swimming

22 May – MANA Assembly – 9:45am – 10:30am

22 May – Ihumaatao Rm’s 10 & 11 – More information coming from teachers

27 May – PTA & Parent meeting 7.30 – 8.30pm

01 June  – Kings Birthday – School Closed

01 June – Samoan Language Week

05 June – MANA Assembly – 9:45am – 10:30am

19 June – MANA Assembly – 9:45am – 10:30am

03 July – MANA Assembly – 9:45am – 10:30am

03 July – Last day of Term 2

Term 3

20 July – First day of Term 3

21 July – Mid-year reports go home

23 July – 2 – 7.30pm Teacher Led Conferences, children go home at 1pm

News from the PTA

Sign Language Week

Moth Plant Busters!

Free Nit Shampoo and comb

Important Weekly Notices

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