School Notices Kia ora e te Whānau, Bula vinaka, Ni hao, Ahn nyung, Wei ho ma, Kee haal hai, Vannakkam, Jomreepsua, Sawat dee, Privet, Kumusta, Nabad, Konichiwa, Hello, Namaste, Suosdei, Halō, Sà-wàt-dii,Bonjour, Guten tag, Hallo, Talofa, Malo e lelei, Tena koutou katoa ko te Kura o Whataitai. Welcome back I hope you all managed to have an enjoyable statutory holiday break and are relaxed, recharged, and ready to start Term 2. I have enjoyed being part of this amazing learning community. I welcome and value your positive energy and dedication to our Kura and look forward to working with you in a (hopefully) face-to-face capacity this term. So far all signs point towards a more open and productive term and being at ‘Orange’ certainly helps.Our skilled and devoted staff have been planning and preparing for our action packed ‘Sustainability’ term. Our ‘Bi-cultural Hui Staff Only Day’ last term has inspired us all to build on our Term 1 ‘Explorers’ context and look at ways to ensure we have a more sustainable future here on the Peninsula. We can’t wait to share what we learn later in the term. Back Gate: We are advising you that the back gates will not be patrolled in term 2.  We have noticed that very few children are using it. We will continue to monitor this and if more children should start to use this crossing we will reinstate the road patrollers. Morning tea and Lunch times: For next term we would like to trial a slight tweak of the morning tea and lunch times. In a nutshell, we add 10min to the morning tea and subtract that 10min from the lunch. What the structure will look like: Morning Tea:10.30-10.40  - eating all classroom teachers supervise then a play bell goes 10.40 10.40-11.00  - 20min play Lunch:12.40-12.50  - eating all classroom teachers supervise then a play bell goes 12.50 12.50-1.30    - 40 min play We hope this trial will mean children are eating all their food, reducing the rubbish around the school and reduced behaviour incidents. I would welcome your thoughts and feedback once we get it going next term.