Author Archives: Sarah Spence

Kahikatea Team News Term 2 Week 3 2026

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Ngā mihi e te whānau, 

Here in the Kahikatea hub we have enjoyed another wonderful week of learning. 

The tamariki are very much settled back into our daily routines and activities and have all reconnected with their friends after the half term break. 

Cross Country - Cross Country was a highlight of last week and it created a wonderful buzz in the hub and around the school in general. The tamariki showed many of our school values including We Love Challenge and We Get There Together. There were lots of wonderful displays of sportsmanship and supporting one another during the run. 

Literacy - The tamariki continue to make steady progress through our structured literacy program
and have been enjoying practicing word recognition and creating their own sentences. Our shared group activities often create wonderful conversation full of rich language which the tamariki enjoy sharing with one another. As always our book swap day for Literacy is Thursday when the tamariki get the bring a new book home to share at home. 

Maths- Our Numicon program continues to gain traction with the tamariki as they get to explore new Math concepts and different Numicon resources. This week our focus has been on counting from 1 to 100 and the different ways this can be represented through estimating, grouping and patterns. The tamariki have enjoyed working as a class and in small groups to problem solve those tricky questions sharing their knowledge and growing together. 



Enquiry- Our enquiry has lead us to our local community this week and this has been an absolutely wonderful concept to work through with the tamariki. They know their community so well having the ability to name streets and parks they are familiar with as well as local amenities. We have talked through people in the community who help us such as police officers, paramedics and firefighters. The tamariki particularly enjoyed exploring their local area on Google maps and this created lots of animated conversation.    

Kapa Haka - In Kahikatea we have been so lucky to have the opportunity to work with whaea Cath during Kapa Haka sessions on a Friday. The tamariki get the opportunity to learn about waiata, tikanga practice and what kapa haka is all about. The tamariki are loving this weekly activity! 




Book Character Day!! Friday 15th May 2026 - Book character day is a wonderful opportunity for the tamariki to celebrate and share their favourite stories through visual representation, bringing fictional personalities to life for a specific occasion. It is such a fun day!




Cyber Safety - The HDCA for Parents and Whānau

The Harmful Digital Communications Act (or HDCA for short) is an act passed by the Government back in 2015 to help people dealing with serious or repeated harmful digital communications. It covers anything digital like text, emails or social media content. The most useful thing for parents to understand about the HDCA is the way the 10 communication principles define what is good or bad behaviour online.

If you’re ever concerned about your young person (or you just want to brush up on your knowledge!) visit Netsafe’s Guide to the HDCA. 


Have a beautiful weekend everybody.

Nga mihi nui

Sarah J, Amber, Talia and Sarah S