Kia ora to our Birdwood Community,

We have come to the end our Term 1 .. it seems like yesterday that our school had been so badly affected by the flood on January 27th and the affect of Cyclone Gabriel in our community.  Many of our families lost their homes and as a school community we have been working hard to get our school looking great again.  Please continue to contact the school if we can help with anything.

There has been much to celebrate this term ... our Birdwood students continue to impress us with their commitment to learning.  Our students have tried really hard to be kind to each other and respectful.  When things don't go to plan and I have to ring home, I appreciate the support I get from you our families. 

Today we farewell two staff members, Whaea Angela our social worker and Whaea Andreena, one of our pouawhina.  Birdwood School would like to thank Ange and Andreena for their commitment and service to our school and school community. 

We have so many things to look forward to in Term 2.  Here are just a couple of dates for your diary.
- Monday 24th April is a Teachers Only Day
- Tuesday 25th April is ANZAC Day
- Wednesday 26th April is our first official day of school
- Tuesday 2nd May - Talanoa - Does Birdwood School want a Samoan bi-lingual class? Starting @ 6pm
- Thursday 4th May - Mihi Whakatau @ 9.30 for new staff and students
- Friday 5th May - Weet-bix Tryathalon Fun Event - starting @ 9am
- Friday 5th May - Farewell Assembly for Matua Paul

Lastly, a thank you to our families.  Thank you for sending your children to school every day ready for learning.  Thank you for sending your children to school every day with their manners and respect.  The Birdwood Staff would like to wish you all a Happy Easter and a wonderful holiday break with your families.  Here's to sleep-in's, house-cleaning and movie time!

Nga manaakitanga,

Vikki Rihari
Tumuaki

Congratulations to ...

Week 8 - Abby from Te Henga

Week 9 - Mohammad from Intermediates and Whaea Sandy our legendary pouawhina!

We have so many things to look forward to in Term 2.  Here are just a couple of dates for your diary.
- Monday 24th April is a Teachers Only Day
- Tuesday 25th April is ANZAC Day
- Wednesday 26th April is our first official day of school
- Tuesday 2nd May - Talanoa - Does Birdwood School want a Samoan bi-lingual class? Starting @ 6pm
- Thursday 4th May - Mihi Whakatau @ 9.30 for new staff and students
- Friday 5th May - Weet-bix Tryathalon Fun Event - starting @ 9am
- Friday 5th May - Farewell Assembly for Matua Paul

Last week, Matua Toma took one tag team to the Year 7/8 tournament.   The boys worked really well as a team and displayed their values at all times.  After weeks of training their bodies ached but they still kept persevering until the bitter end.  Congratulations team ... 6th overall!  You can see from below that the results were very close.

Here are the final results of their games.
West Harbour - draw 
Marina View - L 9-7
Riverhead - W 7- 4
Lincoln Heights - won by default
Swanson - L 10 - 4
Playoff for 5/6 vs Royal Road L 9 - 8

If your child or children are of Samoan descent, then we will be sending out a special invitation to you to hear your thoughts about bi-lingual education.  Early in Term 2 we will hold a special evening and invite experts in bi-lingual education.  We will have students from Henderson Intermediate's Samoan bi-lingual classes and Kelston Girls High School share their experiences of their Samoan bi-lingual education.  The date for this is Tuesday 2nd May.  More info to come!

Last week we held a highly successful evening of fun and learning based around our Literacy programmes here at Birdwood School.  Almost half of all of our students turned up with their families to come along and see what's happening in classes.  The feedback from our community was that they wanted more of these!  

Thank you for coming along!  We appreciate that your time is precious.

Please note ... next term's assemblies will start at 2pm.

An  invitation is extended to your Whanau to take part in the annual ANZAC Day ceremony at the Swanson RSA, 
Tuesday 25 April 2023. Our school  will assemble at the Swanson Primary School at 8.30 am in preparation for the march off at 9.00 am. We will have our children lay a wreath on behalf of Birdwood School.

Matua Kevin has erected an Anzac memorial garden under our school flag poles. The crosses represent the loss of a Service persons life during World War One, they are extra special because they are people from our area.
Students from the Intermediate class have chosen a name off a cross and will do inquiry learning to see what they can find out about the person. It should be interesting to ear what they find out!

Yesterday Afternoon Kiwi Can Leaders held a celebration in the Red room for the winning class of the Term 1.
Kiwi Can is a life skills and values programme delivered to the whole school by trained Kiwi Can leaders with every child attending a Kiwi Can lesson once a week, every week of the school year. School Principals tell us that Kiwi Can has a noticeable effect on how well the children interact with each other.

Kiwi Can has a history of making a big difference. But the proof is in the research, and here’s what it shows.

Kiwi Can:

We are very lucky to be able to provide such an awesome programme for our Tamariki.