Nga Mōtu

Kia Ora and welcome to Ngā Motu class. 2026

We are the New Entrant and Year 1 Class within our kura with our 2 wonderful kaiako Mrs Duynhoven and Mrs Morresey . We also have an 2 amazing Learning Support assistants; Whaea Jamie and Whaea Vicki. Our classroom will continually grow throughout the year as new tamariki join Midhirst School and we currently have 9 tamariki in our class with a further 4 having school visits this term. If you are interested in sending your child to our school, please feel free to ring the office and Sara will make a time for you to visit.

Margaret Duynhoven

Ngā Motu Room Yr 0/1

Deputy Principal

Natarsha Morresey

Release Teacher

Jamie-Lee Davis

Learning Assistant

Vicki De'one

Learning Assistant

Term 1 Korowai - Kotahitanga

This term, our school Korowai Inquiry has been around Kotahitanga. In Nga Mōtu, we are learning that we all have responsibilities and rights as members of a community. We know that belonging to groups is important and we have responsibilities when we’re members of a group. During Term 1 we learnt about the responsibilities we share within our classroom and school environment. Our Korowai topic linked beautifully into our school's KAHA values, especially around Hauora. In Ngā Motu we learnt that relationships can be both challenging and rewarding and there are many things we can do when we are having problems with our friends.

Tabloids Day 2025

On Thursday 5th February our Kura had an amazing Tabloids Day. This was an amazing event and was greatly enjoyed by our tamariki and their whānau. The tamariki loved taking part in all the fun activities that were run by the Year 7 and 8 studets. We are very grateful to Mr Kevin Bennett who provided all these activities for us to use. The tamariki loved dressing up i their House Colours and absolutely loved takin part in the Tug of War. The tamariki especially enjoyed the sausage sizzle and ice block after this event.

Term 1 Swimming

During this term, Ngā Motu will be swimming everyday. Our swimming sessions are in the afternoons and on Tuesday we have swimming with our Instructor at the school pool. The aim of our swimming sessions is to improve the students confidence in the water and teach them basic swimming skills. Swimming sessions are a great way to enhance the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of your child.

Structured Literacy

In Ngā Motu, we follow a Structured Literacy approach for the teaching of Reading, Writing, Handwriting and Spelling. Structured Literacy focuses on 'phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge' which provides our tamariki with the skills they need to read, spell and write with confidence. The tamariki are taught to recognise individual words, syllables, onset sounds, rime and individual sounds in a word. They learn to read using the Kākano decodable texts. Your child will bring home a book to read which practises the letters and sounds that have been taught at school. Thank you for supporting your child on their Literacy journey. Making strong links between sounds and letters is a key step in learning to read as it supports word decoding and helps grow reading fluency and comprehension. A little practice goes a long way! Spending up to 10 minutes a day revisiting the sounds your child has learned will help cement their learning and build confidence.

How whānau can support at home:

Play simple games that focus on sounds and letters in words
Have fun stretching words out slowly to hear all the sounds
Try word swaps, e.g. “If I change the /b/ in bun to /s/, I get… sun!”
While reading together, notice and talk about familiar letters and sounds
Visit the Ministry of Education Parent Portal for helpful slides to practise phonics at home.

Practising sounds and letters in the first 6 months - Ministry of Education

Te Reo

At our kura , we have a passion for learning Te Reo Maori. We enjoy learning the language as well as learning about our local Māori history, legends, culture, kaupapa and traditions. In Ngā Motu, we start each day off with te reo where we love use waiata, kemu and visuals to keep us engaged and to further our learning and understanding. Part of our kura's journey is to normalise and revitalise Māori language and our aim to integrate this across all learning contexts. We hope that when you enter our classroom you hear our wonderful korero.

KAHA

During Term 1, Ngā Motu focussed on learning our kura's KAHA Values and how we can show Hauora to others by using our manners. The tamariki also learnt that we all have responsibilities and rights as members of a community and relationships can be challenging and rewarding.

K - Ka eke toku pai - Our Best Always

A - Auaha - Creative and Innovative

H - Hauora - Well being

A - Ako - Reciprocal Learning

Healthy Active Learning

Healthy Active Learning is a joint government initiative between Sport NZ, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and Health NZ - Te Whatu Ora. It supports schools and kura to improve the wellbeing of tamariki and rangatahi through healthy eating and drinking, and quality physical activity. It is part of New Zealand's Child Youth and Wellbeing Strategy, a set of actions across government to improve the wellbeing of all children and young people.

This term, our kura has been working with Megan from Sport Taranaki to learn how to play a variety of games which focus on Respect. Our tamariki have spent time learning why this value is important when taking part in co-operative games and how we can respect others when playing these games.

PR1ME Mathematics

Here at Midhirst School we use the PR1ME mathematics programme. This is a programme built on clear, well-structured progressions mapping out a pathway through Year 1-8 based on practices used by top performing countries in international studies. In Nga Mōtu, our students need a lot of hands-on experiences using materials to support their understanding, especially around Number. We dedicate our time to modelling and explaining new concepts, and consistent repetition is used to reinforce this knowledge. Our students receive a lot of explicit teaching in small groups and we have wonderful Teacher Aids that help to reinforce this knowledge.

Kapa Haka

On Fridays we are lucky to have Whaea Raewyn come in to take us through different waiata, karakia and tikanga. The tamariki are enjoying getting involved and learning abour different waiata that we then practice in class. We are apart of both the junior Kapa Haka and the whole school one as well. The Ngā Motu tamariki especially enjoy being able to have Kapa Haka with Panatahi and Taranaki.

WHAT IS DISCOVERY LEARNING?

Discovery Learning develops key competencies through activity-based, child-directed learning. It is an opportunity for tamariki to direct their own learning and practice social skills within fun, hands-on activities. In our Junior Syndicate Discovery Time sessions we have a range of activities for our students to choose between with more activities being added each week. Our tamariki are given opportunities to engage in a variety of activities which include; arts and crafts, dress ups, play dough, block building, Lego puzzles and much more! At times they will be working independently to develop their self-management skills and at other times they will be working with a buddy or small group to build their social and cooperative skills. During these sessions our tamariki will have the opportunity to feed forward and feedback, decide on activities and lead the discovery time sessions.

The role of the teacher:

drawing on curriculum knowledge to recognise the learning within play
providing sufficient opportunities for students to engage in play
participating in meaningful learning conversations with children that stretch their thinking
understanding and supporting the development of specific skills and knowledge that students need
facilitating social interactions.