Te Reo: 

At Midhirst School and in Panitahi class we have a passion for Te Reo Maori. We not only enjoy the language but also learning about Maori history, legends, culture and kaupapa/traditions. As a school we have a goal to be using up to three hours of Reo daily. Each morning we start with 30 minutes in as full immersion as we can be. We love using visuals, waiata and kemu to keep us engaged and to further our learning and understanding.

Part of our journey is normalising and revitalising Maori language. While we have specific, explicit set times when we focus on language, we also aim to integrate across all learning contexts and use it both within and outside of our kopa ako. We hope that when you enter our classroom you hear our wonderful korero. 

 Check out some of our beautiful tamariki sharing their pepeha o tēnei kura as well as our Ngā mahi o te ata!

Structured Literacy:

In Panitahi we follow a Structured Literacy approach for the teaching of Reading, Writing, Handwriting and Spelling. Structured Literacy focuses on 'phonemic and phonological awareness, and alphabet knowledge' which provides our tamariki with the skills they need to read, spell and write with confidence. Phonological awareness relates to the tamariki's capability to make/break words, identify how many sounds in them and where they are. It also allows tamariki to identify how many words in a sentence, syllables in a word, how to hear and produce rhyme and delete/substitute sounds. The tamariki are also taught to recognise individual words, onset sounds, rime and both individual letter-sounds in a word and two or more letters that work together to make one sound. They learn to read using the Sunshine and Kākano decodable texts. Each day 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 reading journey!

Junior Discovery:

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.

2024

                                   Pet Day (Term 4):

On Friday 18th October we had our annual Pet Day. This was an amazing event and was greatly enjoyed by our tamariki and their whānau. The tamariki loved seeing all the animals and really enjoyed creating a variety of artworks to put on display for this day.

                                 Rippa Rugby (Term 3) 

During term 3 we were lucky enough to have some TRFU representatives visit our kura for some Rippa Rugby skills! They taught us lots of valuable skills and we loved the games they played with us!

                               Kapa Haka:

This term we are lucky to have Whaea Rae hold Kapa Haka sessions both with our Junior and Senior school. Whaea also takes a special select bunch of students for a more in depth Kapa Haka session and this group will perform as well. We love the way she makes waiata engaging and fun for us! 

                               Swimming Term one: 

This term we have been very lucky to have Hine and Chelsea visit our Kura on Tuesdays to take our junior classes for swimming instruction! Through these lessons students are gaining water confidence and improving their swimming skills! We also take a swim lesson every afternoon (weather provided) in order to keep this fundamental skill developing! Check out some pictures of our superstar tamariki!

                           Tabloids Day Term one: 

Tabloids is a great whānau event that the whole school participates in! Our fantastic school leaders learn the activities and help our younger tamariki to rotate around and get them involved! It is a great way to build tuakana-teina relationships and to bring the Midhirst School community/whānau together! Who could forget our first house competition of tug of war too?!

                               Cricket term one:

We are lucky this term to have Ross from Stratford cricket club visit our kura fornightly to give our three junior classes some cricket lessons! We love trying a new sport (especially one of Miss W's favourites!), working on our hand-eye co-ordination and having some fun in the sunshine! Check us out absolutely smashing it!