Whiringa-ā-rangi 2025
November Newsletter

Classes for 2026 (and a few changes)

Class placements

Students will find out who their 2026 teacher is on the last day of school, Dec 12th. Class placements are a complex process where multiple factors have to be taken into consideration. The mahi done to create class lists is done at all times with sincerity and with the interests of your children at the forefront of our minds.

There may be a settling in period for your child at the beginning of the new school year. We all understand that change and building relationships takes time and we know it may come with some apprehension of what is new and different; we can assure you that all of our teachers are excited and ready for 2026! 

With that in mind, we wanted to announce some staffing changes for next year:

Senior Leadership Team 

We extend our deepest gratitude to Nick Gill who is moving on after an incredible 11 years of dedicated service to WPS, including 6 years as Deputy Principal. Nick's commitment to our school community has been immense. He is taking on a new role as a Digital Technology teacher at Marist College—a subject area he is deeply passionate about and recently completed his Masters in. We wish him all the best in this exciting new chapter.

We are delighted to announce that Lucy Linton will be stepping up as our Acting Deputy Principal for 2026. Lucy is a much-loved and highly-effective teacher who has demonstrated strong leadership as the Whānau Leader for Pohutukawa. We are incredibly excited to support her as she brings her passion and leadership to the Deputy Principal role.

Whānau Pohutukawa

Whānau Pohutukawa will be separating into dedicated Year 3 and Year 4 classes next year, and we are thrilled to announce that Hannah Pragert will be taking on the role of Whānau Leader in Pohutukawa. Congratulations to Hannah on this big step.

We sadly farewell Jane De Garnham as she makes the move out of Auckland at the end of this year. Jane will be hugely missed and we wanted to acknowledge her contribution to our Enviroschools programme with Gardening Club, Shade House and more. All the best to Jane and her move south. 

A warm welcome back to Ella Nipper, who joins the Whanau Pohutukawa team! Many of you may remember Ella from her excellent student teaching placement in Room 8 in 2024. We are excited to officially have Ella aboard.

We are also pleased to welcome Jamie Cunnington to the Whanau Pohutukawa team. Jamie brings a wealth of experience, joining us from Sunnyvale School.

Whānau Harakeke

Hazel Mcculloch will be sadly leaving us after three years in Whānau Harakeke, including two years as the team leader. Her enthusiasm for health and sports has been a wonderful contribution to the school. Hazel has made a real difference with so many of our students and she will be greatly missed by all of us.

Caitlyn Crivelli is looking to work a bit closer to her home on the North Shore next year. We sincerely thank Caitlyn for her caring approach to teaching and the strong, positive relationships she built with her students this year.

We warmly welcome Jennie Chatfield to the team as the new Whānau Leader for Harakeke and Year 5&6 teacher. Jennie is a highly experienced educator joining us from Ponsonby Intermediate School. We are confident her expertise and positive attitude will make her a fantastic fit for the team.

Finally, we are pleased to share that Nicola Calvin will be moving from New Entrants to the Year 5/6 team next year. Nicola has been a wonderful addition to the school, particularly by successfully opening the New Entrants class in Room 3 in the latter part of 2025.

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With these changes in mind, please note that Year 3 and Year 5 students will not necessarily have the same teacher as they have had this year. We will be looking at new combinations for 2026 with new staff coming on board and as always, we try to find the best fit for every child. 

Special Farewell Assembly

Please note the date for our assembly to acknowledge and celebrate the staff who are leaving: Thursday December 11th @ 9:30 AM.

Wātaka | Calendar

Bake sales

Stolen Defibrillator (AED)

Health advice – Recall of coloured sand products containing asbestos

Athletics Day

Football Tournament 

by Kevin Zhang 

On Thursday 30th of October, people arrived at 8:30am to get ready for the amazing football tournament. When everyone got to school, we did the roll and then we got on the bus. On the bus ride, I sat next to Raymond and we saw some kids doing ¨67”to us. When we got to Crum park, we set up our gazebo and then made our way towards the briefing.

 When we finished the briefing, my team had our first game against Fruitvale. Soon the game started and we immediately scored and by half time the score was 2-0 and we  were confident that we were going to win this match. When the second half started, Cooper got his hat trick and Joshiah also scored his very own goal. 

By the end of the game we won 4-0! When we finished, we watched the A team play, and they won. Then we had some morning tea and had some rest. After that, we had our second game and we were doing great in the first half and with the second half, our team was winning and at the end we won 3-2.

Soon we were down cheering for the D team but sadly they lost 2-1 but that was only their first game. After having a quick break, we got to our 3rd game which we tied 1-1. We were worried that we were not going to make it in the semi-finals. But in our 4th game we lifted our spirits and we won  2-1 and we were in the finals! 

When we were in the finals, we were so excited that we called the A team to watch our game. As soon as the game started, everyone cheered for us but sadly we lost 1-0 so we came second and we were quite satisfied. At the end of the tournament, A team came 3rd, B team came 2nd, C team came 2nd and D team came 4th and on the way back everyone was really happy.

When we got back to school, everyone questioned ’how did you go? Did you win?´ Then all of us said that it was a very good tournament.

China Cultural Exchange 2025

We are incredibly proud to celebrate the success of our recent cultural exchange trip to China with eight of our Year 6 students: Zoe, Arie, Irie-Mei, Alec, Hector, Coen, Alexis, and Lily. The epic 8-day adventure began with a major highlight, visiting the vibrant city of Shanghai and the magic of Disneyland. We then carried on our journey to Hangzhou to visit our sister school, Danfeng Experimental Primary School. This was a special opportunity for our students to experience a 3-night homestay, reconnecting with the very students they had hosted here in New Zealand earlier this year. Our group also visited another welcoming school in Ningbo for a day before returning to Shanghai to fly home. Throughout the entire journey, our students did both us and themselves proud, demonstrating remarkable resilience and flexibility as they embraced significant cultural differences and experiences such a long way from home. They were, without a doubt, amazing ambassadors for our school and our country. 

Click here to see a video of the amazing experiences our tamariki had at our sister school.