
Principal’s Address
January 24, 2025
Term 1 2025 Start
Kia ora koutou
Introduction & new staff
A warm welcome back from a well deserved break that I hope was filled with great times had with whānau and friends. I hope you’re feeling refreshed and are excited about the new year ahead. I know I certainly am! In particular, having so many new and talented staff joining us for 2025. See the list below.
Carley Bird |
Hauora Coordinator |
Rebecca Whatley |
Te Whare Ako Learning Area Head |
Paul Assur |
Health & PE Teacher |
Jhea Dela Cruz |
Arts/Social Science Teacher |
Brittany Buttenshaw |
Arts/Social Science Teacher |
Jannah Dennison |
Itinerant Music Teacher |
Tali Josephs |
English & Specialist Classroom Teacher |
Rose Sawaya |
Specialist Learning Support Teacher |
Ryan Strugnell |
Math Teacher |
Joanne Te Morenga |
Assistant Principal |
Manuel Robles |
Technology Teacher |
Jo Leiper |
Business Manager |
A massive Mana welcome to all of our new students and whānau, in particular our new year 9 cohort of whom we have 94 already enrolled. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you on to our marae at 9am on Thursday 30th next week.
Important starting dates
Date & time |
Event & Who |
Location |
Wednesday 29th January 9am – 1pm |
Tuakana Training Yr12/13 Tuakana |
Mana Marae |
Thursday 30th January 9am – 3:20pm |
Opening Pōwhiri for the year All Year 9, new students, & Tuakana |
Mana Marae |
Thursday 30th January 11am – 2pm |
Assembly and Course Confirmation All Year 10, 11, 12 & 13 students |
School Hall to start |
Friday 31st January 9am – 3:20pm |
Year 9 Orientation programme cont. All Year 9 students and Tuakana |
Start at WĀ class |
Friday 31st January 11am – 2pm |
Assembly and Mauri Ora sign ups All Year 10, 11, 12 & 13 students |
School Hall to start |
Monday 3rd February 9am – 3:20pm |
Normal school timetable starts All students across all year levels |
Start at WĀ class |
School uniform
Full school uniform is to be worn by all students for all events from Thursday 30th January. Year 12 & 13 Tuakana can wear mufti for the Tuakana training on Wednesday 29th January.
School Lunches
You may have seen in the media stories covering the rollout of Healthy Lunches in Schools. Mana College is still part of this initiative. All students will receive a free school lunch every day of the school year starting next Thursday 30th January. Many of these meals will be served hot and all dietary requirements will be catered for. If you have not already indicated special dietary requirements for your child(ren) please do so via this link https://forms.gle/zjiTjFVUMN7C29RH7
As part of this initiative, all the tin foil trays that the food comes in can be recycled and scraps can be composted. Please encourage your child(ren) to make sure they return their tin foil tray to the lunch container provided. This will enable recycling and composting to take place. We want to look after our school and keep it clean and tidy, plus look after our environment.
Devices, Phones & Stationery
We are a BYOD (Bring your own device) school and we expect every student to have their own device. All year 10 students are expected to have their device with them from Thursday 30th January, all year 9 students from Friday 31st January and all senior students from Monday 3rd February. For more information on how to obtain a device please email Janine Laumua on janinel@mana.school.nz .
We are a ‘Phone away for the day’ school and we expect students not to have their phones at school. We have found that this makes a massive difference to the learning experience & engagement of students at school. Not only is more learning achieved but students interact more positively with each other as a result.
OfficeMax have our stationery requirements already loaded into the system https://www.myschool.co.nz/manacol. Please see the school website for more information about stationery requirements for the year across all year levels. https://www.mana.school.nz/uniform-stationery-byod/
Conclusion
Next week is a busy one. We aim to ‘hit the ground running’ starting Monday 3rd February with normal timetabled classes. Please encourage your child(ren) to be on time to all events.
Finally, a major theme and word for me this year is ‘kaitiakitanga / tiaki’, where everyday from the moment students, staff, whānau and visitors walk through our gates that we…
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care & nurture for the school environment around us,
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care, nurture & support each other and how we talk and treat each other,
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nurture, support & grow the knowledge, skills and precious learning of many
I encourage you to korero with your child(ren) about the above. I believe if we all show this care and support for the environment, each other and the learning we’ll not only have students growing into the best they can be but we will also become a flourishing school community.
Ngā mihi
Jeff Chapman
Tumuaki Mana College