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…

  1. care & nurture for the school environment around us,

  2. care, nurture & support each other and how we talk and treat each other,

  3. 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