Newsletter Term 4 Week 6

Bulls School School Newsletter Positivity-Respect-Integrity-Determination-Excellence NEWSLETTER TERM 1 WEEK 3 Kia ora e te whānau, What a fantastic start to the term we have had! It has been wonderful to see the energy, enthusiasm, and teamwork across our kura as our tamariki, staff, and whānau continue to achieve amazing things together. There is a real buzz around the school and it has been great to see everyone getting involved, supporting one another, and celebrating success. A special highlight recently has been our Aspiration Conversations. It was fantastic to see such amazing attendance from our whānau — thank you to everyone who made the time to come along. These conversations are a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from one another as we share ideas, hopes, and goals for the year ahead. By identifying the aspirations of our whānau, students, and staff together, we can build a shared pathway forward. This combined and unified approach reminds us all of the important role we each play in supporting our tamariki to flourish. Last week’s Swimming Carnival was a highlight! It was a fabulous day filled with smiles, encouragement, singing and fun. Our tamariki showed amazing team spirit as they supported their houses and peers. It was fantastic to see so many whānau there cheering them on. A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success. We’re also looking forward to our TRY-athlon tomorrow. The excitement is building already and we know it will be another fun-filled event where our tamariki can challenge themselves and support their friends. The Pizza lunch, organised by our amazing BSSG, is also definitely going to be a highlight for the day. Remember sausages, drinks and juicees will also be on sale during the event for our supporters. Keep an eye out as well for Rangitīkei Reads. You never know when or where you might spot a great book somewhere fabulous. It’s all part of the fun of celebrating reading across our school and community, so stay curious and see how many you can discover. Thank you whaea Leigh for yet another of your fabulous initiatives. As always at this time of year, there are quite a few bugs making their way around. Please take care of yourselves and your whānau. If you or your tamariki become unwell, the best place to be is at home resting and recovering. And please remember to contact the office if your tamariki is absent. Thank you for the wonderful support you continue to show our school. Together we are creating a positive, supportive place for our tamariki to learn, grow, and thrive. Ngā mihi nui Megan Syme Changes to Our School Newsletter We have been increasing the number of school events, updates, and reminders shared on our school Facebook page to help keep our community informed in a more timely way. We are also transitioning to the Hero platform in Term 2, which will allow us to share important information directly with whānau in a more streamlined and accessible format. As a result of these changes, we are considering removing our fortnightly school newsletter. Our goal is to ensure communication with our whānau remains clear, relevant, and easy to access, while avoiding duplication of information across multiple platforms. Before making any decisions, we would value feedback from our whānau. Please feel free to share your thoughts, suggestions, or any concerns about this proposed change. You can send your comments to the school office or speak with a member of the leadership team. Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to improve the way we communicate with our school community. Copyright © Bulls School 2026 Click here to unsubscribe. Powered by KiwiSchools 4.0 Call us on 06 322 1184 Email us at office@bulls.school.nz 200-202 Bridge Street Bulls 4818

Bulls School

School Newsletter

Positivity-Respect-Integrity-Determination-Excellence

2023 Term 4 Week 6

Kia ora koutou

This afternoon is our Community Information Evening. We plan to fit as much into 1 hour as we possibly can. We totally understand how busy this time of year is for everyone but we really do hope you can come along. You will hear information about the following 3 things…

Structured Literacy: You may have heard about this approach to teaching literacy on some platform. It has been on various news channels and discussed widely on different social media platforms. Bulls School was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to engage with Liz Kane a leader in the structured literacy space way back in 2017. We were early adaptors and there is firm research that sits behind this approach to teaching literacy skills to our tamariki. This approach works across the entire school so while it is more concentrated in junior school, it is also used in the senior school.

Community Consultation: Every year all schools must submit a strategic plan to the Ministry of Education along with Annual Plans focused on how we plan to achieve our goals. This is written over the summer holiday period so Term 4 is the perfect time to seek input from our tamariki, whānau, staff, and Board of Trustees. We have included a copy of the format for you to complete and send to the office if you are unable to be here tonight

PaCT: Included with the end of year report will be your child’s PaCT report for Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. These are produced for all Year 4 – 8 students. We don’t produce PaCT reports for the younger students because the data is inaccurate due to the assumption in the system that all Year 0-3 children at achieving ‘AT’. The reports can be a little challenging to decipher and this information session will give you a quick reference guide to help you see where your child is at and what their next steps are in each of the areas of learning.

Swimming: You will see that the term calendar now has swimming lessons included in it for our Year 5 – 8’s. Our students will travel by bus for their lessons to Marton Swim Centre. A typical New Zealand summer usually involves swimming or water sports and for us prioritising lessons for these students is something the Board of Trustees supports us to do. All costs involved are covered by our BoT’s. Alongside this, we fill our school pool in term 1 for our Years 1-4 lessons.

Teachers Only Day: Reminder, this is Friday 17th November and we will be working here on the school grounds with two other schools for the day. Our focus is the refreshed curriculum document Te Mātaiaho.

Please keep a close eye on the term calendar, it is being updated regularly and there is a lot happening! Thank you to those who came along to the Wearable Arts Display last week – the students (and staff) had lots of fun with that!

Ngā manaakitanga,

Kim Gordon, Tumuaki.

We would really appreciate your feedback. It helps to guide and inform our strategic planning. Even if you are unable to attend tonight’s information evening, can you please take a few minutes to jot down some of your thoughts and return this sheet to the box provided in the office. Ngā mihi nui.

Please check uniforms at home to make sure they belong to you. We have some misplaced ones that may have been taken to the wrong home by accident.

Please ensure your child’s uniform is clearly named.

Lunch in School

The Ministry provides free healthy lunches daily, you will need to provide morning tea and a water bottle for your child. Please let the office know of any dietary requirements, alternatively, you can opt-out of the Lunch Scheme by contacting the office and then provide your own healthy lunch.