Awapuni School - Gisborne

On behalf of Tairāwhiti Cultural Festival and Events (TCFE), I am pleased to invite you to our upcoming community event, Hiroshima Exhibition, which will be held at Lawson Field Theatre Rose Room from 4th July 2026.

This exhibition presents photographic posters from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, inviting visitors to reflect on the human impact of war, connect with the experiences of others, and consider the future we are shaping together.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 4 July to 12 July 2026, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm daily. An opening pōwhiri will be held at 11:00 am on 4 July 2026.

Year 5/6 hockey draw for tonight whānau!

We will see you there at 4.45 ready to go 🏑

Kia ora whānau, please make sure you read this whole notice regarding our involvement with Harrison Tew

Here is our latest newsletter whanau.
Only 2 weeks until the holidays, which for us start early as Friday 3rd July as this is a Teacher Only Day.

What a way to end a massive week. Our little bucket fillers. Nga mihi ki a koutou

Here is the Football draw for Saturday 20th June

18 June 2026

Kia ora koutou te whānau,

On behalf of Awapuni School, I want to provide some clarity on the major changes currently occurring in New Zealand education. As you may know, the Ministry of Education Te Tāhuhu o Te Mātauranga recently introduced refreshed national curriculums for English/Te Reo Rangatira and Mathematics & Statistics/Pāngarau.

Alongside these significant changes, completely new assessment frameworks and reporting progressions are being developed to align with these updated expectations across Aotearoa.

Navigating this transition has presented immense challenges for schools nationwide, as we simultaneously adapt to new documents, timelines, and tracking structures. We want to share exactly where Awapuni School sits and how we are managing these updates to best support your child.

At the start of this year, the refreshed frameworks for English/Te Reo Rangatira and Mathematics & Statistics/Pāngarau were introduced. Our teaching team has been working hard to unpack these documents and weave them directly into our classroom programmes to ensure learning remains engaging and robust.

The Ministry has also introduced a new assessment system called the SMART Tool. Because it was released to schools this term, the Ministry has allowed a transition period for 2026. Awapuni School is therefore using our established, e-asTTle, Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT’s), PMAT and DIBELS formats to guide us in assessing student progress. Behind the scenes, our kaiako and tamariki will be trialing the SMART Tool later this year to ensure a smooth, confident transition towards the end of year and for a thorough roll out in 2027.

To align with new national standards, your child’s mid-year report will look quite different. We are moving to five national progress descriptors: Emerging, Developing, Consolidating, Proficient, and Exceeding. Because these descriptors measure where a child needs to be by the end of the school year, a mid-year report may look lower than what you might normally expect. This is simply because they are only halfway through the year’s work and our ‘goal posts keep shifting’.

Please be assured that this new description level is not a reflection of your child’s effort or ability, nor is it a reflection of the competency of our kaiako. Our teachers will continue to use their professional judgement, daily observations, and classroom evidence to understand and support each child. They will be able to provide information on your child’s progress against the new curriculum.

We anticipate and feel confident that by Term 4, we will have a much clearer picture of how student learning aligns with the refreshed national reporting progressions and curriculum, and this clarity will grow even further into 2027.

We appreciate your patience, trust, and partnership as we navigate this transition together. We look forward to discussing your child’s learning journey during our upcoming whānau learning conversations.
He waka eke noa, we are in this together.
Be well,

Kahu Walker
Principal/Tumuaki

https://www.tonuicollab.com/holiday-workshops

- Tōnui Collab - JULY 2026 SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
9am - 3pm | $50 per child per day | Tōnui Collab, 466 Childers Road

All workshops currently have availability, if you have problems with booking, contact [email protected]

Monday 6 July - Virtual Reality
Tamariki will explore a range of different Virtual Reality experiences and experiment with creating a VR experience of their own. The workshop will cover concepts of UX design, storytelling and 3D content creation. Tamariki will be able to share their VR experiences with friends and whānau after the workshop.

Tuesday 7 July - Game Development

Tamariki will collaboratively design and build a retro arcade-style game. The workshop will cover game narrative, block-based coding, character creation and UX design. Tamariki will be able to share their games with friends and whānau after the workshop.

Wednesday 8 July - 3D Modelling
Tamariki will be introduced to the basics of 3D modelling and experiment with various modelling techniques in both digital and unplugged environments. Tamariki will be able to share some of their designs with friends and whānau after the workshop.
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Thursday 9 July - Digital Art
Tamariki will experiment with digital art app Procreate to create a contemporary digital art piece. Tamariki will be able to share their completed artworks with friends and whānau after the workshop.

HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS | TŌNUI Collab TŌNUI Collab invites children 7+ to create, construct, test and prototype. Our workshops encourage children to explore the diversity of STEMM - science, technology, engineering, mathematics and mātauranga Māori through the experimentation and creation of animation, engineering, game development, ...

Matariki Celebration TOMORROW!!!🤩
Tēnā koutou e te whānau,
Tomorrow is our Matariki Celebration Day!
I have had a few questions asked, so posting to clarify 😊
M***i:
It is a m***i day tomorrow, come to school dressed up in your Matariki best! It can be as extravagant as you would like, it is completely up to you how much you want to get dressed up.
No, you DO NOT need to bring a gold coin for tomorrow.
Disco:
⭐️The disco is during school time.
Torearea- 1:40pm to 2:10pm
Wūkeko 2:20pm to 2:45pm
⭐️If your tamaiti wants to bring glow sticks or any other special things FOR THE DISCO. They can keep them in their bags and then get them out after lunch.
⭐️There will be NO FOOD at the disco, we are just going to have a kanikani.
⭐️The disco is free!
Buddy Class:
This is a school day, the children are required to stay at school all day. During the middle block they will be spending time with their Buddy Class.
Whānau showcase:
This is a time for you to come in and see what we have done for Matariki, as well as us showing some waiata. After the showcase is finished, we ask that you are prompt with your departure, as we will need to move onto the next part of our celebration.
We are so excited for tomorrow and we know that the tamariki are too!!!
See you all there! 😁

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