Omanu Primary School NZ

Our classrooms were a buzz yesterday afternoon as whānau popped in to hear from their child/ren what learning has looked like this term ahead of our upcoming Learning Conversations on Tuesday 30 June and Thursday 2 July.

A reminder, we have another Celebration of Learning opportunity next Thursday, 25 June @ 2.20pm in case you were unable to attend this week.

"Unpredictability" was the 2026 Freshmoves theme. A massive congratulations to everyone involved in Fresh Moves last night. It was absolutely fantastic to see our tamariki owning the stage and seizing their moment with so much energy.

How cool that we had such strong interest from so many Year 5 & 6s that we needed to run two groups. Each group created their own take on the theme, choreographed the moves, and worked collaboratively to put on two amazing performances on the Baycourt stage.

A special thank you to our talented kaiako: Barb, Nicole, Bron, and Grace, for your dedication and hard work in making this unforgettable experience happen for our kids. Thank you also to the quiet supporters who are always there, lending a hand when needed.

Well done to our eight qualifiers for the WBOP XC who ran with determination and pride at this week's primary schools event.
Congratulations to the following runners who have qualified for the upcoming BOP XC: Y4 boys Niko - 9th, Y5 boys Evan 2nd; Hugo 7th; Year 6 boys Theo 14th.

A reminder of a few opportunities for you to come and engage with your learner and be a learner yourself; starting with tomorrow:

Wednesday 17 June
- 8.30 am and 1.30 pm are our second and third community hui to support your understanding of the new curriculum and reporting
- 2.20pm to spend some time with your learner so they can share with you recent learning ahead of our Learning Conversations in a couple of weeks' time

Thursday 25 June
- 2.20pm another opportunity to spend some time with your learner so they can share with you recent learning ahead of our Learning Conversations in a couple of weeks' time

Learning Conversations
Tuesday 30 June (School finishing at 1.30 pm) 1.45 pm - 6.45 pm
Thursday 2 July 3.00 pm - 6.45 pm

More information is in last week's newsletter.

Congratulations to our Omanu Chess Team, who competed for the first time at the Tauranga Regionals. The team, made up of Year 2-6s, has enjoyed sharing their skills, playing games, and having fun during their lunch breaks leading up to today.
It was a big day learning how a chess tournament runs, the buzz in the room of 120 players was cool! They played 7 games in a row, so you can imagine their brains were working overtime by the end of the day.
We are super proud of this team and the way they have supported each other and have made new friendships across the school.
We will share more information once we have the final results ;)

Thanks to our support team, who attended today .... they learnt lots too!

Kia ora Omanu Whānau,

What an awesome couple of weeks here at Omanu School.

Please check your email and/or OS app to view our Week 8, Term 2, 2026 Newsletter!

Have a great evening and a lovely weekend!

Room 9 had a great time this week making Rēwena bread, a traditional Māori bread made using potatoes harvested from our school garden.

Room 6 also contributed by preparing a delicious spinach dip using spinach and herbs grown in the garden.

Together, we shared our kai and enjoyed connecting through our inquiry learning while beginning our Matariki celebrations.

The Almighty Room 8 Potato Tower!

We have been learning about gardening, food storage and the Maramataka. We really wanted to grow potatoes, but it is the wrong time of year.

We found the solution...we built a potato growing tower in our class! We planted seed potatoes, and we are patiently watching and waiting.

The potatoes should be ready for harvest and eating at the beginning of Term 3! YUM!