Newsletter 29 October 2026

Takapuna Primary

School Newsletter

Mā te pā ka taea te whakatipu te tamaiti
It takes a village to raise a child

Principal’s Message

Welcome to what is shaping up to be an action-packed, fun-filled term! We have a fantastic lineup of events coming up:

Diwali Celebration School Disco Athletics Day Tryathlon

Beach Trip Christmas Family Picnic

Keep an eye out for specific dates, times, and volunteer opportunities in our upcoming Hero updates. We can’t wait to see you all there!

Student Celebrations

Spring has sprung and we are doing some really amazing writing about what we love about the season. We are clever writers in 6D!

After School Hours Supervision

We are thrilled to keep our school grounds open after 3:00 PM so families and children can enjoy the community space. However, we have noticed a growing number of children left unattended without adult supervision.

Please remember that any children remaining on school grounds after hours must be actively supervised by a parent or adult guardian at all times. Our school staff cannot manage after-hours supervision, safety concerns, or conflict resolution once the school day ends. Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Leaving TPS?

As we plan ahead for 2027, organising our classes and staffing relies heavily on knowing our student numbers for next year.

If your family is moving, or your child will not be returning to Takapuna Primary School, please let us know as soon as possible.

Having this information now allows us to build balanced classrooms and ensure a smooth transition for all our students.

Please send a quick email to the school office at office@tps.school.nz or let your child’s classroom teacher know.

2027 Stationery Planning

As we head into Term 4, we are already looking ahead and planning for 2027. One area we recently reviewed is how we can make the start of the school year as smooth and stress-free as possible for everyone when it comes to school stationery.

We previously shared an approach used successfully by a number of other schools: purchasing stationery in bulk directly through our supplier and paying via the Hero app.

As we have not received any feedback or concerns regarding this proposal, we are now planning to move forward with this process for the 2027 school year. Further information will be provided in the next newsletter.

**PLEASE NOTE**

FRIDAY SUSHI WILL BE CLOSED TEMPORARILY FOR ORDERS ON

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER

**YOU CAN STILL ORDER LUNCH ON THE ABOVE DATES, WITH EZLUNCH**

Can you help, on the day or night?

If you can help, even for an hour, please get in touch with the SCG at scg@tps.school.nz.

Even a little time or a few extra hands could make all the difference!

Get ready to dress to impress, sparkle like a star and walk the red carpet!

We’re so excited to invite our Year 1–6 students to a fabulous Hollywood-themed school disco!

TICKETS – ONLY $5 PER CHILD!

FOOD, GLAM & FUN!

Purchase coupons for delicious food and get glammed up for the disco!

PRIZES TO BE WON!

There will be exciting prizes up for grabs on the night, so bring your best Hollywood style!

IMPORTANT PARENT INFORMATION

Due to the capacity of the school hall, we kindly ask that only one parent or caregiver attends with each child/family.

We’re looking forward to an amazing night filled with music, dancing, glamour and Hollywood magic!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, DISCO!

Grab your tickets through Kindo now — we can’t wait to see you on the red carpet!

HELPING AT Home – Mathematics (Year 3-6)

Click here – Maths Portal for parents

You can use the website to help your child practice what they have learned at school.

It is best to work together on the year level your child has just finished at school, not the year they’re about to start.
Short, regular sessions will help build confidence with Maths. This can be 10 to 15 minutes sessions, 3 to 5 times a week.
After your child completes each question or puzzle, you will see a summary page suggesting next steps.
You can use the Maths practice site on your tablet, laptop or phone.

The Maths practice website is a pilot that will run until the end of December 2026 so we can see how useful it is for families.

NZC Maths practice

Important Dates

Week 3 – Friday 30 October Diwali Celebrations (3:00pm-5:00pm)

Week 4 – 4th – 6th November Year 5 & 6 Camp

Week 5 – Tuesday 10 November Athletics Day

Friday 13 November School Disco

(*yr 1-4 4:30pm-5:30pm *yr 5/6 5:45pm-7:00pm)

Week 7 Friday 27 November School Triathalon

Week 8 Thursday 3 December Annual School Beach Picnic

Week 9 – Tuesday 8 December Year 6 Graduation (from 1:30pm)

Week 10 – Wednesday 16 December Last day of Term 4 (3:00pm)

Click here for School Calendar

Stay Connected!

We believe we are a team! If you have a question, a worry, or some feedback for us, my door is always open.

Please feel free to catch me for a chat or drop me an email at devikat@tps.school.nz

We love hearing from you directly. It is always the fastest and most postive way to solve problems, support your child, and make our school the best it can be.

If you hear another parent sharing a worry or a concern, please kindly encourage them to reach out to me directly too!

Thank you for partnering with us to keep our school community supportive, positive, and connected!

TPS Sports

TPS Sports Calendar for Term 4

Whole School

TPS Athletics Carnival (year 1-6) – Tuesday 10th November at Onewa Domain Athletics inner field. All learners will bus to and from TPS to Onewa Domain.

Kiwi/Tui (Year 1-3)- 10:15am – 1:30pm Kereru/Tui (Year 4-6) 10:15am- 2:00pm

Athletics Carnival day volunteers are needed to help out at the field events and running race marshalls, if you can help please email sports@tps.school.nz.

Gazebos for Athletics Carnival – if you have a gazebo you can drop to Onewa Domain by 8:00am and then collect by 1:30pm we would like to hear from you. Please email sports@tps.school.nz

TPS TRYathlon open to Year 1-6 students – Friday 27th November at TPS. If you would like to enter your child register here. If you registered your child in Term 1 there is no need to re-register again.

A list of all registered athletes will be emailed to your child’s teacher.
Times (**these are estimated times and may change slightly on the day)
Race Times – Kiwi- 9:15am-10:00am Tui 10:15am-11:15am Kereru 11:30am-1:00pm
More information will be posted on Hero in Week 6.

TPS Run Club – Every Wednesday morning at 8:00am, leaving from the blue gates on Collins Street. Registrations for Term 4 are here, join us for early morning Takapuna beach runs!! Welcome to all our new runners for Term 4.

After School Sports

Touch Rugby
Takapuna Flyers- what a great start to the season, going down 3-2 to Kura Taika with a last minute try disallowed!
Takapuna Turbo’s – A new team and many playing their first game of touch rugby, congrats on winning against Forrest Hill 9-2.

North Harbour Basketball Semester 2
Slam Dunks 26 v CBS Airs 16- what a
great game to win team.

Takapuna Stars 16 v Marlborough Bulls 32
Slam Dunks 32 v Glamorgan Dragonballers 32
Takapuna Alley Oops 40 v Glamorgan Warriors 21

Takapuna Tigers 25 v Long Bay Bulls 24

Netball – Spring League

Takapuna Tulips started off well in the Spring League against a strong opposing team. They were neck and neck at the end of the second quarter with some really great work from both teams. The third quarter was a good battle, but the Tulips worked together to pull ahead and secure the win, 11-7.

TPS In Action

Run club along Takapuna beach on Wednesday was epic and then we taught the runners how to skim stones.

Jump Jam led by the Seniors, lots of fun!

Parent Portal

Parent Portal:

The Parent Portal is an online platform that provides parents and whānau with easy-to-use resources and tools to support their child’s education at home. You can find more information on the Parent Portal online: https://www.education.govt.nz/parents-and-caregivers/schools-year-0-13/parent-portal

School Policies:

Each term, the whole school community is invited to review and comment on specific policies and procedures. This feedback is captured using the review button on topics that are under review. The review topics for each term are listed on the Current Review and Review Instructions page.

General Feedback:

At any time, members of the school community can send general feedback on a topic to the school by clicking the green feedback button on the top right of the page. Visit the Schooldocs website.

Username: takapunaprimary Password: deedsnotwords

Like us

Did you know that bottle tops and container lids can no longer be recycled in your curbside bins?

But the good news is, they can still be recycled and our school is a collection point!

Here are few tips:

Separate plastic from metal
Remove from ziplock/plastic bags before placing in the boxes
Lids should be clean and dry
YES: Flip-top/hinged caps, Screw caps, Milk bottle caps, Ice cream container lids, Yoghurt and dip lids, Supplement bottle lids, Household cleaning lids, Shampoo & cosmetic lids, Felt tip lids, Crown caps (bottle caps), Jar lids, Ring pull caps, Wire from sparkling drinks, Metal screw top caps, Aluminium lids, Wine lids, Food tin lids
NO: pumps or triggers, coffee cup lids, coffee pods, glass

Bonus:

We’ll win a $1000 cash prize from Resource Recovery Devonport if our school collects the most per capita this year!

IN THE OFFICE

School Donations

An investment in our students

Our mission at Takapuna Primary School is to deliver a great quality learning environment that supports a quality education. To support this, we are seeking your help.

Your school donations make a very real difference to us as a state-funded public school. Our basic costs are met by the Ministry of Education, but it’s the money we receive from our school community that really allows us to provide opportunities, equipment and teaching beyond what is funded by the government.

The school donation for 2026 is $260 per student, or $420 for families with two or more students.

We can arrange weekly, fortnightly, or monthly instalments via internet banking if this helps spread the cost. Importantly, donations are tax deductible so approximately one third of every donation can be claimed back as a tax credit. That means for a $260 donation you receive $86 back in your wallet. Your actual donation cost is just $174.

To make your donation payments please go to the ‘Hero’ app and click on ‘Student Billing’. Alternatively, any payments can also be made directly into the school bank account 12 3026 0792484 00 – if doing so, please ensure you include your child’s name and ‘donation’ as reference on the payment.

Any queries regarding payments can be directed to our accounts team: accounts@tps.school.nz

If you would like to know more about how the School Board operates, and/or would be interested in understanding how else you can help, please contact: takapunaboard@tps.school.nz

IMPORTANT……..

If your child is LATE (after 8:58am), please make sure they sign in at the office upon arriving at school.

If they are RETURNING to school after an appointment offsite, they MUST sign in at the office BEFORE going to their classroom.

REMEMBER……..

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE ALWAYS HAVE CURRENT PARENT CONTACT DETAILS ON FILE.

IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT THAT WE ARE UPDATED IF YOUR CHILD HAS ANY NEW MEDICAL INFORMATION WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF.

If you moved to a new house, changed your mobile phone number or if your child has any NEW medical information we should be aware of, please email office@tps.school.nz

(since 1879)

Did you know that we used to have different buildings at our school. This one was were the spider web is.

This photo was saved in our archives.

The photo was taken in 1922, over 100 years ago.

This building no longer stands. It used to be in Hurstmere Road, the main road in Takapuna.

TPS turns 150 in 2029!

Are you a Facebook or Social Media Whizz?

Takapuna Primary School Alumni Network needs your help!

TPS recently launched an alumni group on Facebook. We’re just in the beginning stages and we need someone who can assist with the growth of the group by attracting members. The objectives of the TPS Alumni Network are:

Build a database of TPS alumni
Develop connections with TPS’s current staff and students
Enhance current students’ understanding of TPS’s history
Offer fundraising opportunities for alumni to invest so TPS can continue its high-quality educational standards
Promote TPS’s brand in the community
Host alumni events
Begin the path towards TPS’s 150th reunion in 2029
Create an online archive of TPS class photos, memorabilia etc.