WHAT'S ON TOP
Paremata School's Daily News
Term 1 - Week 9- 2026
Monday 31st March
Ko te Mane tēnei rā
te toru tekau ma tahi õ Māehe
WHAKAPONO KIA KOE
Believe in Yourself
Attitude Determines Altitude
Marley and Maria present Episode 1 of Wave TV 2026
We are celebrating a great Movin' March by trying to get as many people as possible to walk, wheel or park and stride to school on Tuesday 31 March. There may be a little Easter treat for anyone taking part...
It's great to see so many people walking, biking, and scootering to school.
Please remember to walk your bikes and scooters on school grounds before and after school. These are very busy times of day and this rules is to keep everyone safe.
REMEMBER TO BUY A TICKET FOR THE EASTER RAFFLE
Patrols
Things you will need to remember before going out on duty.
You must report for duty by 8:20 a.m. (mornings) and 2:50 p.m. (afternoons).
Uniforms (vests & jackets) must be zipped up at all times.
Follow the duty roster for your team to ensure everyone is contributing.
If you cannot make your duty day, it is your responsibility to find a replacement and inform Ian and Rachel before you are due for duty.
Under no circumstances are you to go out on road duty WITHOUT an adult.
Paper bins -
When you take your paper bins to be emptied, please leave your lid in your classroom
Compost-
Week 9: Kenudi, Braxton, Campbell, Tipene, Robbie M
Please collect bait from Rm 5 after lunch and check and rebait traps. Remember to wash your hands afterwards.
ICE BLOCKS FOR SALE - $1.00 – CASH ONLY
Due to some tamariki not eating their lunch on Friday no ice blocks can be purchased until after the 1.10pm lunch bell. All children must eat their lunch/ burger first before buying an ice block.
No online payments – cash only.
New Zealander of the Week...
FIELD & SENIOR FORT NOTICES
Please no running around corners - signs are back up! This includes when you are playing team tag. Be respectful of eachother!
A note from Matua Bryce:
Big Swing Timetable
Rāhina - Yr 3&4/ Kōwhai Team
Rātu - Yr 5&6/ Kauri Team
Rāapa -Yr 7&8/ Kahikatea Team
Rāpare -Yr 3&4/ Kōwhai Team
Rāmere - Yr 5&6/ Kauri Team
The Big Swing Timetable is in place from 8:20 a.m.
Duty Teachers
Morning Tea: Clare & Lisa
TERM 1 IMPORTANT DATES:
Week 8:
Thursday 26th March, Road Patrol Refresher in Room 15 at 9 am.
Book Fair Garden : Catch the Reading Bug open Monday 23rd - Friday 27th March
Week 9:
Paremata School Book Week - Monday 30th March - Thursday 2nd April
- Book Quiz every morn, entries to Emma C by 10:30am
- Author Visit - Fifi Colston Monday 30th March, 9:30-12:30 (see timetable below)
-Class window display
-Book Character Parade - Thursday 2nd April, 9:30am Netball Courts
Time | Year Group | Rooms |
9:40 - 10:15 approx | Years 1-4 | Miromiro (1A) Tui (2) Ruru (3) Korimako (4) Kereru (5) |
10:20 - 11:00 approx
| Years 5-8 | Kiwi (16) kids that go to Tech in the afternoon from:- Piwakawaka (6) Kotuku (7) Pukeko (8) |
Morning tea 11– 11.30 | ||
11:50 – 12:30 approx | Years 3-6 = | Kea (10) Kakariki (11) Kakapo (13) Takahe (14)
|
Book Character Parade - Thursday 2nd April, 9:00am Netball Courts
Class Library Timetable
Monday: Rūma Tui (2), Rūma Kakariki (11), Rūma Kea (10)
Tuesday: Rūma Kākāpō (13), Rūma Kiwi (16)
Wednesday: Ruma Takahē (14), Rūma Miromiro (1a)
Thursday: Rūma Rūrū (3), Rūma Korimako (4) Rūma Pukeko (8)
Friday: Rūma Kererū (5), Rūma Pīwakawaka (6), Rūma Kōtuku (7)
🌼🐞 The Book Fair Garden is NOW OPEN! 🐞🌼
Catch the Reading Bug and hop into our Reading Patch—a buzzing garden full of stories waiting to bloom!
Wander along our garden path and leaf through amazing books. You might crawl into a silly story that makes you giggle like a grasshopper, or get tangled in a thrilling adventure that spins a web of suspense!
Our shelves are swarming with stories for every busy bookworm:
🐛 Funny tales
🕷️ Spine-tingling adventures
🦋 Magical mysteries
🐝 Awesome facts and comics
Bring your family along and explore our hive of page-turning treasures. Dig up new favourites, branch out with something different, and share the stories you love.
The Scholastic Book Fair is also a wonderful opportunity to support our school while growing home libraries. Every purchase helps earn rewards that go toward adding new books to our school library
🌱 Let your imagination sprout
🌸 Watch your love of reading grow
🐞 And let the Reading Bug bite!
Come and bug out with books, get caught in a great story, and grow your reading garden!
✨ See you in the Reading Patch! ✨
From Emma the Book Bug 🐞
Monday 30th March – Thursday 2nd April
Leaves are falling, and it’s the perfect time to catch the reading bug! Our school is excited to celebrate our annual Book Week—a week full of fun, learning, and adventures through stories.
Throughout the week, students will be able to test their knowledge with daily quizzes, guess how many bugs are in the jar, showcase their creativity in the window display competition, and take part in the magical book character parade, where favourite characters leap from the page and come to life.
Whether you’re a budding bookworm or a seasoned story explorer, there’s something for everyone. Book Week encourages imagination, creativity, and the joy of reading—helping students develop a love of books that can last a lifetime.
We are also lucky enough to have a visit by Fifi Colston, on Monday 30th March, to talk to the whole school. Fifi Colston has had a varied career as writer, illustrator, poet, wearable arts designer, and costume props maker for the film & television industry. She is an award-winning junior-fiction novelist and illustrator of more than 30 children’s books, Her visit is provided free by the New Zealand Book Council with the support of Read NZ programmes.
| FIFI COLSTON |
For 30 years, she has designed amazing outfits for the World of Wearable Arts show, and she has won lots of prizes for her creative work. She studied art and design, especially drawing, and has illustrated many picture books for well-known New Zealand writers, like Pearl in a Whirl, Marvellous Marvin, and the Little Yellow Digger stories. Later, she learned even more about writing and became an author too! She writes fun stories for children and interesting true books. In 2019, she was chosen as a special Children’s Writer in Residence at Otago University. Some of her books, like Janie Olive: A Recipe for Disaster! and Glory, were recognised as top junior fiction stories. Her books about costumes, like Wearable Wonders and Ghoulish Getups, have also won awards. She has illustrated lots of other award-winning books as well! When she’s not busy creating, she enjoys visiting schools and community groups, where she helps young artists and writers learn how to be creative and share their ideas.
The Proud Puteketeke by Peter Millett and illustrated by Fifi Colston Every day Mama Duck proudly counts her clutch of six eggs, 'Tahi, rua, toru, whā, rima, ono'. But one day, there's a big surprise, ' Whitu?' A mysterious seventh egg arrives, and hatches a very strange little duckling who has zebra stripes, a red tuft on his head, and an extraordinary habit of eating his feathers and puking up stinky balls of fish bones. The other ducklings think he's ridiculous. Fed up with being laughed at, the little underbird decides to strike out on his own, but there are dangerous predators about. And will he ever find a friend who'll accept him in spite of all his quirks? Inspired by the real-life story of how the Southern crested grebe came back for the brink of extinction. Nadia Lim's Marvin makes a friend by Nadia Lim and illustrated by Fifi Colston  No longer a newly hatched chick, teenage Marvin is trying to find his flock. He meets many animals on the farm, but will any of them be Marvin's friend...and who will be Marvin's family? Inspired by a true story. Torty and the soldier: a story of a true WW11 soldier by Jennifer Beck and illustrated by Fifi Colston Meet To rty! She's one tough little tortoise with a beat-up shell and some missing toes. Torty survived a great war that raged in Europe one hundred years ago. Torty was rescued back then by a young Kiwi soldier. She is truly a World War One survivor. |
She has had a varied career as writer, illustrator, poet, wearable arts designer, and costume props maker for the film & television industry. She
Jim, a soldier on the Western Front in World War I, is wounded while charging through No Man's Land. He stumbles into a shell crater for shelter and finds a badly wounded German soldier. The two men try to help each other, but it's Nipper, the messenger dog, whose gallantry gives them a chance for survival. A sophisticated picture book.