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Ko te Rāhina tēnei rā te
tua toru o Hereturikōkā
Monday 3rd August
Term 3 Week 3 2026
"Toia Mai Te Waka Nei" is a waiata about teamwork. It reminds us that, like people pulling a waka together, we are stronger when we work together, help one another, and never give up.
Nau mai, haere mai ki tō mātou akomanga.
Welcome to our classroom.
He harikoa ahau ki te kite i a koe.
I am very pleased to see you.
Kaiako can use this greeting to welcome whānau to the learning conversations taking place this week and next
Kia ora tamariki
I have noticed that our school environment is not as tidy as it can be due to students not using the bins or taking food wrappers onto the field and dropping them on the grass. A big thank you to the football boys who cleaned the field up for me last Tuesday when the bell rang.
Sadly on Friday I noticed a number of ice block sticks on the ground which was disappointing.
Please can we have a big improvement from today to take care of our environment and do the right thing with your rubbish.
Matua
Kaua e wareware:
- Term 2 and 3 - Please stay off the field before school to give it a chance to dry out and avoid mud and grass through the classrooms.
- Stop and check before crossing drive through entrances and exits.
- The hall is out of bounds at lunchtime. Please use the outdoor areas and other designated spaces instead.
- When playing tag please slow right down and walk around corners.
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Europe's summer of extraordinary heat and drought has pushed some of its rivers to record lows, revealing long-submerged relics from ancient bones to century-old shipwrecks.
The remains of what's believed to be an ancient mammoth were discovered Wednesday on the newly exposed riverbed of the Danube in northern Bulgaria, after the river plunged to record lows.
The director of the Regional History Museum in the nearby town of Ruse said the discovery consists of a lower jaw, two tusks and potentially a rib, according to Reuters, citing local media reports. The bones will now be tested to confirm the find.
The Danube also runs through Croatia, where receding water has revealed the skeleton of a cargo ship called the Fulton, which was transporting coal down the river when it sank in 1937.
And in Serbia, the shrunken river has exposed the remains of a sunken Nazi warship.
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When you take your ipu pepa to be emptied, please leave your lid in your classroom.
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Week 3: Havish, Will, Temes, Boston
Please collect the masks and gloves from Ursula after lunch on Thursday and return them when you have finished.
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Please collect bait from Rm 5 after lunch and check and rebait traps. Remember to wash your hands afterwards.
You are welcome to check traps on other days and deal with any catches.
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Kai iti: Emma and Jacqui R
Kai nui: Michelle and Lila
Tārere nui timetable is in place from 8.20am. No helmet, no wheels.
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Week 3: Tuesday 4 August - Parent-teacher interviews. School closes at 1pm.
Week 4: Maths Week
Week 7: Friday 4 September - tarapekepeke hui
Commonwealth Games 2026 Update
Gold Medals
- Lewis Clareburt: Men's 200m butterfly
- Lewis Clareburt: Men's 400m individual medley
- Zoe Hobbs: Women's 100m sprint with a record-breaking time of 10.93 seconds
- Emma Foy and Jessie Hodges: Women's Sprint Para-Sport B Tandem
- David Liti: Men's +110kg weightlifting with a record 389kg combined lift
Silver Medals
- Lewis Clareburt: Men's 200m individual medley
- Erika Fairweather: Women's 400m freestyle
- Erika Fairweather: Women's 1500m freestyle
- Erika Fairweather: Women's 800m freestyle
- Joshua Willmer: Men's 100m breaststroke SB9
- Cameron McTaggart: Men's 88kg weightlifting
- Lauren Bruce: Women's hammer throw
- Tom Walsh: Silver in the men's shot put
- Bryony Botha, Emily Shearman, Ally Wollaston, Pru Fowler, and Sami Donnelly: Women's Team Pursuit Squad
Bronze Medals
- Erika Fairweather: Women's 200m freestyle
- Hazel Ouwehand: Women's 50m butterfly
- Caitlin Deans, Erika Fairweather, Milana Tapper, Eve Thomas: Women's 4x200m freestyle relay
- Azure Anderson, Ella Fotu, Eva Langton, Sharne Pupuke-RobatiWomen's: 3x3 Basketball Team
- Marshall Erwood, Keegan Hornblow, George Jackson, Daniel Morton, Tom Sexton, Nick Kergozou: Men's 4000m team pursuit
- Nicole Murray : Women's C4-C5 400m individual pursuit
- Anna Grimaldi: Women's 100m T47
Zoe Hobbs is the fastest New Zealand women’s 100m sprinter of all-time and the first and only woman athlete in Oceania to run the 100m in under 11 seconds.
Born in Stratford, Taranaki, Hobbs is now based in Auckland where she is coached by James Mortimer.
She has competed at the highest international level, including the Olympic Games, the World Athletics Indoor Championships (where she came within 0.01 seconds of a medal), the Commonwealth Games and multiple World Athletics Championships.
Across her career, Zoe has established 28 New Zealand records, often improving on her own previous marks.
She reached the 100m final at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, a landmark for New Zealand women's sprinting, finishing fifth. Zoe then made her Olympic debut at the Paris 2024 Games, the first kiwi female to do so since the 1970s.
Hobbs competed in four Diamond League meetings in 2025, finishing third in Monaco and sixth in the Diamond League final in Zurich. In 2026, Hobbs won the 100m at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Darwin. In June 2026, Hobbs claimed her second-ever Diamond League podium with a third-placed finish at the Bislett Games in Oslo.
Hobbs has won nine consecutive 100m national titles since 2017. Her personal best, as well as the New Zealand and Oceania record, is 10.94 seconds, set in 2025 at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic.
Away from athletics, Hobbs studied at Massey University in Auckland, graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Human Nutrition.
Glasgow 2026 will be Hobbs' second Commonwealth Games.
Lauren Bruce is a five-time national champion, Oceania record holder, two-time Olympian as well as a World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games representative.
Born in Christchurch, she has represented New Zealand at both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, building a record of consistent international performances across two full Olympic cycles.
Off the field, Lauren works at a school, teaching parkour, gymnastics and trampoline to junior students. She also coaches throws in the senior school during athletics season.
Bruce is coached by Kirsten Hellier.
Glasgow 2026 will be Bruce's second Commonwealth Games.
Lewis Clareburt (Waikato-Tainui) is a swimming World Champion, Olympic finalist, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and one of the most accomplished New Zealand swimmers of his generation. Arriving at Glasgow 2026 for his third Commonwealth Games, the Wellingtonian boasts a remarkable résumé that includes a world title, four Commonwealth Games medals, two of them gold, and three Olympic finals.
Born in Wellington in 1999, Clareburt attended Scots College and was coached from a young age by Gary Hollywood. The pair worked together for many years before Clareburt moved to Auckland in 2023 in search of better training facilities and a more competitive swimming environment, where he was coached by Mitch Nairn.
At the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, he finished 10th overall in the 200m Butterfly after placing 16th in the opening round. In the 200m Individual Medley, he qualified ninth fastest, progressed through to the final and produced a New Zealand record of 1min 57.06s to finish fifth. He narrowly missed another 400m Individual Medley final after placing 10th in the heats.
Away from the pool, Clareburt also excelled in surf lifesaving, representing Lyall Bay Surf Club from the age of 13. He competed in events including the 2017 International Surf Rescue Challenge at Mount Maunganui and the 2017 World Rescue Championships in the Netherlands. He was selected to represent New Zealand at the 2022 World Championships in Italy but was forced to withdraw after breaking an arm in a skateboarding accident shortly before the event.
Clareburt studied for a Bachelor of Commerce at Victoria University's Wellington School of Business and Government. Glasgow 2026 will mark his third Commonwealth Games appearance as he looks to add to an already distinguished international career.
Cameron McTaggart is a cornerstone figure of New Zealand Weightlifting. A Tokyo Olympian, two-time Commonwealth Games representative and coach, Cameron brings a rare combination of elite experience and genuine leadership to the New Zealand Team.
McTaggart made his first Commonwealth Games appearance at Gold Coast 2018, before returning to compete at Birmingham 2022. Glasgow 2026 will be his third Commonwealth Games appearance, placing him in an exclusive club of New Zealand male weightlifters to have achieved that milestone.
McTaggart comes to Glasgow 2026 in top form after being recently crowned 2026 Oceania Champion in the 88kg class.
Away from the platform, McTaggart is the owner of CM Performance, where he continues to shape the next generation of New Zealand weightlifters as a coach. His experience, composure and leadership make him an invaluable presence in both the Weightlifting squad and the wider New Zealand Team.
Glasgow 2026 will be McTaggart’s third Commonwealth Games.
A rising talent in the sport, Para swimmer Josh Willmer hopes to maintain his progress after establishing a proud international record in recent years. A left-arm amputee below the elbow, Josh grew up in Kawakawa Bay in South Auckland and first engaged with swimming lessons from the age of three. Encouraged to play as many sports as possible in his youth, Josh played touch rugby, tennis and squash but opted to specialise in swimming because that what he was “best at.” Formerly a member of the Pukekohe Swim Club, he impressed on the national swimming scene for a number of years, before taking the next step in his career development after linking up with coach Sheldon Kemp.
Training between seven and eight swim sessions per week and with a greater focus on speedwork under Sheldon’s guidance he quickly started to advance. “At this stage of my career focusing on speed has made a difference,” explains Josh. A training partner of Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games Women’s 100m Backstroke S8 gold medallist Paralympian #201 Tupou Neiufi has also played a big part in the development of the former Howick College student. “I really like training with Tupou,” he adds. “She is like a sister to me and acts as a motivation.”
Making his international debut in 2022 he finished sixth in the 100m Breaststroke SB8 at the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal that year. Before one month later emerging as an overnight star by winning gold in his specialist event at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. “I thought a silver or bronze medal was within my grasp but to win gold was wicked,” he reflects. On the back of his stunning success in Birmingham, he was a finalist for the Sky Sport Emerging Talent Award at the 2022 Halberg Awards. At the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester – he matched his performance from the previous edition by finishing sixth in his signature Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8 event, setting a New Zealand record mark. Selected for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games he smashed his national record by 0.67 in the heats of the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8 recording 1:12.73 but missed a final spot by one place.
Making some big sacrifices and adopting a more diligent approach to training under his new coach, Michael Weston, out of the Coast Swim Club, Josh performed very well at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore, narrowly missing a podium spot in fourth in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8. Josh, who is based in the Auckland suburb of Ardmore, enjoys playing golf in his spare time.
