Kia ora Koutou Katoa 

Welcome back to Term 2! We have had a fantastic start to the term, and we want to acknowledge the amazing energy around the school. It seems the majority of us have had a relaxing and refreshing holiday. And now the winter weather sets in with a vengeance!

On Wednesday we held a Mihi Whakatau for our new students. A big thank you to Ben Bowkett, Harriet Richards and our incredible kapa haka leaders – as always, they were outstanding. We would like to also extend a warm welcome to our new whanau – we hope your time with us is productive and that your child enjoys everything Hutt Intermediate has to offer.

This term, there are exciting trips, engaging guest speakers, and creative classroom programmes lined up as part of our focus on Social Justice. Beyond the classroom, there are many opportunities in enrichment, sport, the arts, and cultural activities. These opportunities don’t happen by accident – they exist because our teachers genuinely care and are passionate about making every child’s time at Hutt Intermediate one of the most memorable and rewarding parts of their educational experience.  We are fortunate to have a teaching team that is second to none. Our staff are not only exceptional educators in the classroom, but they also go above and beyond to create rich learning and extracurricular experiences for our students.

As you will be aware we had to postpone the whānau conferences scheduled for today.  We will look to reschedule these shortly.  Tuesday's conferences (with the early closure) will go ahead as planned and if you have not already signed up, please do so as the conferences are a perfect way to connect and talk about your child’s learning.  As you walk around our school please take some time to look at and read the Tūrangawaewae work on display. The quality of this mahi is some of the best I’ve ever seen at our school – you should all be incredibly proud of what our tamarki have produced. 

We look forward to seeing you at some of the many events happening this term. Have a safe and happy weekend, keep warm and dry.

Ngā mihi

Mike, Catriona and Tracey 

We are pleased to announce that our Head Students for 2025 are Eadon Dennis-Davis and Sienna Seumanu. Our Deputy Head students are Caleb Bohnen and Violet Hayes.

Congratulations to you all and we know you will do a fantastic job!

A pilot parent programme between the local child and adolescent mental health service (ICAFS), Hutt Intermediate and Ministry of Education.

Thursday 15 May  5 - 6:30pm at Hutt Intermediate.

For some students, and for a variety of reasons, attendance at school can be tricky. Help for these challenges can be hard to find.  Hutt Intermediate School, the Ministry of Education and the Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Service have been collaborating on a short program designed to help the parents and caregivers of students who find it difficult to get to school.   Laura Gilkison (clinical psychologist) and William Taft (child and adolescent psychiatrist) intend to discuss some of the reasons school attendance can be hard and share some tips and strategies which can help.

The parent evening on Thursday 15 May, 5pm-6.30pm is open and welcome to all parents and caregivers whose children experience difficulties getting to school regularly.  Alongside the professional content, we hope to create a space where parents can share their wisdom and know-how and connect with other parents in similar positions.  Food, tea and coffee will be provided! Child-minding will also be available here at school.

Please let us know if you will be attending by completing the Google Form below or by phoning the school office Ph. 04 939 8800.

 

The data below displays teachers’ judgements of student achievement against the National Curriculum Achievement Objectives. The reported judgements were made at the beginning and end of 2024 and teachers made these judgements using a variety of assessment methods, and through observations and learning conversations.

The progress made by students in all subject areas is a credit to their hard work and effort throughout the year.  

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all families and whānau for the help, support and encouragement they have given their children over the course of the year.  We are very aware that the partnership between home and school is crucial for creating positive school outcomes and we greatly appreciate all you do.  

71% of all students were achieving At or Above the expected curriculum level at the start of the year.  This number increased to 79% by the end of the year.  We were pleased with the number of students who moved from the Below category to At and also the increase in the number of students achieving Above the expected level.

49% of all students were achieving At or Above the expected curriculum level at the start of the year.  This number increased to 66% by the end of the year.  Once again it was the movement of students from the Below category to At that was most pleasing to see.

Our writing results show the students’ depth of thinking and organisation of ideas are very good but what tends to lower their achievement outcomes are errors in what are called “surface features”.  These features are spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.  We are trialling Structured Literacy in some classes this year and will be interested to see if this helps improve our surface features results.  Reading is another way students can easily improve awareness of surface features. They can then start making simple improvements to their writing by transferring this learning.  At school we encourage students to read each night, even for just 20 minutes.  Research shows that a regular reading habit is strongly linked to future success and it is not necessarily about reading big overly complicated books.  Reading graphic novels, magazines, quick reads - anything that they enjoy (ideally not on their phones) will all help.

64% of all students were achieving At or Above the expected curriculum level at the start of the year.  This number increased to 74% at the end of the year.  The movement of students from the Below category to At was pleasing to see as was the movement from At to Above

One of the hardest issues we find when trying to help students make progress in Mathematics is their attitude towards the subject.  At school we spend time working on what we call “Maths Mindset” where we focus on incorporating “Maths Norms” into our classrooms.  Discussing these at home with your child is a great way to help build a positive attitude towards Maths.The norms are:

Encourage students to believe in themselves. There is no such thing as a “math” person. Everyone can reach the highest levels they want to, with hard work. 

Mistakes grow your brain! It is good to struggle and make mistakes. 

Always ask questions, always answer questions. Ask yourself: why does that make sense? 

Math is a very creative subject that is, at its core, about visualizing patterns and creating solution paths that others can see, discuss and critique. 

Math is a connected subject, and a form of communication. Represent math in different forms eg words, a picture, a graph, an equation, and link them. Color code! 

Top mathematicians think slowly and deeply. 

Math is a growth subject, it takes time to learn and it is all about effort.

On ANZAC day during the school holidays, the Hutt Intermediate Prefects went to the Lower Hutt War Cenotaph, ANZAC Memorial Lawn for the Civic service at 9:45am.

We arrived at the service and listened to the Chilton Saint James Choir sing in memoriam to all the soldiers that fought in previous wars, especially World War I and II. After a few speeches from RSA members, a Ninety Nine year old World War II veteran was offered to lay his wreath down - this was an incredibly touching moment.

We were then invited to lay our wreath. Upon walking up to the cenotaph, it was quite an emotional moment thinking of all the Veterans who had given their lives to protect us. We laid the wreath, stood back for a quick moment of silence, and remembered all the soldiers that have given service to Aotearoa and Australia. 

We felt honored to lay the wreath down on behalf of Hutt Intermediate. We thank everyone who has served our country.

Lest We Forget.

Below is a photo of the WRISSA Sevens Under 60KG team who beat South Wellington School in the final to claim the title in back to back years.

We have another super busy term with sports this term.

Thank you to all the parent volunteers who have put their hand up to help coach and manage our teams. We really appreciate your support to ensure that we can enter so many teams into the competitions.

Please remember team draws will be emailed out each week to families, they are on the sports notice board for the students and they can also be found on our school website under each sports page. There is no excuse for students to not know when their games are happening. Please be proactive.

We have a full house for the Tough Guy and Gal Challenge and more information will be sent out to those who have signed up next week. Please ensure that you have paid the necessary $40 for entry fee.

HIS Bank Account number: 12-3142-0339812-00

Reference Student's name, class and Tough Guy/Gal

(e.g) J Bloggs M9 Tough Guy/Gal

We will be requiring parent support for this trip, so if you are able to help please indicate this on the google form that will be sent out next week.

Good luck to our WRISSA Girls Football team in their tournament next Wednesday. We look forward to hearing how well you get on.

Good luck to the following teams who will be playing in the upcoming Winter Water Polo Festival at Kilbirnie sports over the weekend of 10th - 11th May, against schools from around Wellington. 

We can’t wait to hear how well you get on.

Hutt Strikers | Hutt Dolphins
Zach MThomas BJacqui RCarter BSelena PLola O SRenee TIlex WBrooke S
| Zoe H
Logan RSamuel PMichelle TCharlie TRiley WAlex AIsla OTheo LOlivia M

The following events are happening this term for 

Just a reminder that anyone who wishes to participate in an AIMS Games event needs to email me their registrations by Friday May 16th. 

If your child is interested in participating in any individual events and would like to attend AIMS Games please contact Margaret Presland margaretp@his.school.nz with the following information

More information about the events available is on the AIMS Games website https://www.nzaimsgames.co.nz/

 

The School day commences at 8.55am and finishes at 3.00pm. Punctuality is important. Students are required to bring their PE gear to school every day. 

 

Please remember to notify school before 9.00am if your child will not be at school for all or part of the day. You can do this via our website or by calling our absence line PH: 570 3101. This reduces the lengthy process of contacting you to check on absences. We use an electronic absence notification system, which means you will be initially contacted via text message and/or email when your child is away and no notification has been received. 

Students arriving late for school must sign in using Vistab on arrival before going to class. This is located at the main office. 

DIRECT PAYMENT 

Below are the Direct Payment details for paying school donations, class trips and activities.  Please make sure to reference all payments. 

 

Hutt Intermediate School Direct Payment Details 

Account Name: - Hutt Intermediate Board

Account Number: - 12 3142 0339812 00 

 

PLEASE CLEARLY STATE THE DETAILS OF YOUR PAYMENT: 

 

              Student’s Name – Surname and first name initial is adequate 

              Class Number 

              What the payment is for – EOTC / Donation / Electives etc 

Water Only School

Hutt Intermediate is registered as a water only school.  Please ensure that students only bring water to school.