Newsletter 7 - Term 2
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents and Whānau,
Pigeon Mountain Primary School is always an exciting and busy place to be, and this week has been no exception! We have had a number of fantastic teams representing our school across a range of activities, including dodgeball, chess, and rippa rugby. I absolutely love going along to watch our students compete with pride. It is a joy to see them actively living our school values: Excellence, Respect, Resilience, and Responsibility. During the dodgeball tournament, I witnessed a wonderful moment that perfectly captured this spirit. One of our superstar students found himself as the very last person left on the court. Instead of giving up, his teammates cheered him on enthusiastically from the sidelines, and he just kept going with incredible determination. It was a brilliant display of resilience in action.
Moments like this remind me that our school values aren’t just for the classroom or the sports field—they are guidelines for our entire school community.
With that in mind, I want to address our school drop-off and pick-up times. Every now and then, I receive emails from concerned parents regarding unsafe or confrontational behavior in the parking areas. We all know that school drop-off and pick-up can be incredibly busy and stressful, but we must work together to keep our children safe.
We can make this time much safer and kinder by demonstrating our values:
Responsibility & Respect: By always following the road rules, avoiding dangerous U-turns, and ensuring we never block our neighbors' driveways.
Resilience: By choosing to stay polite and calm, even when we are in a rush, or when someone else makes a mistake on the road.
Our school motto is "Education with a Heart." To truly live up to this, we should always extend kindness to those around us. We never truly know what challenges another person might be experiencing in their own life, and a little patience goes a long way.
Thank you to the vast majority of our community who model these wonderful behaviors every day. Let’s continue to show our children what "Education with a Heart" looks like, both inside and outside the school gates.
Ngā mihi nui,
Phebe Rossiter
Principal
Pigeon Mountain Primary School
Student Achievement and Celebration
Pink Shirt Day: Our school community was a sea of pink recently as we celebrated Pink Shirt Day, a fantastic initiative led by our Wellbeing student leaders. Students turned up in full force to show their support and learn about the vital importance of kindness, empathy, and making sure everyone feels included. The positive energy didn't stop at the dress code, either. Our Wellbeing leaders launched an exciting Design a T-Shirt Competition, with awesome prizes up for grabs for the most creative designs. Students gathered to craft Kindness Cards. A huge thank you to our Wellbeing leaders and everyone who participated for making our school a brighter, kinder place.
Wonderful Woman in our world:
On Thursday, 7 May, we hosted a wonderful morning to celebrate the mums, aunties, grandmas, and other special women in our lives. It was beautiful to see our students working alongside their loved ones on various arts and crafts, all while enjoying some delicious high tea treats. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us and made the morning so memorable. Be sure to check out the lovely photos now available on our school website.
School News and Announcements
Curriculum Day: Please note in your diary that Friday, 29 May is a curriculum day, and school will be closed for students. Our teaching staff will be spending the day analysing student work and learning examples to clearly define what "proficiency" looks like at each year level across Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Utilising their knowledge of the refreshed curriculum and the high-quality learning from Terms 1 and 2, teachers will build a strong benchmark for what a student at our school should achieve to be at curriculum level. Action: School is closed on Friday 29th May (curriculum day) and Monday 1 June (Kings birthday), make sure you note this on your family calendar.
Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L): In Week 5, we have been focusing on being a kaitiaki of our environment as part of our PB4L learning. Students are developing responsibility by keeping our school spaces clean and bringing litter-free lunchboxes. We are proud of the effort shown in caring for our classroom and school community.
Monday Morning Milos: This is our new Term 2 and 3 fundraiser. Students can purchase a hot Milo (chocolate milk) with marshmallows on KINDO for $3.00 and collect from the hall kitchen at morning tea. Orders close on KINDO on Friday’s at 3pm. This is only available on a Monday. All money raised will go towards our new basketball hoops.
School Disco: Our student leaders have organised a disco on School disco will be held in the School Hall on Friday 5 June 2026. The theme is ' under the sea'
Juniors - 4.30pm - 5.45pm
Seniors - 6.00pm - 7.30pm
Students must be collected from the School Hall at the end of their Disco.
Tickets can be purchased via KINDO $10 each and includes entry to the disco, two glow sticks, one snack pack of chips and one fun size pack of either M&M's or Skittles.
Ticket numbers are limited and will close on Thursday 28 May.
All monies raised will go towards the purchase of our new Basketball and Netball Hoops outside the Library.
Ezlunch is back for Term 2
Ordering Ezlunch through Kindo is quick, easy, and one less thing to think about in the morning. You order from home (or on the go), and your child's lunch is delivered to school, ready to eat.
Here's how:
Log in to the Kindo app
Pick from the menu on your school’s available days
Your child collects their lunch at school
💰 Order & win!
Every Ezlunch order placed between 27 April - 22 May goes in the draw to win 1 of 5 x $50 Kindo credits each week.
ICAS:
Pigeon Mountain Primary School is pleased to offer students the opportunity to participate in the ICAS Assessments again this year. Please note that these assessments are completely optional.
What is ICAS? ICAS is an independent, international competition designed to recognise and reward academic excellence. The assessments challenge students and provide deep insights into their academic strengths and areas for growth.
Subjects Offered:
Years 3–6: Mathematics, English, and Science.
Years 5–6 Only: Digital Technology, Writing and Spelling Bee (new to our school this year).
*Any student registering for the Spelling assessment must provide their own headphones on the day.
Thank you to the parents who shared their passion for the ICAS assessments and advocated for greater student opportunities. We deeply value open communication and feedback from our families. Whenever possible, we aim to work collaboratively with our community to expand options that enrich our students' learning journeys.
To register: https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/parent-payment/HIA505
ANZAC DAY: At the end of last term we celebrated ANZAC day and we would like to say a huge thank you to our families for helping us to raise $730.00. We also received a lovely letter from the RSA thanking us.
Sports Team Selection and Upcoming Events: We often hear from parents wondering how students qualify for school sports teams. For school-wide events like Swimming, Cross Country, Speeches and Athletics, all students participate, and the top performers are selected to represent our school. For other sports and interschool events, teachers will share trial notices with classes daily using LUDI. To give everyone a fair chance, there will always be multiple trial dates, and teams will have time to practice together beforehand. Please note that some of these events are competitive—where we send our most capable students—while others focus on participation to get as many students involved as possible.
Our upcoming lineup includes Dodgeball, Hockey, Soccer, and Rugby in Term 2; Dance, Gymnastics, Netball, the Literacy Quiz, and Mathex in Term 3; and Touch Rugby and Basketball in Term 4. Keep an eye out for daily notices for upcoming trials.
Important Dates and Reminders
Term Dates
Term 2: Monday 20th April - Friday 3rd July
ANZAC Day Public Holiday - Monday 27th April
King’s Birthday - Monday 1st June
Curriculum day (Teacher Only Day) 29th May
Term 3: Monday 20th July - Friday 25th September
Term 4: Monday 12th October - Tuesday 15 December
Curriculum Day (Teacher Only Day) Friday 23rd October
Labour Day – Monday 26th October
Important event dates at Pigeon Mountain Primary School:
Please check our school website which has a link to our Pigeon Mountain Community Calendar
Community Notices
Art with Janet
PMPS Wednesday after school art class
Art class: drawing. painting. oil pastels drawing
Day: Wednesday
Time: 3.15pm-4.15pm
Fee: $17 per hour
Classroom: Room 15
Please phone: 027-6555574 Janet
Email: janeto@xtra.co.nz
