Friday 30 May - Friday 6 June

Week 5

Friday 30 May, Teacher Only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED!
Skids Open
We’re excited to share that sKids Mairangi Bay is offering a Special Teacher Only Day Programme at a reduced price of $30 on Friday 30th May. Please spread the word if you know anyone who might be interested!
Here are the details:
Music Mayhem – Teacher Only Day
Time: 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM (only $30!)
Where: sKids Mairangi Bay
When: Friday 30th May
Optional Add-Ons: Rise then Shine & Stay and Play sessions available.
What’s in store:
At Music Mayhem, kids will dive into a world of sound and creativity! From making popsicle kazoos to crafting sound-inspired art, dancing, and enjoying tasty rock star popcorn – this day is all about fun, rhythm, and imagination.
It’s the perfect way for Tamariki to stay engaged and entertained while schools are closed for Teacher Only Day.
Spaces are limited, so we encourage families to book early at:
https://www.skids.co.nz/mairangibay

Week 6

Monday 2 June, King's Birthday - SCHOOL CLOSED!

Thursday 5 June, Zero Waste Zone Trip - Rooms 8, 12, 20
Friday 6 June, Zero Waste Zone trip - Rooms 10, 9, 6
Friday 6 June, Tuakana Team Assembly - 1:30 - 2:15 pm

Restorative Practice and Collaborative Problem Solving

Kia ora e te whānau,

At Mairangi Bay School, our commitment to a whānau-like structure means creating a school culture where every learner is known, valued, and supported to thrive. This includes how we respond to behavioural challenges. Rather than using punitive measures, we focus on understanding the root causes and working together to build the skills and support our tamariki need. This approach is grounded in our school values of kindness, respect, and resilience, and is embedded in our PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) and Restorative Practice framework.

Last week I had the privilege of hosting, alongside my Principal colleagues, the latest North Shore Principals’ Association (NSPA) Hui, where Dr. Ross W. Greene - renowned clinical psychologist and author of Lost at School: Why Our Kids with Behavioural Challenges are Falling Through the Cracks and How We Can Help Them - shared his ground-breaking approach to behaviour through Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS). His insights affirmed and extended the work we are already doing at Mairangi Bay.

Dr. Greene’s philosophy is powerfully simple: “Kids do well if they can.” Behavioural challenges are not a matter of students not wanting to do well—they are often indicators of lagging skills or unsolved problems. These lagging skills might include:

Flexibility and adaptability
Frustration tolerance
Problem-solving abilities
Emotional regulation
Perspective-taking

If a child lacks these foundational skills, they may struggle to meet the expectations of school life. Dr. Greene emphasised that solving problems does not cause concerning behaviour - unsolved problems do. This reinforces the importance of early identification and proactive intervention. When we take the time to listen, reflect, and collaborate with our students, we can help them build the capability they need to navigate challenges more successfully.

At Mairangi Bay School, our response is not to isolate or punish students for these struggles, but to lean in with empathy, and ask, “What’s getting in the way of success for this child?” Using restorative conversations, whānau engagement, and team-based support from our Senior Leadership Team, we explore the unmet needs and partner with families to co-design positive pathways forward.

This means:

Creating calm spaces such as Home Base where students can reset and reconnect
Using restorative circles and dialogue to repair relationships and restore trust
Implementing individualised support plans where needed
Actively involving whānau in the solution-seeking process
Ensuring our teachers have the tools to spot and respond to early signs of distress or frustration

This work is not a “quick fix” – it takes time, consistency, and deep relational trust. But we believe strongly that every child has the potential to succeed when we take the time to understand them. Restorative Practice is not just a strategy; it is part of our way of being – where relationships come first and where problem-solving is something we do with students, not to them.

Thank you for your continued partnership as we work together to create a place where every learner is safe, supported, and equipped with the tools they need to flourish.

He nui ake tō mātou mana i te kura anahe - We are more than just a school

Nathan Janes MEdLM

Tumuaki/ Principal Mairangi Bay Kura

Galaxy Drive Mairangi Bay, Auckland 0630

Tel: 09-478 8424

Web: https://www.mairangibay.school.nz/

Learning together to create a better tomorrow

Ako tahi mō āpōpō kia pai ake - #iLOVEMBS

Largest Boost to Learning Support

The Government is delivering the most significant investment in learning support in a generation to better support Kiwi kids to thrive at school, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.

Key investments include substantial annual increases to teacher aide hours, building up to over 2 million additional teacher aide hours per year, from 2028; Learning Support Co-ordinators for all schools with Year 1-8 students; expanding early intervention services from early learning through to end of year 1; and an historic overhaul of the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding model to ensure that demand for the service is met with guaranteed funding so all students with high and complex needs who are verified for ORS receive the support they need.

“Too many children wait too long to receive support, or miss out altogether, on the help they need to succeed. We are addressing this by investing in a smart, system-wide reform that significantly increases specialist and support staff resources in our schools.

“We’re powering up support to the frontline and investing early to ensure our kids get the tailored help they need, and so that teachers have more time to teach the basics brilliantly,” Ms Stanford says.

Budget 2025 invests $2.5 billion over the forecast period in Vote Education with a focus on delivering a transformational boost to learning support funding.

“Backed by a social investment lens, this is a seismic l shift in how we support learning needs in New Zealand. We’re deliberately prioritising early intervention, investing in what works and directly tackling long-standing inequities in the system.”

The learning support funding package includes:

$266 million to extend the Early Intervention Service (EIS) from early childhood education through to the end of year 1 of primary school. This will fund more than 560 additional FTE for EIS teachers and specialists. We are investing in:
- expanding the service through to the end of Year 1 to support the effective transition into school of around 4,000 children with additional needs.
- reducing existing waitlists in early intervention so that more than 3,000 children that need the support receive it sooner.
- increasing the amount of specialist support provided to the more than 7,100 children who are currently enrolled in EIS.
- building up annually to an additional 900,000 teacher aide hours per year, from 2028, to support young learners in EIS.
$122 million to meet increased demand for ORS (Ongoing Resourcing Scheme) for students with high and complex needs. This includes a structural change to the funding model so every child who is verified for ORS funding receives the support they need. This investment will also increase the number of specialists and teacher aide time to support the more than 1,700 additional learners forecast to access ORS over the next four years.
$192 million to ensure that over three years, all Year 1-8 schools and kura are funded for a Learning Support Coordinator to work with students, families and educators to identify and respond to learner needs. This investment will benefit 1250 schools and an additional 300,000 learners around New Zealand.
$43 million for an extra 78.5 FTE speech language therapists, as well as additional psychologists and supporting teacher aide hours to help meet the growing demand of students with communication and behaviour needs. This will provide specialist supports to around 2500 students over the next four years.
$3 million of investment in our teacher aides with targeted professional development for working with learners with social, emotional, wellbeing, behavioural, and neurodiverse needs.
$4 million to employ 25 intern educational psychologists each year to enable a more sustainable pipeline of locally trained workforce.
$90 million of capital for approximately 25 new learning support satellite classrooms to provide around 225 new student places across the Ministry of Education’s specialist school network, as well as provide learning support property modifications so that schools are more accessible to learners with additional needs.

“Across all learning support services in Vote Education, we are building up to more than 2 million additional teacher aide hours into the system every year from 2028.

“The education sector has been calling for more support for a long time, and this Government is delivering results. This investment recognises and responds to the growing number of children with additional learning needs and the pressure it places on teachers,” Ms Stanford says.

Budget 2025 also includes substantive key investments in the Government’s priority areas:

$298 million into strengthening Curriculum and Assessment supports, including $132.2 million for accelerated learning in literacy and maths.
$572 million of capital funding invested into school property.
$100 million of operating funding, to maintain and upgrade classrooms.
$150 million to build the education workforce of the future through leadership development pathways, teacher supply initiatives, and funded registration and certification.
$104 million to support Māori learner success, including $50 million of capital funding for new classrooms in Māori Medium and Kaupapa Māori schools.
$140 million for a new attendance service and to support and strengthen frontline attendance services

“To deliver this investment, we have assessed underspends and reprioritised initiatives that are underperforming or lack clear evidence that they’re delivering intended outcomes. Around $614 million within the vote has been identified for reinvestment into frontline, priority education initiatives.

“Budget 2025 builds on the strong foundations we’ve already laid through teaching the basics brilliantly. We will continue to invest to raise achievement and close the equity gap in schools across the country, so all Kiwi kids have the knowledge, skills and competencies they need to reach their full potential,” Ms Stanford says.

If you have any questions about this announcement, please contact Minister Stanford at erica.stanford@parliament.govt.nz

Ngā mihi

Congratulations to all our sports teams this week

Netball

Mairangi Bay Tuis - Year 2 Netball Team

Well done to the Year 2, MBS Tuis who won their game 4/2 against St Johns. Congratulations to Sofia Kalsi for receiving the Sportsmanship Award, and Billie Ellis for receiving Player of the Day, especially as it was her very first game.

Mairangi Bay Bellbirds - Year 3 Netball Team

The Y3 Bellbirds netball team won their game on Saturday. Willow Kitchen and Eva Halse were awarded players of the day.

Mairangi Bay Kiwis - Year 4 Netball Team

Last sunny Saturday we played an exciting game against Forest Hill. We won 13-0!!! Stella and I shot the goals and so many went in! It was so fun playing in the goal circle with Stella. I got player of the day and felt so proud of our team winning and playing so well together!.

Maiya Lough - Year 4 student

Basketball

Mairangi Bay Heat - Year 3 Basketball Team

Score: 10–10 - MVP: Liam Moon

It was an exciting game that ended in a 10–10 draw. The team showed great resilience and spirit throughout. Recently, we’ve been focusing on building strong teamwork and improving our passing speed, and it really showed on the court.

Mairangi Bay Bulls - Year 4 Basketball Team

This week we played top of the table OVS Ball stars. Unfortunately losing 40-10 but the score doesn’t reflect the tough game. We matched up to a very well drilled opponent and they showed their physicality which we met equally.
A hard game to be proud of! Well done to Samuel Cao for Player of the day and Brooklyn Lin for Defender of the day.

Mairangi Bay Raptors - Year 5 and 6 team

Basketball MBS Raptors - A walkover win this week with the Albany 3 opponents so scared of the Raptors they didn't even show up!! Sitting second on the table with only 2 rounds to play will see them make the playoffs in three weeks time.

Splashpolo

Mairangi Bay Stringrays - Year 4 Splashpolo Team

The MBS Stingrays played an excellent game of Splash Polo on the weekend to beat the Beach Haven Bonitas 4-0. The team showed good attacking intent, keeping the ball in the opposition half for most of the match, with Hayden, Lucia and James in defence quickly turning the ball around if it snuck onto our side. Goals went to Gordon, Wylie and Hayden, with a special shout-out to Gordon's amazing cross-cage shot in the first half and Inuthi's consistent effort in attack that created several opportunities. Our player of the day went to Alice who glued the team together by swimming the ball up regularly from halfway, passing effectively and marking players strongly in defence to stop the ball getting to our half of the pool..

Mairangi Bay Marlins - Year 4 Splashpolo Team

This weekend the MBS Marlins played St. Mary's Sharks, and we won 3 goals to 1.
Our players of the day were Ethan and Carol. We shot as many goals as we could - we didn't get them all but we won. Ethan, Carol, and the whole team played well. Congratulations.

By Zara Upston-Smith (Year 4 student)

Hockey

Mairangi Bay Year 1/2 Hockey Team

The year 1 and 2 hockey team showed resilience and determination in the wind and rain on Monday night. The team worked great together showing awesome defence. Congratulations to Freya and Louise for joint player of the day for showing some amazing shots at goal and persistence.

Mairangi Bay Year 3/4 Hockey Team

The team had a great victory, beating Scott Point Charges 7-0. With ominous clouds pending, the team pushed through in the pouring rain. Oliver Payne scored his first hatrick, leading the charge. Alfie got his first goal and player of the day went to Oliver Payne.

Mairangi Bay Blues - Year 5/6 Hockey Team

Hockey MBS Blues - A tough 6-1 loss this week up against a very strong Hauraki team. Couldn't quite convert a couple of good opportunities, but great energy from the kids and they played hard right to the end. A sensational goal from Stephen Wood earned him the Players Choice Player of the Day.

We wish to thank all our students, coaches, managers and whānau for their mahi.

As a polite reminder, if you have a match report for the newsletter, highlighting achievements, Player of the Day or action photos, please send it to nathanj@mairangibay.school,nz by Wednesday 3 pm each week.. It would be great to celebrate along side our tamariki and whānau.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support.

Ngā mihi