Positive Points

I just wanted to say thanks to the PTA for the Disco tonight.  I know how much work is involved in running an event like this, and you all do such a great job.
Our school and kids are lucky to have you.

I’m so thrilled to hear that positive feedback on behalf of the teachers and students at their Te Tuhi after their visit today.  I can honestly say it’s been such a pleasure to meet the junior community of Owairoa.

I’ve really enjoyed the past few sessions with all teachers and students. The teaching staff have been highly enthusiastic, supportive and so personable.

Your juniors are fantastic learners, who artistic abilities are high and I can see their future in Owairoa is bright!

Dear Alan,

Thank you so much for sharing this delightful letter with us. We are both very proud of Holly and would like to thank the road patrol leader for taking the time to praise her.

Further to my phone call to you this afternoon, I wish to commend your daughter on her good manners.

I received an email from a parent which I shared with her this afternoon.

The wording in the email read;

“On Wednesday morning this week and again this morning I had this lovely student who thanked the road patrollers and myself both days. She is not with a parent so I think she really deserves some credit for her beautiful manners and smile. She absolutely makes it all worth it” 

Well done to her and well done to you as parents for teaching your daughter how to show gratitude and good manners.

25/04/2021

I wanted to say a special thank you to your duty pupil Carter, for being so obliging, when I visited the Administration Office yesterday.

You were assigned to welcome me at the gate and escort me back at the completion of my visit. You were so kind, polite and considerate; being particularly worried about me having to walk to my car in the rain.

I was so impressed with your excellent manners! The confident and respectful way in which you communicated with me left me feeling both very well looked after and absolutely delighted with your behaviour.

As a House Leader and astute young student, you are a wonderful ambassador for Owairoa Primary School. Thank you again for the care and attention that you gave me – I enjoyed meeting you and wish you the very best for a bright future – I know you will enjoy a lot of success!

18/04/2021

I wanted to write and express my thanks for supporting the tradition of passing out birthday cards to students on their birthdays.

My boys were excited to recently receive a card wishing them a happy birthday, and they felt so special to know this note came from you, their Principal.

Getting a coupon for a free ice block to enjoy was a pleasant surprise.  One of my boys chose to save their ice block coupon for the end of the week, and my other son immediately ran to the office to request his.

The smiles on their faces said it all.

I know parents might not think to take the time to stop and say, “thank you”, but I am reminded that it’s the special little things like this that set Owairoa apart from other schools.

Thanks again for making the students at Owairoa feel like an extension of your family.

31/03/2021

Principal McIntyre,

I have had the great opportunity to be a teacher in classrooms in three different countries, and let me tell you what I see Owairoa doing right.

Your ISTEAM program is amazing.  I am confident that there are many schools that would enjoy coming in to observe and learn from your program.  To be honest, one of the main reasons I wanted to work at Owairoa was the thought of learning more about how you organise and deliver ISTEAM in authentic and creative ways.  You are truly teaching students how to solve problems!

When you say you differentiate, you really do it!  I have been at numerous schools where differentiation is a buzz word, but Owairoa puts it into practice every day.  For example, my son in Year 4 brings home two different spelling lists each week.  One is a short list of words that he is personally working on, after looking over his writing and classwork, and the second is a list of words that follows particular units based on assessment data collected by his teacher.  This is just one example I could give you.

Your teachers understand and use formative assessment.  This year, you mentioned that you are strengthening your writing programs and learning from literacy consultants in the field.  This is exciting stuff.  Don’t ever hesitate to share how your teachers are consistently improving their practice, because I know how hard the teachers at Owairoa work.

09/12/2020

Our son has loved his time at Owairoa. He has been lucky to be part of a really great school and has had four lovely teachers. He has especially loved Christian Living and also his Mandarin lessons.

24/11/2020

From our side we would like to applaud how well and efficient Owairoa has handled this unprecedented time in our lives. You have put our children’s safety first and streamlined the process with safety and accountability at the forefront of every decision.  Thank you kindly and we appreciate the effort put forward to keep our families whole.

16/11/2020

At the Interschool Athletics Day, Owairoa definitely stood out above every other school bar one for behaviour. No one was swinging off trees or yelling or running around.  Kids were well mannered and sat quietly waiting for events, talking amongst themselves.

Absolutely outstanding behaviour and sportsmanship by every athlete present on the day.

6/11/2020

I was a visitor at your school in the previous term, taking photographs for PhotoLife. I am writing to you, firstly to compliment you on the school, staff and pupils. I worked for PhotoLife for over 3 years and before that day, I have never been invited to a staff meeting or morning tea before. Thank you for your hospitality!

I thought the way you communicated with the staff and how you encouraged each other to make a difference was just absolutely amazing!  A teacher showed a short video of how music was used as a project for learning in one of the classes. It was great!

The students were wonderful too and after the catch up that morning, it was clear to see why they all seemed to be relaxed and had a clear vision.

4/09/2020

Dear Mr McIntyre

It’s not often that we take time out to provide feedback on a job well done.

So I would like to take the time to say “Thank you”, to you and your team for the way in which you have handled going back into lockdown and the measures you have again put in place for the return of students on Monday.

My husband and I are both essential workers and have been under the pump ever since the first lockdown. While not needing to send our daughter to school during lockdown, we have appreciated the measures taken to keep children in bubble classes safe; and the frequent, clear and decisive approach Owairoa has taken to keep the school community safe and informed.

We also appreciate the effort the teachers have put in to rearrange themselves, their classrooms, the time they have sacrificed to develop well rounded home learning and be available to students and parents online.

Our daughter’s teacher, has been amazing in his approach and engagement with the children. He showed them how to learn at home using things around the house and that getting out and moving was a key part of their wellbeing and learning.  She has enjoyed working her way through the learning at her own pace and actually keeps to a schedule on her own.

As a family with many primary school aged children across the country, we compare notes.

The greatest difference everyone noticed was that Owairoa put more emphasis on well being and did not add stress during an already difficult time for the children; and that did not diminish the level of learning but made for a much happier child.

My husband and I are truly grateful that while we are in tumultuous times, we did not have any added stress about our daughter’s wellbeing or learning.

For this and the ongoing effort you and your team are making, we thank you.

12/06/2020

Dear Principal McIntyre,

Simply put, I am grateful to call Owairoa my children’s school.  The last couple of months have been unique to say the least, and I would be remiss if I didn’t stop and write to you to express my deep gratitude for you and your staff’s calm and professional handling of the school’s response.

Before New Zealand entered lockdown, I had already been hearing and reading about how different schools in the United States, my home country, and Australia, the country where I last taught, were responding to the need to organise and deliver home learning or “e-learning”.  I observed that schools were trying to “keep things normal” by having students follow similar daily timetables, listen to daily announcements, and attend periodic Zoom meetings.  There were apps upon apps and electronic drop boxes to submit work, etc.  As a teacher, I found reading about these approaches fascinating; as a parent, I felt anxious, knowing that I would be leading this effort at home with three young children.  Then, I read Owairoa’s plan: to email engaging, optional activities each week, with an emphasis on our family’s wellbeing and mental health.  Wow.  And then the first email came, and the activities were engaging, full of real-world problem solving, and learning was folded into fun challenges.  My son, on our first day of home learning, made honey joys, and he wrote the recipe and the steps he followed.  He loved it.  During the next couple of weeks, he wrote codes, performed poetry, learned where our food comes from and so much more.  I am beyond grateful that you took this choice-based, individualised approach.

I have to give special recognition to his Teacher.  Once the lockdown started, my husband, who was an essential worker, began working longer hours.  It was not uncommon that he would be home after bedtime and work weekends.  Very early on, I started a ritual of writing to my son’s Teacher between 2:00-3:00 p.m. each afternoon.  I would often share pictures or videos of my son’s work or share some project or poem he had created during our day.  His Teacher wrote back to me EVERY DAY, which means some days she wrote back after her normal working hours.  Yes, she gave my son specific feedback and encouragement about his progress and work, but she would often include words of assurance and encouragement to me.  It is only with some distance that I can write that his Teacher played such an important role for me by being another adult voice that would be shared each day with my son.  She was dedicated to her role to give feedback to my son, and I am beyond impressed with her professionalism and consistency.  She went above and beyond, and I am grateful for her optimism.  I look forward to the day I can visit my son’s classroom and share a similar message with her.  She is just one of the awesome teachers that I am sure provided parents and caretakers with encouragement during this difficult time.

Congratulations on a smooth first week back at school.  I saw you standing at the front gate all week, and that visual was such a powerful symbol of Owairoa being a place that represents “family”.  It is clear that you care about all your students and families, and I want to say again that I am grateful for all the behind the scenes decision-making that went into the design and implementation of your approach during this crisis.  On Monday I look forward to walking through the gate and seeing you nearby looking on and giving support with your presence.  Thanks for all you do!

Kind regards,

Name Supplied

22/05/2020

Thank you so much for all that you and Owairoa did during the lock down.  It is uncharted territory and I felt like Owairoa’s response was fantastic.  The genuine thought portrayed was to take care of our children’s emotional well-being during this uncertain time and I thought that was the best response a school could have given.  I have seen friends overseas struggle with school and I am so thankful to be a part of a school that took the approach of really focusing on the well-being of their families.

I was extremely happy with the activities provided.  They were developmentally appropriate, fun, engaging, and meaningful!  My hope and wish for my son as he starts up school again, is he continues to have some similar activities as those provided during the lock down, as part of his learning journey.

Learning through technology has been extremely motivating for him.  He really enjoys reading Sunshine Classics on his iPad as well as completing math activities through Studyladder and Sumdog.  Having the opportunity to do robotics and programming has been wonderful, as well as completing art projects!

Having hands on and real life experiences to learn maths has been great for him as well.  Solving real problems and figuring things out with hands on materials really excites him and is motivating!  Science experiments or iSteam projects are his favourite activities.  He always has a great day at school and is so happy when he comes home after doing science activities.

I wish you the best of luck as we restart school.  I know we are still in uncharted territory and I feel confident Owairoa will handle it wonderfully!  I just wanted to send you a quick little note letting you know what a great job you have done, some thoughts on our time home and future hopes for my son!  Thank you for everything!

9/03/2020

I visited other schools [to enrol my child] but I feel the Teachers, school facilities, student behaviours are not the same as I felt in Owairoa.  Owairoa has nearly 1000 students and school staff.  The number of students can show how good the school is and why it is so popular.  At Owairoa, I can see each classroom is nice and quiet; teachers and work staff are nice and friendly; students look happy in the classroom and playing around.  I also talked with the receptionist of the kindergarten of my son. Her daughter is in year 1 at Owairoa School and she highly recommended Owairoa as she can feel and see her daughter is happy and progressing.  She learnt things with no pressure.  She loves reading at home which she did not do before.  It is an amazing change!

Another reason we trust Owairoa is because it is a “top performing school”.  I am working in a college too.  So I know how hard the school needs to work, to achieve a “strong” level in an ERO review.  I believe Owairoa must have a strong and solid team led by Principal Alan who has been working for Owairoa for over 30 years.  I believe in the management of the school, the quality of teachers and that the teaching resources are the best

– Parent of new enrolment

14/02/2020

I’m writing to you about the requirements for overseas student’s enrolment.

I learned from friends that your school is excellent. And has a perfect and friendly overseas student management system.

7/02/2020

l would like that send a huge thank you to our Owairoa whanau for making our experience with the school, amazing.

Due to a job opportunity in the Bay of Plenty, we will be leaving Auckland and l thought l would send an email to let you know

It’s truly an unforgettable school and one we will miss.

14/02/2020

I’m writing to you about the requirements for overseas student’s enrolment.

I learned from friends that your school is excellent and has a perfect and friendly overseas student management system.