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Newsletter T2W11
3 July 2026
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It was great to see so many parents at this morning’s Matariki celebration. A special thank you to Mr Ben Bacon for his contribution and perspective on Te Ao Māori (the Māori world). I managed to snap this pano at the conclusion of our celebration. What a stunning start to the day!
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Today is monumental for another reason. We say our final goodbyes to Ms Sinclair, who has served our school for three decades. This morning you will have heard me emphasise the importance of remembering those who have gone before us. None of us just arrived at a ready made Glendowie School. We inherited this place from those who have gone before us, creating and recreating the space and culture. Ms Sinclair is one of those people who has worked tirelessly to shape what Glendowie School is today. She will be missed but her contribution will be enjoyed long after her departure.
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You should have received your child’s report via email yesterday. Please note that the parent teacher interviews will be in Week 4 of Term 3. More information will be provided about signing up for this interview soon after we return from holidays.
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It is that time again! Where, in the interests of everyone’s safety, I remind everyone of the merits of following the road code. Recently we have had concerns raised by our neighbours at the local shops (on Roberta Ave) and St Andrews Village about parking in the mornings and afternoons. Of particular concern is the parking in and around the St Andrews entrance. Those who park over this entry, in the bus stops on both sides of the road, and inside the village itself create a significant risk by making driving more challenging for village residents. The solution, as always, is to find a legal parking spot and walk to collect your children from school. Or, make arrangements to pick up your child from a spot that is not immediately outside the school. I understand that these types of arrangements are not always the most convenient. But they are necessary for maintaining a safe environment for our students at drop off and pick up times.
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Congratulations to our skipping team! That’s right you heard correctly, we have a skipping team that recently entered the Auckland Interschool Jump Rope Championship, coming away with third place.
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Don’t forget that our honey is on sale now from the school office for $14 a jar.
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Shine School of Confidence
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Please see the advert for Shine School further down in the newsletter. We are excited to welcome the team from Shine to provide drama classes from the start of Term 3.
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Paul Crowhurst | Principal
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Friday 7th August is a Teacher Only Day so school will be closed to students.
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Thursday 13th August -school closes 1.40pm for Parent Teacher Interviews.
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The next Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, 18th August from 6.30pm in the boardroom. Anyone is welcome to attend and a copy of the agenda is available from the school office from 3pm on the Friday before the meeting.
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Glendowie School Cross Country, 2026
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Cross Country season is almost upon us! Further details will be sent out in Week 1 of Term 3.
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This year, our school cross country will be held in Glendowie Park on the following dates:
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Y8 Maths Calculating the Surface Area of a Treehouse
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For the past few weeks, Year 8s have been investigating 3D shapes and their properties. Our statement of inquiry that we are learning about is: ' Understanding the properties of form and spatial relationships enables us to represent, interpret, and navigate human and natural landscapes in meaningful ways’. First, we learnt about some of the types of 3D shapes, and their edges, vertices, and faces. For our assessment, we designed and created model treehouses out of cardboard, which were made out of different 3D shapes. We were given complete creativity to design them however we wanted to, using any shapes we wanted and the materials provided. Although we were given a guideline on some of the shapes we had to include, everyone’s turned out completely different, and they all looked amazing! The next step for our assessment was to work out the surface area of all of our shapes, using their exact measurements that we had used to build it in real life. Overall, this was a really fun task, and we all learnt a lot about 3D shapes. - Alex F, Cici C, Amy V, and Pepper R, Y8
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Y4 How we Express Ourselves Unit of Inquiry
Over the last term, our Year 4 students traded their pencils for dancing shoes as they took part in engaging dance sessions. This has been part of our How we Express Ourselves unit of inquiry, where students have inquired into how “we can express our ideas through movement”.
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Working alongside our wonderful guest tutor, Clare, the students jumped headfirst into exploring the core elements of dance: Space, Body, Time, Relationships and Energy. Each dance session focused on a different dance element and students got to explore that element in meaningful ways. Our dance tutor Clare made each session even more engaging by adding in fun songs, interesting props and tying the activities and learning of each session together by having an overarching theme or story such as going to a Museum or the legend of the Taniwha.
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Following our dance sessions with Clare each class took the time to create their own dance, reflecting on how they used the dance elements throughout in order to come up with their own performance.
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Last week the year 4 students presented these dances at their assembly to the school and their families. The students had lots of fun putting together their dances and performed with confidence and enthusiasm. We have taken the time to reflect on what they have learnt over our unit of inquiry and here are some of the things the year 4 students shared:
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What were some of your favourite activities during the dance sessions?
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My favourite part is when we did the skeletons and we had to do different poses and change sides with the people on the other side.
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My favourite part of the dance sessions was that each one had its own story or theme.
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I liked learning about relationships the best because we got to use boxes to make shapes.
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What have you learnt about dance from our unit of inquiry?
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I learnt that we have more than just our arms and legs to dance, we have our elbows, knees, ankles, toes, fingers and even other people.
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I learnt that dance has different elements and not just different styles
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ESOL Celebrating Matariki
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In New Zealand Matariki is a Maori celebration meaning New Year. We went to school early at 6.45 and we sang our Matariki song while watching the sky wake up. We looked for the stars of Matariki. This year we made Matariki Kites inspired by the book 'The Seven Kites of Matariki by Calico McClintock and Dominique Ford. We decorated them with shapes and colours that represent our culture. - Antonia, Sion K & Tony J, Y5
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Matariki is a new year and we celebrate outside with the stars - Valentina Z, Y5
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We eat breakfast at school together in the early morning after singing Matariki Songs together on the Astro. We made Matariki kites in ESOL- Alejandra, AG, Y5
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We made a Kite to celebrate Matariki - Hana Y, Y5
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Bay Suburbs Netball Tournament
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In week 10, Year five and six boys and girls went to the Bay Suburbs Netball Tournament at the Auckland Netball Centre in St Johns. We had about 72 students taking part in the tournament, and we had eight brilliant netball teams representing our school. Many teams came first including a year six team and around two year five teams. Overall we think Glendowie School did really well this year. We would also like to thank all the teachers and parents who helped and supported us at the tournament. We hope next year, even more people participate in this amazing tournament. - Amore L & Riko H, Y6
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Auckland Interschools Jump Rope Competition
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On Saturday 23rd June, a group of students from Years 3-6 demonstrated how to be a risk taker and attended the first ever Auckland Interschools Jump Rope Competition.
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Some students were experienced, confident skippers, while other students were participating in this competition to give something different a go!
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They entered a variety of events such as a 30 second basic bounce, jumping duo, double unders, rapid four relay and a freestyle routine. All of our students performed fantastically well and had a great experience at this event.
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While the judges were deliberating, our students were able to enjoy some entertainment from two world champion skippers!
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As the results came in, we quickly realised how talented our Glendowie School students were! Our skippers were awarded 24 medals in total across many different events. These will be presented to the students in Term 3.
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A special mention to Liam J, Y3 , Ayeon K, Y4 and Yeonjae H, Y6 who set seven national records between them! A combined effort from all of our participating students, led Glendowie School to be awarded 3rd place overall!
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We are proudly displaying our Skipping Trophy in the school office. It is so wonderful to see our Glendowie students being open - minded and challenging themselves to participate in something new. We will certainly be participating in the next skipping event!
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Parents' Association
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As we wrap up Term 2, the Parents' Association would like to say a huge thank you to our wonderful school community for all your support throughout the term.
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A special thank you to everyone who joined us at our School Movie Night. It was fantastic to see so many families enjoying a fun evening together, complete with plenty of pizza and tuck shop treats! Your support helps make these events such a success, and we love creating opportunities for our school community to connect. We're always looking to improve our events so if you have any feedback please email us at glendowieprimarypa@gmail.com.
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We wish all our students and families a safe, happy, and refreshing winter holiday. We hope you enjoy some well-deserved rest and return ready for an exciting Term 3, with more Parents' Association events to come.
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Next Uniform Shop Opening
8:30-9am, Friday 31st July
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7pm, Thursday 23rd July, staffroom, all welcome.
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2026 Event dates
Please note, the Parent's Social Evening which was set for Saturday 19th September has been changed to Friday 18th September.
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- Disco - Friday 14th August
- Runathon - Tuesday 25th August
- Parent's Social Evening - Friday 18th September
- Expert Speaker - date TBC
- Colour Run - 4th December
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Upcoming Events
- Monday 20th July - First Day of Term 3
- Thursday 23rd July - Parents' Association Meeting, 7pm- Staffroom
- Monday 27th July - Eastern Zone Netball
- Tuesday 28th July - Welcome Assembly. 9am - Hall
- Wednesday 29th July - Y3-8 Cross Country
- Friday 31st July - Second Hand Uniform Shop, 8.30am
- Monday 3rd August - Y3-6 Eastern Suburbs Gymnastics Competition
- Tuesday 4th August - School Production - Wizard of Oz, 6.30pm
- Wednesday 5th August - School Production - Wizard of Oz, 6.30pm
- Friday 7th August - Teacher Only Day - School Closed
- Tuesday 11th August - Y1 Motat Trip
- Wednesday 12th August - Y6 Puberty Talk
- Wednesday 12th August - Y2 Assembly, 1.30pm - Hall
- Thursday 13th August - Y0-1 Cross Country
- Thursday 13th August - Parent Teacher Interviews, school closes 1.40pm
- Friday 14th August - School Disco
- Monday 17th August - Eastern Zone Girls Basketball
- Tuesday 18th August - Eastern Zone Boys Basketball
- Tuesday 18th August - Board Meeting, 6.30pm - Board Room
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Community Notices
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