A heartfelt thank you to everyone for your kind words and messages for Principal Appreciation Day. I have been genuinely humbled by the generosity shown yesterday.

The truth is, it is an absolute privilege to lead such an amazing team of staff and to be part of a school community that continually gets in behind what we do. Matariki was a perfect example of what can be achieved when our staff, whaanau and wider community come together with a shared purpose.

While yesterday may have been called Principal Appreciation Day, the reality is that no principal leads a school alone. I am incredibly fortunate to work alongside an outstanding Senior Leadership Team (Bex, Lee, Kate and Rhi) who challenge, support and encourage me every day, as well as a dedicated team of teachers, learning assistants, support staff and volunteers who all play an important role in making Cambridge East School the special place it is. Great schools are built by great people working together, and I am lucky enough to be surrounded by exactly that.

People sometimes assume that being a principal is mostly about dealing with difficult situations, making tough decisions, or navigating the inevitable curveballs that come our way. While those moments certainly exist, they are far outweighed by the many highlights that make this one of the most rewarding jobs imaginable.

There is nothing quite like seeing the excitement on a learner's face as they discover something new, watching a well-planned Inquiry hook spark curiosity, celebrating success in the classroom, witnessing a personal goal achieved, or cheering on our tamariki as they represent our school in sport, the arts or other pursuits. Those moments are what inspire me to get out of bed every morning.

Thank you for allowing me the privilege of serving this incredible school community. Every success we celebrate belongs to all of us. It reflects the collective efforts of our staff, Senior Leadership Team, Board, PTA, whaanau, volunteers and, most importantly, our incredible tamariki. It is a genuine team effort, and I am grateful to play my part in that journey every day.

Our Mid-Year Learning Conversations are now underway, and it has been wonderful to see so many of our whaanau taking the time to come into school and engage in this important process. Thank you to everyone who has already attended. We know life is busy, and we genuinely appreciate your commitment to partnering with us in your child's learning journey.

If you haven't yet booked a Learning Conversation, there is still plenty of time over the next couple of weeks. We would love to see you. Please use the link below to book a time that suits your family.

One of the real strengths of our Learning Conversations is that our tamariki are at the centre of them. Rather than simply talking about our learners, we encourage them to be active participants in the conversation. This gives them the opportunity to celebrate the progress they have made over the first six months of the year, recognise the successes they have achieved, and understand the next steps that will help them continue to grow throughout the remainder of the year.

We often talk about parents and whānau being a child's first teachers, and that partnership between home and school has never been more important. When our learners, whānau and teachers all have a shared understanding of the learning goals ahead, everyone is pulling in the same direction. Together, we can celebrate success, provide encouragement when learning becomes challenging, and ensure every child has the opportunity to thrive.

The second half of the school year is often where we see some of the greatest growth. With clear goals, high-quality teaching at school, and the continued support of whaanau at home, our tamariki are well placed to make the most of every learning opportunity.

Thank you for continuing to work alongside us. Education is at its very best when schools and whaanau work together, and we appreciate the vital role you play in your child's learning journey.

One of the common questions that has come through during our Learning Conversations has been, "What do the numbers in my child's Mid-Year Report actually mean?" In particular, many parents of our Year 3–6 ākonga have been asking about the Stanine score that appears alongside their child's PAT (Progressive Achievement Test) results.

Firstly, it is important to understand that a PAT result is just one piece of the puzzle. At Cambridge East School, we never rely on a single assessment to make judgements about a child's achievement or progress. Instead, we triangulate information from three key sources to build a rich and accurate picture of each learner.

The first piece is formal standardised assessment, such as the PAT (Progressive Achievement Tests), which are completed by our Year 3–6 students. These assessments allow us to compare achievement against national norms for students of the same age.

The second piece comes from your child's everyday classroom learning and bookwork. This is one of the reasons we share examples of learning through our Termly Portfolios; they provide authentic evidence of what your child is able to do independently and how their skills are developing over time.

The final piece comes from what we notice as teachers while working alongside your child every day. Through observations, conversations, guided teaching, classroom discussions and learning activities, we gain valuable insights that no single test can capture. Often, this tells us just as much about a learner's understanding, confidence and next learning steps as any formal assessment.

When these three sources of information are considered together, they provide us with a far more complete and accurate picture of your child's progress than any single assessment could on its own.

So, what is a Stanine?

The word Stanine comes from "standard nine." Rather than being a score out of nine, it places a student's achievement into one of nine bands when compared with other students of the same age across New Zealand.

Think of it like a large group of students standing on a hill. The stanine simply tells us roughly where a learner sits within that group.

Stanine - What it generally means

1–3 : Developing skills and achieving below the national average range
4–6 : Achieving within the national average range
7–9 : Achieving above the national average range

What do we focus on?

One of the most important things to remember is that we are far more interested in growth than a single stanine score.

A child who moves from a Stanine 3 to 4 has made significant progress. Equally, a learner who remains in Stanine 8 may also have made excellent progress, as they continue to achieve alongside other high-performing students across New Zealand.

Every learner's journey is different. Our goal is not for every child to achieve the highest stanine possible. Our goal is for every child to continue making progress, develop confidence as a learner, and leave each year knowing more and being able to do more than when they started.

Thank you for continuing to support your child's learning journey. By working together, school, whaanau and learner, we can ensure every child continues to grow and experience success.

 A friendly reminder for our Year 4–6 whaanau that if your child's Camp Work Card is still sitting on the bench or tucked away in a school bag, now is a great time to dust it off and get those final jobs completed.

The idea behind the Work Cards was to spread the cost of camp over a number of weeks by encouraging our tamariki to earn a little money through jobs at home or within their wider whaanau and neighbourhood. Every contribution, no matter how big or small, will help reduce the amount owing when camp payments are called for.

We are currently working through the final costs for each of our camps. The biggest moving piece of the puzzle has been transport, with bus costs and fuel surcharges proving a little higher than originally anticipated. We appreciate your patience while we finalise these figures, particularly for our Year 6 Camp Adair experience.

As soon as costs have been confirmed, we will send detailed information directly to the appropriate families, including payment arrangements and timelines.

For our Year 6 Camp Adair, we will also soon be inviting expressions of interest from parents and caregivers who would like to be considered as camp helpers. We are incredibly grateful for the support our parent community provides, and we simply couldn't offer experiences like this without you.

If you've ever wanted the opportunity to be one of the "big kids" on camp for a few days, keep an eye on your inbox. An email outlining the application process and expectations for parent helpers will be coming your way soon!

 At our most recent Board meeting, we confirmed our enrolment plans for the 2027 school year. As part of this process, we will soon be advertising limited out-of-zone places for New Entrant/Year 1 through to Year 4. Our Year 5 and Year 6 cohorts for next year are already shaping up well, and we are mindful of maintaining balanced class sizes, particularly as we often welcome additional students into these year levels during the second half of the year.

The most important group for us at this time is our New Entrant and Year 1 enrolments. These numbers are critical when we work with the Ministry of Education to confirm our staffing entitlement and operational funding for 2027. The earlier we know who is joining our kura, the better we can plan classrooms, staffing, and resources to ensure every child gets the best possible start.

If you have a child in your household who will be turning five during 2027, we would love to receive their enrolment as soon as possible. Even if they won't be starting until later in the year, having those enrolments now makes a significant difference to our planning.

Likewise, if you have friends, neighbours, work colleagues, or whaanau who are looking for a primary school, we'd love you to be an advocate for Cambridge East School. Word of mouth remains one of the best ways families discover our school, and we always appreciate our community sharing their positive experiences with others.

Thank you in advance for helping us plan for another successful year. We look forward to welcoming many new tamariki and whaanau to our Cambridge East School community in 2027.

We kindly ask that tamariki do not bring their Ooshies to school. Recently, we have noticed an increasing number of children wanting to trade and swap Ooshies during school time, and this is beginning to cause issues between students.

While we understand that collecting and trading Ooshies can be exciting and enjoyable, these activities can sometimes lead to disagreements, lost items, and distractions from learning. To help avoid these problems, we ask that Ooshies are kept safely at home.

If children would like to trade or swap their collections, we encourage this to take place outside of school hours and under the supervision of their whaanau.

Thank you for your support and understanding as we work together to ensure our school remains a positive and focused learning environment for all students.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all those whaanau who have paid, or have set up payments towards, their school donation - we really appreciate it.
 
If you would like to take advantage of setting up a weekly/fortnightly payment to help cover trips, stationery supplies and unforeseen costs associated with school, please do so using your child's name as the reference.  If you are setting up payments to our school, please note that the legal school name on our bank accounts is Cambridge East School Board of Trustees.

Thank you to our generous Colour Run Sponsors - without them we would not be able to run this event.

Term 2 Upcoming Events
Friday, 3 July - Last day of Term 2
Monday, 20 July - First day of Term 3
Monday, 24 August - School Closed for Instruction

Further information will be or has been sent home about all of the events listed above as they occur. Remember to check the calendar on the website for upcoming events and activities.

Ways to Contact the School
If you need to contact the school for absences, changes of details, or to get a message to your child please either call us on 07 827 7651 or email office@cambridgeeast.school.nz

Contact Details
If you have moved or any of your contact details have changed, please let the office know either by email office@cambridgeeast.school.nz or by calling 07 827 7651. It is really important that we can contact you about your child.

2026 Term Dates
The 2026 Term Dates are also available on the website under the "Important Dates" button on the home page 

Scholastic Book Orders
Click here to order from Scholastic Books, Issue 5 orders close Wednesday, 12 August. Issue 6 orders close Wednesday, 9 September.

Pizza Lunch Dates - Term 3
Orders close at midnight on the Wednesday before the following dates:

Please order via FundRays. See below for setup instructions.

FundRays Platform
FundRays helps us keep families up to date with PTA fundraising activities, campaigns, orders, and other opportunities to support the school — all in one place. Once you’re in, you’ll be able to see active fundraisers, place any available orders, and keep up with PTA updates.

To avoid confusion and duplicate orders, we recommend one account per household. 

To join the Cambridge East PTA FundRays portal, please use the join link below:

Join Link: https://fundrays.co.nz/signup-member?join_code=CAMEASTPTA

Or scan this QR Code:

Entertainment Book
Grab your Entertainment Book online at www.entertainmentnz.com and choose Cambridge East School as your fundraiser - 20% of your purchase goes directly to support our school!

Please consider downloading the app for our Student Management System, Edge. Parents and caregivers can use the app to view their child's attendance and school report, pay their school account, and advise us of an absence. Follow this link to view a copy of their information document below to help you set up their App or Parent Portal.