Hello, Kia ora, Talofa lava, Hola, Namaste, Mabuhay, Ciao, Kia Orana, Ahalan,  Konnichiwa, Ni hao, Selam,  Xin chao,  Bonjour,  Bula, Dzien/Dobry, Shalom,  Dia duit, Mauri, Halo, Bom dia, Gidday, Guten Tag, Hej   

Mai i te Kopae ki te Urupa, tatou ako tonu ai - From the cradle to the grave, we are forever learning.

Kia ora koutou e te whānau,

This week we received confirmation that our long awaited turf project will commence on Monday.  The Board of Trustees received 3 very comprehensive quotes and they chose to go forward with a company called SmartGrass https://smartgrass.co.nz/.  This project will revive and refresh the field area and will involve moving the containers and creating hill mounds at the back end of the field.  There will be a court size turf area and a space for an updated mud kitchen and sandpit.  Using this type of product means we are future proofing the area for generations to come and cutting out most of the ongoing maintenace.  The children will have access to the field area all year round. Although this will mean some inconvenience for about 4 weeks, we are very excited to see the planning all coming together at last.

We are also looking to build a sandpit and extend our mudkitchen area so if anyone has contacts with a builder who might be interested in this project, please let us know. 

We also still need a gardener for a few hours a week to help maintain the grounds.  If you know anyone who might be interested, please let me know. 

It's that time of year again!  With the colder weather come the usual bugs.  As we are inside a bit more during the end of Term 2 and into Term 3, those bugs are more contagious.  Please be vigilant and watch out for symptoms of coughs and colds, etc. and keep your children home so that we can minimise the spread.

As you may have heard, this year our School turns 75! We are planning on celebrating this milestone with a liturgy, morning tea and a surprise unveiling.  The date has been set for Thursday, 12th September from 9.30 - 11.30a.m. here at School.  Please contact anyone you know who has been involved with our School in the past 75 years and let them know.  If you know of foundation pupils, etc. and can pass on their details to be invited, please let Gina in the Office know.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā - Have a great weekend.

Donna McDonald - Principal

We had our first Board of Trustees meeting of Term 2 last week.  It was again a very productive meeting and a lot was discussed.  We spent some time working on the plans for the playground development, in particular the field area.  This has been an area that has been in need of development for some time, with it ranging from hard as concrete in summer and a mud bath in winter.  We had some quotes for putting in artificial turf in this area and we reviewed those and came away with a preferred option.  This work will get underway in the near future and will make it a much more useable area and is only possible because of the amazing fundraising efforts by all of you over the last few years.

We spent some time discussing the Board's responsibilities and reconfirming the responsibilities that come with being on a Board of Trustees.  This is especially relevant in light of recent outcomes in Northland.  It was a really useful discussion and confirmed that we have a Board that understands and takes its role seriously. 

We also talked about the upcoming 75^th Anniversary in September.  We are looking forward to commemorating this and hopefully will have a few former students attending, to help celebrate.  It will be great to see how the school has grown and developed since its start back in 1949. 

Take care of yourselves as we head into the winter months and I look forward to seeing the school grounds develop and improve over the next few months.

Nga mihi,
Mike Tohill – Presiding Member – Board of Trustees

A very warm welcome to Addison Foote who started her school life last week as well as her parents, Jacob and Lucy (a former student of St. T's!). 

Brodie Pidcock, brother of Charlie and Sawyer and son of Lawrence and Shailie, also started school this week.  He's already very familiar with his school surroundings!

We wish you all a very happy association with St. T's and our wonderful community.

Just a reminder that there will be no school for our children on our Teacher Only Day on Friday, 31st May as well as Monday, 3rd June which is King's birthday.  

Please mark this in your calendar and spread the word!
Thursday, 12th September 9.30 - 11.30a.m.
Much more information to follow.

St. T’s Stars
Stars 10 -  Greenferns1 - 0
The Stars played a fantastic game with all their hard work paying off with a well-deserved win.
PoD - Lucy for her awesome shooting;
MM - Loralei for her amazing intercepts in the defensive circle.

It may be worth making a note of the following important dates for this term, however, more may be added or removed so keep a check and you can also refer to the calendar on our website.

Wednesday, 29th May - Baptism 10a.m.
Friday, 31st May - Teacher Only Day - NO SCHOOL

Monday, 3rd June - King's Birthday - NO SCHOOL
Thursday, 6th June -  Parumoana Cross Country
Wednesday, 12th June - Scholastic Book Fair starts
Friday, 14th June - Uniform Fittings  Please call the office to book an appointment.
Wednesday, 19th June - Board of Trustees Meeting - 6p.m.
Wednesday, 26th June - Matariki Celebration at school
Friday, 28th June - Matariki - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, 2nd July - Regional Cross Country Competition
Friday, 5th July - End of Term 2

Outstanding school accounts have been sent home.  This covers the whole year’s activities and will be the only account you will be sent all year.  Some accounts reflect only what remains unpaid.

If not paying in full or per term, we strongly encourage you to set up an Automatic Payment.  If you forsee any problems paying this account, please call or email the Office to make an appointment to meet with Donna.

For Term 2:  There will be a total of 8 Fridays that pizza will be available for you to order.  They are:

Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, NOT in Week 5 (31st May - No school - Teacher Only Day), 6, 7, 8, NOT in Week 9 (28th June - Matariki - No school) and then again in Week 10.  

To order pizza and/or ice blocks for your child, please follow ONE of the two processes below:
1. ORDERS FOR THE TERM: Pizza will be available for 8 WEEKS this term. So if ordering for the term, just multiply by 8. If you decide part way through the term, then calculate how many Fridays are left. Send an email to the team, outlining the following information for each child you are ordering for BUT in one email is fine.

Child’s Name:
Room No.:
Number of pizza slices - please specify if gluten free
Number of ice blocks
Cost: $1.50 per pizza slice and $1 per ice block
Multiply the order total by the number of Fridays.

2. WEEKLY ORDERS: These need to be sent to the same email address, with the same order details as in Option 1 and also paid into the same bank account number.
VERY IMPORTANT: The deadline for weekly orders is at 3p.m. on a Thursday. Unfortunately, no late orders can be accepted.

If you would like to pay in advance for a set number of weeks but not all
the weeks in this particular term, please feel free to email these details to
the team.
If your child is new to our school and only starts part way through the term,
simply adjust the number of weeks for the remainder of the term.
kaiorders@stp.school.nz
Payment by internet banking only to 12 3254 0109325 00 using the
reference PIZZA. The team would appreciate a screenshot of your
payment, sent to their email address.

As part of our Camp 2024 fundraising efforts, here are some great offers to ward off the cold:

Bags of pine cones - $25  (approx. 15 - 20kg dog food bag)
Pine firewood (trailer load) - $350 (includes splitting and delivery)
Trailer of pine rounds (unsplit) - $50
Bring your own trailer and pick your own wood - Donation to school

For pine cones, please use the reference 'Pinecones' and your name. Once paid, pop into Room 10 straight after school to collect. Please return your bag after use.
For wood, please use the reference 'Wood' and your name.
Payment should be made to our school account 12 3254 0109325 00.

For all other details, please contact Karl Simonlehner on 027-4862871 or email him on simonlehnerkarl@gmail.com and he will tell you how it works.  Well worth finding out more about it and then we're all winners!

Please feel free to spread the word beyond our school community.

If you have any of those large dogfood bags, please send them along to Room 10.

AVAILABILITY OF THE ABOVE STARTS AFTER 26th MAY.

Community Connections

School Calendar

We're still collecting Yummy stickers which earn us points for sports equipment.  A chart is attached for you to use and copies are also available from the Office.

NEWSLETTER APP
Here is the link to download the Schoolzine App.  At the end of set up, you are asked for a passcode and this is 3025. 

An important update for SZapp has been released to accomodate for iPhones which have been intermittently receiving push notifications.

SZapp is available from the App Store now.

Users with automatic updates enabled on their device will recieve this update automatically.

If you would like to order a picket, please complete the attached form and return to the Office.  The cost is $35 per picket.