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, Olivia McKennie, our DRS and I are attending the New Zealand Catholic Education Convention in Wellington.  This convention has been postponed since 2021 so it is wonderful to have the opportunity again to connect with Catholic leaders from across the country.  We have many international speakers attending to complement the local talent who are presenting to us.

We have a growing number of our staff and children away sick with a variety of winter bugs at the moment.  Please continue to monitor your children and keep them at home if they have any symptoms.  This helps keep the whole community well.

Next Wednesday, 26th June, is our annual school Matariki celebration.  All the details you need are in this newsletter.  We look forward to seeing you all there; the celebration starts at 5p.m. in the Church.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā - Have a great weekend.
Donna McDonald - Principal

We've had a busy time in Room 7 lately.  We have been learning all about the moon.  We read about the moon and watched videos.  We wrote facts about the moon and created some artwork to go with it.  We learned about the surface of the moon and made some models out of salt dough to show craters, mountains and moon dust.  We learned about the 8 phases of the moon and made a model to show them.  We also made a model to show and explain how the moon moves.  We learned lots of new vocabulary such as craters, asteroids, the asteroid belt, waxing and waning crescents and our favourite - waxing and waning gibbous.  We are becoming moon experts!

Please mark this in your calendar and spread the word!
Thursday, 12th September 9.30 - 11.30a.m.
Archbishop Paul Martin will be celebrating Mass followed by the blessing of our art installation, the sharing of stories of the past and present and light refreshments.  For catering purposes, please click on the link if you know you will be attending.

5p.m. Arrive at school and go straight to the Church for our play, songs, reflections and prayers.

5.30 - 7p.m. Kai in the courtyard followed by Te Ahi Ora Fire Display on the field.

The Parents & Friends Ctte will be providing a sausage sizzle ($2), hot chocolate ($2) and star biscuits (TBC) made by the Years 1 - 3 children.  Please bring along CASH for all of these tasty treats.

Dress warmly!

VERY IMPORTANT:  There are special clothing instructions for any children wishing to participate in the Fire workshop, so please read the attached flyer or the Seesaw post that was sent out earlier this week.

The Parents & Friends Ctte need helpers for serving food at our Matariki celebration on Wednesday, 26th June.  We will be selling sausages, hot chocolate and star biscuits.  Please email Lucy Kerr (pandf@stp.school.nz) to let her know that you can help.  Many thanks in anticipation!

Next week, we will be sending home a book of 10 tickets for each family to sell.  The draw will take place on Friday, 2nd August which gives a good amount of time to get them sold, including over the school holidays.  There will be 5 gift baskets to be won.

We will be having a non-uniform day (date to be confirmed) and will be asking for families to send in items for the raffle instead of the usual gold coin donation.

For any correspondence to school about your child's absence, for whatever reason, PLEASE include the office email address.  For illness on the day, you can leave a message on the Absence Line but if you're emailing their classroom teacher about it, the office must be included.

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.

Term 2 ..... what's left of it!

Friday, 21st June - Uniform Fittings  Please call the office to book an appointment.
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

Term 3 .......... so far!

Monday, 22nd July - Start of Term 3
Tuesday, 6th August - Parent/Teacher Interviews
Friday, 9th August - Uniform fittings - Please call the office to book an appointment
Tuesday, 13th August - Parent/Teacher Interviews
Wednesday, 14th August - Powhiri and Mass of Welcome
Wednesday,  14th August - Board Meeting
Tuesday, 27th August - Year 5 & 6 Parumoana Swimming Competition
Thursday, 29th August - Kapiti Scripture Competition
Friday, 30th August - Uniform fittings - Please call the office to book an appointment
Sunday, 1st September - Whole School/Parish Mass
Wednesday, 11th September - Board of Trustees meeting
Thursday, 12th September - Celebration of our 75th Jubilee 9.30 - 11.30a.m.
Thursday, 19th September - Children Only Bring and Buy Day
Friday, 20th September - Uniform fittings - Please call the office to book an appointment
Friday, 27th September - End of Term 3 

Term 3:  22nd July - 27th September

Term 4:  14th October - 18th December

.....and before you know it, it will be Christmas!

Please consider donating blood if you don't already do so.  There is always a great need and this benefits and saves the lives of so many people.  They make it so easy to donate - all it takes is a wee bit of your time - that's it!  It's well worth visiting their website https://www.nzblood.co.nz/. 

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

Bags of pine cones - between $20 - $30 per bag depending on the size you pick.  We have 3 different size bags and these are being stored in the shed at school.  If you want to purchase some, please let either Mrs. Fitzsimons (trish@stp.school.nz) or Mrs. MacLean (pauline@stp.school.nz) (or the Office)  know that you will be collecting after school and they will get that organised for you.  Please return your bag after use.
Pine firewood (trailer load) - $350 (includes splitting and delivery) Partly dry
Trailer of pine rounds (unsplit) - $50
Bring your own trailer and pick your own wood - Donation to school

PAYMENT:
For pine cones, please use the reference 'Pinecones' and your name.  
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.

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.

Community Connections

School Calendar

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.

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.

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