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,

Thank you to all those who were able to join us last night for our Matariki celebrations.  The children's karakia, waiata and performances were very special.  We were so fortunate to have Te Ahi Ora performing again and the children enjoyed the practical sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Matariki, the Māori New Year, is a time of reflection, celebration and new beginnings. It is a time to honor ancestors, acknowledge achievements,and plan for the future.

Matariki is a cluster of stars that appears in the sky in late May or early June, marking the start of the Māori New Year.

Matariki is closely connected to the natural world, with its timing and significance tied to the cycles of the moon and the changing seasons. Connecting with nature is a great way to honor Matariki.

Knowing if your child is well enough to go to school — guidance for parents and caregivers

Going to school every day is important for all school aged tamariki (children). It helps build their confidence and social skills, and to achieve their education and life ambitions. This information helps you decide when it is okay to send your child to school, when you should keep your child at home and when you should contact a health professional for advice.

https://info.health.nz/pregnancy-children/childhood-conditions/knowing-if-your-child-is-well-enough-to-go-to-school-guidance-for-parents/

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

Room 10 has had an awesome term. We participated in ShowQuest which was a fantastic experience for all the children. We did the Mountains to Sea project and heaps of learning about our freshwater streams, the fish and macroinvertebrates that live in them and the diadromous ones that live in both the streams and the ocean. We have also connected the star Waitī, the guardian of freshwater creatures to our learning and showcased our collaborative art piece at Matariki last night. We hope you like it.

Kia ora.
Last week, we had our second Board meeting of Term 2.  I can’t believe we are half way through the year already.  It was a productive meeting with some really good discussions.  It was great to welcome Kelly Ross and Koa Martell from the Archdiocese of Wellington to the meeting and to be able to put faces to names and to increase that meaningful connection between the school and the ADW.  We were able to have in depth discussions about St. Theresa’s and how we can and do support each other. 

You will no doubt have noticed the extensive work going on, upgrading the field area.  This has progressed extremely quickly and should be completed in the next couple of weeks.  We will end up with an artificial pitch in the area that has been dug up.  We will also have a large sandpit area and mud kitchen, as well as some grass mounds at the end of the field.  This is absolutely transformational for the school.  It takes an area that is often unusable due to adverse weather and makes it accessible all year round.  It really is future-proofing this area of the school.  This has only been possible because of school community fundraising efforts this year and for a number of previous years as well.

Big projects like this always raise questions of 'how are we funding them' and any work on school equipment or grounds is extremely expensive. Through successive Boards we have been able to save a number of years of fundraising money which has supported this project. This is where you get to see the enormous benefits the hard work the Parents & Friends Ctte, Carnival organisers, school staff and families of St. Theresa’s have put in over a number of years.  Several years ago - 'preCovid',  we talked about the phases of upgrading our playground environment and this has been the focus for fundraising for many years. The first phase was the Junior playground equipment, replacing the ‘Littly’ playground and the second phase is the current work on the field.  Thank you for all your fundraising efforts and I know your children will really love this new area when it has been completed.  Further information will be shared about costs of these upgrades so you can see exactly how much we have paid and the need for sustained and repeated fundraising over a number of years.

Nga mihi,
Mike Tohill - Presiding Member – St Theresa’s Catholic School Plimmerton – Board of Trustees

Caritas YCC (Your Choice Clothing) Day -  Friday, 5th July - Please bring a donation as we are fundraising for Holy Trinity School in Papua New Guinea who are in desperate need of vital classroom equipment and resources.

All families will have been sent a book of raffle tickets to sell.  If you need any extra books, please call in at the office or email Gina and she will sort them for you!

We will be having a non-uniform day on Friday, 26th July (first Friday of Term 3) and will be asking families to send in items for the raffle instead of the usual gold coin donation.  Closer to the time, we will make suggestions about what could be donated so it makes it easier for you to decide.

Many thanks, in anticipation, for your support of this initiative.

Just a reminder that the rules of the road need to be followed at all times.  Please don't park across anyone's driveway nor on any yellow lines.  Only people who have a disability permit are allowed to park in the disabled parking spaces.  A big thank you to all our families who do the right thing!

Will Croasdale and Matthew Bleach will be competing in the Wellington Regional Cross Country event next Tuesday.  We wish them everything of the best!

Mānawatia a Matariki — Happy Māori New Year!

Matariki is a time to reflect, share stories, and plan for the New Year. It’s the perfect time to connect with whakataukī and learn from the wisdom of those who came before us. To celebrate the present with kai and time with our whānau and communities and to look ahead and plan for the future.

Mānawa maiea te putanga o Matariki. Celebrate the rising of Matariki.
Mānawa maiea te ariki o te rangi. Celebrate the rising of the lord of the sky.
Mānawa maiea te Mātahi o te tau. Celebrate the rising of the New Year.

Want to learn more: follow these links for more information and learning of Matariki from these information specialists: 

• St Theresa’s School Matariki Dashboard (videos, interaction games, read alouds, and more)

• Matariki Books List (All available in our library) 

• National Library 

• Te papa

• Te Ara The Encyclopaedia of NZ

Want a book to read - checkout our Matariki display in the library.

It’s that time of year. Finalists are here and the winners will be announced next term. We have all the titles available in the school Library. 

See our catalogue list here (more being added soon)

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, 28th June - Matariki - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, 2nd July - Regional Cross Country Competition
Friday, 5th July - Caritas YCC Day - gold coin donation
Friday, 5th July - End of Term 2

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

Monday, 22nd July - Start of Term 3
Friday, 26th July - Non-Uniform Day for Mid-winter Christmas Raffle
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 

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.

For Term 3:  There will be a total of 10 Fridays that pizza will be available for you to order - that is for every Friday of the term.  This term's fundraising is for Camp 2024 and will be administered by parents whose children are attending camp this year.  We will revert to the general fundraising for school in Term 4.

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 10 WEEKS this term. So if ordering for the term, just multiply by 10. 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 - 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.

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.

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.

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