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,

Welcome back to school for Term 4.  We have another busy term of fun learning planned.  With all the build up to camp, Christmas and the end of another year.  

Over the term break we unfortunately had to remove several trees from around the school grounds.  The two kowhai in the front had borer and were beginning to rot and would potentially be dangerous in severe weather.  Our gardener, Mel, is doing an amazing job of tidying up all the gardens around the school and we are really thankful to have her and her talented 'green fingers'.

Last term we congratulated Matthew Bleach on his wonderful achievements in running.  Matthew made it to the National Schools Cross Country champs, representing Wellington.   Both his team and individual achievements were impressive and we are all very proud of him.  He is learning that hard work and training pays off.  More details are in this newsletter.

You may have heard in the news, the Associate Minister of Education was recently talking about Teacher Only Days.  I thought it might be useful to explain how these are planned for.  All schools are required to be open for instruction for a certain amount of 1/2 days per year.  This amount is decided by the Ministry of Education and we are required to adhere to that.  Schools are then able to start and finish within certain timeframes.  If a school plans to have 1 or 2 Teacher Only Days within the year, they are still required to be open for the required 1/2 days and would adjust their start and finish date accordingly.  If in an emergency, the school needs to close - for example in a flooding situation - the school needs to seek approval from the Ministry.  In 2023 and 2024, the Ministry of Education instructed schools to take 2 Teacher Only Days and dictated the period these could be taken in.  These days did not need to be made up at the end of the year.  At St.Theresa's, we use the term break for call back days and complete a lot of our professional development, planning and other admistration in this time.   

Have a great weekend.

Donna McDonald - Principal

These amazing SPARKs still had enough energy to make it all the way to Week 10 in Term 3.  What a great effort.

Taking into account the unseasonably cool weather, it is still acceptable for children to be wearing their winter uniform - we are in the 2 week grace period.  After Labour Day on Monday, 28th October, we expect to see everyone wearing the correct summer uniform.  Hats are compulsory in the summer terms.  All uniform requirements are available on our website.

You will have the opportunity to buy personalised school sunhats - just in time for the anticipated glorious summer weather!  School logo on the front, your child's name on the back. More info will be available next week.
 

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.  You can also refer to the calendar on our website.

Term 4

Friday, 25th October - Uniform fittings from 2p.m. onwards.  Please call the Office to book an appointment.
Monday, 28th October - Labour Day NO SCHOOL!
Wednesday, 6th November - Powhiri and Mass of Welcome 9a.m.
Friday, 8th November - TEACHER ONLY DAY - no school for children!
Wednesday, 13th November - Speech Competition 1p.m.
Friday, 15th November - Uniform fittings from 2p.m. onwards.  Please call the Office to book an appointment.
Monday, 18th November to Friday, 22nd November -  Year 5 & 6 Camp 2024
Wednesday, 20th November - Board of Trustees Meeting - 6p.m.
Friday, 6th December - Whanau Day - Assembly and morning tea
Friday, 6th December - Uniform fittings from 2p.m. onwards.  Please call the Office to book an appointment.
Tuesday, 10th December - Prizegiving 5.30p.m.
Wednesday, 11th December - Board Meeting (Zoom) 6p.m.
Friday, 13th December - Final Assembly 9a.m.
Friday, 13th December - Big Day In
Wednesday, 18th December - Final Mass 11a.m.

With artwork produced by all our children during last term, their masterpieces will soon be available to order, in the form of calendars, cards, diaries, mouse mats and sketch pads.  Each product is made from your own child’s art and make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends - also perfect for posting overseas.

Next week we will be sending home all the info you need for ordering.  Your child will have their own unique code which you will use when ordering on the website.  Keep an eye out during next week!   We will let you know when the cut-off date for ordering is.

For Term 4:  There will be a total of 8 Fridays that pizza will be available for you to order for - that is for every Friday of the term except Teacher Only Day on 8th November.  

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.

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

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

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.