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,

It's so wonderful to see the children enjoying the spring weather and getting out and about around the school.  Yesterday, Rooms 1, 2 and 5 got the first swim for this term and they assured me it was very warm and fun!

Safety is a major concern for us at all times however, please be extra careful at drop off and pick up when travelling along James Street.  There are often children crossing the road and some even cross close to the roundabout so please be aware of children when pulling out from James Street.  We encourage all children walking to and from school, to use the overbridge as this is a much safer option.

Next week our Year 5 and 6 children head off to camp at Bridge Valley in Nelson.  This is a much anticipated part of the school calendar for these children and a wonderful opportunity for them to stretch themselves and grow even more resilience.  We are aware that costs have increased over the years and transport is impacted by these rising costs.  After this camp, we will be reviewing options for the future and will send out a short survey for you to complete to help support that review.

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

In Room 3, we have been learning about the journey of the sun. We have been learning all about the seasons, months and what celebrations there are.
We have been working together to create a soundscape that represents autumn. We used musical instruments and items from our classroom to make the sounds of soup bubbling on the stove, jackets zipping, wind, wind chimes, birds, rain, puddle jumping and crunchy leaves.
We have also been working hard on our speeches; we have all chosen our favorite season to write about! We are excited to share these.

All children who participated in the Speech Competition did so well and we congratulate them all.  Here are the placings of the winners:

Year 6 winners:  Iris Gair (1st), Holly Reading (2nd) and Charlie Cheung (3rd).
Year 5 winners:  Indie Prinz (1st), Ava Stace (2nd) and Ellie Anquetil (3rd).

We're so happy to be welcoming the following students to Room 5:

Maia Robinson, sister of Ana (Room 8) and her parents Chris and Sasha;
Ella McConnell and her parents Bryan and Mo;
Saylor Gerring and her parents, Liam and Sophia;
Sebastian Bennett, brother of Alexandra (Room 9) and his parents, Sam and Anastasia.

We wish you all many happy and memorable years as part of our School community.

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.

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 - Zoom at 6p.m.
Friday, 29th November - Non-uniform day for contributions to our Christmas Raffle
Thursday, 5th December - Christmas Family Fun Night - 5.30p.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 6p.m.
Friday, 13th December - Final Assembly 9a.m.
Friday, 13th December - Big Day In
Wednesday, 18th December - Final Mass 11a.m.

The good news: The first run of product orders is going ahead now, so that gives parents who have ordered a bit of a head start in terms of when they will receive what they ordered. 

More good news: If you missed the cut off but still want to order, you can do so by following the instructions below.  These orders will then only be available at a later date (but before school closes!).  The cut-off date for any further orders is Monday, 25th November - the absolute final chance!

Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: KZ2066
3/. Enter your child's room & name when prompted

We suggest you do it sooner rather than later as there are busy times ahead  and you may run out of time which would be unfortunate.  

A past pupil of St. T's, Tyler Duncan, has been chosen as the 2025 Head Boy of St. Patrick's College Silverstream.  On behalf of our whole community, we congratulate Tyler and his parents Dave and Kylie on this great achievement.  Look how he's grown!

Good luck and congratulations to Matthew Bleach who is attending  the Regional Swimming Competition on Friday. Matthew is competing in breaststroke and the relay. Go, Matthew!  

Friday, 29th November, is a 'Your Choice Clothing Day' and we ask all children for a 'Christmassy' donation for the privilege of not having to wear uniform, instead of the usual gold coin.  All donations are for the Christmas Raffle being drawn at our final Assembly and we're asking for sauces, wine, chocolates, biscuits, crackers, nuts, etc. - anything that you're likely to get in a lovely Christmas hamper.  Thank you in advance for your ongoing support. 

Countdown to the St. Joseph's Fundraising Movie Night!

Wednesday, 20 November 7p.m. for 8p.m. screening Lighthouse Cinema Movie night of “Lee” starring Kate Winslet, Christmas themed raffles and giveaways.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to see this highly rated biopic, have a fun night with the community and support our historic Parish Church.  Tickets will be on sale at the Masses this weekend, as well as by order -     see poster.
If you can't be there but would still like to make a donation, credit St. Joseph's account 02 0548 0388362 00.  Please reference with your name.  All donations are tax deductible and a receipt will be issued if you email stjosephschurchpauatahanui@gmail.com.

Calling all organisers... we need someone to organise and run the children's Christmas
Play which will take place at the 6p.m. Mass on Christmas Eve. No need to worry about writing a script - we have plays available, costumes, stunning hand-painted backdrops and now all we need an enthusiastic organiser to take the lead or share the role with a friend.
If you are interested, pleaseemail the Parish Office: st.theresas1940@gmail.com.

As per our notice last week, the order form is attached and has instructions for ordering.  The two sample sizes are available at the office.

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.

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.

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.

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