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 is so great to be back at school after my sabbatical! I’ve missed the smiles, the laughter and the special spirit that makes our school such a wonderful place to be.

I have really valued the opportunity this sabbatical gave me to visit other schools, read current research of Trauma Informed Practice and take time to refresh and connect with my whānau.

Thank you for the support I have received from the whole school community, in particular the staff and Board of Trustees.  I’m looking forward to reconnecting with you all and getting stuck into an exciting second half of the year.

As you will be aware, the call for nominations for the School Board of Trustees have gone out.  This is a great opportunity to be involved in the running of the school at a governance level so please give some thought to putting your name forward if you are interested.

On Sunday, we celebrate our 2nd Whole School/Parish Mass and the theme this Sunday is Grandparents.  It is important to acknowledge the place grandparents hold in the hearts of their mokopuna and in the life of our school community.  As always, we will be having a morning tea and sausage sizzle after Mass so please bring a small plate of food  to share.  Any offers of help with the barbeque would be gratefully accepted.  We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day for the children's Immersion Day. This is the way we kick off any new inquiry topic at St. Theresa's and this term it was the opportunity for the children to begin to get into role for our end of term production.  Such a lot of work has already gone into production planning and I am so  excited to be back to be part of this.  We are looking forward to another high quality, thought-provoking production from the children.  

Keep warm and well.

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

Couldn't have been a better start for our first week of the term's Sparks of God. 
Well rested after the holidays and raring to go!

Our first two new students for Term 3 have started their school life in Room 1. 
We warmly welcome Amaze Vaalepu-Austin Burke, brother of Aahniciyah-Sky and son of Hemi and Simone as well as Logan Tulloch, son of Kate and Gareth.
We hope they enjoy their time here at St. Theresa's and we wish many blessings on these families!

Nominations are now open for the School Board of Trustees elections and you should all have received an email in this regard as well as clarification around eligibility. This is your chance to contribute to our school's governance and help shape its future.  If you want to know more, feel free to speak to our Presiding Member, Mike Tohill or any current member of the Board.

You can nominate online at www.myschoolelection.nz/mynomination

Nominations close on 4th August at noon.

This is a whole School/Parish Mass.  It will be a special occasion where grandparents (including 'surrogate' grandparents) are acknowledged for their love and support and how much they mean to their grandchildren.  All students are expected to attend, dressed in their full school uniform.  There will be a shared morning tea afterwards (please bring a plate) as well as a free sausage sizzle.  Children need to meet their teacher on the court at 9.15a.m.

It's going to be a very special celebration of the 5th World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

Please remember to add the Office email address (office@stp.school.nz) into your notifications to teachers around absences from school, for any reason.  If the classroom teacher is away, there is no way for us to know that a parent has already notified  the teacher.

St. Ts Stars vs Tawa Taniwha - they drew 4 all. It was a tightly contested game that showcased great teamwork! Although Tawa led 3 – 0 at halftime, the Stars had great defence and dominated possession, clawing back to a well-earned draw. PoD went to Zoey van Rensburg for great movement around the court and defending to disrupt the oppositions passes and Molly Skirrow who continually found space to receive the ball and keep momentum going. MM was awarded to Zoey Giles who was pivotal in blocking nearly every ball aimed at the Tawa team's goal. Captain’s MM went to Ada Millington, whose outstanding shooting kept the team in the game.

St. T’s Magic had a 3 - 7 loss to the Plimmerton Shooting Stars on Saturday.
PoD went to Georgia Price who showed great resilience and perseverance by pushing through her frustrations.  
MMs to Braeden Jeyathas, who has come so far since the start of the season resulting in him getting a number of intercepts at GK and to Willow Cooling for the energy that she bought to the team when she came on in the second half.

Parent/Teacher Interviews take place on Thursday, 24th July and Tuesday, 29th July from 3p.m. - 7.00p.m.  It is an expectation that all parents book an interview slot.  Please go to schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the Event Code has28 (case sensitive).

As part of our Immersion Day yesterday, Room 1 students got to scrub the deck with toothbrushes!!

JULY
Thursday, 24th July - Parent/Teacher Interviews 3p.m. - 6.45p.m.
Sunday, 27th July - Grandparents Mass - 9.30a.m.
Tuesday 29th July - Parent/Teacher Interviews 3p.m. - 6.45p.m.
Wednesday, 30th July - Board of Trustees Meeting - 6p.m.

AUGUST

Friday, 1st August - Uniform Fittings 2p.m. - 3.20p.m.
Thursday, 7th August - Powhiri and Mass of Welcome  9a.m.
Friday, 8th August - School Disco
Thursday, 14th August - Scripture Reading Competition
Monday, 18th August - Leadership Awards
Tuesday, 19th August - Year 5 & 6 Interschool Swimming Competition
Thursday, 21st August - Parent Information Evening - English 6.p.m.
Thursday, 21st August - Kapiti-Mana Catholic Schools Scripture Reading Competition
Friday, 22nd August - Uniform Fittings 2p.m. - 3.20p.m.
Thursday, 28th August - Teacher Only Day - NO SCHOOL
Sunday, 31st August - First Holy Communion 9.30a.m.

SEPTEMBER
Wednesday, 3rd September - Board of Trustees meeting 6p.m.
Sunday 7th September - Father's Day
Wednesday, 10th September - Board of Trustees Elections
Friday, 12th September - Uniform Fittings 2p.m. - 3.20p.m.
Monday, 15th September - Production Rehearsal
Tuesday, 16th September - School Production 7p.m.
Wednesday, 17th September - School Production 7p.m.
Friday, 19th September - End of Term 3

On Thursday, 7th August at 9a.m., we will be welcoming our new students at Term 3's powhiri and Mass of Welcome.  Please join us in this celebration to show your  support for our new families as they become part of our school community.

Our DISCO is on Friday, 8th August in the Parish Hall.

Junior Disco (Years 0 – 3): 5p.m. to 6.30p.m.
Senior Disco (Years 4 – 6): 7p.m. to 8.30p.m.

We will be sending out more information/forms soon.  Exciting times ahead!

A message from our Parents & Friends team:
We’re ready to get the party started but we need your help! For this to be a fun event for our kids we need a bunch of helpers on the night. Roles will include set up on the night, registering children as they arrive, selling treats and glow sticks and serving up hot dogs. It’s the perfect chance (especially for Junior parents!) to get involved, lend a hand and meet other awesome parents. You can help at the session your child is attending or whichever one suits you! Please email pandf@stp.school.nz to let us know when you can help out. (We will still need you to complete the hard copy form that we will be sending out.)
Lucy Kerr & Bronagh Barber

In case the form didn't make it home, here is the Attendance at the Disco and well as a request for help on the day information.

Our supplier will be on site on the dates listed below.  You must book an appointment so please call or email the Office to find a time that suits you.

The time slots are 10 minutes each however, for new entrants, 2 slots are recommended.  Appointments start from 2p.m. and end at 3.20p.m.

Friday, 1st August - Friday, 22nd August - Friday, 12 September

For Term 3:  There will be a total of 10 Fridays that pizza will be available for you to order. 

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.

Check out our fabulous personalised school hats!  Order form attached.

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.