St Teresa's School Newsletter

I hope you have all enjoyed a restful holiday break and are feeling refreshed and ready for another busy, fun-filled term. We have an exciting few months ahead, with plenty of opportunities for learning, creating, celebrating and coming together as a school community.

This term has a real focus on the Arts. Our tamariki will be exploring visual art, dance, choir and kapa haka, with lots of opportunities to develop their creativity and confidence. We are also looking forward to celebrating all of this learning at our Arts Show and Movie Night towards the end of the term (date to be confirmed once the hall booking has been confirmed). It promises to be a wonderful evening to celebrate our tamariki's learning, while also giving our school community the chance to connect, catch up and enjoy some time together. Keep an eye on future newsletters for more details as the term unfolds.

We begin Term Three with our Learning Conversations. These are an important opportunity for us to come together to discuss your child's mid-year report, celebrate their progress, and make plans for the next stage of their learning journey. Please see my reposted message about our changing landscape. If you haven't yet booked a Learning Conversation, or need help making a booking, please get in touch with your child's teacher or Zoë - we're always happy to help.

We are also incredibly privileged to be welcoming a number of new students and their whānau to St Teresa's School this term. It is always exciting to see our school community continue to grow, and we are looking forward to sharing this next chapter of their learning journey with them. We invite our school community to join us to make them all super welcome at our Mihi Whakatau on Thursday 23rd July at 9.00am in the quad. This is our way of formally welcoming our new students and their families into our St Teresa's whānau. We would love to see you there.

In Week Two, we look forward to welcoming our grandparents, parishioners and other significant older people in our children's lives to school for our special celebration on Tuesday 28th July. We will gather for a special liturgy, followed by shared kai together. We can't wait to celebrate with everyone and to show some of our favourite people our beautiful place of learning. You'll find more information below.

I am also delighted to share some exciting staffing news. Over the holidays, our wonderful teacher aide, Brooke, was awarded a Limited Authority to Teach (LAT). This is a fantastic achievement and a reflection of the knowledge, skills and dedication she brings to our school every day. Brooke will now be able to relieve in classrooms, and will deliver some of our targeted learning programmes, including the Accelerated Maths programme in the senior school and BSLA in the junior school. She will also continue leading our fantastic Hub Club after-school care programme, which so many of our children enjoy. Congratulations, Brooke. We are incredibly proud of you and excited to have you join our teaching team in this new capacity.

With Brooke stepping into this role, we are also delighted to welcome Asta to our teacher aide team. Many of you will already know Asta through Holiday Club, as well as the big sister of a number of our students, and we are thrilled that she will now also be supporting learning in our junior school and in Tauwharenīkau. We know she will be a wonderful addition to the team, and we look forward to seeing the gifts and talents she brings to our school.

Before the holidays ended, our staff had the opportunity to spend a day together on retreat with Cardinal John. It was a truly special day of reflection, prayer and renewal. One of the messages that has stayed with me is the reminder that every day is a gift. Cardinal John encouraged us to slow down enough to notice the beauty around us, to recognise God's presence in the people we meet and the moments we experience, and to make space to hear what God is saying to us. It was a wonderful opportunity to pause, reconnect with our faith, and centre ourselves in Christ before welcoming our tamariki back for another term of learning.

Monday is coming around quickly, and the staff and I are so looking forward to welcoming everyone back. We can't wait to hear all about the adventures, family time and special moments that filled your holiday break.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or simply want to pop in for a chat, my door is always open. Whether it's for a coffee, a catch-up, or just to say hi, you're always welcome.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Liz Lark
Tumuaki Principal

Tuesday 21st July

Learning Conversations - all classes

Wednesday 22nd July

Learning Conversations (Tauwharenīkau Day 2)

Thursday 23rd July

Mihi Whakatau 9am - please join us in welcoming all of our new whānau

Learning Conversations (Remutaka Day 2)

Tuesday 28th July

Faith Across the Generations Celebration 10am - please join us to celebrate our grandparents, great grandparents, grandfriends, and other older people of significance. Morning tea provided

Wednesday 29th July

Football Tournament Years 5-8 - Go St Teresa's!!

Miniball Starts Years 5&6

Thursday 30th July

Planting at Donald's Creek Years 3+ 11am - please join us to make a difference in enhancing our taiao

Friday 31st July

Tākitimu Assembly 9am - please join us for more rewards and celebrations

In our Church, we celebrate Grandparents and Elderly with a special Mass.

This celebration day was established by Pope Francis on the fourth Sunday of July, which coincides with the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.

To celebrate, we invite you to:

• Attend our Church service on Sunday 26th July at 10:30am, followed by a visit to school to peruse the classrooms from 11:30am.
• Extend the celebrations on the following Tuesday 28th July at 10am, with a special Liturgy and shared morning tea.

Please joun us for one or both of the celebrations.

Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed some exciting improvements happening around our school grounds. Thanks to the incredible work of the Tidy Up Crew, and the generous support of our Friends of St Teresa's Association (FOSTA), several projects have been completed to make our outdoor spaces even more inviting for our tamariki.

A beautiful stoned area has been created around the garden dedicated to our much-loved Mrs Mary Sankey, the sides of our sandpit have been raised so we can enjoy even more sandy fun, and our challenge course has been water blasted and refreshed. There is still more to come, with plans to install edging around the challenge course before laying bark, develop our prayer space with a brick-paved floor, and create seating that can be used for quiet reflection in both our memorial garden and prayer space.

These projects are a wonderful example of what can be achieved when our school community works together. We are so grateful to FOSTA for the countless hours they give throughout the year to make these improvements possible, and to everyone who supports their fundraising efforts. Your generosity has a direct and lasting impact on our school.

With these projects well underway, our fundraising funds have now been largely committed, so it's time to start building them up again for future improvements. As mentioned above, our next major fundraising goal is the construction of a garage.

One of the easiest and most enjoyable ways you can help is by joining us for our Bingo Night! Gather your friends and whānau, enjoy a fantastic evening together, and know that every ticket purchased helps us continue investing in opportunities and facilities for our tamariki. You'll find all the details on how to purchase tickets below.

We'd love to see you there!

Bella entered a colouring competition for National Road Safety Week last term and won first place in her age category. Cangratulations Bella!

If there is anything that your tamariki are doing well in, and you would like us all to celebrate, please send information to me so we can celebrate them in our newsletters principal@teresas.school.nz

During the last week of term, Neo, William and Hadly competed in the Regional Cross Country. They all did a fantastic job running in some very muddy conditions. It was such an achievement to make it to Regionals and be competing against all the other runners in the Wellington region. We were lucky enough to be there watching and able to bring a large support crew too.

Tino pai boys! We are so proud of you.

Waiorongomai:

Walter, Jean, Huia, Juniper. Madden, Aylarose, Te Ahi, Huia, Walter, Wairua, Luca

Wairarapa:

Alex, Lucca, Jojo, Kate, Chloe, Gino, Briella, Harper, Aubrey, Ollie, Archie, Caiden, Lachlan, Mei

Tauwharenīkau:

Ava, Dante, Stella, Kingsley, Judah, Mila, Asher, Maddy, Kaia, Bella, Archie, Aria, Maggie

Remutaka:

William J, Quiana, Stephanie, Riria-Jean, Connor, Jaden, Neo, Chloe, Charlie, Maeve, Cat, Devon, Jaden, Pipi

Tākitimu:

Malachi, Elsie, Ryley, Kaylah, Felix, Malachi, Rohan, Elsie, William, Abby, Zeke, Christopher, Ariella, Max

Ka mau te wheu!

We are looking forward to celebrating more success in the upcoming term as the tamariki live our values in their work, play and everyday interactions.

We have lots of jobs in the process. Thank you to all who have volunteered to help. If you have put your name down, can you please contact us as soon as possible so we can get these jobs completed, particularly before the winter weather really sets in.

🧰 Can anyone sharpen our guillotine paper cutter?

🧰 Table trimming - this might sound like a bit of an odd request but some of our new classroom table are too big for the space (they currently comfortable seat two and a half children down each side 😅). This is creating a more cramped classroom space than needs to be. We are looking for a joiner who can cut down and re-edge/re-finish the table top, and someone - or the same person - to cut and rejoin the frame to fit. Ideally this would be done before our next building project starts. If you can help, or know someone who might be able to help, please see me (Liz) asap.

🧰 A job that continues to plague us on a daily basis is keeping our grounds tidy. This involves sweeping the leaves from the paths outside the Hub and the quad. If you have 5 minutes at any end of the day and don't mind picking up a broom, we would appreciate your help.

Over the past year, the New Zealand educational landscape has undergone significant shifts due to national directives regarding the NZ curriculum, particularly in English and Mathematics. Alongside these curriculum changes, the Minister of Education has introduced new requirements for how we must assess your child's progress.

What is Changing?

1. Year-by-Year Learning: In the new curriculum, learning is set out in a fixed year-by-year format, with specific requirements for achievement at each year level. This is a significant philosophical shift from our previous model which acknowledged that children progress at different rates from different starting points.

2. New Progress Descriptors: The Ministry has replaced broad curriculum bands with five specific progress stages: Emerging, Developing, Consolidating, Proficient, and Exceeding. These are the specific terms we are now directed to use to assess your child’s journey. Since we are required to assess using these terms we have chosen to use them within our reporting.

3. Increased expectations for achievement: The new curriculum significantly raises the expectations for achievement at each age. The Minister has lifted the floor, meaning the milestones for being "Proficient" or at the expected level are higher than they have been previously.

For example, in Year 2 mathematics, students are now expected to:

• Fluently solve addition and subtraction problems within 100 (previously, the focus was often on mastery within 20, moving toward 100 by Year 3);

• Recall basic addition and subtraction facts to 20 with automaticity (e.g., 8 + 7 = 15 or 14 - 6 = 8 without counting on fingers).

• Understand and work with fractions like thirds and quarters of a whole and of a set, a significant jump in abstract thinking for seven-year-olds.

Expectations for Year 4 Writing have shifted toward formalised structure much earlier than previously. An 8 or 9-year-old is now expected to:

• Write multi-paragraph texts: Independently construct texts ensuring every paragraph contains a distinct topic sentence, supporting details, and a conclusion.

• Master advanced mechanics: Consistently apply speech marks, possessive apostrophes (e.g., the dog's bowl), and correctly spell tricky homophones like their/there/they're.

• Use complex linking language: Deliberately use transitional phrases (e.g., together with, this means that) to connect abstract opinions with concrete reasons.

Writing requires immense cognitive load. If your child is an imaginative storyteller still untangling homophones, the new framework may categorise them as "Developing." Please look past the label. We are dedicated to helping them meet these targets without stripping away their confidence or love for writing.

While we fulfill these obligations, our teachers will continue to use and value holistic evidence -classwork, observations, and kōrero - that we know truly capture a child's growth and progress.

Reporting

You will notice changes in your child’s mid year report. We will be able to discuss these at length during the Learning Conversations in Week One.

Reports were once again recorded on Hero. If you require a printed copy of your child's report, please contact Zoë in the office, or your child's teacher.

We appreciate your support and understanding as we continue to navigate the rapidly changing landscape in education.

Email: office@teresas.school.nz
Website: https://www.teresas.school.nz/
Location: St Teresa's School Bell Street, Featherston, New Zealand
Phone: 027 733 1636

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/St-Teresas-Featherston/100057033717170/