St Teresa's School Newsletter
Sunday 9th August
Well, the winter weather has certainly set its teeth firmly this past week, with some horrifically cold mornings. The teachers have certainly found it hard getting out of bed on those cold mornings, as I am sure many of you have as well. Hopefully we are over the worst of it and can start looking ahead to warmer days, and dreaming of the spring blossoms.
In this edition, I have some very exciting staffing news to share, starting with the appointment of Mrs Danielle Perkins as our New Entrant/Year 1 teacher, who will be joining us in Term 4. Many of you might recognise her name, as she is coming to us from Bell Street Early Learning Centre. Mrs Perkins brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of child development and learning. She knows how to engage children in a range of learning experiences that foster their literacy and numeracy development and encourage curiosity. We are very much looking forward to having her join the team, bringing her positivity and sense of fun to our learning environments.
I am also pleased to announce that Miss Esther Prendergast has been appointed as Deputy Principal for the remainder of the year. You will be seeing a lot of communication from her in the not too distant future, as we work closely together to meet the goals set out in our school’s Strategic and Annual Implementation plans. I am looking forward to harnessing the energy she has already brought to the role, and to seeing what we can achieve over the next term and a half.
Please make both Danielle and Esther welcome in their new roles.
Thank you to all of the staff and students who helped make my first Te Rā Tumeke Tumuaki (Principal's Day) a very special day, with a beautiful assembly and wonderful cards. I know I will treasure the cards for years to come, and will remember this year with fondness.
Next week we will be celebrating Maths Week! This is one of my favourite weeks of the year, where we all get the opportunity to engage in maths problems that stretch the mind. Keep an eye on Hero for ways that you can participate.
In Week 4 we will be celebrating New Zealand’s first ever Children’s Book Week. We will be celebrating at school with a visiting author speaking to our Year 5 and 6 students, as well as by reading even more books throughout the week. Keep an eye on Hero for different stories that you can share at home.
As we move through these cold winter days and look ahead to new growth, I am reminded of the words from the prophet Isaiah: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19)
This scripture speaks beautifully to our school community. We see “new things” in the arrival of new staff, in the opportunities for learning during Maths Week and Children’s Book Week, and in the small but important ways our children continue to grow each day. Even in the middle of winter, God is quietly at work, bringing new life, new hope, and new possibilities.
May we continue to support one another with kindness, encourage our children to be curious and courageous learners, and walk together in faith as a community that truly seeks to act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with God.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Liz Lark
Tumuaki Principal
Congratulations to Taine, Eve, Cooper, Heath, Jaden, Sabine, Sadie and Ariella who celebrated their first Reconciliation last week, alongside Scarlett, Annika, Brooky and Bodhi. This is an important step in their faith journey and a beautiful reminder of God’s loving mercy and forgiveness.
Through Reconciliation, we are invited to acknowledge our mistakes, say sorry and receive God’s grace to make a fresh start. The sacrament brings peace to our hearts and helps restore our friendship with God and others.
Forgiveness is something we can practise every day by apologising when we are wrong, accepting apologies and choosing kindness over resentment. May our students’ celebration inspire us all to follow Jesus’ example and become people of forgiveness and peace.
We look ahead to the next part of the Sacramental Programme - the Sacrament of Confirmation - and are excited to be able to celebrate this alongside others in our Wairarapa schools.
“Lord, help us to recognise our mistakes, ask for forgiveness with humble hearts, and show the same mercy and kindness to others that you show to us. Amen.”
Since the COVID years, we’ve noticed many of our wonderful parents, caregivers and whānau wait outside the school gates at 2:55pm. While we completely understand how that habit formed, our gates are open and we would love to welcome you back inside our school space.
At the end of the day, please feel free to walk into the quad or right up to your child’s classroom. We’d love for your tamariki to have the chance to proudly show off what they’ve been working on, and it gives our teachers a quick moment to say hello and share any wins from the day.
This is also a great way to make connections with each other, and even make some new friends.
Come on in - our school is your school!
Unfortunately, due to low ticket sales, we have had to cancel our Bingo Night.
Instead, we will be running raffles using the wonderful prizes that the FOSTA group has gathered. Raffle tickets will be coming home over the next couple of weeks. Please support these raffles by asking family, friends, and work colleagues to purchase a ticket or two.
We will also be selling tickets outside the supermarket during the school holidays. Keep an eye on Hero for more details about this and how you may be able to help by donating some of your time.
FOSTA is made up of a small group of parents who work towards running events and activities that raise funds for our beautiful school. Without these awesome volenteers, we would not be able to make all of the improvements around our school, such as the recent challenge course upgrade and new garden area.
If you would like to volunteer your time to help at any of our fundraising events such as the raffle ticket selling, or at the bake sale in November, we would greatly appreciate it.
Keep an eye on Hero and in the newsletter for ways that you can help, or get in touch with Zoë in the office and she will connect you with the group.
Here is an awesome example of what the FOSTA Group have done for our school recently - check out the awesome Gazebo that we purchased. It fits a whole class with room to spare!!
This is going to be a great asset at the many events we attend throughout the year, from sporting events, to school picnics, to setting up for a day of learning down at Donald's Creek. The students will be able to keep cool in summer and dry in winter.
THANKS FOSTA TEAM!
Last week, the students in Tauwharenīkau planted a range of grasses at Donald’s Creek, working alongside the talented team from He Kōtare Nursery.
The planting date was chosen according to the maramataka, connecting the mahi with the full moon. We are looking forward to seeing the plants flourish, providing the stream with some much-needed shade in summer and helping to encourage greater biodiversity in the area.
While they were down at the creek, a group of students also had the chance to look at a mural that was created as part of a community event St Teresa's School ran back in 2019. Maisey spotted her sister’s stencil, while Mrs Lark found her own. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect the past with the present and see how our students and their families continue to be part of the story of our school and community.
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.
🧰 Guillotine - can anyone sharpen our guillotine paper cutter?
🧰 Library Book - enter our library books onto our spreadsheet
🧰 Pātaka Kai - this needs to have it's painting finished, and to be installed, so we can share our surplus food with those in our community who need it most
🧰 Clearing Leaves - we are always in need of a bit of sweeping around the place so feel free to grab a broom or the quad sweeper
🧰 Measuring Up - the junior rooms are in need of some new binds to keep the winter sun out of the students' eyes as they workx. Someone who is good with a tape measure would be greatly appreciated
🧰 Sand - does anyone know who we could get another load of sand for our sandpit from?
🧰 Mosaic - a job that I have been really struggling to find time to get to, is the creation of a mosaic welcome for our new garden area. Please talk to Liz about the vision - especially if you have some knowledge about creating mosaics
🧰 Mitre 10 run - we need to purchase a few large items from Mitre 10 that we are unable to get delievered, and probably won't fit in the van. If anyone is going to Masterton with a trailer and can fit a couple of large sheets of ply wood and some decking timber on their load, can you please let us know? We are looking to purchas plywood for a floor in the bin shed, a large sheet of plywood to repair the outside wall on Tākitimu, and decking timber to repair the rotten corner of the seats in the quad.
🧰 Wood Chip - as you have probably noticed, there is a giant pile of wood chip dumped by the PE shed. This has all come from the trees that were trimmed/removed in the last holidays, and is destined to go under the feijoa and citrus trees at the back of the field to keep the weeds down. Unfortunately, we were unable to put it down the back at the time due to the soft grounds and amount of mud. If you are able to help move this pile, either with a trailer or by wheelbarrow, we would really appreciate your help.
🧰 Furniture and Bits and Pieces Moving - as some of you know, we are hoping to get some building work started in the next holidays (although I am still waiting for the timing to be confirmed by the Diocese). See the images below. This building work will impact Tauwharenīkau and Remutaka classrooms, as well as all of the storage/breakout spaces in the main building (book room, art room etc), along with the furniture in the Hub and Library. We are therefore going to need to move everything out of these spaces before the work can start, so are going to need lots of help! If you think you might be able to help us towards the end of the term, please let us know.
Classroom spaces upgraded and connected by glass doors
Maker-space off the corridor, connected to the classrooms by sliding doors
Covered deck on the court-side off both classrooms
Mrs. Hope's Op Shop needs volunteers.
Run by the Paetumokai Charitable Trust to support our community.
Shop hours Mon-Thurs 10am-2pm, Fri and Sat 10am -4pm.
Part or full shifts available.
Call in to the shop at 76 Fox St, Featherston for an application form or more information , or email manager.mrshopes@paetumokaicharitabletrust.net.
Contact Us
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/