St Teresa's School Newsletter

As we continue our Lenten journey this week, I feel like autumn has certainly begun to make its mark. The cooler nights, extra blankets and early fires remind us that change is constant, and is all around us. This new season brings another set of signs of our Creator's gifts - another way to appreciate the world around us and all that God has created, as the summer colours take on the autumn hues and vibrancy. The creeping darkness and cooler weather hasn't stopped our students eeking out the last vestives of summer over these past two weeks, including spending time at the beach for the Kī-o-Rahi tournament and the Year 7 and 8 camp.

We have seen the last days of our school swimming for the year with the cool temperatures interfering with our swimming celebrations yet again. The chilliness continued with a rather brisk, but very successful, day for the Featherston Cluster Swimming Sports last week. Thank you Mrs Matthews for all of your organisation to make this event such a success.

Continuing the sports theme, I would like to express a huge thank you to the Featherston Judo Club for their generous donation. The club itself has not been running since 1999, but had some funds in their accounts that they have generously donated to all of the local Featherston schools. This donation is earmarked for sporting equipment and experiences. So far, this amazing donation has gone towards purchasing some more Kī-o-Rahi equipment - a game that our two senior classes have enjoyed learning and playing in competition and during our PE sessions (if you would like to learn more about the legend behind the game, follow this Facebook link). We are looking forward to purchasing more equipment for a variety of codes and activities, to keep our tamariki active and provide them with new sporting experiences.

We would like to also extend a big thank you to Erin and the Waiwaste team for, all of the yummy bread that we have all been able to enjoy. This bread still has a long life, and is a great way to pack out your pantry and freezer to feed the household.

A shoutout to all of those who helped at the Martinborough Fair Carparking. We managed to raise just over $2000 for the two fairs. These funds will go towards the final Year 7&8 Camp expences not already covered, as well as the timber to upgrade our challenge course.

Ka pai on a fantastic term so far. I am looking forward to finishing it in true St Teresa's style! With love, kindness and community!

Ngā manaakitanga,

Liz

Tuesday 17th March

Have A Go Day (selected Year 5&6 students)

St Patrick's Day - wear green for St Patrick! How Green can you be? 🍀

Board Meeting 6pm - all welcome

Wednesday 18th March

Tākitimu Technology

Thursday 19th March

Tākitimu Technology

Tuesday 24th March

Whole School Mass 10am - please join us

Wednesday 11th March

Tākitimu Technology

Friday 13th March

Year 6-8 Enviro Session with Joseph Potangora (more details to come on Hero)

Tauwharenīkau Assembly - please join us

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4

To celebrate our Catholic Faith, I would like to invite you to our Stations of the Cross Liturgy on Thursday 2nd April at 10am, followed by a special morning tea for our visitors. Please join us if you can so we can tell you Jesus' journey, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

On Thursday 5th of March the sun shone and we managed to hold the Featherston Cluster Swimming Sports. It was a great day with lots of awesome swimming and determination. Well done to our swimmers, Amelia, Sadie, Ayvah and Hadly. A huge thank you to Jocelyn and Jo for supporting the event, and for our crew of timekeepers and runners.

South Wairarapa Swimming Sports - By Amelia and Sadie

Splash! That’s so cold!

On Wednesday 11 March we attended the South Wairarapa Swimming Sports at the Masterton Pools.

First we arrived at the pools, it was super busy with lots of excited swimmers around. We finally found a place to sit down and wait for our race.

After a while we heard our number get called out and we rushed to the waiting section for our race. We lined up with the people that were going to race in the same heat as us.

At that moment when we were getting into the water we felt pretty nervous when a lot of people were watching us.Then we heard the hooter and we were off!

Once we had finished we felt proud that we had done it. We are looking forward to swimming sports again next year. 😄

By Amelia and Sadie

On Monday some of our tamariki visited an interactive storyteller who shared a wonderful story all about bats. This exciting learning experience was funded by Enviroschools with support from Wairarapa Building Society and Pūkaha to Kawakawa.

Through storytelling, waiata, and interactive moments, the children learned many interesting facts about bats and why they are important to our environment. The session sparked lots of curiosity as the tamariki discovered more about these fascinating creatures.

Two key facts that really stuck with the tamariki were that bats are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night, and that they live together in places called roosts. It was great to see how engaged everyone was and how confidently they were able to recall what they had learned and put it into writing.

We are very grateful to Enviroschools, Wairarapa Building Society, and Pūkaha to Kawakawa for supporting this memorable learning experience for our tamariki.

FOSTA News

Thank you to those who were able to attend our AGM last week. We have appointed the following committee members:

Emma King - Secretary

Jess Lyster - Treasurer

Dana Matthews - School Rep

We will be advertising for helpers ahead of our upcoming fundraisers, so please help where you can as many hands make light work.

WE STILL REQUIRE HELP WITH THE FOLLOWING JOBS PLEASE:

🧰 putting nets on the football, basketball and netball goals

🧰 repairing/replacing a corner of seats in the quad

🧰 clearning the soil away from the building outside Waiorongomai to prevent the timber from rotting (urgent)

🧰 replacing/repairing/repainting yellow markings on all goal posts

🧰 repairing taps on mud kitchen sink outside Wairarapa

🧰 repairing holes in the interior walls of the student's bathrooms

🧰 deep cleaning lino area in the corridor outside the art room

🧰 converting old greenhouse (at the back of the field) into a cute play space (replacing roof, removing remaining shade cloth, clearing out etc)

If you are able to help with any of these jobs, please contact Zoë or Liz. These can be completed anytime at your convenience. Materials and most tools will be supplied by school.

Ki o Rahi

Last Friday in March 2026, our Ki o Rahi team went to Riversdale Beach for a big tournament. There was a group of us from Remutaka class, along with Dylan and Mrs Matthews who came to support us.

First we started our big road trip to Riversdale. The van was full of us excited kids and we loved listening to Mrs Matthews sing all the way!

Then we arrived at the beautiful beach. We could hear the rough waves crashing at the rocks and we could see the beautiful blue sky and amazing scenery. There were lots of schools there and heaps of fields set up along the beach. We were excited to get started.

After a quick briefing we went for a hunt to find our field number 7. We settled down near a big log and went to find our ref. The whistle blew and it was time to go on the field to play our first game.

We played four games in total. We won two and lost two. The games were hard but also really fun. Our favourite part was making the rips and the hardest part was running on the sand.

On the way back to school we stopped for a well earned treat at McDonalds.

A huge thank you to Dylan for coming with us and helping Mrs Matthews. We are super excited about Ki o Rahi next year! Our team can’t wait to get back on the field to run fast and work together

By Neo and Taine

Brooke and Asta have a fun filled programme planned for our Easter Holiday Hub Club!

👉 CLICK HERE TO BOOK

Wednesday 8th April 2026 - Friday 17th April 2026
8.30 am to 3.30 pm
$40 per day (full days only)
Open to children in Years 1-8
Places are limited to 20 children per session
OSCAR accredited
Late days available - subject to interest

Bookings are open until 3pm Wednesday 1st April 2026 and all payments must be made before the start of the programme. Your booking will only be confirmed once payment is received. For more information about the OSCAR subsidy CLICK HERE

We’re a Movin’March school and are currently in the full swing of things! Wee are encouraging ākonga (students) to walk or wheel to kura (school).

The students are working well towards meeting their walking or wheeling goals. We are looking forward to continuing to see those feet and wheels really movin' this March!!

Our Learning Conversations will be on Tuesday 31st March 3.00 pm - 8.00 pm. To book a slot with your child/ren's teacher please download the Hero app and follow the instructions below;

TO MAKE A BOOKING

Log into the Hero app
Navigate to the School Bookings event and click ADD This will display a table of all available slots for all your children
To add a booking, click a GREEN slot. The booking popup will be displayed. To allow time to travel between meetings you will be unable to book consecutive slots.
You will have the option of entering a note for the relevant staff member. Clicking CONFIRM will secure the interview slot.
Once a booking is made all other slots will become unavailable to prevent duplicate bookings.
If you have more than one child at school you will be unable to choose back to back timeslots with their teacher. This will allow us to stay on track with the timetable.
To cancel or change a booking click MANAGE BOOKINGS.

If you need support downloading the Hero App, please come and see Zoё at the office. She will be happy to share our wifi details and guide you through the process.

Emergency Drills Practiced This Week

This week, our tamariki participated in important safety drills. We practiced both fire and earthquake procedures to ensure everyone knows what to do in an emergency. Thank you for supporting your child in understanding the importance of these drills.

Please take a moment to make sure we have up-to-date information for your children.

Complete this form with your current contact and emergency details, along with any medical information or medications your child may need while at school.

https://forms.gle/BAJ7bAD2cp5q3Eop9