St Teresa's School Newsletter

Welcome back to another busy term full of learning, exciting opportunities to explore our surroundings, and experiences that assist us to connect to and develop our faith.

We hope that you have all had a fantastic break where your tamariki have had the opportunity to recharge, and you have all had the opportunity to rest and reconnect. One thing I always enjoyed about the holidays when my children were younger was having the time to play more games together - whether it be a bit of backyard cricket, fort building, Monopoly, or a tense game of 500 - without the pressure of having to plan for the next week, mark the work from the previous week, or answer the emails that I hadn't got to before logging off for the day. I hope you managed to carve out some time to do something similar.

I hope you have been able to spend some time out in the lovely sunshine. These holidays have allowed us a glimpse of summer's potential. For us at school, the beautiful sunshine of course means that we need to drag out the sunscreen and go on the hunt for that school hat. This leads me to remind you all that hats are compulsory throughout Term 4, where we have a "no hat, restricted play" policy. What this means is that if your child does not have a hat at school from Week 2, they will be restricted on where they can play during break times to ensure they are in a shaded space.

We are excited to be able to offer the Seasons for Growth programme during Term 4. As you would have seen on my Hero post, this is a programme that will be run during school time, and aims to help students understand and manage the feelings that can come with change and loss. See Hero for more information. To sign your child up, please send me an email.

This term is very busy. Please make sure you keep a close eye on the calendar (the fridge is a great place for this!) as well as keeping an eye on Hero. Things inevitably change or get added along the way, so please make sure you look out for the most up-to-date information.

We kick off the term with my favourite day of the year - the feast day of St Teresa on Thursday 15th October. St Teresa was an amazing lady. She was courageous, determined, full of faith and wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in. St Teresa was a woman of prayer, wisdom and action, who believed that we could all develop a close and personal relationship with God. She reminds us that we don't have to do extraordinary things to make a difference. Through our everyday actions, kindness, courage and love for others, we can be the hands of Christ in our world. Please join us for a special Mass and day of celebration on Thursday (see below).

Although the attendees at the Holiday Club make a fair amount of noise, I am very much looking forward to having the school full again with the many smiling, happy faces. We welcome some new families to our St Teresa's whānau this week, so please make them welcome!

Bring on Monday morning!

Ngā mihi maioha,

Liz Lark

Tumuaki Principal

principal@teresas.school.nz

029 770 9593

October is a special month in the Catholic Church, dedicated to the Holy Rosary. The Rosary is a beautiful way of praying that helps us reflect on important moments in the lives of Jesus and Mary. As we pray, we remember the love, joy, sorrow and hope that are part of Jesus' life and our own.

The Rosary is made up of familiar prayers, including the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. Each group of prayers invites us to think about a different event in the life of Jesus and Mary, known as a mystery.

Praying the Rosary is something families can enjoy together at home. It doesn't have to be long or complicated! You might like to:

• Pray one decade of the Rosary together (one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and one Glory Be).

• Say a Hail Mary together before bedtime or as part of your evening prayers.

• Talk about Mary and how she showed faith, courage and trust in God.

• Pray for someone who needs a little extra love, support or encouragement.

• Take a quiet moment together to thank God for the blessings in your lives.

You don't need to pray the whole Rosary at once. Even a few minutes of prayer together can be a meaningful way to connect with God and each other.

This October, we encourage our whānau to find a little time to pray together, remembering that Mary is a wonderful example of faith, love and trust in God.

Wednesday 14th October

Mihi Whakatau to welcome our new students, as well as Danielle, our new kaiako in Waiorongomai - please join us in the quad from 9am

Thursday 15th October

St Teresa's Feast Day - please join us for a celebration Mass, followed by shared kai and lots of fun games and activities!

Transition to School afternoon

Monday 19th October

Scolastic Book Fair Week starts (more details to come)

Tuesday 20th October

Junior Mass - Please join us in the Hub at 10am

Board Meeting - interested in the inner workings of our school? Please join us to find out more

Wednesday 21st October

NZ Shake Out

Thursday 22nd October

Book Fair Day! Come and do all of your Christmas shopping in one place!

Tākitimu's Assembly - please join us to celebrate all of the succeses in the first fortnight of the term

ECE Tabloid Sports (TBC)

Friday 23rd October

Curriculum Teacher Only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED FOR INSTRUCTION

Monday 26th October

LABOUR DAY MONDAY

This is so our teachers can continue to learn and develop. Curriculum Days help ensure our school is a welcoming nurturing place, full of amazing learning and strong curriculum knowledge and assessment practices.

We thank you in advance for allowing us this day to focus on our own learning, so we can better focus on your child's.

Kia ora koutou,

My name is Danielle Perkins, and I'm really looking forward to joining the Waiorongomai class in Term 4. I’ve been teaching in early childhood for 17 years, with the last 14 spent just down the road at Bell St ELC and have built some lovely connections in our community during that time. I'm passionate about children's early years and development, and relationships are at the heart of my teaching. I love getting to know tamariki and their whānau, finding out what makes each child shine, and working together to support their growth and success.

Outside of school, I'm usually out and about with my husband and our three kids, exploring the outdoors or cheering from the sidelines at one of their sports games. Whānau life keeps me very busy, but I love to stop for a good coffee when I get the chance!

I'm genuinely excited to meet you all, and work alongside you, your tamariki and the other kaiako here at St Teresa's.

Ngā mihi mahana,

Danielle

Please keep pushing to sell those raffle tickets.

We have one more week to go before the amazing draw for an Interislander voucher, a family pass to Staglands, a Coop Hairdressing voucher, and a voucher for the Last Post. Could yours be the new home for these fantastic prizes??

If you need more raffle sheets, or receive this newsletter as part of our wider St Teresa's whānau, please pop into the office or get in touch with Zoë.

office@teresas.school.nz

027 733 1636

Dante has been busy collecting rocks from all over the Wairarapa, and recently entered them in the National Rock and Gem Show in Tauranga.

Dante was awarded first place for all of his entries in the following categories:

Junior Fossils

Junior Minerals

Junior Jewelry

Novice Rough rock

Novice Tumbled rocks

Well done Dante! Your collection is next level!

Got something special to share? Please email them to me! principal@teresas.school.nz

• FRUIT: Every morning around 10am, the students pause their learning to have a quick break. During this time, the students are able to eat a piece of fruit to tie them over until morning tea eating time at 10:50am. Please make sure that your child/ren have some fruit in their lunchbox for this time

• TREATS: Lollies and chocolate are not to be given as lunchbox items, even when giving a treat. We encourage healthy school lunch choices, so please keep these items for home

• DRINKS: We are a water only school. This means that we ask that you do not give your child/ren juice or other drink options for school time. The only exception to this is an Up-&-Go

• SHOES: I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our uniform expectations states that in Term 4, the students can wear black sandals or black shoes (girls are to wear white ancle socks with their shoes). Please note that Crocs and scuffs (shoes without a fastening strap - for safety reasons) are not part of our uniform

• UNIFORM SHIRTS: Short sleeve shirts are part of our summer uniform. If you need any extra items, we have a number of secondhand uniform items in the office

• HATS: These should be navy blue caps or bucket hats

• LOST PROPERTY: We also have an overflowing lost property bin again. Please take some time to check whether any of these items belong to your child. It will be on display over the next week. Any unclaimed items by the end of the week will be taken to the second hand shop.

The due date for the Hands of Christ Challenges is coming up fast!

Please share evidence of comepleted challenges with your child/rens classroom teacher before Friday 27th November. All students who complete the required number of challenges will receive a badge at our final whole school Mass on Tuesday 1st December.

In case your child/rens sheets have grown legs over the year, I have included them here. Please get in touch if you have any questions about these challenges.

Spaces at The Hub Club are limited to just 20 children per day, so please make sure you book your child in before the day you need care.

📅 Bookings are essential
👧👦 Maximum 20 children per day
⏰ Don’t leave it until the last minute — spaces can fill quickly!

Once we reach 20 bookings, the day is FULL and we are unable to accept any further bookings.

Please book your child's place in advance to avoid missing out.

Thank you for helping us plan our staffing and keep The Hub Club safe and enjoyable for everyone!

Thank you John for working tirelessly to move the big pile of wood chip to underneath the trees. The many barrow-loads are going to help keep the weeds down around the fijoa trees.

We have lots of jobs in the process. If you have put your name down, can you please contact us as soon as possible so we can get these jobs completed.

🧰 Garden Box Stain - to match our beautiful new cross, I would like to stain the garden box at the front of our school.

🧰 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

🧰 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

🧰 Furniture and Bits and Pieces Moving - the upcoming building work in Remutaka and Tauwharenīkau has been postponed until the end of Term 4. Keep an eye on the newsletter for the confirmed date if you are able to help move furniture closer to the time.

It is that time again when we reach out to our community to gather feedback about our school. This information will inform our next strategic plan - the vision for our school for the next two years.

Questions include:

• What we do well at St Teresa's School
• The aspirations you have for your young people
• The aspirations do you have for our school moving forward
• The faith-life of our school

Please follow THIS LINK to fill out the survey and have your say before the end of the day tomorrow Monday 12th October.

This survey is anonymous, however if you would like to be entered into the draw to win a $50 gift voucher, please enter your email address in the last question.

Thank you in advance for your participation. Your thoughts and ideas can help our school grow even stronger.

We are going to be there... are you???

Please join us at what is set to be an amazingly fun evening full of knowledge and laughs.

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/