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- Donna McDonald - Principal's Note
- Lenten Reflection
- Board Talk from Mike Tohill, Chairperson, Board of Trustees
- Sparks of God - 2022 Term 1 Week
- Class of the Week - Room 10
- Personification at its best!
- Netball 2022
- How Lucky are we?
- Can you help?
- Easter Raffle Mufti/Non-uniform Day - TOMORROW
- Sacramental Programme - 2022
- Some important dates for your diary
- St. T's After School Care is up and running - come check it out!
- Named fence pickets
- Quick Links to our website
- Yummy Apple stickers
- Link to download Schoolzine App
Donna McDonald - Principal's Note
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 St. Theresa's whanau,
Yesterday we celebrated Ash Wednesday with a Liturgy outdoors. Thank you to Olivia McKennie, our DRS, for planning and preparing the children for this and to Fr. Andrew for celebrating with us.
Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent and the day before is Shrove Tuesday, often referred to as 'Pancake Tuesday'. During the 40 days before Easter, known as Lent, we are asked to pray, reflect and think about what Jesus gave up for us. This is a time when we might choose to give some thing up or complete an action to support others. At St. Theresa's, we complete the Caritas Challenge as a whole school. Our children will be learning about the meaning of these days and others, including Palm Sunday and Holy Week and why they are important to us as Catholics.
Omicron is well and truly with us as a community and although it can seem overwhelming at times, we are adjusting quickly to the new expectations around us and following advice from MoE and MoH. Schools will stay open as long as we are able to be staffed and children need to be at school unless they are isolating as a household contact, have tested positive for COVID or are unwell.
Below is a handy visual to refer to when you are required to isolate.
Have a great weekend.
Donna McDonald - Principal
Kia pai too raa whakataa
Have you ever thought of Lent as a yearly second chance? Each year the Church gives us six weeks to take a long, loving look at our lives to see if our values and priorities are in line with God’s desires for us. Making the season of Lent a meaningful time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving can include both traditional and new innovative experiences.
Some ideas could be committing to a family mealtime. This could be breakfast instead of dinner, making a conscious effort to gather as a family, saying a prayer of thanks and share in a meal together each day.
Instead of listening to your radio in the car during Lent you might turn it off and make that time your chance to talk to and listen to God.
You could make a Lenten jar. As a family you can write 40 simple tasks like ringing a friend or helping someone. Each day, commit to picking out one action and completing it. These don’t have to be big things but simple actions that bring you closer to God.
Reflecting on the question, 'What message do I want to offer others through what I say and do this Lent?', can lead us to meaningful experiences this Lenten season.
Board Talk from Mike Tohill, Chairperson, Board of Trustees
We had a good first Board meeting of the year last night. There is always a lot to discuss at the first meeting. We reviewed the budget for the year ahead and adopted it. As with previous years, we are relying on fundraising efforts from the community so I would encourage you all to get involved with the Parents & Friends committee and put your hand up to help out when asked. Work is already underway with the Easter raffle so get busy selling your tickets. Thank you to Libby Baker for organising this.
We have started the process of reviewing and renewing our Strategic Plan for the next three years starting in 2023. This is a big piece of work and will of course involve engagement with you to get your thoughts on our values, our mission and our goals for that period of time. Messaging will come out to you later this term and into next term and we look forward to hearing from you.
As per the message from Donna yesterday, we have our first Covid case in the school. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mrs MacLean and her family at this time. Covid has already and will continue to affect us all and I expect that we will all be close contacts or get Covid ourselves over the next few months. Being part of this great community provides great comfort in these times and I know we will continue to support each other through this and support Donna and her team in what will be difficult times.
It is going to be another challenging year but I think there is light at the end of the tunnel. Stay safe and look after yourselves, your family and your community.
Nga mihi
Mike Tohill Chairperson – St Theresa’s School Plimmerton – Board of Trustees
Message from Sarah Hunt, our Librarian:
The Scholastic Lucky Book Club has been around a very long time. Did you know that each time you order books from the brochures, our School gets points?
With some of the points saved up this term, we purchased these new books for our LearningHub/Library. It was exciting opening up the box on Monday morning and seeing these shiny new books.
Easter Raffle Mufti/Non-uniform Day - TOMORROW
In exchange for a contribution to our Easter Raffle, children can wear mufti/non-uniform TOMORROW. Here are some suggestions for contributions: Easter-themed confectionery items, Easter decorations, bottles of wine, non-perishable nibbles, gift cards – anything you think would be welcomed for an Easter celebration. There will be boxes in each classroom where children can place their Easter item.
Raffle tickets: Thanks to all the families who have already sold and returned their book (and asked for more!). The cut off date for this is Thursday, 14th April.
This is a wonderful opportunity to support our School and all money raised will go towards the new goal posts on the field.
Thank you all in advance, for your support.
The Parish are taking enrolments for the 2022 programme. Please email Jocelyn Bryant at their office if you would like to enrol your child. st.theresas@xtra.co.nz
Some important dates for your diary
These dates are just for the next few weeks. More details about the bigger events will be in the newsletter.
Friday, 4th March - Non-uniform day for Easter Raffle contributions
Friday, 11th March - Uniform fittings
Tuesday, 15th March - Powhiri 9a.m.
Wednesday, 30th March - Board meeting 6p.m.
St. T's After School Care is up and running - come check it out!
After School Care - Permanent or Casual
We offer a fun, innovative program that caters for each individual child, in a safe and relaxing environment. Your child will be supervised by skilled leaders who enjoy creating opportunities for play, in and outdoors. We use the school playground as well as the swimming pool in summer. We are well-resourced and have planned and spontaneous activities that include baking, arts and crafts, quiet areas, science and outdoor physical/sporty activities.
Where? Parish Hall
When? 2.45pm – 6.00pm. Monday - Friday
Cost? $20 per day
Sibling Discount: 10%
There will be no fee for sickness. Children can be booked in full time, on selected days or on a casual basis as well.
Enrolment forms are available from both the School Office or Hone in the hall.
The booking facility is on our website.
https://www.st-theresas.school.nz/1488/forms/45-after-school-care-booking-form-term-4/submissions/new
If you have any questions, please contact Hone on 021-02426850 or email him asc2021@stp.school.nz.
If you would like to order a picket, please complete the attached form and return to the Office. The cost is $35 per picket.
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.
Link to download Schoolzine App
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 version 3.6.0 is available from the App Store now and we advise all iPhone users to install this version to ensure notifications are received correctly.
Users with automatic updates enabled on their device will recieve this update automatically.