St Teresa's School Newsletter

Greetings on this Niue Language Week! We have had a busy and positive start to the term.

The term started with a mihi whakatau for eight students who joined us during Term 3. These wonderful students are already a valued part of our St Ts family and we hope you enjoyed this official welcome.

Another highlight from the start of this term was the Kuranui Performing Arts production of Seussical the Musical. Congratulations to the Kuranui students on a marvellous show, our kids had a fabulous time!

Thank you to everyone who donated a can of food for the local Foodbank today. This was a great opportunity for our students to learn about the importance of community and supporting others.

Mā te Atua koe e manaaki, e tiaki hoki. May God bless and care for you.

Lindsey Dailly,

Tumuaki

Monday 23rd October

SCHOOL CLOSED LABOUR DAY

Tuesday 24th October

Tokelau Language Week

Board Meeting 6pm

Thursday 26th October

Cyber Safety Evening @ Kuranui College

Friday 27th October

Assembly Wairarapa 9am - join us!

Tuesday 31st October

Remutaka Mass 10am - join us!

Wednesday 1st November

All Saints Day

Thursday 2nd November

All Souls Day

Friday 3rd November

Gumboot Friday

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded star certificates this term. Tino pai!

Waiorongomai - Eve, Sabine

Wairarapa - Charlie, Ayvah, William P

Tauwharenikau - Billy, Elsie, Emily

Remutaka - Michael, Dani

Takitimu - Ani, Max, Jason

Please reach out if we can shine a light on your tamariki's out-of-school achievements. Email Lindsey at principal@teresas.school.nz with sports wins, musical performances, dance exams, swimming medals etc. Let's tell the world how amazing St Teresa's students are!

Congratulations to Keona who won the Bronze Medal at the IFMA World Youth Muaythai Championships 2023 in Turkey! We are so proud of your achievement and continue to be blown away by your dedication. What a fabulous sporting role model Keona is for our community and country.

On Friday 13th October we celebrated our School’s Patron Saint - St Teresa of Avila. Teresa was a brave woman who knew she wanted to tell others about Jesus from a young age. She entered a convent and was educated by nuns. She went on to become a nun herself and started convents to teach others about Jesus and she devoted her life to prayer.

Our Year 7 & 8 leaders did a fabulous job setting up games for our school to do in our House Groups. They also supported our younger tamariki at each of the activities. It’s great to see the genuine care that our ākonga show towards one another. Ngā mihi nui to our Senior students.

It’s great to continue to hear about our ākonga completing their Hands of Christ tasks. The final date for checking in with your teacher is 10th November. Do continue to send in pictures or submit challenges up until this date.

Our Hands of Christ/final school mass will be held at the Kiwi Hall on Tuesday 12th December at 10:00 am.

This week Flynn volunteered his time to support the Ronald McDonald cooking night. He did a wonderful job washing the dishes and commented that he thought he washed the same knife 6 times! Flynn then helped to serve the different families their dinners. It was a great night with good people and was very rewarding.

This is a fantastic example of a Hands of Christ activity. Well done Flynn!

We are relaunching the volunteer reader programme. Our children need lots of opportunities to read and really benefit from quality one-to-one time with an adult who is listening and engaged. If you or a family member have time to spend with our students each week, please pop into the school office or email office@teresas.school.nz

Here is the second opportunity to attend Rob Cope's workshop 'Our Kids Online'.

Because of the rapidly changing times our tamariki are growing up in, and the mounting challenges and harms they are facing online, we need to start talking about and tackling this as a community. We have organised Author, Filmmaker and Speaker Rob Cope, producer of the documentary "Our Kids Online" to come and give what promises to be a humorous and eye-opening evening talk to our community. Here is a promotional video for you to watch Our Kids Online Parent Evening.

This opportunity is available to all parents and caregivers of students attending South Wairarapa schools free of charge as part of our continued work with the South Wairarapa Kahui Ako. To reserve a place for this event click on the link below;

Greytown Cyber Safety Evening with Rob Cope

Kuranui College, Greytown

Thu 26 Oct, 6:30pm – 8:30pm

We would request that at least one adult from each family attend, this topic is too big for us not to pay attention!

Rob's mantra - "We need to tackle this as a community so that all of our kids are safe. When you protect your kids online, you are also protecting mine and when I protect my kids online, I am also protecting yours."

The Season of Creation is a time when we reflect on the wonders of the world around us and the precious gift of life that God has bestowed upon us. As we come together in prayer and gratitude, we also remember the important role we play in caring for God's creation.

We are blessed that St Teresa's parishioners gifted three fruit trees to our school, so our students can actively participate in this celebration. Fruit trees symbolise life, growth, and the abundance of God's blessings. They are a beautiful reminder of the harmony between us and the natural world. By planting fruit trees, we not only honour the Creator but also contribute to the well-being of our planet and our community.

Thank you, Louise and a team of senior students, for planting the trees in our new garden area. Today we gathered around the trees to pray together and give these precious trees their first water.

Last term, an amazing group of Year 5 and 6 students (plus a couple of Tauwharenikau students) represented our school at the interschool miniball competition. They played every Wednesday afternoon at Kuranui College. We were so proud of how they played together as a team and showed such determination, especially during some tough games. Tino pai Miniballers - you have represented St Teresa’s with pride!

We’re excited to be participating in the School Fun Run with @nzschoolfunrun this year!

Our Crazy Colour Event is on Friday 1st December. It will be filled with fun activities and finish with a colour run and water race for all students. We hope you’ll support our school and students in fundraising for our 2024 School Camp for the senior students.

Last week we sent home letters and booklets with all the information you need to take part in the online fundraising. At the launch assembly, I told the kids that if we got to $500 they could soak the principal. I am delighted to announce that we have smashed that total and I will be investing in a pair of gum boots and goggles for the big day!

Join our magnificent team Rose, Zoe, Louise and Nic at the Hub Club everyday after school and in the school holidays!

Did you know that our Hub Club After School Care and Holiday Programme is Oscar accredited? For more information about the OSCAR subsidy CLICK HERE.

Our Summer Holiday Hub Club will run on the following dates;

Monday 18th December 2023 - Friday 22nd December 2023

Monday 15th January - Friday 19th January 2024

Tuesday 23rd - Friday 26th January 2024

The team are busy creating a super timetable of activities. Bookings are open now for those who want to secure a place early.

Summer 23/24 Bookings

The Featherston Op Shop is having a massive half price sale on all stock over labour weekend.

Everything on sale, including NZ-made clothes, china and crockery, plus jewellery, shoes, furniture, general and kids clothing, books, toys, and everything else.

Come and get a bargain, or several.

This project has been running since 2015. This is a long time for our communities to be committed

to providing quality household goods and pantry items. We are so grateful to all those communities

who are committed to regularly providing goods and who have made this project possible.

Newly arriving families are also being settled in the Wairarapa and Levin. Rightly so our parish

communities in those areas are supporting the local resettlement efforts. This means that greater pressure now falls on the remaining communities to continue supporting this ongoing project in the Wellington area.

We really need your help:

Option 1 - become one of our regular volunteer groups who provide a house pack and pantry items once or twice a year. We will provide you with a list of items

Option 2 - gather some likeminded people together and start fundraising so that Catholic Social Services can purchase household items and pantry packs as we need them

Option 3 - Be an ongoing gatherer of good quality electrical goods and kitchenware to donate over the course of a year. (To be stored at CSS) The following items are the ones most in need.

• Electric Jug

• Microwave

• Rice cooker

• Vacuum cleaner

• Pots and pans

• Dinner set

• Cooking utensils.

If you would like to participate please contact us at refugees@wncatholicsocialservices.org.nz

Thank you !

Kamau Holland

Director Catholic Social Services

2023/24 Wairarapa Spitfire Baseball season online registrations are now open!

We have club teams available for all levels of experience. The season will start on October 15th and pause for the summer school holidays before re-starting in early February and finishing at the end of March 2024. All Local Development games and trainings are held on the Spitfires Baseball Diamond at Kuranui College, Greytown.

ROOKIE BALL – Ages 5 to 8 play games on Saturday mornings at 9 am.

MINOR LEAGUE 10U DEVELOPMENT (School Yrs 5&6)– Ages 9 to 11 play games on

Saturday mornings at 10 am

INTERMEDIATE 12U/14U DEVELOPMENT (School Yrs 7+) – Ages 11 -15 play games on

Friday afternoons at 3.45 pm

12U/14U TRAVEL TEAMS – Competitive baseball in the Wellington Regional Competition.

Wairarapa Spitfires Club Travel Teams will be formed mid-September, email mcwilliamae@gmail.com asap if you are interested. Games are on Sundays and played at home on the Spitfires Baseball Diamond at Kuranui College and away at other Wellington regional diamonds in Terms 4 and 1.

16U TRAVEL TEAM – Will be entered if there is sufficient interest. Please email mcwilliamae@gmail.com asap if you would like to play.

Our Have a Go Open Day is on Saturday October 14th from 10am to 12pm at the Kuranui College Baseball Diamonds. Come along for a fun morning learning about baseball and free sausages.

For more information and to register check out our website https://www.sporty.co.nz/spitfiresbaseball/register-for-the-2023-24-season

Join our Facebook Page for news and updates: Wairarapa Spitfires.

Contact our Teams Coordinator, Eileen McWilliam, mcwilliamae@gmail.com or phone 0276028597

St Teresa's School

Email: office@teresas.school.nz
Website: https://www.teresas.school.nz/
Location: St Teresa's School Bell Street, Featherston, New Zealand
Phone: 06 308 9064
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/St-Teresas-Featherston/100057033717170/