St Teresa's School Newsletter

What a fantastic start to the year! It’s been wonderful to see classrooms buzzing with learning and our tamariki engaged in a successful start to the year. Our swimming season has been a great success, with students growing in confidence and skill in the water.

A highlight for me was joining our fabulous intermediates on camp at Kaitoke—an incredible experience filled with adventure, teamwork, and resilience. We also celebrate a special milestone in our faith community, congratulating Father Matthew White on his recent Ordination.

Our baptism programme is continuing, and it’s not too late to join if your child is interested. Meanwhile, exciting progress is happening on our new junior building—the kitchen was installed this week, bringing us one step closer to completion!

Thank you for your ongoing support in making St Teresa’s a place of learning, faith, and whānau.

Ngā manaakitanga,
Lindsey

Saturday 1st March

Martinborough Fair Parking Fundraiser

Monday 3rd February

Cluster Swimming Sports

Tuesday 4th March

Rite of Burning the Palms 11am St Teresa's - Join Us

Wednesday 5th March

Ash Wednesday 11am Anzac Hall - Join Us

Swimming

Thursday 6th March

PP Cluster Swimming Sports

Friday 7th March

School Swimming Celebration

Monday 10th March

Tākitimu Technology

Tuesday 11th March

Class Mass 10am - Join Us

Welcome to Maddie Rout our new Hub Club supervisor! Maddie is joined by her gorgeous twins Sage and Tucker.

We are launching our Easter Holiday Hub Club! BOOKINGS APRIL 2025

• Monday 14th April 2025 - Thursday 17th April 2025 and Tuesday 22nd April 2025 - Thursday 24th April 2025 * We are closed for Easter and Anzac Day
• 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

Bookings are open until 3pm Friday 11th April 2025 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 are pleased to welcome Nicole Robinson as our new Presiding Member and extend our sincere thanks to Sian Harcourt for her dedication and leadership in this role. Your contributions have been invaluable to the school community. We also welcome Father Matt as a proprietors representative.

Looking ahead, Board elections are coming up in September, and we encourage our school whānau to consider running for an elected position. This is a fantastic opportunity to help shape the direction and future success of our school. If you're interested or would like more information, please reach out to Zoe at the office.

Our Year 7 & 8 students had an incredible time at Camp Kaitoke , making lifelong memories while challenging themselves in new ways. Over their stay, they took part in an exciting range of activities, including kayaking, rifle shooting, the climbing wall, campfire nights, the challenge course, the giant swing, and shelter building—not to mention all the fun and games in between!

A huge thank you to Liz for her hard work and organisation in making this camp such a success. We are also incredibly grateful to James McFee for volunteering his time to help with supervision—your support made a real difference.

Camps like these are more than just outdoor adventures; they’re about developing resilience, teamwork, and confidence. Whether it was conquering the giant swing, stepping up as a leader, or simply pushing past personal limits, every student walked away with a sense of accomplishment.

We are also extremely appreciative of Pub Charity for awarding us a grant for the second year in a row, ensuring that this experience was possible for all our students.

Camp was about growth, laughter, and making unforgettable moments—one that will be talked about for years to come!

This term Remutaka were so lucky to have the amazing Tanja (Soča’s mum) run a session about the Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Tanja works at the National Library, and spends lots of time showing people the real life treaty documents. We learnt so much from Tanja and our early New Zealand history. We even got to make our own class treaty and sign it with a quill feather. Plus Tanja kindly gifted us some activity books and posters to use in our classroom. If you are looking for a great family day out, the National Library is open on Saturday mornings and is free to visit. Thank you Tanja for giving up your time and sharing your amazing mahi with us.

The students in Tākitimu have been enjoying creating, then playing, some awesome Maths games during the first couple of weeks of school.

Their challenge was to create a themed-based game that contained at least one Maths idea or concept. We got everything you could ever dream of in a Maths game! There was a Five Nights at Freddy’s Monopoly game, as well as a fancy car game that both involved exchanging large sums of money, a games show style Maths and general knowledge quiz, a treasure-themed board game that contained multiple levels and types of questions within each section, a Billie Elish’s game that included cleverly created pictures of her many album covers alongside the Maths questions, a big shopping spree board game, and a traditional spin and add your totals game.

We had a blast playing them ourselves, and are looking forward to sharing our games further with the students in Remutaka and beyond. We would love for you to pop in for a game sometime.

Congratulations to Fr. Matthew White on his ordination to the priesthood! It was a truly wonderful celebration at Sacred Heart Cathedral, followed by a beautiful thanksgiving Mass in Martinborough the next day. We are grateful to Emily-Jane and Princess for representing our school with such grace, reading the Prayers of the Faithful before the large congregation. This special occasion marks the beginning of a blessed journey, and we hope Fr. Matt finds great joy and fulfilment in his ministry within our parish. May God continue to guide and bless him abundantly!

2024 was an incredible year for the FOSTA team! With events like the Gala, Bingo, Wine Fundraiser, Raffles, and more, we worked hard to support our school community. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed along the way!

Thanks to your generosity, we achieved our goal of creating an amazing new playground for our junior tamariki, repairing the existing playground, and developing a dedicated space for our intermediate students. We also held some fantastic Working Bees to keep our kura looking its best.

As we step into 2025, our fundraising funds have been well used, but there’s still so much more we want to accomplish for our students. This year, we’re excited to host:
✅ Martinborough Fair Parking
✅ Booktown Markets
✅ Colour Run
✅ Wine Fundraiser

We can’t do it without our amazing community! We’re looking for new members to join our small, friendly team. If you’re interested in volunteering your time and expertise, we’d love to have you on board!

Come along to our next meeting—enjoy some cheese, wine, and great company while making a real difference for our school.

We’d love to see you there!

Thanks to the students and whānau who helped run the Parking Fundraiser. This is a great opportunity for our kids to earn complete their hands of Christ Challenges and an awesome fundraiser for our school. If you can lend a hand tomorrow Saturday 1st March at a slot between 7.30am and 2.30pm please email Liz on liz@teresas.school.nz

We have several old benches around the school that could use some TLC! Some just need a fresh coat of paint, while others require a few wooden slats replaced.

If you’re handy and keen to help bring them back to life, please let Zoe in the office know. All materials will be provided. Since there are quite a few benches, this could be a great project for a few people and can be completed over time.

We’d love your support in making our school spaces even better! 😊

Students may join us from 8am in the quad for our complimentary breakfast club. Please note this is not a general drop off time. Students attending breakfast club must stay in the Hub or Quad. Classrooms are closed to students and whānau until 8.30am to allow our staff time to prepare for the day. If you wish to meet with your child's teacher please text or email them to make an appointment.

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/