St Teresa's School Newsletter

As we journey through the season of Lent, we take time for reflection, prayer, and renewal. We especially keep our baptism candidates in our prayers as they prepare for this important step in their faith journey. If there are any adults interested in joining the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) programme, this is the last call—we would love to support you in exploring the Catholic faith.

Meanwhile, the renovation of our junior block is progressing wonderfully and is now close to completion. It’s exciting to see this space taking shape, and we look forward to the enhanced learning environment it will provide for our youngest students.

Looking ahead, we are thrilled to be celebrating the 70th Anniversary of our amazing school next week! This is a wonderful milestone, and we can’t wait to mark the occasion with our school community.

Wishing you all a blessed and peaceful Lent.

Ngā mihi nui,

Lindsey

Monday 17th March

St Patricks Day

Tākitimu at Technology

Tuesday 18th March

70th Anniversary of St Teresa's School

Monday 24th March

Tākitimu Technology

Tuesday 25th March

Class Mass join us at 10am

Last week, our students marked the beginning of Lent with two special traditions. On Shrove Tuesday, we followed the centuries-old practice of making and enjoying pancakes, a symbolic way to prepare for the fasting and reflection of Lent. Afterward, we gathered for the Rite of Burning Palms. The blessed palm fronds from last year’s Palm Sunday, which had been kept in our homes, were collected and burned along with our Lenten promises. These ashes were then used for our Ash Wednesday Mass.

On Ash Wednesday, we joined our parish community for a beautiful Mass, where we received ashes on our foreheads as a sign of repentance and renewal, with the comforting reminder that "God loves us." A heartfelt thank you to Pa Dennis and Fr Matt for leading us in this meaningful celebration of our faith.

Exciting news—our two new hens have arrived! The students have been busy coming up with creative names, and the final names will be drawn from a hat at today’s assembly. We can’t wait to see what they’ll be called!

These chickens mark the beginning of exciting new plans for our garden area. Students have put their creativity to work, designing some fantastic ideas for the space. Once the junior block renovations are complete, we’ll be ready to bring their visions to life. Watch this space for updates as our garden project takes shape!

Secure your place at 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

What an amazing turnout at our Wine and Cheese Evening! A huge thank you to all our new and returning members for coming along, sharing your time, and bringing such fantastic ideas. Your enthusiasm has truly inspired us, and we are confident that together we can achieve our fundraising goals of purchasing a new sandpit and a mini van for our school.

Our next FOSTA meeting and AGM will be held on Tuesday, 8th April, at 6:00 PM. We’d love to see as many whānau there as possible—your support makes a huge difference! Babysitting will be available to make it easier for you to attend.

Let’s keep the momentum going—see you there!

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

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! 😊

As we prepare for our Spring Gala, we’re looking for donations of plastic pots for our plant stall. If you have any spare pots at home, big or small, we’d love to put them to good use!

Please drop them off at the school office at your convenience.

If you have green fingers and would like to donate plants for our Gala please let us know fosta@teresas.school.nz

Thank you for your support! 🌱🌸

We are collecting Easter-themed items for our raffle! If you can donate chocolates, toys, teddies, stickers, or other Easter-themed goodies, please drop them off at the school office by Friday, 4th April.

📝 Raffle tickets and money need to be returned to the office by Wednesday, 9th April, with the draw happening on Friday, 11th April. Why not take your raffle sheets to work and boost those sales? Extra raffle sheets are available from the school office. Thank you for your support! 🎟🐣

Every Friday we are learning about Science and how it can be fun!

This is one of our experiments “Lemon Volcanoes”

When you mix the baking soda with the lemon juice, it combines together to form a gas called carbon dioxide, producing the fizzing eruption you can see.

The juniors loved learning about Scooter Safety. Here are some of the new skills we covered:

• Set up (wearing the right gear and checking your scooter)
• Stopping safely and with control
• Sharing the footpath
• Skills such as gliding, switching and looking out for hazards
• Watching out for ‘sneaky driveways’, and
• What to do at pedestrian crossings and intersections.

On Monday 3rd March, we attended the Featherston Cluster Swimming sports. Our amazing team of 18 Year 4-8 students represented our school with pride and showed such courage and perseverance. A huge thank you to our staff who supported the team on the day, and to the senior students, Cheryl and Whaea Mills for supporting the BBQ and the students who helped with the timekeeping.

Following the cluster event, a team of 10 students made it through to the South Wairarapa swimming sports this week. Again, the team swam with pride and courage, in what proved to be a very tough competition. Thank you to Amanda who helped transport the team and supervise on the day. Without whānau support, these events would not be possible.

A further congratulations goes to Amelia Padlie and Andrew Cuff who have both qualified for the Wairarapa Swim Champs in a couple of weeks. What an incredible swimming season for our St Teresa's students!

The students in Tākitimu and Remutaka have been exploring some of the more popular games from our early school's era, ahead of our celebration day next week. We discovered that the students at our school in 1955 used to love playing marbles and rounders.

Using their science knowledge and understanding, the students were able to relate the game of marbles with this term's science focus - Forces. The students can articulate that the force of push and pull are at play during these games, and that a reaction only happens when all of the forces, acting on the marble at any one point, are unbalanced. They can explain that when a marbles is at rest, the pull force of gravity is being applied, and that considerations such as surface friction and the amount of force applied will impact how the marbles will move.

Ka pai tō mahi tamariki mā!

Change and loss are a natural part of life, but they can be challenging for children to navigate. Seasons for Growth is a small-group programme designed to help young people understand and respond well to experiences of change, loss, and grief.

This programme is suitable for children who have faced changes such as family separation, the loss of a loved one or pet, moving to a new home, friendship changes, or other significant life events. Through discussions, activities, and peer support, children will develop emotional resilience, coping skills, and a sense of belonging.

Lindsey, our principal, will be running Seasons for Growth in Term 2. If you feel this programme would benefit your child, please contact principal@teresas.school.nz to enrol.

Our goal setting event is on Thursday 1st April 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

1. Log into the Hero app

2. Navigate to the School Bookings event and click ADD

This will display a table of all available slots for all your children

3. 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.

4. You will have the option of entering a note for the relevant staff member. Clicking CONFIRM will secure the interview slot.

5. Once a booking is made all other slots will become unavailable to prevent duplicate bookings.

6. 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.

7. 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.

School Policies and Procedures: School Docs

SchoolDocs is a website for our policies and procedures. We invite you to participate in the Term 1 review:

• Health, Safety, and Welfare Policy
• Safety Management System
• Risk Management
• Worker Engagement, Participation, and Representation
• Healthcare
• Recording and Reporting Accidents, Injuries, and Illness

To take part follow these steps;

1. Visit the website https://teresas.schooldocs.co.nz/
2. Enter the username (teresas) and password (ontrack).
3. Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.
4. Read the policy.
5. Click the Policy Review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.
6. Select the reviewer type "Parent".
7. Enter your name (optional).
8. Submit your ratings and comments.

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.

Due to the generous support from local Wairarapa Lions, Rotary and Community Clubs and Creative New Zealand, the Wairarapa Youth Orchestra are able to offer a number of violin, clarinet and french horn music lessons for only $10 a lesson!

They welcome applications from Wairarapa students aged between 8 and 15 years old.

These lessons are for students who otherwise would not be able to access to music lessons.

To apply and find out more information see the link to their online application form below:

Scholarship Application Form

You can also check out the Wairarapa Youth Orchestra at their website wyo.org.nz or their Facebook page WairarapaYouthOrchestra to see what they are all about!

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/