Week 4 Term 4 SFDS Newsletter
Wednesday 8 November 2022
MARY-ANGELA'S MESSAGE
Tēnā koutou e ngā whānau
This morning we held a beautiful celebration of the baptism for six of our tamariki - Xhyrell, Lexie, PJ, Honor, Harlem, and Anahera. It was lovely to welcome their whānau and friends who were supporting them and to bring the whole school together for this special liturgy. Fr Doug spoke about the importance of baptism as a gateway to all of the other sacraments in our Church.
Newsletter proudly sponsored by
2023 Class Placement Survey
I have received a positive response from many families about being offered the opportunity to share your perspectives in class placement for 2023. A reminder that this opportunity is only available until 24 November. After that time, we will not be able to consider your perspective as we will need to finalise the lists. While you may have spoken to a class teacher, this is not enough - please make sure to:
Complete this survey https://forms.gle/RfWDivXMqyNFV3yMA
Or make contact with the Deputy Principal, Sarah sarah.fountain@sfds.school.nz
or Mary-Angela principal@sfds.school.nz Thank you
Teacher Staffing Updates
Recently we have appointed a number of teachers for 2023 and beyond. I am pleased to let you all know that the following appointments have been made:
Megan Gill has been appointed to a permanent teaching position. Megan has been with us for 3 years now, so it is great to be able to secure her on a longer term basis.
Julia Reich-Simko has also been appointed to a permanent position, after teaching for the past two years at SFDS. Congratulations to Julia for achieving full certification also.
Michael Rogers has been appointed to a fixed term teaching position. Congratulations also to Michael for achieving full certification.
A new teacher, Lauren King has also been appointed to a fixed term position. Lauren is a graduate teacher and has been part of the Masters of Teaching and Learning programme in a trainee position at Sacred Heart School in Petone throughout 2022.
Congratulations to Josh Carson, who will be moving back home to Whanganui at the end of this year. Ko au te awa ko te awa ko au. Josh has accepted a permanent position at St John’s Hill school, starting in 2023. We will be sad to lose you Josh. Congratulations on also achieving full certification as a teacher.
It is really lovely to be able to share with you all that Sandra Buless and her husband, Ash are looking forward to their second child joining their family alongside their son Nathaniel. Their new baby is due to be born early next year.Congratulations from us all!
Sandra will be taking parental leave in 2023. As part of our staffing plan for 2023, we are working through options for best practice to ensure that we continue to be inclusive in supporting the varied needs of the children within Sandra's care at SFDS. We are currently recruiting a part time teacher to allow us to continue supporting the ideal inclusion programme currently in place at SFDS. I’ll give you an update on this over the coming weeks.
In another happy ‘stork report’ Xanthe gave birth to her baby on Monday evening. Xanthe and Shane have welcomed Mèabh Mary Finn (pronounced Maeve). Welcome to our world, little one.
Ngā mihi nui kia koutou
Mary-Angela Tombs
Principal
DRS MESSAGE
BAPTISM MASS
Congratulations to Xhyrell, Lexie, PJ, Honor, Harlem, and Anahera who were baptised today!
BUDDY MASSES
Every week at 9:10am on Fridays two classes from the school join the parish in their weekday mass. Everyone in the community is welcome to attend so check out the roster below to see the dates of your child's class mass.
Madeline Smith
DRS
SARAH'S MESSAGE
To the following students who won certificates at last week's Papatūānuku hui:
Asher B, Chiara Z, Jack C, Eva S, Valentina De G, Ashlyn K, Charlotte M, Lily McG, Lily R-R
CONGRATULATIONS ALSO TO
Rose M and Harper McL who were part of a team that came first out of ten teams at last weekend's National Championship in Cheerleading in Auckland.
It was a huge competition, and cheerleading is a very athletic event. They were congratulated by the Prime Minister. See photos below.
Well done Rose and Harper!
PSL NEWS
SFdS PSL are holding a mufti day this coming
Friday 11 November.
In place of a gold coin we are asking for donations to put towards some Christmas hampers which we will be raffling off for our upcoming Christmas advent evening!
And don't forget to buy you Disco tickets on kindo!
SCHOOL NOTICES
BOOK CHARACTER DAY
Book Character on TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER! Dress up as your favourite book characters, listen to some new stories, perform in the costume competition, and learn about other students and staff's favourite characters. Help us celebrate Book Character Day! If you have any questions please email jemma.brown@sfds.school.nz
KIDS ART WORKS CALENDARS REMINDER!
This is a reminder that we're currently taking orders for Calendar Art.
We're half-way through the ordering period and we just want to make sure everyone that wants to get products made from their child's own art has the opportunity to.
These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.
Follow these instructions to place your order online:
1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com
2/. Use the Entrance Code: K*..... (add in your entrance code from your welcome letter e.g. "KZ3452")*
3/. Enter your child's room & name
The order is open until Monday 14 November at 11.30pm.
If you misplace your child’s code please contact Fran or Suzanne at the school office. office@sfds.school.nz
The following products are available though your school KINDO account
For information on how to get to KINDO Click here to view. From there you are able to pay your school donations, (there is an option to make part payments) uniform and any other school charges or sign ups for sports and extra actvities.
Supporting other children through Kindo
Kindo is adding a new feature to your myKindo portal enabling you to gift to others... starting with KidsCan. You will be able to buy lunch, shop and pay for our school items as normal, and you will now see some KidsCan donation offers on the checkout page.
Kindo will provide the donation receipts so you can claim back the 33% tax rebate – or sign up to TaxGift or Supergenerous to gift the rebate too.
If you have any questions or feedback, please email hello@mykindo.co.nz
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Place your lunch order EARLY and go in to WIN!
If your school has a lunch service on the last day of term - Friday 30 September, here is an incentive to order early! All orders placed before 8pm on Thursday 29th September (for delivery Friday 30th September) will be in the draw to win the value of their lunch back. Easy!
Three lucky students will WIN!
Term 4 Policies and Procedures due for review
In term four, the focus is on the Safety On and Off School Grounds sections.
Term 4 review topics
· Health, Safety, and Welfare Policy
Board review
· Alcohol/Drugs and Other Harmful Substances
Board review
· Digital Technology and Cybersafety
· School Bus Transport*
· School Swimming Pool / Swimming Off Site*
Board review
Please feel free to have a look at this on the Schooldocs site and give us your feedback.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Click below to download our school app or please use the following QR code which will take you to the right place
Contact Us
Email: office@sfds.school.nz
Website: http://www.sfds.school.nz
Location: St Francis De Sales School 11 Mersey Street, Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand
Phone: 04 939 7370