Ka ora koutou,

As we move through the season of Lent, and closer to Easter - a sacred time for all Christians, we are reminded of the need to work on ourselves - sharing our time, prayers, talents and patience with others. As a school, our values focus for the next few weeks is self-control. As you can imagine, this value is one that we often visit when supporting the children to take responsibility for their actions. It is a good reminder for us as adults also.

Staff Update

Lucy Williams will be finishing up at St Francis de Sales at the end of term 2. She is very excited about her overseas travels. I’m pleased to let you all know that we have successfully appointed a new teacher to step into Lucy’s role until the end of 2022. Michael Rogers has been working at Cardinal McKeefry over the past couple of years and is looking forward to being closer to home. Michael will begin getting to know the tamariki and staff at SFDS over the next couple of weeks as we ensure a smooth transition for the learners in Room 2.

Megan Gill also has an overseas trip planned at the end of the term, so that she can visit her family in Ireland. She will be away for the first 4 weeks of term 2. Bev Dean will be filling in for Megan in Harakeke (Room 9) Many of you will remember that Bev was teaching at our school up until 2021. We wish Megan all the best in her travels and look forward to hearing her stories on her return.

Uniform Update

Thank you very much to the 57 parents and caregivers who completed our online survey about the uniform. We also consulted our year 4-8 children . We gained some very valuable insights into the various items that are currently in our uniform - and the new items that the Board is investigating. The board met on Monday evening to begin making the final decision about the uniform. Next week’s newsletter will give you a full update, along with a report on the community survey.

Covid update

Our SFDS team has been committed to the children’s learning needs despite the disruptions thrown at them by Covid. Special thanks to our office team, Fran and Suzanne, who have had the additional burden of medical care and attention over recent weeks. They ensure that all children are accounted for and families receive the right information.

Remember that you can take a quick look at the yellow cells in our plan, which is updated whenever there are marked changes in our numbers.

Thank you

One or two of you have shared your positive feedback about the home learning support that has been provided by our teachers. Thank you for this feedback, as it always lifts the spirits of our team when this sort of feedback is received. Thank you also to our teachers, who have continued to support children’s learning at home.

Ngā mihi nui kia koutou

Take care and God bless

Mary-Angela Tombs

Principal

Kāore he mutunga o te Aroha. The measure of love is love without measure.

Dear SFDS Whanau

We hope everyone is doing well and we acknowledge the amazing job the school staff is doing during this omicron outbreak to ensure our tamariki are continuing to thrive and learn.

We would also like to thank everyone for their warm welcome to Mary-Angela who has made a great start at SFDS.

The board of trustees has started the new year well and would like to let you know about a number of changes:

Late in 2021 one of our Proprietors representatives Rob McCullough was deployed overseas with the NZ Army and subsequently resigned from the BOT, we are pleased to advise that Aaron Withers has joined the board as a new Proprietors Representative.

Also this year I have stood down as board chair and we are also pleased to advise that Peter Chew our previous vice has accepted his nomination to become the new board chair. I will remain on the board to ensure continuity. We thank Peter for accepting the role and the commitment it requires.

Peter's contact details are bot.chair@sfds.school.nz

The board triennial elections are held in September this year and we would encourage people to put their hand up for nomination if you can help support the governance of SDFS.

Ngā mihi nui

Dan McGuinness

CONGRATULATIONS to the following students who received a certificate at Papatuanuku assembly on Friday:

Louis C, Jacob F, Nadal T, Johnny W, Daksha AN, Tom K, Logan P, Isla K, Lily Mc and Cian H.

Special congratulations to Tanisha P and Cody DT who received a values certificate.

TERM 2 MINIBALL (YEAR 3 - 6) AND BASKETBALL (YEAR 7 - 8)

Registrations are still open on Kindo so please register your child/ren if they are going to play.

TEACHER ONLY DAY

We will be having a Teacher only day at the end of term 2 on Friday 8 July. School will be closed so you will need to make other arrangements for this day.

FAMILY DETAILS UPDATE

Thank you to those families who have replied and updated their details.

Please make sure you check these over carefully and confirm everything is correct, even if there are no changes.

We will be sending out the reunification link early next term so please keep an eye out for that.

SCHOLASTIC LUCKY BOOK CLUB- Out Now

The latest Scholastic Book club is out and it has a great selection of books for readers from 5-13 years. Our school receives a bonus of 10% from each online order.

Last year we purchased $500 books for the school library from Book Club bonus dollars.

Note: At SFDS we only do online orders, please do not send orders to school. Place your order anytime by visiting https://scholastic.co.nz/parents/lucky-book-club/ - you can still order from either issue 1 or 2.

Last day for orders is 1st April. If you have any questions please see Chris in Room 7.

LOST and FOUND

Lost: School hats and Polar fleeces.

Please make sure to check your child’s clothing has your child’s name on it and please return any uniform that has accidently made its way home.

Lost property is held in the school office. We will do our best to return any named items to their owners, so please remember to name all items of clothing and property.

Found: Cell phone at the corner of Mersey and Melbourne Road. Please contact eddie@backspace.co.nz if you have lost this.

Found: Colourful Jacket just outside the main gates of school. Please see photo below.

Support our school!

Next time you pay a donation on myKindo, you'll be offered to register with Supergenerous or TaxGift.

By partnering with supergenerous and TaxGift , Kindo automates claiming the 33% tax rebate on your behalf (Kindo supplies the receipts directly to your chosen tax rebate partner). Rebates are then re-gifted back to the school as a new donation, to be used for enhancing the learning environment. More funds. Less admin, It's a gift that keeps giving back to our school.

How it works:

• After your donation is processed at the checkout you can
• Select your preferred provider - Supergenerous or TaxGift
• Check the circle next to our school if you have more than one school on your mykindo account
  
• If you haven't claimed tax credits before you can boost your donation even more by checking the box to send all donation receipts for the last 4 years.
  

As an example your $100 donation can turn into a $140 donation. Your 33% rebate compounds to over $140 within 3 years. If you didn't sign up at the time of paying your donation you can still sign up with either TaxGift or Supergenerous by logging into your account, head to your 'my details' bar and edit rebate tax agent.

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.

Chess Lovers ONLINE Holiday Program

• Week 1: 19 - 22 April
• Week 2: 26 - 29 April
• When: 9:00am - 12:15pm
• Cost: $45

Why Join:

· Develop thinking and problem solving

· Learn great new skills

· Interactive hands-on lessons

· Experienced professional coaches

· Make friends with like-minded kids

· This program is suitable for kids who have some experience with chess

Click here to register

**********************************************************

April Holiday Computer Classes.

Grand Training runs educational and fun computer classes over the holidays Wellington City location on Lambton Quay for ages 5 to 15.

• Roblox
• Minecraft from Introduction to Mods and Servers
• Learn to Code; Scratch, Python or Java & Create 3D Games.
• Web Design, HTML and CSS
• Build a PC
• Film and Video Editing
• Discovery Course in Computing - suitable for younger children
  
  For information & bookings 499-2211 or grandtraining.co.nz

************************************************************

At Bigair Gym, the classes are structured and follow a badge programme. This quality coaching & structure creates motivated and focussed learning, which allows children to focus on goals, gain feedback, reflect, and apply this to achieve through the levels! This type of training develops confidence, resilience and a positive attitude towards personal challenges and new learning. Parents keep telling us that Bigair Gym Classes are having a positive influence on their children, and they are benefiting from learning these lifelong skills outside of the gym. So, don’t miss out on this for your children! Book online for Term 2 classes from the 4th April into GYMNASTICS, TUMBLING, FREE RUNNING (Parkour with flips), TRAMPOLINING & CHEERLEADING!

Bookings are OPEN NOW online for Bigair Gyms active, fun & popular upcoming April HOLIDAY PROGRAMME. Half day & full day sessions: 8.30am-1pm or 1-5.30pm = $30, & 8.30am – 5.30pm = $45. We offer BIRTHDAY PARTIES at Bigair too, so please inquire today.

************************************************************