Welcome

Thank you for taking time to meet with your child's teacher this week. I hope you found these meetings to be helpful to you. As we come to the end of our first term of 2025, our teachers are looking forward to a well-earned break to rest and 'recharge'.  

End of Term Staff Updates

On Friday this week, we farewell Annette Law, one of our Teaching Assistants. Annette has been with us in this role for 8 years. Her gentle, calm support for our students, and her smiling face will be much missed by us all. Thank you for your dedication and service, Annette.

Denise Phillips is finishing up with St Francis de Sales School early in Term 2. Denise has been with us as a teacher for nearly three years, and has taken on the role of Acting DRS this year. We will say our goodbyes to Denise in the second week of term 2. 

Karen Pratt has recently been appointed to the role of Teaching Assistant. Karen is a student in the Masters of Educational Psychology programme at Victoria University. Karen is a wonderful new asset to our staff team. 

We are also close to appointing two teachers to join our team early in Term 2, to take over from Denise - and to team teach in the New Entrant room with our number of 5 year olds increasing. We currently have 16 New Entrants, with more enrolled for term 2. Once these appointments are confirmed, we will be able to update you all. 

Learning Updates

Hero Reporting

We have made a very good start to the necessary changes to our Hero reporting systems, to align the goals with the new curriculum content. Thankfully we had already done a lot of work in this space last year. 

There are still many adjustments to make - especially in Maths:

• Some of the maths curriculum has been adjusted so that children are exposed to concepts at an earlier stage (including number knowledge, fractions, statistics and probability). 

• Some of the content is new, or strengthened (including aspects of measurement, algebra, and geometry)

The updated reporting platform, including the goals, charts and graphs to show progress against the updated curriculum will be open for parents to access in July - hopefully by the end of Term 2. 

Sports

Miniball and Basketball Term 2

The MiniBall and Basketball registrations will close on Kindo tomorrow (Thursday 10th). Please register your child if they are going to play. We would love to have a couple of extra year 5/6 players so we have enough for two teams, rather than one large team. Don’t miss out on the fun! Full details on Kindo.

Badminton Term 2

We have the opportunity for our year 5 - 8 students to join a Badminton league for schools. Please read the information below then email me at sarah.fountain@sfds.school.nz if your child/ren would be keen to join and play. This is not on Kindo for registrations yet, I will gauge interest first.

• STARTS: Thursday, 8th May 2025  

• ENDS: Thursday, 19th June 2025

• TIME: First round begins 4pm

• VENUE: Badminton Wellington Centre, 1 Ruahine Street, Hataitai, Wellington. 

• AGE: Year 5 - Year 8

*Beginners Welcome and All Equipment Provided.

SCHEDULE:  

• Week 1: Lessons & Grading

• Week 2-7: Matches

• Week 8: Fun Tournament  

The first week will focus on grading and providing players with lessons to help develop their skills and knowledge. We will continue to offer development opportunities during the season.

The final week is a fun tournament filled with exciting activities and Spot Prizes during the competition, a fun family atmosphere.

Each school team entered must have three players.

COST: $120.00 per team entered

Cross Country 

Just another friendly reminder that this year, our whole school cross-country event will take place on Wednesday, 7th May (Term 2). The postponement date is Friday, 9th May, and the event will be held at Wakefield Park.

As we prepare for this exciting event, we kindly request your support in helping to marshal the race tracks. Parent volunteers are essential to ensuring the safety and smooth running of the event, and we would greatly appreciate any assistance you can provide. We will need support from 9:45 am to 12:30 pm. Thank you to those who have already volunteered their time — you don't need to fill in the survey again. However, we are still looking for a few more parents.

Please complete the Hero form to indicate your availability.

Your involvement will make a significant difference in the success of the day. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to a fantastic day of competition, fun, and school spirit!

I will be sending out a race map and some approximate race times soon. In the mean time please support your children if they wish to do some additional training for their race.

Dates to Add to Your Diary

Please also check our SFDS Events Calendar 

Wednesday  9 April 2025

•  Koura (Rm 6) PE Day - Wear PE Gear

• Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE Day- Wear PE Gear

• Ranginui PE Day - (Rm 12 and 13) Wear PE Gear

• 2pm - 3pm 2pm school finish for Learning Conferences

• 2:15pm - 7:30pm Learning Conferences

Thursday 10 April 2025

• Tamure (Rm 5) PE Day - Wear PE Gear

• Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear

• 12:30pm - 2:45pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)

Friday 11 April 2025

• Last Day of Term 1

• 9am - 10am Rm 7&12 Buddy Mass

• Parareka (Rm 8) PE Day - Wear PE Gear

• Ranginui PE Day - (Rm 12 and 13) Wear PE Gear

• Wheke (Rm 7) PE day - Wear PE Gear

Monday 28 April 2025

• First Day of Term 2

• Bee Healthy Van arrives for the following 2 weeks

Wednesday 7 May 2025

• St Catherine's College Year 8 talk 

• St Patrick's Year 8 talk

Wednesday 7 May 2025

• Whole School Cross Country 

Wednesday 20 May 2025

• Southern Zone Cross Country TBC

• St Mary's College Open Day 

Tuesday  27 May 2025

• St Patricks College Open day tour- Please email the office if you son is going!