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Welcome
Welcome
Thank you for your ongoing support, and welcome to our school if you have just joined us! Sickness have continued over the past week, with many children and staff away each day. I am very proud of the way our staff team step up on these occasions - they are all very adaptable and happy to help out where there is a need - thank you SFDS Kaimahi!
Board Elections Later This Year - Board meeting on Monday 19th
Later this year you will have an opportunity to nominate a person who is interested in joining our SFDS Board. All of New Zealand's state and state-integrated schools have a school board which is the Crown entity responsible for the governance of the school.
The Board:
ensures every student can reach their highest possible standard in student achievement
is the employer of all staff in the school
sets the school's strategic direction in consultation with parents, whānau, staff, students and the wider school community
is responsible for overseeing the management of personnel, curriculum, property, finance and administration
The SFDS School board's membership includes:
5 parent-elected representatives (currently Megan Tuesse, Haley Hakaraia, Ameha Wondirad, Deanna Mallon, Jo-Anne White)
the principal of the school (currently Mary-Angela Tombs)
one staff-elected representative (currently Sarah Fountain)
3 board members who are appointed by the proprietor (currently Fr Doug Shepherd, Peter Chew, Aaron Withers)
Parents/caregivers and people in the wider community can be parent representatives. School boards need to represent the diversity of their school communities to ensure a bright future for all of our children. Would you like to join the Board? Would you like to be nominated? How about you attend a meeting to get a sense of what it involved in the Board's work/mahi.
Board meeting Monday 19 May
You are warmly invited to attend any Board meetings throughout the year, which take place twice each term. Our next hui is on Monday 19th May - how about joining us? We start at 6.30pm, and the meeting takes place in the admin area (usually the principal's office). If you would like a copy of the agenda, please email principal@sfds.school.nz and this will be sent you you.
Learning Updates
Learning Updates
Literacy Assessment: Reading
All of our students have been individually assessed using the suite of 'Dibels' 1:1 standardised assessment in literacy developed by the University of Oregon. This suite of assessments allows the teacher to evaluate each child's word-attack skills, and sentence comprehension. This is an assessment that SFDS firstly used for a small group of students in 2024, and is becoming more widely known and used across the country.
Using the assessment information, we identify the child's strengths and needs in reading, so that we know where to target our teaching in the normal classroom programme ('Tier 1'). We also use the information to identify learners who need additional support alongside the normal classroom programme ('Tier 2'). We assess regularly to monitor the impact of teaching. Currently we have four 'Tier 2' groups of children who are receiving additional support in this way, supported by trained staff.
Garden to table
We started off Term 2 with an exciting win - a box of seedlings from Zelandia! On our second Monday back at school for Term 2 our 'Garden-to-table' group made sure our garden beds were cleared of any weeds and we got digging, planting & watering! What a beautiful sight! We planted lots of veg for the upcoming winter months… these included cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, beetroot, broccoli, spinach, rainbow silver beet & a variety of herbs!!
This weeks group used up the last of the spinach, silver beet & parsley to make - spinach & herb cheese puffs!! Yum!! There were a few suspicious chefs who ‘didn’t like spinach, or herbs, or silver beet… yuck’ but I can tell you now these cheese puffs were delicious and gobbled up so fast after an afternoon of baking & gardening… they even asked for seconds to take home :)
Thank you to our lovely volunteer Ann McNamara (Madilyn Bell’s grandmother) who joins us every Monday afternoon where she WOWs us with her garden wisdom & her green thumb tips!!
Sports
Sports
2025 School Cross Country Results
School Notices and Events
School Notices and Events
School Hoodies
If you had placed an order for the school hoodie, these have been handed out today to your child/rens classroom teacher.
Absences from School – Keeping Us in the Loop
If your child is unwell or won’t be at school for part or all of the day, please let us know by 9:00 AM. You can either send a quick message through the Hero app or give the school office a call and leave a message. This helps us make sure all our students are safe and accounted for. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll send a text just to check in.
If your child arrives after the 9:00 AM bell, they’ll need to pop into the office foyer and sign in using our Vistab system. This is important as the roll is taken first thing in the morning, and we want to make sure no one is accidentally marked absent.
Planning time away from school for a special reason? A quick note or phone call in advance is really helpful. For longer absences, like a family trip, just send us an email with the details.
Thanks for helping us keep things running smoothly!
Calling the school office
If you call the school office during the day and we don’t answer straight away, it’s likely we’re helping a sick child, dealing with a visitor, or possibly wrangling a photocopier that’s having a moment! Please leave a message — we promise someone will get back to you as soon as possible.
Update to PSL Disco date!
Please note that the New Date for the PSL Disco is now Thursday 19 June!
Dates to Add to Your Diary
Dates to Add to Your Diary
Please also check our SFDS Events Calendar
Thursday 15 May 2025
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
12:30pm - 2:45pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)
Friday 16 May 2025
7:50am - 8:30am Flames Netball Practice
9am - 10am Rm 6&10 Buddy Mass
Pink Shirt Day!!!! Come in Pink to Support Anti Bullying!!!
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear
Wheke(rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)
3pm - 4:30pm Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm - 5:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice
Monday 19 May 2025
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
1:30pm - 3pm Rms 2 & 6 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
6:30pm - 8:30pm Board Hui SFDS
Tuesday 20 May 2025
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Southern Zone Cross Country TBC
St Mary's Open Day
Wheke (rm 7) and Parareka (Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)
Wednesday 21 May 2025
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear
Thursday 22 May 2025
Southern Zone Cross Country pp TBC
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
12:30pm - 2:45pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)
Friday 23 May 2025
7:50am - 8:30am Flames Netball Practice
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear
Wheke(rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)
3pm - 4:30pm Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm - 5:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice
Monday 26 May 2025
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
1:30pm - 3pm Rms 2 & 5 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
1:45pm - 2:45pm Rm 6 Island Bay library trip
Tuesday 27 May 2025
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
St Patricks College Open day tour- Please email the office if you sonis going!
Wheke(rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)
Wednesday 28 May 2025
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear
Year 7 Vision testing
Friday 30 May 2025
Teacher Only Day - Maths Curriculum (school closed)
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