04 June '25

04 Hune '25

Welcome

Kia ora e te Whānau - hi to all of our SFDS family. Welcome to all of our our new families. Yesterday morning we held a Mihi Whakatau to welcome our many new ākonga/students and their whānau/families. It was a wonderful opportunity for our students to show leadership. Grateful thanks to Matua Ron Taukamo for supporting us.

Last Friday, our teachers joined other teachers from within our Wellington Catholic Schools Kāhui Ako - learning some more about the recently refreshed NZ Curriculum Maths. We met with staff from St Anne's School and St Bernard's School.

Closure of St Bernard's School Brooklyn

It is with sadness that we share the final news of the Archdiocese' decision to close St Bernard's School, one of the three schools in our Catholic Parish of Wellington South. This is a really hard time for families in the school and our parish - the school will close at the end of 2025. We are keeping them in our prayers as they navigate the challenges of these final months of a lovely, and much treasured, wee school in Brooklyn. Of course, any families who transfer to SFDS in 2026 will be warmly welcomed.

Generous Donation by the WF Anderson Educational Foundation

Last week we received a generous final donation of $22, 243.51 from the WF Anderson Educational Foundation. This foundation has made several donations to our school over a number of years, including a donation of $1,500 earlier this year. The Trust is now being wound up, with remaining funds distributed to a number of local schools. We are very humbled by this generous support our children at St Francis de Sales School.

The Foundation was named after W F (Bill) Anderson in recognition of a lifetime of service to the people of Wellington South. Bill was a primary school teacher and later became the Principal of Houghton Valley School. He was part of a committee that established the Wellington South Licensing Trust, and was active in the Island Bay Surf Lifesaving Club. Bill was also active in the school and Parish of St Francis de Sales, Island Bay. Bill was a friendly, jovial man well known to the Island Bay community for his involvement in local affairs, daily walks and talks to students about growing up in the suburb. Bill died in 1999.

The Foundation has distributed grants to eight schools in the area to promote community and educational development with a particular emphasis on education including assistance in removing barriers to education. In the past 23 years the Trust has distributed nearly $440,000 to eight schools in the Wellington South Area, as well as granting scholarships to assist students gain a university education.

The donation will be contributed to the upgrade of our play equipment.

Catholic Character

Grandparents' Day Mass - Advanced Notice

Early next term, we will celebrate our 'Grandparents Day Mass'. This is a day when we invite all grandparents to join us for Mass, a visit to the school, and morning tea. The tentative date for this (subject to confirmation with Fr Doug and the Parish) is Friday 25 July. We are letting you know this now, so that you can arrange to bring grandparents to Island Bay for the morning. More information will be shared as soon as we can.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L)

Over the past 18 months, we’ve been part of the PB4L School wide programme. This programme is helping us to strengthen our catholic Character by focussing on Gospel values to promote positive behaviour. Here are some of the key actions we’ve taken:

Focused on staff and student wellbeing, using Te Whare Tapa Whā and our SFDS Values ('The Fruits of the Holy Spirit', Galatians 5:22-23)
Used the Wellbeing@school survey twice a year to track progress
Improved cultural responsiveness
Taught positive relationships and social skills more consistently using the KiVA programme
Included KiVA lessons in our Religious Education programme
Involved more staff in the KiVA team to follow up on bullying reports
Reviewed and updated our behaviour policies and systems
Adjusted the school timetable to better support wellbeing through regular breaks
Worked to make behaviour expectations more consistent with our school values
Reviewed and improved our student reward systems
Reports of unacceptable behaviour have dropped by 39% in 12 months.
Behaviour expectations are well displayed around the school

Student and Staff Feedback on Rewards:

We asked students about the rewards system. Here's what we learned:

Children are motivated by self-pride, rewards, leadership, and friendships
There’s a wide variety of rewards used: praise, certificates, values cards, dojo points, and stickers, etc
Not all students know all the school values
Values cards help reinforce the values
Students want more values card draws and enjoy food prizes
Most feel staff reward positive behaviour fairly
Some feel certificates are just a tick-box task
Senior students enjoy working toward badge points
Values cards can be cumbersome for staff to manage outside the classroom

New Reward System (Trial):

We're trying a new, easier-to-manage values reward system:

Staff will record when students show our school values using an internal system
Each student will earn a point for their house, recorded in Hero
Parents will be notified when their child earns a values point
Every two weeks, four students will be randomly selected for a food prize at the school hui
The winning house will be announced

This system will help us see which students are consistently showing our values and check for fairness in rewards. Once the system goes 'live' on Hero - you may receive a number of notifications at first, as Hero catches up on past entries.

Sports

Centennial Cup Netball Tournament

Our two year 7/8 netball teams had a great day playing in this catholic schools intermediate netball tournament yesterday. Huge thank you to the parents who made it happen for our teams - Jayne M, Lee RR, Andrea C, Jo S, Dee M, Andrew M. Well done to Victoria M and Harper M who were named as players of the day.

Thank you to AJ from Simply Better Cleaning

A heartfelt thank you to AJ from Simply Better Cleaning for the incredibly generous gift of 12 brand-new basketballs! As we’re halfway through the season, basketballs are always in high demand, and this donation couldn’t have come at a better time.

We’re truly grateful for your support. We also want to give a special shout-out to Jayden for helping label all the new balls — great teamwork in action!

School Notices and Events

PSL Sausage Sizzle this Friday!

A reminder that PSL are holding a Sausage sizzle this Friday 6 June! Sausages available to order on Kindo now! They are looking for some parent helper on the day! If you are able to help out please let them know by emailing them on psl.sfds@gmail.com

Skids - Sports Quest

Skids have a great programme coming up for children enrolled in after school care. Throughout this three-week booster, the children enrolled will build confidence, teamwork, and resilience through wild sports mash-ups, STEM challenges, and hands-on adventures—no sports skills needed! Everyone can join in, learn, and shine.

Dates to Add to Your Diary

Please also check our SFDS Events Calendar

Thursday 5 June 2025

9:15am Pohutukawa (Rm10) Recreation Centre Visit
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
12:30pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)

Friday 6 June 2025

7:50am Flames Netball Practice
9am Rm 2&8 Buddy Mass
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear
PSL Sausage Sizzle
Wheke(rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)
3pm Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice

Monday 9 June 2025

Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
1:30pm Rm 2 & 6 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
1:45pm Rm 5 Island Bay library trip

Tuesday 10 June 2025

Inter Zone Cross Country
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Wheke (rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)

Wednesday 11 June 2025

11am Village in the Park Performance Kapa Haka
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear
6pm St Catherines Open Evening

Thursday 12 June 2025

Inter Zone Cross Country pp
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
12:30pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)

Friday 13 June 2025

7:50am 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 Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice

Monday 16 June 2025

Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
1:30pm Rms 2 & 5 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
1:45pm Rm 6 Island Bay library trip

Tuesday 17 June 2025

Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Wheke(rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)

Wednesday 18 June 2025

Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear

Thursday 19 June 2025

Suzanne Aubert’s birthday
Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
5pm PSL disco - save the date!

Friday 20 June 2025

Matariki Public Holiday School Closed

Monday 23 June 2025

Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
1:30pm Rms 5 & 6 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
1:45pm Rm 2 Island Bay library trip
6:30pm SFDS Board Hui

Tuesday 24 June 2025

Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Wheke(rm 7) and Parareka(Rm 8) PE Day (Wear PE Gear)

Wednesday 25 June 2025

Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE day (Wear PE Gear)
Ranginui (Year 7 & 8) PE Day- Wear PE Gear

Thursday 26 June 2025

Tangaroa (Year 0-3) Pe Day- wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear

Friday 27 June 2025

7:50am 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 Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice
LAST DAY OF TERM 2

Page updated

Report abuse