Happy spring! We are now into the final 3 weeks of the term - and our children are starting to get tired. Thank you so much to our staff who work hard to maintain the children's stamina - and plan learning that suits their capabilities.
Popping Into Your Child's Class to Speak With Their Teacher
We love that parents want to stay connected. Popping in to say, "hi" or share a quick thought before or after school can be really helpful.
At the same time, we want to acknowledge that our teachers carry a significant cognitive and emotional load throughout the day. They are deeply committed to your child’s growth, but they’re also human. Sensitive or complex conversations require time and mental space to be handled thoughtfully and respectfully.
If you have something important or sensitive to discuss, we kindly ask that you email your child's teacher to arrange a time. This gives them the chance to be fully prepared and present for the conversation. This is ultimately in the best interest of your child, and supports the wellbeing of our teachers too.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Artsplash
44 of our tamariki from Year 4-8 took part in Artsplash this year. This is an annual performing arts festival that students from different schools from across Wellington participate in. They learned to perform 9 songs this year, and some of our ākonga took leadership roles in various songs being performed. The songs included waiata Māori and one song with NZ Sign Language. It was a proud moment to stand beside the tamariki from our kura, as they were so happy and enthusiastic throughout their rehearsal and performance at the Michael Fowler Centre.
Special thanks to Jo Calvert and Lydia Wadsworth who led our choir again this year, and to Jemma for supporting the tamariki, Jo and Lydia.
Student reflections on our current value focus of Generosity
"Generosity means kindness. People can be generous by not being mean to each other. My mum is generous. She helps around the house and takes me to school. She cooks for us. She listens to me. My dad is generous because he gives me hugs. He is kind." (Maddox)
"Thea is generous. She laughs with me and is kind. Lexie is also generous in the same way as Thea. Being generous means being kind to each other and truthful." (Alba)
"Being generous means helping out others and seeing them happy. My family are generous and so are my friends. Everyone in my family is generous. They have cared for me all my life. They have given me necessities like food and shelter. My friends are generous by helping me out with my work." (Liam N)
"People show generosity with their kindness and with their words. People at our school show generosity. In the seniors everyone includes you in everything. The boys and the girls play basketball together and no one gets judged. I show generosity by giving away my things sometimes." (Lilou)
"Generosity means being kind to people and giving. It means treating people the way you would like to be treated. You should help people even if you can only help a little. You can also help when no one is looking. You can be there for others. My dad is generous. He always helps when he can - even if he doesn’t have a lot of time." (Elijah S)
"Generosity means being kind and helpful to people in need. Boaz is generous. He is always nice and helpful. He helps people when they get hurt. Harry is generous. He always helps the teachers and he is really nice." (Dallas T. r12)
"Generosity means that you are caring to the poor and vulnerable. You look after them, you care for them and you give them food. At our school we can be generous by caring for little kids and looking after them. If anyone is alone we sit with them. We smile and laugh together at our school. My nonna is generous. She cares for us and cooks great food for us." (Sofia P)
"Generosity means putting others before yourself. It means sharing and helping. My parents are generous. They always put themselves before us - like if there was only one piece of bread left they would give it to us. They provide us with everything - water, a home, food, a bed, a house and shelter. And of course they give us their love." (Frankie)
"Generosity means that you don’t always have to look out for yourself. If someone gets hurt, you should take care of them." (Harper M)
Demonstrations of Generosity at SFDS
At St Francis de Sales School, our students consistently demonstrate our values of generosity and kindness. This is reflected in the pie chart below, which shows that the value of 'Give – tukua' (representing kindness and generosity) has been observed by staff more frequently than any other school value.
Congratulations to Mason and Heidi for sharing the Principal's Cup this time! They have each earned the award this fortnight because of frequently showing the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, especially joy and self-control.
Well done to Summer, Remus, Anika and Louis for earning a Golden Ticket from our House draw last Thursday!
Thank you to our values certificate recipients last Thursday: Adia, Asgedet, Lina, Harriet, Mariella, Evalina, and Charlie.
Great leadership from our Barbier House Captains Liam, Tina, Thalia and Sana for leading their house to the most values points this fortnight,
We are really looking forward to welcoming you to your child(ren)'s class to meet with their teacher(s) during their Learning Conference(s) coming up in the last week of this term. The reason for the upcoming Learning Conferences on the 16th and 17th of September includes:
An opportunity to celebrate your child - talking about them and their strengths and needs
To give you a time to discuss your child's learning progress
For you to let the teacher know anything you have noticed at home in relation to their learning - skills, interests, habits, questions, etc
Learning Conferences don’t just have to be about learning. If you have concerns about your child’s behaviour or wellbeing, the hui/meeting is a good place to connect with the teacher about your concerns. This gives you a new perspective from someone who is also with your child every day.
It helps the teacher if they know what else might be happening for your child. Provide the teacher with any information that could help them better understand or assist your child, including health issues, life changes or learning difficulties.
Some things you could do to prepare:
Read your child's Progress Report on Hero
Talk with your child about:
what they want the teacher to know about them
things they like about school
things they do not enjoy or find difficult
any worries or concerns they have about school that they would like you to discuss.
After the learning conference, talk with your child. Discuss their progress and next steps and celebrate their achievements.
Support your child’s learning at home by acting on the ideas discussed at the parent-teacher interview. You can also use the suggestions provided in the curriculum year-by-year learning guides.
Most families have now booked in a time during the learning conferences, but there are still plenty of spaces available - booked through Hero. See the image following.
If you still have questions or points to discuss at the end of your child(ren)'s Learning Conference, ask your child’s teacher for another meeting or a phone conversation.
Garden to Table - First Day of Spring!
What a perfect way to welcome the first day of spring! Our Garden to Table group had a wonderful afternoon in the sunshine with Olivia, our Garden to Table coordinator. Together, we planted tomato seeds, sweet peas, and sunflowers. A big thank you to Anita, who is kindly taking the trays home to her sunroom to raise them into strong seedlings to later plant in our school garden. Keep an eye out in Term 4 for a plant sale!
We have planted many exciting varieties of tomatoes – including Island Bay heritage tomatoes, golden egg tomatoes, and even purple tomatoes. WOW! The kids were amazing, and it was such a sunny, positive way to kick off spring in our school garden.
Southern Zone Swimming Sports
Well done to all of our swimmers who participated in this event yesterday. They all swam their best and should be very proud. It was exciting watching them all from the stands. A huge thanks to those of you who helped with transport, and to Megan T, who helped with the timekeeping.
Netball
All the best to our three netball teams who are all playing off for first and second in their grade this Saturday! We hope all the teams enjoy the last game of the season.
Term 4 Sport
A reminder the registrations for Touch Rugby, Futsal and Junior Netball are open on Kindo.
Reminder: Early finish at 2.00pm Tuesday 16th and wednesday 17th of September for the Learning Conference.
Make sure to Vote in the Board Elections
This is a reminder for you to vote in the Board election, which closes on 10 September.
Please check your emails as almost all of you will have received an email from Election Pilot around the 13th of August, along with several reminders from Election Pilot.
Voting is VERY EASY - just click the link in the email, which is personalised to you, and a one-off.
If we do not have an email for you on file, Election Pilot has posted paper voting forms to you. Paper votes can be dropped into the school office inside the envelope provided.
If you have any questions, please contact Suzanne in the office.
An Invitation to our Families of Indian Children
Iભારતીય પરિવારો માટે માહિતી સત્ર – આમંત્રણ
નમસ્તે, કિયા ઓરા કૌટૌ, શુભેચ્છાઓ – અમારા બધા ભારતીય પરિવારોને હાર્દિક શુભેચ્છાઓ.
શું તમે જાણો છો કે સેન્ટ ફ્રાન્સિસ ડી સેલ્સ સ્કૂલમાં 46 ભારતીય પરિવારો છે, જે ભારતના વિવિધ ભાગોમાંથી આવ્યા છે? આ અમારા શાળાના સમુદાયનો મહત્વપૂર્ણ ભાગ છે, અને તમે અમારા માટે ખૂબ જ મહત્વપૂર્ણ છો.
આને ધ્યાનમાં રાખીને, અમે ભારતીય પરિવારો માટે એક માહિતી સત્ર યોજવાનું આયોજન કરી રહ્યા છીએ. આ એક આરામદાયક અને અનૌપચારિક મેળાવડો હશે જ્યાં તમે અમારા સ્ટાફને મળી શકો છો, બપોરની ચા વહેંચીશું અને એકબીજાને વધુ સારી રીતે જાણીશું.
આ સત્રમાં, સ્ટાફ શાળાની કામગીરી અને ન્યૂઝીલેન્ડ સંદર્ભે બાળકોની સંભાળ અને શિક્ષણ વિશે માહિતી શેર કરશે. તમારાં પ્રશ્નો પૂછવા અને વિચારો શેર કરવા માટે પણ સમય રહેશે. SKIDS (આફ્ટર સ્કૂલ કેર ટીમ) પણ હાજર રહેશે.
વિગતો:
સમય: 3.00 - 4.00 વાગ્યા
સ્થળ: તારાવેરા, રૂમ 2
સત્ર: બપોરેની ચા + ચર્ચા
અમે તમારી હાજરીની રાહ જોઈ રહ્યા છીએ!
भारतीय परिवारों के लिए सूचना सत्र – आमंत्रण
नमस्ते, शुभकामनाएँ – हमारे सभी भारतीय परिवारों को हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ।
क्या आप जानते हैं कि सेंट फ्रांसिस डी सेल्स स्कूल में 46 भारतीय परिवार हैं, जो भारत के विभिन्न हिस्सों से आए हैं? यह हमारे स्कूल समुदाय का एक बड़ा हिस्सा है, और आप हमारे लिए बहुत महत्वपूर्ण हैं।
इसी को ध्यान में रखते हुए, हम भारतीय परिवारों के लिए एक सूचना सत्र आयोजित कर रहे हैं। यह एक आरामदायक और अनौपचारिक मिलन होगा जहाँ आप हमारे स्टाफ से मिल सकते हैं, दोपहर की चाय साझा करेंगे और एक-दूसरे को थोड़ा और जान पाएंगे।
इस सत्र में, स्टाफ स्कूल की कार्यप्रणाली और न्यूज़ीलैंड के संदर्भ में बच्चों की देखभाल और शिक्षा के बारे में जानकारी साझा करेगा। आपके प्रश्न पूछने और विचार साझा करने का भी समय होगा। SKIDS (आफ्टर स्कूल केयर टीम) भी हमारे साथ शामिल होगी।
विवरण:
समय: 3.00 - 4.00 बजे
स्थान: तारावेरी, कक्षा 2
सत्र: दोपहर की चाय + चर्चा
हम आपकी उपस्थिति की प्रतीक्षा कर रहे हैं!
Please also check our SFDS Events Calendar
Thursday 4 September
Tangaroa PE Days (Rm 2,5 & 6) Wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
NE Vision and Hearing testing - Please contact the office if you do NOT want your child tested
12:30pm - 2:45pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)
Friday 5 September
7:50am - 8:30am Flames Netball Practice
9:10am - 9:40am Buddy Mass Rm 6 and Rm 10
Ranginui PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Wheke (Rm 7) & Parareka (Rm 8) PE Days - Wear PE Gear
3pm - 4:30pm Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm - 5:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice
Monday 8 September
Tangaroa PE Days (Rm 2,5 & 6) Wear PE Gear
1:30pm - 3pm Rm 6 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
1:45pm - 2:45pm Rm 5 Island Bay library visit
6:30pm - 8:30pm SFDS Board hui
Tuesday 9 September
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Wheke (Rm 7) & Parareka (Rm 8) PE Days - Wear PE Gear
Wednesday 10 September
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Ranginui PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Year 5-8 Futsal Festival
3pm - 4pm Netball Prizegiving
Thursday 11 September
Tangaroa PE Days (Rm 2,5 & 6) Wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
12:30pm - 2:45pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)
Friday 12 September
7:50am - 8:30am Flames Netball Practice
9:10am - 9:40am Buddy Mass Rm 7 and Rm 12
Ranginui PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Wheke (Rm 7) & Parareka (Rm 8) PE Days - Wear PE Gear
3pm - 4:30pm Year 5/6 Netball Practice
4:30pm - 5:30pm Year 7/8 Comets Netball Practice
7pm - 10pm PSL Quiz Night!
Monday 15 September
Tangaroa PE Days (Rm 2,5 & 6) Wear PE Gear
1:30pm - 3pm Rm 5 Paekawakawa Reserve trip
Tuesday 16 September
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Wheke (Rm 7) & Parareka (Rm 8) PE Days - Wear PE Gear
2pm: Early Finish for Learning Conferences
2:15pm - 7:30pm Learning Conferences
Wednesday 17 September
Pohutukawa (Rm 10) PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Ranginui PE Day - Wear PE Gear
2pm: Early Finish for Learning Conferences
2:15pm - 7:30pm Learning Conferences
Thursday 18 September
Tangaroa PE Days (Rm 2,5 & 6) Wear PE Gear
Tarawera (Rm 2) Pe Day - Wear PE Gear
12:30pm - 2:45pm Technology Ranginui (Yr 7 & 8)
Friday 19 September
Last day of term
9:10am - 9:40am Buddy Mass Rm 2 and Rm 8
Ranginui PE Day - Wear PE Gear
Wheke (Rm 7) & Parareka (Rm 8) PE Days - Wear PE Gear
Monday 6 October
First Day Term 4