Welcome

A recent Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American whānau! Many of my family are American, so we have a lovely family celebration in the weekend. It reminded me of the need to be grateful and to give thanks. We practice this as a staff also - taking time to acknowledge and celebrate the 'gifts' we receive. 

There are many people that have committed themselves to volunteering with school activities to support our tamariki. There are some key groups of people who work together in a coordinated way to volunteer a great deal of their time to the school, as well as many, many individuals who help out in lots of ways.

• The Board of Trustees, is a group of 11 people who take responsibility for setting and monitoring the direction of the school to ensure that it is responsive to the needs of our children and families, as well as accountability to various legislation. Thank you so much to all of our Board members! If you would like to help out in this space next year, email bot.chair@sfds.school.nz 

• Parent School Link (PSL) Committee and volunteers, who work hard to fundraise and arrange social opportunities and pastoral support for families.  Thank you so much to our PSL team! If you would like to help out in this space next year, email psl.sfds@gmail.com

• Our Uniform Team devotes hours each week to supporting families to kit out their children, process orders, stock-take and receive second-hand uniforms. If you would like to help out in this space next year, email office.sfds@gmail.com

Thank you also to the many volunteers who have supported our garden to table programme, team-coaching and managing, parent-helpers for class trips and camps, Altar-servers and First Sacraments programme through the parish, road patrol volunteers,  and Tangata Whenua who advise and support us. 

Thank you also for the anonymous donation of an art drying rack for our new art studio! A heartfelt thank you to the thoughtful family who went above and beyond to help us kick-start this exciting new space. Mrs. Stewart can’t wait to put it to great use!

Catholic Character

Advent Prayer

During this first week of Advent, we focus on Hope (Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44).

God of hope, we light this candle as we prepare for the coming of your Son. Awaken our hearts to you this Advent season, so that when Christ arrives, we are ready to receive him with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our strength. Amen. 

School Notices and Events

Parent Information Session about ADHD 

As promised earlier this year, we have continued to arrange information sessions and support for parents whose children have been diagnosed with various 'superpowers' (Dyslexia, ADHD, etc). Next year we will be hosting an information session for parents who have family members with ADHD. Look out for this in the new year. 

Dates to Add to Your Diary

Please also check our SFDS Events Calendar 

Thursday 5 December 

• Rm 2 'Gardening Club'

• Rm 6 (Kōura) Island Bay Library visit

Friday 6 December 

• Rm 6 & 14 Buddy Mass

• School Hui SFDS Church

• Juniors EOY picnic in the park

• Year 8 v the Teachers Basketball Game

• Turning 5 party!

Monday 9 December

• Curriculum progress graphs opened on Hero 

• SFDS Board Hui 

Wednesday 11 December

• Tarawera IB Library visit

Friday 13 December

• Year 6&7 Leadership day

• Year 8 Home of Compassion Retreat

• Family Fish'n'Chip night

Wednesday 18 December 

• • Year 8 Leavers' Dinner 

Thursday 19 December 

• • End of Year Liturgy (early evening - exact time to be confirmed)

Friday 20 December 

• • Last day of the school year (12.30pm)