St Benedict's School Pānui ā-rorohiko (Online Newsletter) Term 1, week 8, 2025

Upcoming Events from our Calendar

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Term 1, 2025

Sports Uniform 
Tuesdays Room 9-13
Thursdays Room 7-8 and Rooms 3-5

Week 8
Monday 24th March - Wednesday 26th March Mrs Savage attending WCPPA summit at Parihaka and Ngāmotu. 
Thursday 27th March Class liturgies 9-9.45am -Room 12 Class Mass - 9:00am -Rooms 8,9

Week 9 
Monday 31 March - Moving March - Crazy socks / shoes day
Tuesday 01 April -  Yr 5/6 Camp - El Rancho 
                                        Ki o Rahi - Nairnville - Rms 11-13 
Wednesday 02 April - Yrs 7 & 8 - Technology 
                                        Kapa Haka - Hemi
Thursday 03 April - Class Liturgies - 9-9:45am
                                         Class Mass - 9am - Room 11
                                         Kelly Sport - Rooms 3, 4 & 5
                                         Yr 5/6 Campers return
Friday 04 April - Teacher Only Day - School Closed

Week 10

Monday 7 April - House Dance Off - 2pm
Wednesday 9 April - Yrs 7 & 8 - Technology 
                                           Kapa Haka - Hemi
Thursday 10 April - Mission Fair - 11:15am - 12:15pm
Friday 11 April - Stations of the Cross
                                 Term 1 ends - 2:50pm
                                     
 Wednesday 23 & Thursday 24 April - 9-3pm School office open

Saturday 26 April - 2-3:30pm New School and Second Hand Uniform sale

Term 2, 2025

Tuesday 27 & Thursday 29 May - St Patrick’s College Open Day - 10-11:30am & 12:30-2pm

Items found in the School APP
School Notices
Teacher Messages
Documents Section
St Ben's Handbook

Widget link
Newsletter
SchoolDocs (Board Policies) 
Account information
Absences notification and rate of absences. 
School Calendar
MyKindo for lunch orders
FWFC Facebook and Instagram

Tumuaki Korero

Tēnā koutou e te whānau ō Hato Penetika,

While we continue to have a restricted playground, we also continue to see the very best of our tamariki within the playground. Negotiating space, playing new games, involving others in games are all ways our tamariki are continuing to be EPIC in our playground every day.

We are so proud of their resilience and social capabilities as we get closer to the opening of our amazing court space.

Court update
The canopy has been completed, and the lighting is close to being installed. In April we will start to see the multipurpose turf laid. It has been phenomenal watching all the different contractors work together to improve this area of our school. We would like to invite our whole school community to the official blessing of this space on Tuesday 3 June 

Kelly sports
We are coming to the end of our Term 1 Kelly Sports programme for all Syndicates. It is always so lovely to see the tamariki engaging with the instructor. Thank you for your activities donation which allows us to fund these wonderful activities for our tamariki.

Teacher only day
Next Friday, 4th of April, St Benedict’s will be gathering with Sacred Heart Cathedral School, Cardinal McKeefry School and St Teresa’s School to receive our first instalment of our Ministry of Education PLD for the new mathematics curriculum.

School Holiday Programme
The St Benedict’s School Holiday programme is open for registration. As always, we need a set number of tamariki for this to be a financially viable option for the School Board. Please enrol early so we can confirm the programmes.

On Leave
I will be taking leave to attend family commitments overseas from the 7th of April until the 9th of May.  Cheryl Taylor will be acting Principal during this time.

Enrolments for 2025
We have had a flurry of enrolments this week so please do get in touch if you have friends or whānau who are considering St Ben's. Please ensure that you have completed enrolment papers for your pre-school tamariki who are joining us in 2025. This allows us to plan a great transition from Early Childhood Education to School through a series of visits. Equally if you have whānau or friends who are considering enrolling their tamariki, please encourage them to make appointments so we can accommodate these new enrolments.

Mā te Atua koutou e manaaki,
May God bless and care for you. 
Tania Savage - Principal

Catholic Character

St Benedict’s School -  2025 Jubilee Year Mass

This year on March 21st we celebrated our Jubilee Year Mass at the Parish Church of St. Francis of Ohariu, Johnsonville. The Catholic Church celebrates a special; Jubilee year, a centuries-old tradition rich with spiritual significance. This special occasion is dedicated to promoting renewal, spiritual growth, mercy, and forgiveness.

For this Jubilee Year, 2025, Pope Francis has chosen the motto “Pilgrims of hope” Pope Francis encourages us to deepen our faith through pilgrimage, prayer, the sacrament of reconciliation, and works of mercy during this special year.

By Nakos, Jehiel, and Emmanuel -  Catholic Character Team

In Year 7/8, we are exploring Charism as part of our Religious Education. Charisms are unique gifts from God that help us share His love, kindness, truth, and wisdom with others. Through these gifts, God’s power works through us to bring people closer to Him, strengthen their faith, and encourage them to receive His grace through the sacraments.

At St Benedict’s School, we place great importance on Gospel Values. Our core values—creativity, Perseverance, Integrity, and Empathy—are inspired by our Founding Order, the Brigidine Sisters, and guide us in how we learn, grow, and live out our faith.

By Rosa, Toby and Elliana - Room 12

The Parable of the Fig Tree

By Rosa, Elliana and Jane - Room 12

School Cross Country

We will be having a WHOLE SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY DAY on Thursday 1 May (PP Friday 2 May) at Nairnville park.  This will be for ALL students in Years 0 - 8.  Please find the course map below that will be run by the different year groups on the day.  We are in need of at least 2 parent helpers to help Marshall.  Please email molly.kelly@st-benedicts.school.nz.  Helper roles can be shared so that parents can watch their tamariki race OR they can be placed in a spot with easy viewing of the finish line.

Qualifiers from each year group will go on to represent St Ben's at Northern Zone Cross Country Years 4 - 8 (Grenada North Park in the afternoon on 13 May - PP 15th May) and Junior Invitational Cross Country Years 0 - 3 (Amesbury School on 21 May - PP 23 May). If your tamariki qualifies, you will be notified via email by Wednesday 7 May.
Course Map

School Board

Kia ora koutou katoa,

Thank you for the opportunity to be presiding member of the St Benedict's School Board. 2025 will be a busy year at St Ben's as we work on activity outlined in the strategic plan to make St Ben's an even better place to learn.
My husband Andrew Black and I have three children at St Benedict's: Rosa (Y7), and Edward and Ariane (Y4). Our family has been a part of St Benedict's for around 7 years. I've been a proprietor's representative on the board since September 2023, as well as a member of FWFC.
Both Andrew and I have had the benefit of a Catholic education. We love that our children have loads of opportunities at St Ben's to strive towards excellence. That means that they can develop their talents and also are supported to persevere with elements that they find challenging.  When not writing profiles about myself I work as a university lecturer and researcher.  I'm a big fan of baking, bushwalks, reading and podcasts.  I'm a yellow belt in karate (hoping to grade soon to orange belt).  We have a busy household with children's and community activities and family events which means it can be hard to finish a task uninterup-

Johanna Reidy
PresidingChair@st-benedicts.school.nz 

Board Policy Review

Each term the School Board, Teachers and community are invited to review our School policies. The below flyer explains the process.  To access the school’s Policies and Procedures, please click on the below link, and enter our username and password.

Visit the website https://st-benedicts.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm

Enter the username (st-benedicts) and password (3000stbens).

Winter Uniform orders

We will be moving into our winter uniform in Terms 2 & 3 and if you would like to order new items, please email the office before 10 April.  There may be a six week wait time for any orders received after this date. 

Student Celebrations

Congratulations to the below students who received awards at our recent assembly 

Congratulations to Sylvie who was super excited to receive a bronze medal from the Girls 8 4x100m Relay at Wellington Athletics junior champs recently.

Lucky Day

Dominic and Harrison went head-to-head in the Saints’ halftime show on Sunday, competing in a layup challenge to win slices of pizza. Both were lucky enough to walk away with not just pizza but also a T-shirt and a ball. It was an intense game, with the Saints pushing into double overtime before narrowly losing to the Taranaki Airs in the final minute.

Congratulations to the Bengal Tigers football team who won the Kelly Sport Football season for the second year in a row!

Moving March ends on Monday with the celebration of a crazy sock / shoe day.  Thank you to our wonderful student helpers who have been on duty each morning before school. 

Last week Room 5 were treated to a violin recital by George.

ASC Highlights

School Holiday Programme - email asc@st-benedicts.school.nz

School dates 2025

The downloadable PDF  below will give you a printable calendar for your fridge. It has been updated to reflect the new MOE Maths PLD days. 

Since the Board set the dates, the Ministry of Education has announced there will be two mandated teacher only days to support the new curriculum during the year. Unfortunately we have not been able to choose our dates and have been allocated the following dates Friday 4 April 2025 and Thursday 19th of June.

Finalised school dates for 2025 are
Professional learning – Leading by Learning 28th January with Geoff Childs
Staff Retreat 29th January with Pa Gerry Burns

30 and 31 of January Whanaungatanga meetings and Staff meeting days 

Term 1   Monday 3 February –11 April ( Easter and Anzac Day in holidays)
Friday 4th April MOE Mathematics PLD teacher only day. 
Term 2  28 April- 27 June (Includes Matariki and Kings Birthday)
Staff call back day in school holidays Friday 11 July
Thursday 19 June MOE Mathematics PLD teacher only day. 
Term 3 s 14 July – 19 September Kāhui Ako Teacher only day  1st August
Staff call back day in school holidays Friday 3 October
Term 4  6 October- Wednesday 17 December (Includes Labour Day)

Sports Updates / Miniball & Basketball / Netball

Miniball - Basketball Registrations Now Open!

Registrations are now open for the upcoming Mini ball - Basketball season! Please complete the form below—one form per player.

 Registration Deadline: 4th April (no late registrations will be accepted).

Register Here 

Our miniball - basketball program relies on parent volunteers to coach teams. No prior experience is needed and full support is provided. Your help makes a huge difference—please consider getting involved!

 Season Details:

• Miniball - Basketball runs during Terms 2, 3, and 4.

Thank you for your support—we look forward to another great season!

Netball Registrations

Netball registrations are now open - please fill out the registration form below (one form per player please) - it will be open until March 21st.
https://forms.gle/Mink4cYuo1vNYnkM6

We are still waiting on confirmation of the season dates but based on the last few years the format will be as follows.
Season details - Year 1-2 - Saturday afternoons, Terms 2-3, Years 3-4 - Saturday afternoons Terms 2-3, Year 5-8 Saturday mornings Terms 2-3.  This year the Northern Suburbs Netball Committee have decided to run a Year 7 and Year 8 competition (rather than a combined intermediate) therefore we will not be running trials this year.
If you have any questions please contact Hannah and Camilla (netball@St-benedicts.school.nz)

Girls Futsal 

A great day was had last week at Akau Tangi Sports Centre at the Girl's Futsal competition for Years 3-8.  Thank you for the support of our parent helpers.

FWFC

Kia ora e te whānau ō Hato Penetika,

Friends and Whānau Fundraising Committee 

Kia ora e te whānau,

We had a number of community events coming up. Please read the below info on Colour Run (6 April), Uniform sale (26 April) and the Mother's Day shop (5 May).

Colour run: This is the big fundraising event for the year, with all money raised going to the school canopy project. The fundraising that you are all doing is so impressive!! Please keep it up! Key info: Sunday 6th April, 11.30 til 1pm, Nairnville field

Cost: $10 through the student fundraising profile: www.schoolfunrun.co.nz (or please put money direct into the FWFC/HOK account for siblings or those that aren't able to set up a profile). 
The Colour Run will also have BBQ, baking and treats. To put this on, we are after volunteers to help support these activities.

Please sign up if you can through this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MM8nKUDkWCfpNKKhIJaYPc0u2pVFZV6wYTzmISJ4RDg/edit?usp=sharing

Bake sale for the Colour Run:  This week ‘flat-pack’ cake boxes will be sent home with the eldest child in each family that can be used for contributions to the bake sale which will be held at the colour run. We are asking for donations of cakes, slices, biscuits, cupcakes, bliss balls, muffins, loaves etc.  We will be selling a mixture of whole items (cakes, loaves etc) and single items to eat on the day and this is always a hugely popular stall with delicious home baking available. 

More info will be included alongside the cake box, baking can be dropped off just before the colour run on the day and if you can’t make the event, are not a fan of baking, you can also contribute $10 instead of baking donations.
If you would like to do this please donate to the FWFC account (12-3141-0352804-00 reference CAKE).  Thank you!

We are on the hunt for foldable tables that can be used at the bake sale – if you have one at home that we could borrow on the day please text Chrystal on 021 140 7634 – thank you! 

Uniform sale: The winter uniform sale will be held on Saturday 26^th April, 2 – 3.30pm in the school library. There is a huge amount of good quality donations especially for Years 1 – 6 so a great opportunity to stock up on all you need for Terms 2 and 3 when winter uniform is worn.   

The winter sale is always very busy so if you have time to spare on that day and can offer an hour or so of your time then we would love to hear from you – please message Johanna on 021 228 6010 who is managing the upcoming sale (thank you Johanna!).

Thank you to the school community for donating items that continue to be a solid fundraising activity for the school.  In the past we have accepted donations that could be sold on behalf of those donating, but this has proved to be too onerous and time consuming to keep track of items and then manually process donations so we will no longer be offering this option. If you do have items that you would like to sell, please feel free to promote this via class chats. 

Mother's Day Shop: Our Mother's Day Shop will be running Monday 5 May (Term 2) during school hours. This is a FREE shop for our tamariki to find something to give their Mums/Mother figures to celebrate Mother's Day.  We need gift donations to run this shop - things like candles, books, costume jewellery, trinkets, picture frames, unopened beauty items, mugs, biscuits, seeds for the garden, ornaments, chocolates. Your donations would be really appreciated. We will have a box for donations from Monday 31 March at the school office. Thanks so much in advance!! 

      And lastly:  We have a gift of a magnet coming home in school bags for you this week with key school
      term dates  and contact information, for your quick reference at home! Enjoy! 
      Any FWFC related questions or comments please contact: sarah.garty@hotmail.com 

Entertainment Book

'Yummy Stickers'

Thank you to Declan for his collection of 'yummy stickers'.

Thank you to families who collected 'Yummy Stickers' last year.  Students are very happy to have new free sports equipment this year.  Start saving your stickers, promotion begins again in Term 2.   Sticker sheets can be found on the 'Yummy Sticker' website: www.yummyfruit.co.nz or just pick a sheet up from the office.

Drama Lessons available at school

Metlink - Child Concession

Kia Ora parents and caregivers, 

To support your child’s travel on Metlink services, please note the following important point. 

• High school students are required to present their secondary school photo ID when requested by onboard staff if not in uniform. For eligibility information please check the concessions section here.

Below is a summary of the conditions of carriage. The full version can be found here : 

• Children from age 5 and intermediate school students are entitled to the Child Concession while in or out of school uniform.  

• Secondary school students must either be wearing their school uniform, or present a valid physical or digital secondary school photo ID.   

• A Snapper enabled Student Photo ID can be used as a Snapper card to access the Child Concession. 

• Children 16 or older who have left school do not qualify for a Child Concession. 

• Tag on and off for each part of the journey. If you do not tag off, a default fare applies, see more information here. 

Contact us on info@metlink.org.nz or call us on 0800 801 700 for more information. 

Ngā mihi,

Metlink

Parent Road Patrol Roster

NICHOLSON ROAD
(Mornings and Afternoons)
Parents: Please be present from 8:25am - 9:00am and again from 2:45am - 3:15pm

Wider Community Notices

ezlunch lunch orders

• Every parent who orders an ezlunch goes into a weekly draw to win $100 Kindo Credit for themselves AND $100 for your school. Starts Monday 10 February 2025 and runs through to Friday 11 April 2025.
• Plus, all orders automatically enter the Grand Prize Draw for a $1,000 JB Hi-Fi Voucher + $500 for their school!

 Thank you to JB Hi-Fi for making our Grand Prize rewards possible!

JB Hi-Fi has partnered with Kindo in 2025 to streamline BYOD for schools, and we appreciate their generous support.