Kia ora Koutou Katoa, St Columba's Catholic Community

We've had a wonderful past few weeks enriched by the presence of visiting Japanese students, who brought a vibrant energy to our school.  Their time here provided a valuable opportunity for our children to demonstrate the welcoming spirit and learning culture of Kiwi kids in New Zealand. A special thank you to the families who opened their homes, offering these students a rewarding experience they won't forget.

Additionally, we celebrated a significant milestone with 42 students making their First Holy Communion and Confirmation at St. Columba’s Church. We congratulate each of them for their commitment to Christ and their journey toward a fulfilling, faith-centred life. A huge thank you to Kerry and Beth Ranapiri and the Ranapiri whānau for their dedication in preparing and guiding our students through this journey.

Our Term 4 touch and basketball programs are now in full swing, and we appreciate the families, coaches, and managers who are supporting our school sports teams this season. A special mention also goes to our Year 7 and 8 students, who are taking on refereeing, coaching, and managing roles with skill and dedication—your service to our sports community is invaluable.

In this newsletter, you’ll find our staffing plan for 2025, including Team Leaders for each team, as well as our valued relieving and itinerant teachers, many of whom are already familiar faces in our community. We’re also delighted to welcome Rachel Bradley back from maternity leave to part-time teaching here at SCCS.

Finally, thank you for your patience and flexibility around our recent Teacher Only Day. This day was invaluable, allowing our staff to deeply engage with our Structured Literacy program, and strengthening our commitment to effective teaching and learning practices for our students. 

Take care everyone and enjoy the short week.

Ngā manaakitanga,  

Gareth

Over the past eight years, St Columba’s has used a looping model for all student class placements. However, following careful consideration of various factors, we have decided that looping will not be a guaranteed model for class placements in 2025. Instead, the following principles will guide our approach.

If you have any information relevant to class placements and think it would help us make a decision for next year, please email it to us by 8 November. We cannot accommodate requests made after this date.

• there is a personal connection between your family and the teacher (e.g. this teacher is our neighbour and we socialise together)

• if you wish your child to be separated from another child for social reasons (e.g. my child is becoming overly dependent on Jimmy, please place them in separate classes).

• for your child to be placed with another child as that then dictates the other child's placement 

• based on your child's perceptions of a teacher (e.g. my child wants to be in this teacher's class because she's nice or she does lots of sport etc.). All of our teachers are professional practitioners

• for any particular class because you perceive that there will be "harder" or "easier" work on offer. None of our classes are streamed, each learner is catered to from their own skills and abilities.

• We also juggle ability levels, social groupings, gender, special needs, siblings/cousins and teacher-fit to ensure a good mix in each class.

Class placements take time and we consider many factors in the decision making. We spend hours pouring over our class lists and individually placing each child in the right place. Every class list has several pairs of eyes on it - the child's current teacher, their new teacher, Team Leaders and our Senior Leadership Team all have input.

We ask you to trust us that we do have your child's best interests at heart.

If you do still need to make a request and it meets the above requirements, please email me at gareth@sccs.school.nz by Friday 8th November.

NOTE - Team 3 will be in Whanau Whakapono for 2025. 

I extend a warm welcome to new teachers who will join us at  St Columba’s Catholic School for 2025 - Megan Robinson and Tara Blackburn, welcome to you, ladies.

- Allan Goodison

- Rachel Bradley

- Lauren Smith

- Anne Mackey - Literacy support teacher

- Anna Gerritsen, DP 
- Jolan Search, DP

We extend our heartfelt thanks to several valued members of our St. Columba's community who are moving on to new roles and opportunities:

- Lois McGregor has resigned from her full-time position but will continue to be part of our school community as a relieving teacher throughout 2025. Thank you, Lois, for your dedication over the past six years.

  

- Pauline Schmidt is moving to St. Pius X Catholic School. We congratulate Pauline on this new role and thank her for her nearly 13 years of service to SCCS.

  

- Ophelia Webster is stepping down from her full-time role after maternity leave. She will remain a part of our school as a reliever. Thank you, Ophelia.

  

- Luanne Poihipi leaves her fixed-term role and will continue to support SCCS and other schools as a part-time reliever.

- Anna Drumm completes her fixed-term role at the end of this year and will return to SCCS as a relief teacher in 2025.

  

- Catherine Barnett is taking maternity leave from her part-time role. We look forward to welcoming her back to SCCS in the near future.

  

- Loren Lindsay resigns from her role as a Learning Assistant, and we thank her for her caring and dedicated work this year.   We wish her the very best in her future endeavours.

 

- Maryann Stowers also resigns as a Learning Assistant, returning to her home in Rarotonga. We are grateful for her hard work and care for the children of SCCS.

We thank each of you for your commitment, service, and the unique contributions you’ve brought to St. Columba’s Catholic School.

We are now planning for 2025 and we need your help.  Aside from our Year 8 leavers, if your circumstances have changed and your child will NOT be returning to St Columba's School next year please advise the office as soon as possible so we are aware. 
Please email admin@sccs.school.nz or you can call us on 07 847 9322.

Thank you for your support.

School starts each day at 8:45am and ends at 2:45pm.

Teachers are in meetings, marking and preparing work and attending professional development after school and cannot supervise children after hours.  We request that appropriate arrangements be made for the care of your children after school so that we can be sure that every child is safe. If your child is still on site at 3.15pm, they will be directed to our after-school care facility in the hall and you will be charged the casual rate for their attendance.

If you have a sibling starting school soon and want to book them into Kids Club, please contact us before they start so we are aware and can confirm if we have a space for them on the days you require.  Some of our afternoons get filled up fast.  We will need an enrolment form completed for any new enrolments and a short visit.

Contact Deb to book a time to meet  021 586633. 

Not every child gets a toy on Christmas Day but thanks to the efforts of Vinnies Hamilton and The Hits, the amazing sponsors, hundreds of Waikato children will receive toys this Christmas.

The bus will call past and do a pickup here at school so please bring in any previously loved or unwanted toys to donate and enrich the lives of other less fortunate children!