From The Principal 17 November 2022

Filming on site

What an exciting day we had yesterday with an up-close encounter of filming here at
Seatoun School! A TV series, yet to be revealed, were delighted to have been able to film
in our stunning grounds!

Parent Survey

Thank you to the large number of whānau members that have completed this survey. We have had a record number of responses and have decided to leave it open until the end of this week. If you have not yet responded, here is the link. 

Last Hui of the Year (Prizegiving)

Our final hui will be held at Seatoun School at 9.30am on Tuesday, December 13th, or the next fine morning. All parents are invited to this. Feel free to bring a deck chair as well as your sun-hat!

Successful Sausage Sizzle - ngā mihi nui FoSS

Thank you very much to the tremendous team of parents who made our Sausage Sizzle such a success. We are also very appreciative of the extremely generous support from New World Miramar for this event.

End-of-Year Reports

Staff are very busy writing these reports. In reading, writing and math we will indicate what curriculum level your child is working at. Each child is unique, learns at different speeds and is at their own level. We use the following 6 levels.

• Above
• Confidently at
• At
• Just at
• Working towards
• Well below

School is Open to Parents

I am sure some parents are unsure how ‘open’ we are now that we have no COVID restrictions. While we have retained some of the changes that have made a positive difference to our school (kiss and drop zone, 5 min difference between Year 1 and 2 and rest of school release at the end of the day and collecting your child form outside the classrooms in the Wobbly Wobbly Garden)
we are very much back open and delighted to have parents in school. This includes:

- Spending time with your child in their classroom before the beginning of the day

- Visiting the Library with your child before the beginning of the day

- Attending any Hui

Not having the corridors full of people at the end of the day is safer and more enjoyable for everyone. It has also reduced the distractions to students at this time of the day and allowed teachers to have a more focused final lesson.

Our Kids Online - Parent Information Evening - Thursday, February 9th 7.00 PM IMPORTANT - Please put this in your diary and attend

I see this meeting as absolutely essential for all of us. Please put this in your diary now.

We have been very fortunate to secure this presentation for our community. The Informed & empowered programme was created after spending two years working with schools and parent communities across New Zealand to support parents/caregivers on the reality of our children being online and strategies to support parents. For more information :

Being featured on The Breakfast Show https://www.facebook.com/Breakfaston1/videos/56731247738218

STEM Program Continues to Impress

This week I had the pleasure of being part of Mr Finnigan’s Year 3/4 class lesson on Algorithms. How amazing that our 8 and 9 year-olds can understand this!

Netball Hoops are back better than ever

Thank you to the Parkin Family and Alexo, the aluminium extrusion company, for sorting out our netball hoops. Hopefully, they are more robust now and less likely to be damaged.

Congratulations Libby Haddock

Last school holidays, Libby was part of the Hutt Repertory Theatre production of Bad Jelly the Witch. Congratulations Libby, there were a lot of lines to learn and what a great singer you are!

Some reminders from the last Steeple Rock...

Remodel Classrooms

From the end of this school year, we will have contractors on-site upgrading Rooms 14-17. This means that there will be contractor vehicles on our grounds and Rooms 14-17 will be unavailable for us to use at the beginning of the year. This will create some short-term discomfort for the school, but be worth it in the end. Our Year 7/8 classes will be based in either the Library, Orca Room or STEAM Room for the first part of 2023. The student toilets at this end of the school are also being replaced.

Fencing of our School

We can now confirm that this work will happen over the school break. Our entire school (other than areas where there is an effective fence, will have a swimming pool-style fence installed. There will be sprung gates in certain locations. We will have some gates, out the front of the school open at the beginning and end of the day. At all other times, they will be closed. This is funded directly by the Ministry of Education, not funds otherwise available to the school.

No holiday programme before the beginning of the 2023 year.

Unfortunately, we are unable to secure enough staff to run our normal 'before the school year programme'. We apologise for this inconvenience. Our end-of-this-year programme is still running and the after-school programme will be continuing as usual.

French Lessons in 2023
We are delighted to announce that in partnership with Alliance Francaise, we are offering French after-school lessons. The details are:

French class would start in term 1, 2023 on Monday’s from 3.05pm to 3.50pm, term fees will be $224 for an eight-week term ($28 per lesson). Parents can contact Alliance Française directly. To register your interest email: admin@french.co.nz

Select an Alternative Language to Read Steeple Rock

For the online version of Steeple Rock, you have the ability to select an alternative language to read this newsletter. You can not access this from the email version.  Select 'view the full publication' then look near the top right, to access this feature.  We hope the translation is accurate!

Please share with us any comments or questions you may have: Feedback Form