The Paiaka whānau have already received an email from Helen letting them know she has resigned to take up a position in a completely different field of work.

We are extremely sad to announce this news to the rest of our school whānau. Helen is moving to a position working with Breast Screen NZ.

Helen is a founding member of the St Francis of Assisi Catholic School staff. Some of you will have a much longer association with her as she  came to St Francis along with the students from St Paul's when it was closed at the end of 2015.

Helen has been the Team Leader of the Year 3/4 Hub since she started at St Francis. We want to thank her for all her efforts - the time she has put into making learning fun and engaging for the students in the Hub and the way she has built relationships with all students, parents and teachers in our whānau.

She leads with humour, love and grace - and we know her team are going to miss her as well as our whole staff.

This isn't the perfect way to farewell someone for sure - we are all in lockdown. We can't stand Helen up at assembly and sing to her and farewell her in person but we can keep her in our thoughts and prayers as she transitions to her new position.

On a positive note Helen will be around for our first week of Distance Learning working alongside Olivia Gill who is replacing Helen's teaching role in the team. 

We welcome Olivia to our team - some of you will have already met Olivia as she has been doing a bit of relieving at St Francis recently. 

Maire Bowler (Deputy Principal) will take over as team Leader of the Paiaka team until the end of the year.

So Helen, we farewell you with a lot of sadness but also with very grateful hearts. ♥ We have really enjoyed working with you and wish you well in this new endeavour.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace." Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV