As ever we start back to school at full speed. We started Tuesday morning with an action packed Swimming Sports which had a great attendance by parents to cheer on the girls involved. It was great to see so much house support - it was such a colourful and joyful event. The same evening we had our first PFA meeting of the year and I was thrilled to welcome new parents at our meeting.

As a PFA group we have a packed calendar of events and we are looking forward to our first event of the year which is the Year 13 Father Daughter Breakfast on 22 February. We have secured an excellent guest speaker, James McKenzie who is Ski Area Manager for Mt Hutt. You can read more about the event and book tickets your tickets here. May I say when talking with fathers, the feedback we get is that these Breakfasts provide a great opportunity to share a special time with your daughter so I do recommend you give it a go. Year 13 girls slated for February, please keep an eye on the newsletter for an upcoming breakfast for your daughter’s year group.

We also had our first Parent Friends Meeting of 2019. Parents were joined by Diana and Mike Patchett as well as members of the Board. Diana gave a quick introduction to what the teaching staff are focusing on at the start of the year. Fiona Bush gave her regular Trust Board report giving parents and insight into the strategic goals for the school over the next three years. We were also given an overview of the numerous improvement projects that were done around the school. So much work had been completed over the holidays - a real credit to everyone involved.

At the meeting we discussed a number of projects we are looking to support across the year. We will be building out small working groups to help the school achieve some projects for which they require practical building, landscaping help. More updates to come in our next newsletter.

Finally it has come time for our PFA Secretary to step down from her role. Jean has done an incredible job and has supported the PFA for the past four years. So now we have an opening and we are looking for a volunteer who would be available to take and circulate the minutes of our monthly meetings. We need 3-4 hours per month of time to attend meeting and take minutes. If you are interested please get in touch with Flavia Timiani-Dean email: pfa@stmargarets.school.nz

Wrapping up, our mission in 2019 is to widen our parent network so we are available to support the school in its multiple initiatives. If you would like to be involved with the PFA please come to our meetings dates listed here and/or volunteer for school events. All volunteering opportunities for school events will feature in the regular newsletter. 

Flavia Timiani-Dean
PFA President