'We are well into the second week of Lent. I trust that we are all managing our Lenten promises and working on acts of service, alms giving and fasting.

With St. Joseph's day on Sunday 19 March, we invite our dads to join us for a quick breakfast from 7.30 a.m. on Friday 17th March.  St. Joseph is the patron saint of fathers and we wish to acknowledge the work our fathers do in raising their children at St. Teresa's.  Please make a note in your diaries so that you are able to pop in for somethings delicious to eat before you head to work.

Also, on Friday the 17th March we celebrate St. Patrick. who used the shamrock as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he first introduced Christianity to Ireland.  Everyone is invited to come to school wearing green in honour of St. Patrick on Friday 17th March.

The behaviour of some drivers in our carpark is causing concern to all of us within the school.  Our babies are precious to us and we would simply not cope if one of them was injured by a careless driver in the carpark.  There are some rules that we all need to abide by:

*  Enter the carpark in the entry way beside the CHURCH

*  Exit the carpark via the exit beside the PARISH HALL

*  Please do not stop your car to drop off or pick up children in the driveway - pull into a parking space to do so.

*  Stay below 10km pr hour within the boundaries of the carpark.

From this week, I will be blocking off the area of the carpark in front of Te Aroha.  Teachers will park their cars there as they generally arrive before students and do not pose a danger to them.

A reminder that the swimming lessons we prepared for in February will be taking place next week. (13 - 17 March)  We have a large group of young children walking to Wharenui Pool, changing into togs, having a lesson and then changing back into their uniforms before walking back to school.  Our teachers need help with the walk to and from the pool; as well as the changing - we all know what it is like getting a child ready for school under pressure - can you imagine what it is like doing this with 40 of them?  Please let the teachers know when you will be able to be of help to them.  Many thanks in advance.

Thank you all so much for the wonderfully generous contribution to our Easter Raffle prizes.  Thank you, especially to Sarah Shefford, who collected them and has turned them into some stunning prizes.  They look gorgeous and will certainly make the tickets easy to sell.

We have not done any fund raising at school for almost 24 months, let's make this one a bumper one.  Raffle sheets will come home with the oldest pupil in each family next Monday.  Tickets are $1 each, with each sheet having 10 tickets to sell.  There will be a prize for the family who sells the most tickets.  

We will sell tickets after the 8:00 am and 10:00 am Masses on 19th March.  This is our Parish School Mass so you will all be there anyway, if you are able to give some time to sell tickets from 8:55 am, 9:30 am or from 11:00 am please let Jess know - we will get a roster sorted.  

After Mass at 10:00 a.m. we will have shared lunch on the school field.  All families and relations are invited to join us for lunch and a few games - the adults vs students soccer match is always a favourite.  As always, please bring something to share for lunch, your own plates, glasses and cutlery.  We will have bins for left over food and recycling but we ask you to take your rubbish home with you.

Wishing you all a blessed week with your beautiful children

Suzi and the Team