🌿 Welcome to Term 2

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome back to Term 2! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable Easter break and that the holidays provided time to recharge and connect with whānau.

We look forward to another busy and rewarding term ahead, filled with learning, growth and opportunities for our tamariki to shine. As always, we thank you for your continued support of our school and the strong sense of community that makes our kura such a special place. Please Note: Monday 4th May is a Teacher Only Day. The school is CLOSED.

🎶 A Special Visit – Andrew Chinn

On Friday 24th April, we had the privilege of hosting Andrew Chinn, a gifted musician who has created many wonderful songs that support faith and learning in schools.

We began the day with our Opening Mass, setting a meaningful tone for the day. Following this, our students had the opportunity to work alongside Andrew, learning songs and preparing for a special concert experience.

It was a joyful occasion for our school community, with students fully engaged and sharing their talents. We are grateful for the energy, creativity, and inspiration Andrew brought to our kura.

🚶‍♀️ Moving March – Thank You

As Moving March wrapped up at the end of last term, we would like to thank all our whānau for supporting students to travel to school in different ways.

It has been fantastic to see so many children walking, biking, scootering and finding new ways to get to school. As we continue to navigate the challenges of rising fuel costs, we encourage families to keep exploring options such as park and stride and carpooling to help make journeys more manageable.

We are also excited to share that Hamilton City Council will be visiting our school on Friday 1st May to celebrate and present prizes to our Moving March winners. We look forward to celebrating this achievement together!

✝️ Holy Week Reflection

At the end of last term, we gathered as a school community to journey through Holy Week, taking time each day to reflect on the events leading to Easter.

Thank you to all who joined us in the Church for these liturgies. It was a special time of prayer and reflection, allowing us to walk alongside Jesus and deepen our understanding of our faith. These shared moments continue to strengthen the spiritual life of our school.

We would also like to extend a special thank you to the classes who led us in the Resurrection Liturgy at the beginning of this term. It was a beautiful way to come together in the Church to celebrate the joy and hope of the Easter season.

📞 Keeping Your Details Up to Date

We kindly ask all whānau to take a moment to check that your contact details held at the school office are current and accurate.

Recently, we have come across a number of phone numbers that are no longer working and some outdated home addresses. We completely understand that life can be busy—especially around times of moving or change—but having up-to-date information is essential.

Accurate contact details ensure that we can reach you quickly in the case of an emergency, or if we need to contact you about your child during the school day.

If you are unsure or need to make any updates, please get in touch with the school office at your convenience.

Thank you for your support with this important matter.

🏆 Wednesday Challenge continues this term!

For all of Term 1, we will compete against other Hamilton schools every Wednesday to see how many students can:

🚶 Walk

🚲 Bike

🛴 Scooter

🚗 Carpool

Each Wednesday, we will also run this as an internal school challenge, with classes competing against one another. We look forward to seeing which class shows the most participation and school spirit!
Let’s work together to make Wednesdays count!

🤝 Diocesan Fees Support

We understand that at times, meeting Diocesan fees can be challenging for some families.

If you are needing any support or would like to talk through your situation, please feel very welcome to come and see me. We are more than happy to work with you to find a way forward that is manageable.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out—these conversations are always handled with care and confidentiality.

📘 SchoolDocs – Access to Our School Policies

We are pleased to let our community know that our school policies are available online through SchoolDocs.

SchoolDocs provides access to our school’s policies and procedures, ensuring they are up to date and aligned with current legislation and best practice. We encourage families to review our publicly available policies at any time.

Each term, selected policies will be placed under review. We value community voice and welcome your feedback. If you would like to comment on a policy under review, please follow the prompts on the SchoolDocs website to submit your feedback.

To access SchoolDocs, please visit:

🌐 https://stpius.schooldocs.co.nz
Username: stpius
Password: pineave

If you have any questions about our policies, please feel free to contact the school office.

📈 Attendance Matters – Celebrating Success

We are really pleased to share that our continued focus on attendance is making a real difference. We have seen an 11% increase in regular attendance between Term 1 2025 and Term 1 2026, which is a fantastic achievement for our school community.

Thank you to our whānau for supporting your children to be at school every day—it truly does make a difference to their learning, wellbeing, and sense of belonging.

As part of this focus, the school partnered with Ninja Valley, with an exciting incentive for our students. The class with the best attendance earned a special experience—and we are thrilled to announce that Kiwi (now known as Pīwakawaka B) are our winners!

They will be heading to Ninja Valley on Monday 11th May to celebrate their success.

Well done to Pīwakawaka B—keep up the great work!

Attendance Focus

With the beginning of 2026 all schools in New Zealand have been asked to have an attendance response plan based on the government STAR attendance structure. This plan is found on our Website in the Board document area. It outlines the steps of intervention and response. Please be aware that across the term students may have up to 5 days of absence without activating intervention. However even when an absence is explained, communication and action will still be triggered at 5, 10 and 15 days away from school.

Being at school every day and on time helps your child learn and do well.
Why this matters
• Away 1 day each week = 10 days missed in one term
• Late 15 minutes every day = almost 2 days of learning missed
School times
🕣 Start: 8.45am
🕝 Finish: 2.45pm

Please make sure your child arrives on time and stays for the full school day.
You are welcome to wait at school for the 2.45pm bell. This is a nice time to talk with other parents.
⚠️ Please do not pick up children before 2.45pm unless there is a special reason (for example, a doctor’s appointment).
If your child leaves early, please sign them out at the office.

✈️ Holidays
Please plan overseas travel in school holidays.
Taking one week before or after the holidays, with no other absences in the term, means your child does not need attendance support, although any holiday during term time is highly discouraged.
Thank you for helping your child be at school every day.
Every day counts.

ESOL Support at St Pius X

At St Pius X, we value and celebrate the many languages and cultures within our school community. We recognise that some of our students and their families, are learning English as an additional language, and we are here to support this journey.

The ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programme provides extra support for students who are developing their English. This can include help with speaking and listening, understanding new vocabulary, reading and writing, so that students can feel confident and successful in their learning.

This support is funded for a limited time and is based on Ministry of Education guidelines, so it is not available to all students who speak another language at home. Because of this, the group of students receiving ESOL support at our school changes over time as children gain confidence and new learners arrive.

We are always happy to talk with you. If you have any questions, or would like to better understand how ESOL support works, please feel very welcome to come and see me.

Ngā mihi nui,
Erin Clayton