Nau mai haere mai

A big welcome from the School Board to all whānau returning and new to St Anthony’s. It’s wonderful to see our tamariki enjoying the start to the school year and making the most of this beautiful weather. We especially welcome our new tamariki, Sophie, Cindy, Amy, Fedor, Nirvana, and their whānau. We pray that your years at St Anthony’s are blessed and that your learning is combined with friendship, faith and fun.

 Bazaar 2025 

We were blessed with beautiful weather and would like to extend our thanks to the excellent team who led this day and to those who contributed either big and small to its success. A special thanks to Silke Koepl (Rebecca, Benedict and Jason) who was our wonderful organiser and did an amazing job of leading the planning committee for this community activity.  Thank you, danke schön Silke.

Our School Board 

The Board is a group of parent and proprietor representatives, the Principal, and a staff representative who collectively represent the St Anthony’s School community. The Board oversees the governance of the school and is the employer of all staff in the school. We are responsible for setting the school's strategic direction in consultation with parents, staff, and students, and for ensuring that our school provides a safe environment and quality education for all our students.

The first meeting of the year was held last Tuesday and we elected the Chair and Deputy-Chair of the Board for 2025. Congratulations to our returning Chair, Oliver Meech, and to our returning Deputy-Chair, Mark Mulhern. We are grateful for your commitment, energy, and enthusiasm to ensuring St Anthony’s is a great experience for all our tamariki, their whanau, and our staff.

To learn more about the Board’s role and membership, please see our website page: https://www.stants.school.nz/bot

Board membership update

We would like to say ngā mihi nui to David Crosbie for his time and contributions as a valued member of our school board. His dedication and commitment have made a meaningful impact on St Anthony’s, and we are grateful for his service. We send our best wishes to David, Dee, Glen, Gila, Leanne, and Glenys for this new chapter in their lives in Washington. Though they may be far away, they will always be part of our St Anthony’s community.  Go well and stay in touch (we’d love to see some photos)!

With David’s resignation from the Board, we co-opted Silke Koepl onto the Board for the remaining term before the school board election.  Thank you Silke for agreeing to take on this position.

School Board Elections 2025 – Get Involved!

Every three years, school board elections give parents and whānau the opportunity to help shape the direction of our school and make good governance decisions. The next election is in September 2025, and we’d love to see more of our community step forward. We need a diverse range of experiences and representation of our school community.  Board members work together, share ideas, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to develop new skills.  Free training and education are offered to every school board member through NZSTA’s range of learning and development opportunities, the Advisory and Support Centre, and their regionally based team of advisors.

This is a great opportunity to contribute to our school and share your knowledge and skills.  The time commitment is 2 meetings per term with some time for analysis and policy reviews (a couple of hours per term).  

If you’re curious about what’s involved, this link is to a helpful guide from the NZ School Trustees Association: https://www.schoolboardelections.org.nz/becoming-a-board-member/ 

If you're keen but have any concerns—like evening childcare or other barriers—please reach out for a chat. We’d love to make it work for you!  

For further information or if you have any questions, our email is bot@stants.school.nz 

You are invited to our Board meetings

Everyone is welcome to attend our school board hui which are held twice a term at school.  The next board hui starts at 6 pm on Tuesday 18 March.

Speakers’ programme 2025 – your ideas, please!

Our popular parent and community education speaker series has covered issues that face us all such as building resilience in our tamariki, healthy eating and movement for tamariki, and cyber-safety awareness and keeping our tamariki safe online. 

We are planning events in term 2 and term 3 and would like to hear from you about potential topics and/or recommendations for particular speakers.

Please email your ideas to office@stants.school.nz

Little Angels Mainly Play 

Little Angels Mainly Play, our playgroup for children under 5s at St Anthony’s, has started back this term.  This playgroup is a fun time of play and learning for 0- to 5-year-olds with their whānau members (Mums, Dads, Grandparents, and Caregivers). 

Each play session will be held every Friday during school term time starting at 10 am in the school library.

Love to see you there, all craft materials and morning tea provided. 

Ko ngā pae tawhiti whāia kia tata, ko ngā pae tata, whakamaua kia tina.

The potential for tomorrow depends on what we do today.