Students from the Senior Brigid class are using the parachute as part of Religious Education programme.
Students from the Senior Brigid class are using the parachute as part of Religious Education programme.
Pic: BTG150221STANT2 Caption: Students from the Senior Brigid class are using the parachute as part of Religious Education programme.
By Steve Carle
St Anthony's School in Pahiatua has a positive outlook this year with an increase in its roll (now 109) and more enrolments to come this term.
The primary school's board would like to increase capacity to six fulltime teachers.
"We celebrated a lot of good things throughout last year. People are hearing that good things are happening here and they like our values and the solid teaching staff," said principal Marg Hislop.
Students are digging potatoes (donated to The Trust Tararua) in the school garden with volunteers Ann Bennett and Patsy O'Donnell.
"We've had a lovely start to the year, the weather has been kind to us, kids have been enjoying swimming every day with the whole school going to the town swimming baths.
"We've had our first Mass for this year and everyone is happy. Coming up will be a Welcome Back Picnic this week. All the families of students will come along for a picnic and games night which was lots of fun last year. Juniors are going off to a sports day this week which is hosted by our school.
"A main project of the year is a school kākahu - a woven Māori cloak. The students learned last year about the stories that are important to the school. This year they are planning what is going to go into this kākahu.
"We're really lucky to have had Ta Daymond helping us learn a lot of local stories and local weaver Traci Wheeler who is going to be developing the kākahu.
"We have learned a lot about our charism, where the school came from, the founding sisters that came here - six brave ladies over 100 years ago in 1906.
"We are developing a localised curriculum to take us into the future with our student learning programme - building on really good practices we already have in place.
"Our teachers were amazing during the time of the lockdown last year. As teachers we work collaboratively together - the student data achievement was pretty strong given the year they had. With our E-learning there are one-on-one devices for all students.
"There is a well-established vegetable garden on the school grounds. Patsy O'Donnell and Ann Bennett come in once a week, they keep that garden looking amazing. Different classes and students get the chance to work in there," she said.
