First Quarterly Report 2026

For Programmes and Services Delivered Jan – March 2026

We have super big plans for the year, in support of our vision for growing literacy, stopping truancy, and providing the kids with the resources they need to succeed.

The work is not easy, but we’re incredibly thankful to have fantastic funding behind us to be able to deliver our programmes. We continue to be challenged to do better for these kids. If not us, then who?

Our Key Wins:

The amazing Jo Caughey is an absolute superstar in working within the school to deliver our programmes, and keeping an eye out for what we can focus on next. Note that everywhere where we say “we” have done something below – it’s the ‘royal we’ – aka it’s all Jo ! Thank you Jo from the bottom of our hearts.

Our dedicated ECE teacher is working hard on bringing kids up to their required year level, plus we’ve continued to support literacy by sourcing resources and programmes which enrich opportunities for learning.

We’ve had to help some kids with basic hygiene in term 1, teaching them how to clean and look after their bodies. We’ve sourced some products for them like wash cloths, soap and deodorant. That might sound outside our remit but this issue ostracises these kids from their classmates, and you can only learn if you are happy and engaged – so it’s absolutely worth it.

‘Postie Pat’ (so named by Steve – think Thomas the Tank Engine) aka Pat Daniels, worked at GI School for 30 years and has just retired. Postie was a key link with the community and ran the food support programme. Going forward the foundation has taken over leadership and delivery of this programme and we have a fantastic local Mum who has kids at the school – Penny Pekepo – who will run the programme for us going forward. So all the food donations from Kiwi Harvest, St Kentigern, our New World partners, Neat Meat, Gattings, etc will continue to be sorted into food parcels every week which are then distributed through Police and Social Workers in Schools to reach the families that really need them. We warmly welcome Penny to the Steve Farrelly Foundation team !

We continue a close collab with St Kentigern schools which we highly value and appreciate. Prior to Easter this saw hot cross buns donated for all our families. We also continue to receive food parcels from St Kentigern every week, meals from their Care Pack Programme, and we are part of their Stationery for Equity programme where stationery is gifted for families who cant afford it. Thank you to our great friends and allies in the St Kentigern community !

We’ve been working hard on engaging parents in their kid’s learning. We’re offering food, music, and giveaways at school events to get the parents to participate. Slowly we are making progress, and this is important because parents need to support the kid’s learning at home to get the most from education…. watch this space as we keep innovating how to do this better.

 We sourced new polo shirts for the seniors (years 7 and 8). These are the intermediate age kids and we want to make them feel special so they get a different uniform. This initiative was introduced by Steve and it’s still working well.

We’ve sourced art supplies for each classroom to encourage learning through art creativity. It can be a more suitable learning opportunity for some of this kids versus more traditional learning styles and boy are they being creative 

We purchased a gazebo and teardrop flags for our school to use for events. We’re keen to generate some real pride in the school, and also give the kids some practical protection from the weather. The gazebo’s first outing will be at our Fun Run in early May – watch this space.

Neat Meat have given us so much free meat in recent months! Much of it goes straight out to families but we also keep some aside to feed families at school events as it brings the parents in to get more engaged with the kids’ learning. Enormous thanks to Simon and the team at Neat Meat !

To reward attendance in the junior school, Jo cooks once a week with the kids who have had good attendance. It’s a simple concept but the kids love this special time with Jo, and they get to eat what’s cooked and take some home.

So What?

Our focus is on growing literacy and stopping truancy within our school and we have delivered some great programmes that will help with this. However we are aware that significant problems exist in this community which are working against us – things like disengaged parents, high truancy at college level which will be witnessed by our younger kids, family violence which means the kids are in survival rather than learning mode, and the day to day challenges of poverty. Where we come across issues we do our very best to provide solutions.

A recent example was a 10 year old girl whose family recently moved into transitional housing in the area. This little girl smelt very bad which was disengaging her from the other kids, and when hygiene was discussed with her she had no knowledge of how to keep herself clean. We provided her and her brother some basic wash cloths, soap and deodorant and gave her instructions on how they should be used. This may make the difference that means she will keep attending school – we cant be sure but we sure hope so. Steve didn’t want any of the ‘little darlings’ to slip through the cracks.

Now What?

• We’re planning a number of events to enrich the kid’s school year including a beach walk and zoo visit. These trips are designed to engage the kids with literacy through new experiences and they lead to a structured programme of reading and writing about their trips.
• A Book Day is being planned to engage kids with reading for fun, and library visits to the Glen Innes Library. This local library is a hive of community events and programmes as well as a continual supply of books for our kids so we want to make kids and parents aware of what’s available to them free locally.
• We’re planning a session for the parents of junior school kids to update them on the reading/literacy programmes that are delivered to their kids. We will teach them how to read with their kids, explain how literacy works in the school, and sell them on supporting their kids’ learning.
• We’re organizing police station visits with Blocker and Mike from Glen Innes Police. This is something special for the older kids and is a feel-good community initiative which endorses positive relationships with Police. The Police will also show them the cells and explain why school is important…. 
• We’re planning our Matariki celebration and St Kentigern are supporting with gifted food. We’re also expecting a gifted pig from trustees Judy and Brian.
• We’re also fighting a constant battle with nits due to lack of understanding that families need to wash all bedding, clothes etc in addition to getting them out of the hair. We’ll look into handing out vinegar, spray bottle, and notes of how to look after hair and the home to prevent nits, as the medical treatments that are given out haven’t fixed the issue, and we believe good simple information on how to handle the problem will be key.
• Our bra programme will continue next term. We received some feedback from one girl that “I didn’t know how to talk to my Nan or my Dad about bra’s” because Mum was out of the picture, so taking action on this to help these girls is important.
• We’re sourcing hats for our kids for sun protection as none of them have hats and the school hasn’t previously enforced a policy on this despite the health benefits. In other schools this is mandatory and we’d like to meet this health standard for our kids.

So that’s what we’ve been up to. Whew, its been quite a lot. We couldn’t have done any of it without the support of our donors and volunteers. Thank you from the bottom of our heats.

We will issue receipts at the end of our financial year (30 June) or if you need a receipt earlier please let us know and we’ll pop one out to you.

All our daily updates are on Facebook so follow us on Facebook and you’ll see all the cool pictures. Also our website has all the info you might need about the foundation www.stevefarrellyfoundation.org.nz including a portal for donations which is super quick and easy . Our financials are also available on our website as part of our quarterly report to funders so check that out.

Please get in touch at any time on email or the mobile numbers below. We’d love to hear from you and we’re always keen to chat about what more we can do for the kids.

• Jo Caughey – Operations Coordinator, jo@stevefarrellyfoundation.org.nz or 022 190 9656
• Kate Donley – Chair, chair@stevefarrellyfoundation.org.nz or 0272 646 800
• Rob Donley – Trustee, at rob@donley.co.nz or 0275 431 166
• Trina Lincoln – Trustee, at trina.lincoln@outlook.com
• Judy Carter – Trustee, at bhandjacarter@gmail.com or 027 307 0509
• Brian Carter – Trustee, at bhandjacarter@gmail.com

Generous offerings from the community is what keeps us going. Along with the massive support from our major sponsors, it is the reason we can do what we do. For that we thank you.