Parents & Friends of Dio

Supporting the DIO COMMUNITY

What a whirlwind we have started with in 2021! Rolling off the quieter year of 2020, Parents & Friends jumped wholeheartedly into this year with a flurry of events, a busier than ever café, and even a surprise donation to the School.

We were back in action late January, opening the café with our strong team of dedicated staff lead by café manager Felicity Cains. Our crew came in with a ‘can do’ attitude, excited to get creative with the menu and tackle the ever-growing demand on our tuck shop.

The Committee also jumped in early, as on 29 January we were hosting the Year 7 Welcome Picnic and the new to Years 9 – 13 Morning Tea. For both events, we had record numbers in attendance, and we were pleased to meet so many parents keen to learn more about P&F and sign up to volunteer on our café roster.

Straight out of the gates we also began early marketing of our new Mary Pulling Rose necklace, a special treat that arrived just in time for Mother’s Day and has beautifully captured the historic rose in silver, gold and rose gold.

Rolling into February, we put a twist on the New Parents’ Cocktails of years gone by, as we combined this event

Welcome picnic

FATHER-DAUGHTER BREAKFAST

Our guest speaker Kevin Biggar wowed the crowd with tales of his trans-Atlantic rowing race adventure

with the School’s Meet the Teacher evening. In February we held our first Meet the Teacher Cocktails in the foyer of the Performing Arts Centre for all Year 9 parents. This was followed by another event for all Year 7 parents. P&F worked alongside Let’s Eat for these events, facilitating parents meeting tutor teachers and providing a wonderful opportunity for parents to also get to know those within their year group.

Wrapping up Term 1, our treasurer was thrilled to report a profitable first term for the café, such that the committee decided to make an impromptu donation. Though we are currently fundraising towards redesign and development of the cafeteria dining space, knowing this is a longer-term project, we decided it would be great to make an immediate donation. The Junior School had put on hold two components of the new playground, a water play area and an ‘onion’ hut. Parents & Friends decided to donate $70,000 to the School to cover the cost of completing these areas of the playground in 2021, funding this donation from the profits of the café in 2021 and 2020.

Term 2 came around all too quickly with the overnight sensational sell-out of our Father-Daughter Breakfast. Certainly, this event has been known to be a sell-out, but never overnight! Our tireless committee member Megan Urwin worked furiously behind the scenes to put together our best ever breakfast. Focusing on a waste-free approach, Megan ensured almost everything used was compostable and indeed composted after the event. We paired with Eat My Lunch, allowing us to in turn to donate 500 lunches through this incredible give-back programme. Also, much to the dads’ delight, we worked with Nespresso for the first time ever, delivering superb coffees to many a dad, and even some daughters. Finally, our guest speaker Kevin Biggar wowed our crowd with tales of his trans-Atlantic rowing race adventure and his inspiring message of self-belief, determination and perseverance. A thank you to our key sponsor Sotheby’s for their continued support of our fundraising events.

Our final event in Term 2 was the Queen Concert - another first! It was the first rock concert to be held in the Arts Centre. Working with Showtime Productions from Australia, we brought to the stage the epic songs of Queen and Freddie Mercury. Dominic Warren in the lead had been selling out all over New Zealand, and so we were thrilled to have an act of this level performing for Dio parents on our own special stage. Parents were dressed to the nines and rocked alongside this top-quality Queen tribute band, giving us a great night to celebrate the closure of the first two terms of 2021!

As always, we welcome any feedback or interest in volunteering. Please email us at PFA@diocesan.school.nz

Robin Bell

Davis Funerals

Serving Auckland Families for Generations

Davis Funerals Services Mt Eden, Henderson, Pakuranga, Kohimarama & Papatoetoe office@davisfunerals.co.nz Phone: 09 638 9026