No 14 14 September 2018

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Families

It was great to see so many Fathers and Grandfathers present for our Fathers’ Day liturgy recently.

We ask God to bless and guide all the Fathers in our school community

After the liturgy we all headed up to the field to open our new cricket pitch. This initiative was led by Oscar Stewart as part of his class genius hour in 2017.

Father Terry blessed our cricket pitch and the children sang beautifully ‘Ka Waiata.’ Mr Barry Vernon, our cricket coach, spoke to us all with the school cricket team standing proudly beside him. It was special to have Mrs Shelley Main, Oscar’s teacher last year, cut the ribbon to signal the cricket pitch was opened. Mr Vernon bowled the first ball to Oscar, which he hit far!!

“For genius hour last year in Mrs Main’s class, I decided to research the cost of a cricket pitch for our school because we didn’t have one and I love cricket.

With lots of help from Mrs Main, Mr Vernon and Mr Orpen I sent emails, talked with people from Tiger Turf and got some help with funding from Auckland Cricket.

The PTA had a mathathon to help with the costs too.

We finally had the pitch installed last Summer.

The pitch will be there for all kids to use and have fun in the future.

We have done really well in recent years with our school teams so this pitch will help us carry on our proud record.”           

Oscar Stewart Year 6 student 2018

Our South-East Christian Kāhui Ako (Community of Schools) learning framework was recently endorsed by the Secretary of Education and four Across School Lead Teachers have been appointed. This was a very rigorous process and the selection panel were impressed with the high standard of applicants. These appointed teachers will work with other teachers across our Kāhui Ako.

We congratulate Miss Andrea Begunk on her appointment, as one of the Across School Lead Teachers. Andrea will work closely with the other Lead Teachers from other schools and the Kāhui Ako Lead Principal Mrs Gina Benade (Principal of Sancta Maria Catholic Primary School)

Our Kāhui Ako is hosting the Kāhui Ako Leadership Forum for a couple of days next week down at Sancta Maria College. Lead teachers from other Kāhui Ako groups, Principals and Leadership Teams from other schools around New Zealand will be attending.

Preparation for our annual gala on Saturday 3 November is well underway. Our gala is a major fundraising event for our school. Thank you to the dedicated group of parents working behind the scenes to make sure this day runs smoothly.

Thank you to everyone for selling the cowpat lottery tickets and sending along weekly contributions. Room 13 was the winning class last week.

I wonder what class will win the ice blocks this week!!

We look forward to the last two weeks of Term 3.

 Ngā mihi nui

Sue Kubala
Acting Principal

DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES (DRS) REPORT

This week is Social Justice week, focusing on Enabling Communities – Everyone has a Part to Play. We know that we are all created by God and God calls us to love and respect his creation – including all those around us. Caritas’ focus for Social Justice week puts the spotlight on disability and pose the challenge for us all to promote communities that enable everyone to be included, and to have the chance to play their part. This link will take you to the Caritas website with ideas of how we can make a difference both here and afar. https://caritas.org.nz/get-involved   Monies raised on Mufti Day, Friday 21 September, will support the work of Caritas.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini;

My achievements and strengths are not those of the individual, but those of the many

Mercy Day celebrations this year will take place Wednesday September 26. It is the day we remember Catherine McAuley opening the House of Mercy in Ireland and dedicated it to Our Lady of Mercy. Buddy Classes will be involved in community outreach activities.  This is another way we can respond as Jesus would. You might like to do something as a family.

Is your child in Year 3 or above? Has your child received 1st Holy Communion? The Sacraments are fundamental parts of our faith. Information around enrolling your child in the parish Sacramental Programme is on the school website.

Prayer Intention:     We pray that you will help us to be more thoughtful especially towards those who are less able than others.

Detta Fairweather
DRS

NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Proclaiming the Word Competition
During Term 2 all of the Year 5 and 6 classes took turns to proclaim the Word of God as part of their daily prayer sessions. At the beginning of this Term each class selected their two best readers to represent their class at the Team final which was held on the 5th of September.

Every reader needed to practise five different gospel readings and be prepared to choose a selected one to the team.

We had eleven students participate on the day as the twelfth was absent. Congratulations to Jason Cooper, Elise Wall, Mia Makoare, Andres Olan, Lucy Street, Catherine Anquandah, Ryder Brownrigg, Brooke McKenzie, Jessica Kendrick-Jones, Sienna Bella Gribble and Aaron Santoso for performing so well and giving their absolute best to the competition.

Our judges for the day were Mrs Linda Lerkhe, Cuan Pillay and Mrs Detta Fairweather. They were very impressed in the way that each student proclaimed rather than just read the Word of God.

Our winners on the day were Mia Makoare and Elise Wall who represented our school at the interschool event in Point Chevalier on the 11th of September. Congratulations girls!

Mandarin Speech Competition
Last Tuesday Mrs McKay and Mrs Botherway hosted our school Mandarin Speech competition. Students from Year 5 and 6 that can speak Mandarin took part. There were a variety of topics and every student presented their speech with pride and confidence.

We congratulate all our speakers and celebrate especially with Wesley Lau who was the winner on the day along with Emily Ong and Joy Gao who came second and third. Wesley will now go on to represent our school in the Auckland regional mandarin competition.

Special thanks goes out to our judges, Mrs Dreaver and Mrs Lin for supporting Mrs McKay and Mrs Botherway in this challenging task.

The students who took part were Bryan Shi, Joseph Chen, Emily Ong, Lucius Pang, Geoffrey Cai, Lucas Lin, Wesley Lau, Joy Gao, Ryan Seo, Alicia Gao Lexie Wu, Audrey Shi, Elsa Cai. 

Congratulations Wesley, we are very proud of you!

Interschool APPA Mandarin Competition

Wesley Lau went on to represent our school in the Interschool APPA Mandarin Competition held at Meadowbank School on Thursday 13 September.  10 schools took place in the competition.

Congratulations to Wesley who took 3rd place.  Wesley we are very proud of your achievement.

Interschool Speech Competition

On Tuesday the 11th of September Maia Tay-Morrison of Room 23 represented our school in the Howick Pakuranga Principals Association Interschool Speeches with her topic of “Why vegetables are bad for you”. Maia did extremely well; presenting with confidence and eloquence. It was a hard fought competition with all the speeches being of high quality and presented with accuracy. The winner of the evening was a student from Botany Downs Primary with his topic of “Extroverts and Introverts are both equal?”.

While Maia was not successful on the night she is a winner in our eyes for the way she represented our school with pride and did her absolute best. Congratulations Maia! You are a star!

Colgate Community Garden Challenge

Our school is competing in the Colgate Community Garden Challenge!   (1 August 2018 to 16 November 2018)

The schools that collect the most oral care waste and have the most online voters can win a recycled community garden set!

You can support us by  …..

1. Dropping off your oral care waste to Room 3.

Best Practices for Recycling

In order to recycle this waste stream properly, please make sure all excess product has been removed (i.e. leftover toothpaste or floss).

If you choose to rinse your product, please note that it must be completely dry as we cannot ship products dripping with water.

2. Vote for our school online at www.terracycle.co.nz/colgategardenvoting

For any queries, please see Mrs Lim in Room 3.

Thank you.

NEWS FROM OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

After a recent selection tournament, Alexandra White (Year 6) has been selected to represent Auckland in the upcoming Weir Rose Bowl Football competition in Cambridge during the school holidays. The prestigious Weir Rose Bowl is an annual football competition for 12yr girls and boys that has been running for over 60 years, where teams from Northern Football, Auckland Football and Waikato Bay of Plenty Football play against each other over a 3-day period.

 

 

–   G  A  L  A      N E W S   – 

GALA    Saturday 3 November 10 a.m. – 2p.m. 

 

WEEK   DONATION REQUEST  …..

Our school Gala will be on Saturday 3 November 10 a.m. – 2p.m.     Watch out for school links notices for updates.

The container will be open from 2:15-3:15pm on Fridays during Term 3 and also specific weekend dates in October and November. 

Please DO NOT take items to the school office or leave outside the container as they may get damaged by the weather.  Please watch for further information to be announced on school links and Facebook.

If you have larger items, the container will be open on weekends later in the term. Please contact Carmen Hui 021-032-2590 or Jo Smal 021-212-7979 for more information.

WEEKLY DONATIONS REQUEST TIMETABLE  

17-21 September Lucky Dip and Lollies

14-28 September Non Perishable Grocery and Bottles

Term Break

15-19 September Jolly Jars

29 Oct – 2 Nov Baking and Fudge

YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF OUR PTA GALA FUNDRAISING EFFORTS IS GREATLY APPRECIATED

PTA COMMITTEE

LATE FOR SCHOOL

If you are held up and late for school please bring your child to the office first to sign in and then go to the classroom. After signing in, a slip is printed and the slip is required to be taken to the class teacher.

A reminder that children who catch the bus down to Sancta Maria College Campus in the afternoon need to be collected as soon as possible.  Some of our children are being left unsupervised for a length of time.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS

Drop off and pick up

Please be courteous to all when you are dropping your child off or picking them up after school.  We have been disappointed to hear that not everyone is showing respect to other parents. We all need to be good role models and at our school we do this through our shared values of Service, Respect, Courage, Resilience and Justice

If your child is absent from school for any reason you must either complete an online report an absence form or phone the office and leave a message or use the school website ‘Absence’ line. Please leave a specific reason for the absence i.e. if the child is sick please specify the sickness e.g. cold, vomiting etc. If the child is absent from school due to sickness for more than three days, a medical certificate is required. For any holiday or overseas travel please email our Acting Principal Mrs Sue Kubala at [email protected]

Car parking
Please be considerate when street parking near the school. We have received complaints from neighbours regarding parking across driveways.

Lunches
When ordering online please make sure your child’s order has the correct room number as  a few lunches have gone to incorrect rooms.

Lost Property
The lost property cupboard is by Room 1 entrance. You are welcome to check this at any time as it is open all day.

Uniform shop
Open every Thursday 8.30 – 9.00 a.m. and 2.30-3 p.m. (during school term)

Bizzybodz
Before and Afterschool care – 021837977 for bookings

Lunch Menu Update – Tuckshop
For our Lunch Menu for the tuck shop. Please see ‘LUNCHES’ under the Parent Information tab on website.

HELPING HANDS

Helping Hands has been part of Our Lady Star of the Sea’s culture for quite some time.  It is where our school community comes together to help those in stressful situations i.e. a parent or grand parent being very ill, a family bereavement or a new born baby to the family.

We would like those in need to know we care!  If you would like to be a part of this wonderful group of caring people who are called upon once or twice a year to either make a meal, bake a cake, transport children to/from school or utilise your gardening skills please fill out the form (click the word ‘form’) and return to the office.   Please add your contact number.

As we all know – “we are in this together”.

If we can assist your family or if you hear of any family in our school community please let the office know.

Thank you

Helping Hands Team

ENTERTAINMENT BOOK

Support Our Lady Star of the Sea School and you’ll be rewarded!

We are raising funds for our School and you can help. Order the NEW 2018 | 2019 Entertainment Book or Entertainment Digital Membership and you will receive hundreds of valuable offers for everything you love to do, and you will also be supporting our School.

SUPPORT US NOW BY CLICKING HERE

COMMUNITY NOTICES 

St Mark’s Life Teen Youth Group Fundraiser Movie Night

Date of movie: Sunday, 30 September

Time: 7.00pm

Place: Monterey Cinema, Howick

Cost: $20 (includes ticket + choice of soft drink, ice cream or pop corn)

I would be really grateful if you could support our youth group in this fundraiser. If you would like some tickets, please email me to reserve your tickets. [email protected]

God bless you and thank you for your prayers and support.  (Please do pass this email on to any of your friends and family who may be interested)

KELLY SPORTS HOLIDAY PROGRAMME

Celebrate the new moon at the Moon Festival 2018    Saturday 22 September from 4.00-10.00pm at Lloyd Elsmore Pa

Bring the family for a fun evening of entertainment, food and activities and to celebrate the new moon.

Howick Local Board is putting on this free event which will see performers from a range of countries including China, Russia, India, New Zealand and Korea.

There will be giveaways for the kids including mini moon cake biscuits and glow sticks.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The FLASH BANG SCIENCE Club are running children’s science workshops in Ellerslie, Pakuranga and Pukekohe during the holidays in Pukekohe. Workshops. Workshops are for children aged 7yrs – 12yrs.  For more information please check out: www.flashbangscienceclub.co.nz, email: [email protected] or phone 021 161 6412. 

 
Companion Training Workshop

Seasons for Growth is a peer support program which assists people of all ages to understand and manage the changes they experience when a significant loss occurs. We are looking for volunteer Companions (adult facilitators) who would be willing to assist in the delivery of this program in schools and the community

A 2-day Companion Workshop will be held on     Monday 5th and Tuesday, 6^th November, 2018

at                     St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont Street,Ponsonby                 10.00 ~ 4.00pm   (morning tea will be provided)

REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL      by Wednesday, 31^st October 2018

To register or find out more about this program, contact:   Delia   09-360 3027, or [email protected]

www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/religious-education/seasons-for-growth/

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