Kia Ora, Ni Hao, Malo e lelei and Bula Vinaka Whānau,

Welcome to our second newsletter of Term 2 2024 which comes to you at the conclusion of CULTURE WEEK, a week where we have celebrated all things related to the different cultures in our school. This newsletter also arrives in your inbox as you are all getting ready for the much awaited Parents Committee Disco this evening in our school hall.

Parish Connect
Pentecost As we journey through the liturgical calendar, we came to a significant and joyous celebration—Pentecost, which we celebrated last weekend. This feast marks the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit to his apostles and signifies the birth of the Church. Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter and is a cornerstone of our faith, filled with meaning and inspiration. We invite you to join us in this prayer as we celebrate Pentecost:
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.
O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Parish Retreat experience. From Monday – Friday, 29 July to 02 August Father Richard Shortall SJ, Jesuit priest and Retreat Director from the Hamilton Diocese, will be guiding our parish through a retreat. For one hour, either in the morning or evening to suit you and your family, Fr Richard will support attendees through a retreat experience. Please mark this in your calendar for now; more information will come out closer to the time.
Also, please note these dates especially as there is morning tea to be shared after 9.00am Sunday Mass: 09 June, 14 July, 11 August, 08 September, 13 October, 10 November, and 08 December. As Fr John suggests: plan ahead, be generous, be consistent, be hospitable.

Please follow this link to view this Sunday’s readings.

Mitey Mental Health Education Update Following on from last fortnight’s newsletter update where we introduced you to the Mana Whānau element of the Mitey Mana Model, this week we will focus on the concept of Mana Ūkaipõ. Children need to feel belonging and connection to the place where they live and learn and to the people in those places. By celebrating difference and knowing their knowledge and history is important and shared, children get the connection they need to thrive.
Mana Ūkaipō develops when children know:
– that they belong.
– about where they live and go to school.
– their cultural knowledge and history is important and valued.
– they feel connected to others.
Children demonstrate Mana Ūkaipō when they:
– feel proud to go to their school.
– understand how their actions affect others.
– actively participate in school activities.
– can talk about their whakapapa, history, culture and language.
– can compare and contrast different points of view respectfully.
It is easy to see how our Culture Week, ongoing Connected Curriculum delivery, Mitey mental health education lessons, as well as our Religious Education Programme are all working together supporting the development of Mana Ūkaipō in our learners.

CULTURE WEEK Celebrations What a week we have had, elevating and celebrating all things culture here at Our lady Star of the Sea. We have had some wonderful presentations from students and parents, taking the form of powerpoints, live demonstrations, static displays, games and presentations – there was even a fashion show in the mix! We have learnt so much about ourselves and our fellow school mates! The week began with our Pentecost celebration assembly with so many of our students (and a few parents too) dressed in national dress. Our whole school were treated to a learning experience when extracting coconut flesh from a coconut as well as flax toy making and yummy treats. We all had the opportunity to learn Japanese games and attended the Pasifika fashion parade too. Each class had the opportunity to learn about cultural clothing, practices, games songs and prayers through presentations across the week. We cannot thank you, our community for getting in behind this celebration and sharing your pearls of cultural wisdom with us. The celebration assembly on Friday demonstrated the rich learning across the week that was undertaken by all our learners (photos of the sharing assembly will be shared in our next newsletter) – thank you, thank you, thank you one and all for making this a very special week in our school – one our children will forever remember as they all stood tall and proud of who they are and where they are from.

Staffing Update
Mrs. Heather Collins, Room 21 teacher and Senior School Team Leader will be leaving us just before the end of Term 2 as she is taking up a position at another school.  Mrs. Ruth Holt, Room 21’s co-teacher will teach the class in the last week of this term and will move, in Term 3, to support Mrs. Denise Bailey while she fulfils the Team Leader role for the remainder of 2024. I am sure you will join me in congratulating Heather on her new position and thanking her for her incredible support of our Room 21 students and her leadership of our senior team.
We are fortunate to have secured Mrs Pamela Robertson to teach for the remainder of the year in Room 21. We will welcome her in Term 3.

We are also preparing for Mrs Maria Kelly to head off on maternity leave. Maria will teach in Room 19 until the end of this term. We will welcome her replacement, Mrs Kajal Mahabir at the start of Term 3 too.

Parking around the school
It is timely, following correspondence from neighbours with evidence of cars parked across driveways from 2.30pm, to remind families that it is important to be respectful of our neighbours at pick up and drop off times. Although a temporary stop of a few minutes up to 15 minutes may not feel significant to someone parking to nip into school to pick up a child, for a neighbour who is faced with delays when they need to depart from their homes, this can have quite an impact on their stress levels. Thank you in advance for your understanding and support in all of the streets surrounding our school.

Looking Ahead: Next week, from Monday 27th May We celebrate Samoa Language week. We look forward to hosting local schools in our hall at the Chess Power Competition  on Monday and wish our Chess players luck in the tournament. Next Friday is Wheels Day where our learners can bring their scooter, skateboard, bike, or trike along to school for fun and learning about safety.
Don’t forget Monday 3rd June is Kings Birthday Monday – school is closed. Also don’t forget that Tuesday 4th June is a Teacher Only Day – school is also closed for tuition on this day.

Wishing you all a happy, safe and blessed fortnight ahead until our next newsletter.

Ngā mihi nui, Tōfa soifua, ‘Alu ā, cǐ zhì jìng lǐ and Vinaka vaka levu,

Louise Campbell
Principal

Pentecost 

Pentecost, celebrated 50 days after Easter, marks the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-4). In the Catholic faith, this event signifies the birth of the Church and the beginning of its mission to spread the Gospel to all nations.

Our school community came together to celebrate Pentecost with a liturgy, which also marked the beginning of our Cultural Week. It was uplifting to see so many children dressed in costumes to represent their culture and to hear prayers in different languages. Pentecost symbolises different cultures because it commemorates the event when the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to speak in various languages, allowing them to communicate the Gospel to people from diverse regions and cultures. Pentecost thus celebrates the idea that the Holy Spirit brings together people of all nations and backgrounds into the one body of the Church.

Christian Witness

As part of our Christian Witness outreach this term we will be supporting the Middlemore Foundations ‘Jammies for June’. 

During the month of June we ask families to kindly donate new pyjamas. These pyjamas will be collected by school and taken to the Middlemore Foundation to support those in need. 

Items we will happily receive include:

• New Jammies, size 0 to XL
• New blankets    

Jammies will be given to children at Kidz First and the 76 primary schools the Foundation support through the Mana Kidz School Health programme.  The Hospital and School Nurses are bracing for a tough, busy winter. Knowing we can give a child in their care warm pyjamas will make such a difference.

A collection box is located in the office foyer for your donations or the items can be given to your child’s classroom teacher. 

In Week 7 on the 14th of June, we will be having a pyjama mufti day in further support of this great cause. Students will be able to wear their pyjamas to school in return for a gold coin donation or a pack of pyjamas. The money collected will go to purchasing new pyjamas on behalf of the school.

Thank you for support and generosity.

A group of year 4-6 students have chosen to knit peggy squares as their passion project this year. These squares will be joined together to make blankets for Starship Hospital. Each week adults from the wider parish school community join together to support our young learners. It is wonderful to see their smiles as they work together to support those most vulnerable in our community.

“We are a Christ centred community
fostering belonging (whanaungatanga)
and outreach
through selfless giving (manaakitanga)
in Mary’s Way”.

Statements for fees were sent out at the end of last term.  Payments for Term 2 are due by 10 June.  If you wish to apply for financial assistance, please contact Sue Yandell in confidence.  [email protected]

Tonight is our first disco of the year. Parents are welcome to stay, or drop and go. Please sign your
child in at drop off and out before leaving. DJ Joolz will be entertaining us from 6pm-8pm. Entrance
fee is $3. We will be selling pizza and drinks so come hungry! As always we will have lolly bags on
sale and our very popular glowsticks! We hope to see you there!

News from the Parent Committee

Last week Thursday the parent committee held a hotdog lunch, our volunteers prepared and delivered over 280 hotdogs across the school! A big thank you for supporting this fun initiative and to our volunteers for helping lunch to be a success.

Tickets for our Quiz Night on 14th June, will go on sale on Monday, and can be purchased from the
office. You can book a table of 8 for $80 or a seat at the Barbarians table for $10. We have a limited
number of tickets. This is an adult only event. Bring your own food, drinks, tableware, and table
décor. Doors open at 6:30pm for a 7pm start. Cheese boards are available on pre-order for $25. To
order please email the Parent Committee at [email protected]. Payment for the quiz night
can be made in cash or direct deposit to the Parent Committee bank account 12-3011-0760201-001.
Use Quiz [your name and surname] as a reference.

If you can help at any of the above events or have any questions, please reach out to the Parent Committee at [email protected]

Our next Parents Committee meeting is Monday 10th June, 7pm in the staffroom – all welcome.

Writers Festival

Mrs Bell and Mrs Noble-Campbell had a fantastic day out with 8 senior team students on Tuesday 14th May attending the Auckland Writers Festival. We all had the privilege of hearing presentations from Tim Tipene, Jason Gunn, Giselle Clarkson and Maryam Masters. Each author shared tips and tricks about being an author and certainly inspired each of us to follow our writing passions and venture into creating our own texts with the same enthusiasm.

We were all lucky enough to receive a free book which will be enjoyed by many.

Some inspirational quotes from the authors were…

“You never know when and where inspiration is going to come from.” – Tim Tipene
“Go over and over your writing to make it better than the best.”  – Tim Tipene
“You have a whole life to be awesome in.” – Jason Gunn
“You are smarter, stronger and more capable than you think you are” – Jason Gunn
“Ordinary people can do extraordinary things.” – Jason Gunn
“Use your skills to tell other people what you know.” – Giselle Clarkson
“Never underestimate the impact small things can have on the world.” – Giselle Clarkson
“Stories connect us and weave us together with invisible strings.” – Maryam Masters
“Stories connect your heart with your mind to help you understand the facts.” – Maryam Masters
“Hearing other people’s stories helps us walk in other people’s shoes.” – Maryam Masters

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National Young Leaders Day (NYLD)

23 of our badge holders were lucky enough to experience NYLD on Thursday 23rd of May.

We hear some sensational speakers such as Brooke Neal (olympic hockey player) and William Pike (mountaineer and adventurer) along with inspiring young leaders like 16 year old Nate Wilbourne (who is standing up for environmental projects) and 20 year old Te Kahukura Boynton (a leading Maori entrepreneur). We were treated to the wisdom of an up and coming artist Klaksy and musician Yahyah, who gave us a personal concert. The day was full of inspiration for our young leaders who managed to pick up gems of knowledge throughout the day.

Just some of the messages were…

“Turn the critic in your head into a coach” – Brooke Neal
“Step outside of your comfort zone” – William Pike
“You are never too young to create change” – Nate Wilbourne
“A winner is a loser who tried again” – Te Kahukura Boynton
“Push through barriers until you reach your goal” – Klaksy
“Understand who you are so you can share that with others” – Yahyah

Special thanks to Ross Ellwood, Anna Williams and Valentina Gomez who joined us as parent support on the day and Nicole Cullen, Angela Fan and Richard Nathan who supported us with transport.

A fun and enjoyable day was had by all.

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Book Week is coming!

Date to diarise: 1st – 5th July Week 10

Lots of fun activities including our favourite book character parade! 

More information to follow in coming newsletters.

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