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

Welcome to our second newsletter of Term 3 2024. Last week we celebrated Cook Island Language Week. The theme of this week was “Ātui’ia au ki te vaka o tōku matakeinanga – connect me to the canoe of my tribe” which connects with this year’s overall language week theme of Sustainability.

Parish Connect As this newsletter reaches your in-box, 32 of our students are preparing to celebrate their Confirmation tonight with Bishop Steve Lowe in our Parish Church. This weekend, across our Masses, these students will also receive their First Holy Communion. We ask for your blessings and prayers as they receive these important Sacraments of Initiation to become active members of our Catholic faith community. Congratulations to Zeke Mascarenhas, Orlando Bickerton, Reece Julia, Layla Ieremia, Austin Lu, Noah Orange, Louis Orange, Amelia Davies, Cara McGuire, Isaac Gomes, Emily Crouch, Isla Frankle, Joseph Winata, Oliver Gao, Mia Kelly, Hannah Teixeira, Eden Adams, Erika Yeh, Kara Chaytor, Isla Robb, Amaara Surplis, Louis Liu, Hyo Sung Lee, Marceline Hooper, Sebastian Dellabarca, Lucas Sirilan, Nastasia McLay, Sofie Smith, Calvin Yeung, Sara Zapata, Jenny Finau, George Guan.

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

Feast Day Celebrations Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, our annual Feast Day. What a celebration it was! Our staff had a great time decorating the school before gathering for prayer and sharing breakfast together. Barbier took out our House Tapuae Competition in the morning – Congratulations Barbier! It was great to see our school cheering on our teams, enjoying the iceblock which the PTA provided as a treat on our special day. Following morning tea, we had a beautiful Feast Day Mass celebrated in our hall with Fr John and Fr Terry. After lunch, our ‘world famous at OLSOS’ Star Idol competition saw many great acts as well as skilled showcases of talent from our students. Congratulations to Junia-Rose and Amelia, joint winners of the Year 3 and 4 competition and to Zoe who took out the Year 5 and 6 competition. Special congratulations to our overall winners Domi and Mason for their amazing talent, entertaining us with an extremely well excited flute and piano duet. I am sure you will agree, those that attended, our staff make great Bollywood dancers! Huge thanks to Mrs Brooke Crowe, our Director of Religious Education for all of her effort and preparation of the Mass and to Mrs Karen Noble-Campbell and the staff for their great job of selecting Star Idol contestants via the Idol heats in the weeks proceeding.

Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences and Parent Consultation Thank you to the large percentage of parents who attended the Mid Year Parent Student, Teacher Conferences last Wednesday. It is great that our families are so engaged and connected to their child’s learning journey. Many parents also popped into the Information Centre to earn house points for their children and to keep updated and share ideas on our Curriculum, Reporting and Environmental Activity. For those unable to make it into the Information Centre, I will share a condensed update in each of these areas here in our newsletter over the next few fortnights so you also can see the updates and have the opportunity to email me your thoughts and ideas directly.

This week I will share a condensed version of our Curriculum Update.
We shared what we have been working on after hearing the voice from our community at our 2022 Community Dreaming Day and consultation. As requested we have worked hard to support our students to build relationships, make connections and demonstrate resilience. We have also responded to parent voice around more hands on activities, celebrating difference, keeping a balance between screen time and off screen time. You will have noticed that we have introduced, amongst many other things, the following opportunities as a result:

• The adoption of the Te Whare Tapa Wha model of wellbeing to frame up whole self development and resilience with our community
• Introduction of the Mitey Programme to help build self efficacy and mental wellbeing supporting the confidence to make friends and express themselves and their feelings to others.
• Provided multiple opportunities for our students to be engaged in extracurricular activities  – sporting/ arts/ academic challenges, Writers Festival etc. 
• Engaged inspirational speakers such as Bernard Mangakahia, Nanogirl, NED, Andrew Chinn, Playhouse Theatre as well as multiple authors and illustrators etc to show students the benefits of making connections and building relationships and resilience.
• We added Grandparents Day celebrations to show our students the importance of respecting and honouring our elders.
• We introduced Culture Week; celebrating difference.
• We provided more practical opportunities for hands on learning, testing and trial through a review of our science curriculum to include more physical and material world experiences e.g. forces, planet earth and beyond, seasons and weather patterns etc.
• Incorporated off screen and brain breaks to support overall wellness and decrease cognitive overload.

NED Resilience Presentation Last week we learnt about these key resilience factors Never give up, Encourage others, Do your best! The enthusiasm of our young learners to purchase a Yoyo and join in the fun of learning new skills helps support the NED crew to offer this resilience presentation for free to other schools. Thanks for your support.

Maths Week This week each year level have had a Maths Challenge a day with prizes for the correct winning answer drawn out of a hat. Our children have had a great time discussing the maths problems and attempting to solve them.

Year 5 and 6 Speech Competition On Wednesday we had our senior speech competition. Congratulations to all those who made it through their class heats to compete in the finals. Special congratulations goes to our top two place getters, Lucian Gonzalez and runner up Hyo Sung Lee. Lucian Gonzalez will go on to represent us at the upcoming HPPA Speech Competition.

HPPA Cross Country On Tuesday our school cross country team represented us at the HPPA Zone Cross Country Competition. We had some amazing results! Congratulations to all who competed, and especially to Jensen O’Meara – 2nd place Year 4 boys, Carla Shaw – 2nd place Year 5 girls & Ateca Loabuka – 3rd place Year 5 girls. Year 4 Boys placed 2nd overall & Year 5 Girls placed 2nd overall in their year levels. Our organiser, Mrs Ailsa Thorpe alongside Mrs Noble-Campbell and Mrs Bailey reported great sportsmanship and support of all from our students at this event – well done all!

Looking Ahead: Next week is Tongan Language Week. We wish Jenny Maree Finau all the very best as she represents our school at the APPA Tongan Language speech competiton next Tuesday. Next Thursday sees our gymnasts competing at the HPPA Gymnastics Competition. Our Seniors learn cycle skills the following week which is a lot to look forward to. The following week our school is also hosting the HPPA Dance Festival on Wednesday 28th August. We wish our two dance groups luck with their performance, and thank our staff in advance, all of whom will be working behind teh scenes to make this event run smoothly, from car parking, ticket collections, ushering dancer groups, supervising back stage and in prep areas as well as MCing the event – what an amazing staff we have to contribute so fully to the corporate life of our school and in support of the Howick Pakuranga Principals Association.

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

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

Louise Campbell
Principal

Feast Day

What a joy it was to celebrate the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary on Thursday, August 15th! The day was filled with wonderful activities that strengthened the children’s faith. We started with a special buddy time where classes joined for morning prayer and to experience some Mary-focused activities. The excitement continued with the Tapuae final, showcasing teamwork and sportsmanship. The highlight of the day was the beautiful Mass celebrated in the hall, honouring Mary’s Assumption with reverence and song. To top it all off, we enjoyed the Star Idol event, where students shared their talents and entertained us all. A truly memorable day!

Sacramental Programme

Around 32 of our young learners will receive the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion over the weekend. Please keep them and their families in your prayers. Receiving Confirmation and First Holy Communion is a very special moment in a child’s faith journey. It deepens their relationship with God and the Church, as they receive the Holy Spirit’s gifts and participate fully in the Eucharist.

Christian Witness Outreach

In 2023 as part of our Christian Witness Outreach, we raised money to support Khazimula Children’s Home in Howick, South Africa. We were lucky to have the Mills Family visit South Africa and Khazimula Children’s Home on our behalf during the summer holidays. 

The Mills Family travelled through the rural roads to get to the orphanage, which is situated on a hill outside of a village called Lidgetton. The orphanage houses 30 children ranging from the ages of 4 to 18. The children’s home was very grateful for the donation we gave to Khazimula and for the gift of our school rosary and candle. They invited the Mills family to join some of the workers and children for tea and they all expressed their thanks and love for the children of Our Lady Star of the Sea via a Zulu song and prayer of thanks. Through our kindness and service, we were able to help the children’s home. This is something to be immensely proud of.

This year our focus is on extending a helping hand to Holy Trinity Primary School in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, where 350 students are learning. The liturgy team joined the Caritas Team on Zoom for a social justice chat. They learnt lots about the places and people Caritas works to support and heard about the need to support Holy Trinity School. 

The school is currently facing challenges, they need essential classroom equipment, like desks and chairs for students. There is a shortage of textbooks, exercise books, and basic writing and art materials in the classrooms. In week 7 of this term, on the 4th of September, we will be having a mufti and Caritas Challenge day to raise awareness and money for this school. By standing together and raising funds, we can contribute towards repairing and replacing essential classroom furniture and providing much-needed educational materials. 

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

News from the Parent Committee

The Parent Committee have set up offices – in a manner of speaking – in the old tuck shop. We have lots of things to store and often need to use the space to prepare food. Two lovely volunteers cleared out and cleaned up the area ready for us to be able to make the most of it.

Thank you for the incredible support for our Milo Morning Tea, held last week and to the team that prepped and served the Milo. We appreciate all of you!

Yesterday to celebrate our Feast Day, the Parent Committee provided ice blocks for all students to enjoy while they watched the Tapuae finals. The senior students helped deliver the ice blocks to the classrooms.

It is almost time for the  Spell-a-thon testing! It is wonderful to see so many children excited about spelling. Once the results come home please collect the sponsorship money and deposit it into our Parents’ Committee bank account. All funds raised will go towards purchasing a new outdoor speaker system.

In September, the Parents’ Committee will be selling food and lollies before the junior production on Tuesday 17th and Thursday 19th September. All profits will support some of the costs of the production. If you would like to help out selling food and lollies please let us know at [email protected].

We have a class communication tree, for Parent Committee news. If you would like to join the tree, let us know and we will get your class rep to be in touch.

Our next meeting is Monday 2nd September at 7pm in Room 2. We would love to see you there.

HPPA Interschool Cross Country

A huge congratulations to the students from Year 4, 5 and 6 who competed in the HPPA Interschool Cross Country at Lloyd Elsmore Park on Tuesday 13th August. There were over 90 children competing in each race! The students from Star of the Sea showed commitment, perseverance and a never give up attitude. We are so proud of you all. 

Congratulations to the following students who placed in the top 3 in their event: 

Jensen O’Meara- 2nd place Year 4 Boys
Carla Shaw- 2nd place Year 5 Girls
Ateca Loabuka- 3rd place Year 5 Girls

Year 4 Boys- 2nd place overall
Year 5 Girls- 2nd place overall

Halberg Games 

Congratulations to Tillie Koloamatangi for her outstanding achievements at the Halberg Games! In April, Tillie represented Disability Sport Auckland, competing in both swimming and running events. As the youngest participant, she secured impressive placements in her races.

Her dedication and sportsmanship didn’t go unnoticed. Last weekend, at the Halberg Games Youth Awards, Tillie was nominated as a finalist for the MVP Female award—and she won! This award recognises her enthusiasm, supportive nature as a teammate, and full engagement in the games.

Well done, Tillie!

Statements for Attendance Dues and fees for Term 3 have been sent out to families.  These are due for payment by 1 September.    If you wish to apply for assistance or to make arrangements for regular payments, please contact Sue Yandell in confidence.

Save the date!  

The Junior Team (Years 1-3) Production performances will be on the following dates: 

Tuesday 17 September 6.00PM 

Wednesday 18 September 1.00PM 

Thursday 19 September 6.00PM 

Thank you to our parent community who have heard the call and are helping behind the scenes by making props, helping with dances, painting and helping to organise costumes.  We couldn’t do this without your help.  

Twilight Market News

This year our Gala Team is hosting a Twilight Market. We have saved the date, if you haven’t already, add Friday 1 November from 5pm to your diary!

We have awesome food lined up and fantastic entertainment including carnival rides for the kids and those young at heart. We will also have stalls selling items such as lucky dips, jolly jars, cakes, sweets, hampers and more! Unlike our usual gala, we will not have stalls selling items such as books, clothing, toys and white elephant.

This year class collections will look a little different – each class will be asked to bring a specific type of item to add to their class stall. Look out soon for what items your class will be contributing.

If you have a great idea about something that your family could contribute, or a stall you would like to run to add to the fun and fundraising, we would love to hear from you.

Look out for our flyers and more details in the newsletters, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or through the office.

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