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

Welcome to our third newsletter of Term 3 2024.
Last week we celebrated Tonga Language Week. The theme of this week was ‘E tu’uloa ‘a e lea faka-Tongá ‘o ka lea’aki ‘i ‘api, siasí (lotú), mo e nofo-‘a-kāingá – The Tongan Language will be sustainable when used at home, church and in the wider community which connects with this year’s overall language week theme of Sustainability. We were treated to a great presentation from our Pacific students at assembly on Monday morning with the help of Nayra and Tevin’s Dads who were there in support. Well done to Jenny Maree Finau who represented our school at the Auckland Primary Principal’s Association Tongan Speech Competition. See more in the ‘Information Outside the Classroom’ section of this newsletter.

Parish Connect Congratulations to the students who received their confirmation and first holy communion two weekends ago. This special time of deeper initiation into our shared faith reminds us that our Catholic faith is best expressed through community and connection. What better way to experience this connection than to celebrate Mass and special sacraments such as this together as a parish.

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

Our Mercy Cross finds a New Home We are so pleased to announce that our special taonga, our Mercy Cross, has found a new home in our Chapel Space. Back in 2015 when the Mercy Cross was commissioned, we had long held the hope of placing a Mercy Cross where classes gather to celebrate Eucharist as a beautiful reminder and acknowledgement of the Mercy Sisters who had worked in the school from 1925 – 1980. In it’s new home in our Chapel Space, the Mercy Cross shines bright and further identifies the space as a place of prayer and worship. With special thanks to our Parents Committee who contributed the funds towards making this happen. 

Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences + Parent Consultation – Reporting
As outlined in last fortnight’s newsletter, I will be sharing the content of the parent consultation which was undertaken at the same time as Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences earlier this term.
This week I will share a condensed version of our Reporting Consultation.
As many of you know, our teachers put many hours of work in the evenings and weekends producing mid and end of year reports. We value this opportunity to communicate with parents regarding your children’s progress and achievement. We sought voice from our community about what  parts of the reports were considered important elements, as this is where our energy will go. We also shared a few potential other ways of sharing information that may be more streamlined and/or easier to understand and talk to your children about.
We were pleased to see that, overwhelmingly, each part of the school report is valued by our community. We were also pleased to note that there was an appetite amongst the community for the potential to supplement some of the written feedback with more visual representations such as sliding scales and/or tick indicators. As we further synthesise the feedback and create possible options for reporting we will continue to consult with you, our community. If you were not able to make it to the consultation in the Information Centre at the Parent, Student, Teacher conferences earlier this term, and you wish to share your thoughts about our reporting, please email me directly on [email protected].

HPPA Gymnastics Competition Congratulations to all of our gymnasts who represented us at the interschool gymnastics competition held last Thursday. We were, as always, a stand out group of young learners, representing our school with pride, displaying our school values at all times. We had some great results on the day, with special congratulations to Kara in Year 5 who received first place overall in the individual competition, Amelia in Year 4 who came second in the individual competition and to our Year 5 girls team who came second overall and our Year 3 boys team who came third overall. Read more and see some great photos in our ‘Information from Outside the Classroom’ section of this newsletter. 

Year 5 and 6 Cycle Skills This week, our Year 5 and 6 students have had a blast learning about cycle safety. They were in the expert care of Nextbike who reported great learning as the week and the sessions progressed. 

HPPA Dance Festival It was sure ‘all hands on deck’ at Somerville Intermediate as Our Lady Star of the Sea hosted the HPPA Dance Festival on Wednesday night. Our staff did a fabulous job of hosting; from car parking, ticket collections, ushering dance groups, supervising back stage and in prep areas as well as MC’ing the event. Our two dance troupes, Rock and Roll and Hip Hop, can be commended for their performances – what a lot of hard work in preparation that came to fruition so well on the night. Huge thanks to John-Henry Smith and and Karen Frankle as well as Nayra Bailey and Kris Cullen who prepared our dancers so well. Special thanks also to Karen Noble-Campbell and Sue Yandell for all of their hard work leading up to the event to make it such a success on the night, and to all of our staff for rallying together in support of a fabulous night that saw over 280 dancers from 12 local schools perform in a fantastic evening event.

HPPA Literacy Quiz Today, six very excited and well prepared students participated in the HPPA Literacy Quiz. Congratulations to our Year 5’s Harper, Rach & Isla and our Year 6’s Bryn, Amber and Emma for representing us so well.

Looking Ahead: Next week our school photos are happening on Monday and Tuesday. We welcome all Fathers and Father-like figures in our children’s lives along to a Fathers Day liturgy at 8.45am Monday morning followed by morning tea in the staffroom. We are looking forward to another element of our Christian Outreach programme with Mufti Day for Caritas on Wednesday which is also the day our classes will participate in the Caritas Challenge.  We are hosting the Auckland Catholic Primary Principal’s Association ACPPA Proclaiming the Word Competition next Friday. We wish Nayra Bailey all the very best as she represents our school at this prestigious event.  The following week sees us hosting a Positive Puberty Parents evening at 6.45pm on Tuesday 10th September ahead of lessons for our Year 5 and 6 students later in the week. Also that week sees HPPA boys football and speech finals, the Catholic Schools Cross Country event as well as the Champion of Champions Auckland wide Gymnastics Competition… what a busy time of the year!

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

Christian Witness Outreach

Caritas Challenge and Mufti Day – Wednesday, September 4th

Next Wednesday, September 4th, we will be holding a Caritas Challenge day alongside a mufti day to raise awareness and funds for Holy Trinity Primary School in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea. The school is currently facing significant challenges, including a lack of essential classroom equipment such as desks and chairs. They also have a shortage of textbooks, exercise books, and basic writing and art materials.

The Caritas Challenge is an annual event for schools across New Zealand, designed to demonstrate solidarity with those living in poverty or facing injustice. Caritas has partnered with the New Zealand Government, which will match every donation—meaning that for every $1 we raise, $4 will go towards helping the school.

This special day will provide students with hands-on, fun, and informative experiences. The Caritas Challenge incorporates the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, encouraging young Catholics to put their faith into action and make a positive difference in the world.

Father’s Day 

On Monday morning we will take the opportunity to celebrate all the men in our lives who are like Fathers to us. After the Fathers Day Liturgy, all fathers and father-like figures are welcome to come and enjoy some refreshments in the staffroom. To all the Dads, Grandads, Godfathers and big brothers, we are thankful for the love and care, fun and laughter, courage and kindness you share with us. Your love gives us a little glimpse of how God the Father feels about us. We wish you all a joy-filled Father’s Day.

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

News from the Parent Committee

Spring is around the corner and bringing with it some more Parent Committee fun. We will be selling food and lollies at the much-anticipated Junior Production. Food will be on sale from 4.30pm on Tuesday 17th and Thursday 19th September. Come hungry! All profits will go to supporting the costs of the production. This will be our last function for Term 3.

Looking ahead, Term 4 brings discos, a hotdog lunch, the leavers picnic and the Howick Santa Parade. If you would like to help at the Junior Production or any other upcoming event, please reach out to us at [email protected]

If you would like to join us at our next meeting, lock in Monday 2nd September at 7pm in Rm 2. We would love to see you there.

APPA Tongan Language speeches

Congratulations to Jenny Maree Finau from R16 who showed great courage by entering the APPA Tongan Language speeches on Tuesday the 20th of August. She bravely delivered her speech in Tongan on the theme “The Importance of Being Bilingual”. Jenny Maree competed against other students from schools across Auckland. We are extremely proud of her and her efforts. A special thanks to her mum Mele, who supported her on this learning journey and on the day.

HPPA Interzone Gymnastics

After a considerable amount of practice and hard work, our ]unior and Senior Gymnasts represented Our Lady Star of the Sea in the HPPA Interzone Gymnastics competition at the Howick Gymnastic Club on the 22nd of August. It was wonderful to see the sportsmanship, pride and resilience that they all approached this with and they should all be really proud of their efforts.

Year 6 – Sloan received 6th place in the individual girls and Maddy received 8th place.

Year 5 – Kara, Isla, Rach and Gracie were awarded second place in the teams. Kara received first overall in the individual and Rach received 5th equal place in the individual Year 5 girls.

Year 4 – Amelia was placed 2nd in the girls and in the boys Odion was placed 7th in the individual placings.

Year 3 – Taliah was placed 4th in the individual placing for the girls and Nahum came 8th in the individual placings  for the boys. In the Year 3 team – Nathan, Elliot and Nahum were placed 3rd.

All these students will go on to represent our school in the Champion of Champions.

Well done to you all!

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.

New Zealand Book Awards for Children & Young Adults

Congratulations to the winning authors, illustrators and publishers of last week’s book awards. You can find out more about these wonderful books here: 2024 award winners

The Junior Team production dates/times are as follows: 

Tuesday 17 September 6PM 

Wednesday 18 September 1PM 

Thursday 19 September 6PM 

Tickets will be available for purchase from the school office from Monday 2 September from 8am. Tickets will be $10 per adult and $5 for a primary school age child. Toddlers that sit on their parents’ knees are free.  

The Parent Committee will be selling pizza, sausages and lollies before the show outside the school hall for a quick easy snack. 

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.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Register here:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ff9bdb4c-cd79-4acc-a763-ec8c58c14870@e6d2d4cc-b762-486e-8894-4f5f440d5f31

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeypgGRmI8o23uSa-CMwW0T6nJnYjYbXoiQS1v4YVW2wD-2IA/viewform