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

Welcome to our penultimate newsletter of 2024. This time in two weeks school will be closed for the year!
A reminder that our last day of term is Thursday 19th December with school closing at 12pm sharp.
Between now and then we will host Prizegiving (6pm Thursday 12th December at Sancta Maria College Auditorium), Garin House Assembly (8.45am Friday 13th December – children wear house colours), Year 6 leavers evening from 5.30pm Monday 16th December),  end of year Thanksgiving Mass (11am Tuesday 17th December at our Parish Church), end of year outings (Wednesday 18th December) and final assembly (11.15am Thursday 19th December). Keep your eye on the calendar on our website and on our weekly Friday ‘events’ emails for more details.

Parish Connect Last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, the four week period leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. We offer huge congratulations to Carter Lye, Akatu Ngere, Thea and Aria Beeston, and Ara and Jana Boix who received the sacrament of baptism as part of the 5.30pm Mass last Sunday.
This weekend our Parish Church will have the beautiful Christmas Crib on display in front of the altar – well worth a visit either before or after Mass, or just to pop in for some quiet contemplation and a chance to further bring to life the meaning of this season for your children.
Please refer to our DRS section of this newsletter for details about Masses over the Christmas period.

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

Agencies and helpers thank you morning tea On Tuesday we hosted a morning tea for all of the agencies and amazing parents who help in so many ways to make this school a fabulous place. When we think of how amazing our school is, we automatically think of our incredible school staff, as they are indeed amazing. However, the list of helpers in support of our school staff is extensive:

• The Catholic diocese of Auckland, advisers in Religious Education, administration, property and leadership support
• Our Parish supporters – our wonderful priest and priest in residence, the office staff, parish council and St Vincent De Paul supporters
• Our Board members – who undertake a largely voluntary role in the governance of our school
• Our Parents Committee – endlessly involved in community based events and fundraising 
• Our Helping Hands organiser and team – providing outreach for families in need
• Our Twilight Market committee and all the voluntary supports – all contributed to make such a special community event
• The Team of helpers who made our Junior Production so incredible this year
• Parent helpers in classes
• Cultural group tutors and parent liaises
• Parents who support our various sports teams as coaches and managers
• Reading support tutors, parents, grandparents and parishioners who come in weekly to help with reading fluency
• Our fearless knitting tutors, parents, grandparents and parishioners
• The Uniform shop volunteers
• Our brave Road Patrol parents
• The Seasons for Growth team supporting well being for our children
• The NZ Police Community Liaise personnel – always here to help 
• The Resource Teachers for Learning and behavior and Ministry of Education team
• Speech Language Therapists
• RDA – horse riding support volunteers
• Before and after school care workers
• The Field of Dreams team – supporting swimming programmes for our children
• Howick and Eastern buses 
• Lewis Eady music school
• Thrive Speech and Drama
• Our ICT support team
  The list goes on… No wonder our kids are so amazing – they have great support at home and are surrounded by committed people who give great support across our school – thank you and God Bless you all.

Our Lady Star of the Sea School Board – Casual vacancy
The required 28 day notice of the Our Lady Star of the Sea Board’s intention to fill its causal vacancy by the selection method has passed. The Presiding Member did not receive more than 10% of eligible voters on the school roll asking to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy. The board will therefore proceed with its selection process.

Looking Back The final Parents Committee Meeting of the year took place on Monday 2nd December. A great turn out with exciting plans discussed into the new year. We were pleased to introduce the new families and starters in the first part of 2025 to how things work around here at our Orientation morning on Thursday. The next set of students and their whānau joining the legacy of strong educational outcomes and the growth of the whole child here at Our Lady Star of the Sea will be well served by the modelling of our current students and families.

Looking Ahead At this Sunday’s Howick Santa Parade, I look forward with trepidation to the prospect of filling the Dunk Your Principal seat at the dunking machine which is outside the Apothecary, opposite our Parish Church in Picton St at mid day – if you happen to be there at the time, please aim wide!!! As mentioned in my opening paragraphs above, there is a lot happening in the last 9 days of school for the year – please keep an eye on the calendar and our weekly ‘events’ sent out each Friday night for details.
– PLEASE NOTE – Sancta Maria College Bus Families: The college will be shut from Wednesday 11th December. There will be no one on site to oversee the supervision roster. Families must wait with their children in the morning until they are on the bus, and be present at the school at 3pm to collect their own child off the bus.
– Thursday 19 December – End of Term. School closes at 12pm sharp. Bizzy Bodz will run a special programme from 12 – 3pm. Please sign up via their website https://www.bizzybodz.co.nz/home. The after school programme will run as normal from 3pm.

Bus 439 to Howick and the buses to Sancta Maria College, Beachlands & Maraetai will not be operating in the afternoon. Please arrange for your child to be collected.

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

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

Louise Campbell
Principal

Christian Witness

This term, our children are learning through our connected curriculum- when we serve to create harmony, we can make a positive impact in God’s world. 

During Weeks 7 and 8, the children were invited to take on household tasks to raise money as part of our Term 4 Christian Witness Outreach. The funds have been collected and we have raised a total of $1682.00 for the following charities, supporting families during the Christmas season:

• Saint Vincent De Paul’s – Feed a Family this Christmas Appeal 
• Middlemore Foundations – Put Kidz First this Christmas Appeal 
• Catholic Caring Foundation 

Thank you for encouraging your child/children to serve others throughout the year. Through outreach, we are teaching our children to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and to live out His love by making a difference in the lives of others.

End-of-Year Thanksgiving Mass

The Thanksgiving Mass will be celebrated at 11am on December 17th in our Parish Church. 

This special service will include prayers of gratitude for the blessings of the year, a farewell to our Year 6 leavers, the announcement of new house leaders, and the Candle Ceremony, during which leadership is passed from the Year 6 to Year 5 students. All are warmly invited to join us. 

Gift Vouchers for Saint Vincent De Paul for Christmas

Our Parish St Vincent de Paul group are looking for donations of Warehouse or Kmart gift vouchers in denominations of $10 and $20 to give to the people who come to collect food parcels. Please put the vouchers in a marked envelope in the SVDP basket or in the drop box outside the Parish Centre. Thank you for your continued support of St Vincent De Paul. 

Christmas Timetable

Mass Times at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish

Christmas Eve – Tuesday 24 December
Carols 6.00pm – Family Mass: 6.30pm
Carols 9.00pm – Night Mass: 9.30pm
(NO Midnight Mass)

Christmas Day- Wednesday 25 December
Family Mass with Carols: 9.00am only

Beachlands Christmas Eve 
St Hilda’s Church, 3 Wakelin Road: Tuesday 24 December Mass – 5.30pm

Confessions Before Christmas
Saturday 07 December – 8.30am-9.00am & 5.00pm-5.30pm
Wednesday 11 December
Joint Community Celebration of Sacrament of Reconciliation
We join St Mark’s Church 334 Pakuranga Road at 7.00pm 

Saturdays 14 & 21 December – 8.30am-9.30am & 5.00pm-5.30pm

Tuesday 24 December (Christmas Eve) – 10.00am-11.00am (both priests)

Sacramental Programme 2025 

Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish Sacramental Programme
Open to children in Years 4-6

ENROLMENTS OPEN SATURDAY 26 JANUARY
ENROLMENTS CLOSE SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY

You can download the enrolment form and access the timetable and details for the Sacramental Programme on our parish website. Visit this page for more information- https://howickcatholic.org.nz/eucharist-first-communion/ 

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

On behalf of your Board, I would like to extend our best wishes to all the families moving on to other schools at the end of the school year. We also extend special thanks to our staff for the incredible job they do of upholding our special character, learning, nurturing, and developing all our children; and their continued dedication to supporting families throughout our community during the year.

Our school is very proud of our Parish-School connection, highlighted recently through OLSOS preparing to host the Parish Office team from their usual office spaces in the Parish Centre next to our Parish Church. While the renovation of the Parish Centre is undertaken, the Parish Office will set up home here at Our Lady Star of the Sea School, in Room 3.  In addition, OLSOS is delighted to be donating $1,500 from the proceeds of the recent Twilight Market towards the Parish Centre renovations.  The Board would like to express their sincere thanks and congratulations to those involved in the success of the Twilight Market.

At the November Board meeting, members endorsed the approval of the Annual Proprietors Report to the Bishop. This is an annual report to Bishop Steve Lowe on behalf of your Board outlining assurance and compliance matters, internal evaluation outcomes, and an update on external review goals for the year.

Also in the November Board meeting, the Board received the final update of annual plan activities underpinning our strategic goals.  Your Board is delighted with the achievements against the strategic goals during the year and are looking forward to the continued success into 2025.

OLSOS will be a busy place over the summer holidays with a variety of property activities scheduled.   Rooms 4,5,7, and 8 will be re-carpeted; the hall kitchen, and bathroom area will be repainted; and a roof wash will be done.  New sun filter blinds  will be installed in rooms 18 and 19.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the School Prize Giving at Sancta Maria College on Thursday 12^th of December. 

Alina Hooper
On behalf of your Board

News from the Parent Committee

It is hard to believe that Christmas is a few short weeks away, and so brings an end to the Parent Committees year. This week we had the pleasure of chatting to new entrant parents about the function of the Parent Committee and ways to be involved. The Parent Committee is a great opportunity to connect to other parents and to connect parents to our school.

We have one last item on our to-do list – help the year 6 leavers celebrate at the leavers picnic. The Parent Committee will provide FREE sausage sizzle to year 6 families, if you are a year 5 parent, and can help out at the leavers picnic, please do let us know.

On Monday we held our last meeting of the year, and started planning for 2025! The first week of school brings the welcome picnic – an evening of community, water play and of course sausage sizzle!
We are excited to be launching the Parent Committee website early next year. The website will have upcoming fundraisers and a payment platform for hotdog lunches and the colour run. The launch of the website will coincide with the first news of our colour run.

Please do reach out to us if there is anything you would like to chat about, or want more information about. [email protected]

PRODUCTION 

The moment many of you have been waiting for is here.  The video of the Junior Production ‘The Beginning’ is now available! Wednesday and Thursday’s shows are ready to view or purchase. Tuesday’s show is almost ready and should be up by the end of the weekend.The cost to view or buy the show is $US5 (around $8.40NZD).This cost goes towards hosting the video on the website.  

Click on the link below to access.

https://www.departmentofgroove.com/projects-8 

Enjoy! 

Congratulations to the students who attend music lessons with Edward from Lewis Eady on a Thursday.

Last week they treated their parents to a personal concert showing off their talents and skills. They needed to practice resilience and courage to take on something new and see it through to the end.

The audience that attended was treated a wide variety of songs and different levels of difficulty on the keyboard.

Lewis Eady will be running music lessons again at our school next year. Students are able to learn a variety of instruments. Watch the newsletter for updates or use the Lewis Eady website to enrol your child for 2025.

Summer Reading 2024

After a successful Summer Reading programme last year, we are excited to offer this opportunity once again for our students.

Week 9 is the last chance for children to return their signed summer reading forms.

Books will be chosen at the end of the week:

Year 3, 4, 5 Thursday 12th December

Year 1 & 2 Friday 13th December

*please remember to bring a sturdy bag to carry all the books home

Why sign up for Summer Reading? The best way to improve literacy skills is to keep practising. This is particularly important over the long summer holidays, and it helps to keep students reading levels up. Plus, it is a fun thing to do!

Find the perfect gift for children this Christmas

The 2024 Storylines Notable Book Awards winners list has been announced! 

Fantastic, high quality books from wonderful NZ authors.

Give the gift of learning and imagination with these books full of exciting adventures, unforgettable characters and treasure troves of knowledge and discovery.

Explore the lists here:
https://www.storylines.org.nz/awards/storylines-notable-book-awards/storylines-notable-book-lists-2024/

The Auckland Catholic Diocese has recently advised us of a $16 per year increase to the compulsory Attendance Dues for 2025. Further, as the cost for school trips and other expenses supporting the smooth operation of the school are increasing over time, there will be a $4 per year increase to the General Purpose voluntary contribution for 2025.

 A full letter of explanation will come home in February 2025, however we wish to advise the fees for 2025 will be increasing by a total of $20 to $1,068 per child per year (i.e. $267 per term).

 As usual, financial assistance is available if required, by contacting us in confidence.

A reminder that fees for 2024 are now due and unless arrangements for payment have been organised, all fees should be fully paid by the end of term.   Students leaving Our Lady Star of the Sea at the end of 2024 will still be required to pay Attendance Dues in full.

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School’s nearly out! If you’re spending any of the summer holidays in or around Auckland, slam dunk into the summer holidays by catching a BNZ Breakers game.
Save 15% on tickets to any of the BNZ Breaker’s games in Auckland during December and January. Simply use promo code STUDENT to redeem your 15% off.

BNZ Breakers v Tasmania JackJumpers – “North Shore Game”
Thursday 12 December, 7:30pm @ Eventfinda Stadium
BNZ Breakers v Sydney Kings – “Christmas Game”
Friday 20 December, 7:30pm @ Spark Arena
BNZ Breakers v Perth Wildcats – “Mascot Party”
Sunday 5 January, 4:30pm @ Spark Arena
BNZ Breakers v Tasmania JackJumpers
Thursday 16 January, 7:30pm @ Spark Arena

Book tickets at www.nzbreakers.basketball/pages/tickets

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Road Safety and Traffic Rules Awareness Program

Approximately 1.3 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes. Between 20 and 50 million people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years. The main reason behind these road accidents is not following or knowing traffic and road safety rules.

Trafficquiz.com is a free-to use website developed with the aim of spreading awareness regarding traffic rules and road safety rules. Through trafficquiz.com, students can learn and test their knowledge about traffic and road safety rules in an entertaining way, i.e., by playing quizzes. Teachers and parents can also use trafficquiz.com regularly to refresh their knowledge about traffic, road safety, and child safety rules. School bus drivers can also regularly use it to learn and be conscious about following traffic rules. The benefit of being online is that trafficquiz.com can be used anytime, anywhere, on any device.

The links are as follows:

1. For Age group (5 to 9 years):

 https://trafficquiz.com/road-safety-quiz-junior-level-1/

2. For Age group (10 to 15 years):

https://trafficquiz.com/road-safety-quiz-secondary-level-1/

3. For Parents (Child safety quizzes):

https://trafficquiz.com/child-safety-quiz-for-parents-level-1/

4. For Parents and Teachers (Traffic & road safety rules quizzes):

https://trafficquiz.com/road-safety-quiz-for-adults-level-1/

5. For Drivers and support staff:

https://trafficquiz.com/road-safety-quiz-for-adults-level-1/

6. Road Signs quiz

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Dive into excellence with Fulton Swim School! Equip your child with the skills to become a confident and safe swimmer this Summer. Our expert Teachers nurture a love for swimming while focusing on essential techniques in a supportive environment. Join us and watch your child make waves towards a safer and brighter summer ahead!
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