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

Welcome to our final newsletter of 2024, reaching your inbox as you enjoy the first full day of the summer school holidays.

Parish Connect – Christmas 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 21 December – 8.30am-9.30am & 5.00pm-5.30pm
Tuesday 24 December (Christmas Eve) – 10.00am-11.00am (both priests)

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

End of Year Mass On Tuesday of this week we celebrated an amazing year with our end of year Celebratory Mass in our Parish Church. We honoured our Year 6 Graduates and presented them with their leaving candles as well as announced who our house captains will be for 2025. The student leadership was handed over from our current Year 6 students to the Year 5 cohort, who will be our leaders in 2025, with a candle exchange ceremony as part of this special celebration.

Year 6 Leavers Evening On Monday evening our Year 6 graduates shared an evening with their families as they prepare to depart Our Lady Star of the Sea for Intermediate next year. We were fortunate to still enjoy a picnic dinner together under the COLA, despite the weather, with our fabulous Parents Committee contributing sausages to add to the enjoyment. The Liturgy shared together, the beautiful photos of our Year 6 students from across their years at school, the speeches, poignant songs and acknowledgement of those families who are departing OLSOS for the last time was a very special celebration together in our hall.

Howick Santa Parade Many thanks for all of the support at the Dunk Tank (if support means giving your children lots of coins to try and dunk their principal!!). What a fun and festive celebration to be part of leading up to the celebration of Christmas.

End of Year Celebration Day Across the school, the second to last day of our year was filled with fun and laughter; from magicians, to bouncy castles, to wheels fun to a visit to Wero and Gravity for our seniors. The year certainly has ended with great fun!

Prizegiving 2024 To all whānau and community members of Our Lady Star of the Sea, sincere thanks for coming along last Thursday evening to our 2024 Prizegiving and nativity tableau; a true celebration of a fabulous year. Each and every student at Our Lady Star of the Sea has made great progress this year towards growing their faith, meeting learning goals, disposition goals, developing their wellbeing, and community connection. Although our prizegiving identifies a few individuals in each class and the Year 6 cohort, throughout the year, each child has been celebrated at our Monday morning prayer and certificate assemblies, and at our house assemblies where values certificates are also awarded and celebrated; all very well deserved for the efforts that have been put in across the year.
Our Prizegiving gives special acknowledgement at the end of our year – we offer congratulations to the following award recipients:

By now you should have our 2024 School Magazine to enjoy with your children over the break. We thank Sanny Wiranata for all of her hard work in creating such a taonga, filled with memories of a wonderful year.

Wishing you all a happy, safe and blessed Christmas and summer break. We look forward to welcoming you back to school on Monday 3rd February 2025.

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

Louise Campbell
Principal

Prizegiving Nativity 

What a wonderful way to end our prizegiving with a beautiful Nativity performance! Celebrating the true reason for the season.

We were reminded of the joy, peace, love and hope that Jesus’ birth brings to the world. Thank you to the children whose narration and involvement brought the story to life. 

End of Year Mass

On Tuesday, we gathered as a school community for our Thanksgiving Mass, a time to reflect and give thanks for the year that has been. It was a beautiful celebration, made even more special as we presented our Year 6 leavers with a candle provided by the Parents’ Committee. This candle serves as a reminder of their journey here at Our Lady Star of the Sea. May they fondly remember their time here with us. 

The candle ceremony symbolised the passing of leadership from the 2024 Year 6 cohort to the incoming 2025 leaders. It highlighted the responsibility they now carry to walk in Christ’s footsteps and be role models for others. Thank you to our musicians, who helped us to pray with such reverence and purpose.

Christian Witness

A sincere thank you for your generosity throughout the year. Your kindness has not only supported those in need but also taught our children the value of giving, as modelled by Jesus.

This Christmas season, we have been able to support the following charities-

Vinnies – Feed a Family This Christmas: $500

Middlemore – Put Kids First This Christmas: $500

Caring Foundation: $562

Thank you for helping us make a difference!

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

It has been an incredible year for the Parents Committee. 2024 began humbly, with uncertainty as the office holders of the Parents Committee were new to their positions, and has brought us to the end blessed and in awe. It has been a great pleasure for the Parents Committee to serve our school community this year. To our committee members – Thank you for your time and dedication. To all the staff – thank you for your guidance and assistance. To the community – thank you for your support and encouragement.

To our year 6 leavers group, we pray for Our Lord’s blessings upon you and your new journey.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!

May God bless you.

2025 Stationery

Be in to WIN $1000* when you order back to school stationery in December!

We know getting ready for the first day back at school can be a challenge for parents and children. That’s why we’ve teamed up with OfficeMax to make your back to school shop super easy. And if you order in December, you’ll go in the draw to WIN 1 of 5 $1000 cash prizes*.

Your child’s class list is already loaded. Just jump on https://www.myschool.co.nz/Starofthesea. Simply add your details, check that you want everything on the list, then click and confirm – and OfficeMax will get your delivery underway.

Order in December and choose to receive your order straight away or in January.

We encourage you to order early to ensure your child has all their stationery requirements ready to go in plenty of time for the start of Term 1.

So, go ahead and beat the back to school rush, order today and give them the best start possible.

OfficeMax makes it super easy with these great benefits.

• Free delivery on orders over $70*
• Pay now or in easy instalments – internet banking, credit card, debit card or pay in 4 interest free payments over 6 weeks with Zip^#
• School Rewards – when you shop on myschool.co.nz we earn rewards* that can be used to purchase extra resources for school
• Beat the back to school rush – avoid queues and busy malls by shopping online from the safety and comfort of your home
• WINZ quotes – available by contacting 0800 724 440 or via email [email protected]

^#Zip Pay in 4 is available to approved applicants only and subject to completion of satisfactory credit checks. For more information visit myschool.co.nz/zip. T&Cs and late fees apply. Zip Co NZ Finance Limited FSP 598969.

*T&Cs apply, see myschool.co.nz for details.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any queries about OfficeMax MySchool. We look forward to your child having a successful start to the new school year!

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JUNIOR 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! 

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Junior Athletics

We would like to congratulate Micah! He had his black belt taekwondo grading test recently and passed. Micah was awarded his black belt at the end of year ceremony this past weekend.

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Books as gifts ideas

The Sapling, a fantastic NZ website all about children’s books, has compiled a list of great books recommended by specialist booksellers throughout NZ. These would make lovely Christmas gifts.

Check out their recommendations ranging from babies right through to young adults here:

https://www.thesapling.co.nz/from-the-shop-floor-bookseller-recommendations-for-christmas/

https://www.thesapling.co.nz/from-the-shop-floor-bookseller-recommendations-for-christmas-2/

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