Kia Ora, Ni Hao, Bula Vinaka, Malo e lelei, Kia Orana, Tālofa, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Bonjour, Xin Chao, and Kumusta Whānau,

Welcome to our second newsletter of Term 3 in 2026. Happy Feast Day, ahead of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary which is officially celebrated in our Church tomorrow, August 15th. Mary is our Patron Saint, so this day is a special day for us as a school.

We marked this special day with a multitude of fun and special activities. Our staff began the day sharing breakfast and prayer before decorating the school so that, on arrival, our children and whānau knew that this was a significant day. Prior to our whole school busing to our Parish Church to celebrate a beautiful Mass together, buddy classes engaged in activities connected to our Mother Mary. The hotly contested house Tapu Ae final was played with Garin taking out the trophy for this year. On our return from Mass, after lunch our annual talent quest, Star Idol saw many showcase items as well as competition items, not to mention there may have been some staff line-dancing at one point!! Huge congratulations to all who participated, and especially to Isabella Thomas who won Junior Idol, Amelia Davies who won Senior Idol, and to Mila and Shyla Burr who were the 2026 Our Lady Star of the Sea Star Idol Overall Winners! Please enjoy some photos of our special day.

Parish Connect It was great to see all of the students preparing for making their Confirmation and First Communion, alongside their families at 5.30pm Mass on Sunday for their final class before being Confirmed and receiving their First Communion next weekend. The Bishop will be Confirming these children on Friday 21st August at 7pm with First Communion Masses held across the weekend. Your continued prayers for these children and their families are much appreciated.

Please follow this link for this Sunday’s readings to read and discuss as a family.

School Cross Country Last Wednesday, a very chilly day, saw our school cross country competition take place. Our children (and staff!), did themselves proud with their resilience and courage on the day. The results of the competition are included later in this newsletter. Please enjoy some images of the day here.

HPPA Cross Country Our cross country team, selected based on our school cross country did us so proud at the HPPA Zone Cross Country on Tuesday of this week. Their sportmanship was on full display all day and we had some great results. Special congratulations to Anya O’Meara who came first place and Tillie Koloamatangi who came 2nd in the Year 4 girls race, Eli Baird who came 10th in the Year 4 boys, with Jensen O’Meara placing 6th in the Year 6 boys and Amelia Davies obtaining 5th place in the Year 6 girls races. These runners were competing against over 100 competitors per race. Our Year 4 girls and Year 6 boys teams both placed third overall in their divisions – great results all round. Please see later in the newsletter for more details.

Hot Dog Lunch Huge thanks to our fabulous PTA team for whipping up a tasty hot dog lunch for the school on Thursday of last week – a very popular lunch treat option once a term! We are so grateful for all you do PTA!

Senior Speeches Two Friday’s ago our school held our annual Proclaiming the Word Competition and last Thursday our senior school held their annual speech competition. The calibre of speakers and speeches was excellent at both events this year making the selection of a person to represent us at the Auckland Catholic Proclaiming The Word Competition and the HPPA Speech Competition very challenging. Well done to Cara McGuire who will be representing us at the Proclaiming the Word Competition and to Jake Jinomon who will represent us at the HPPA Speech Competition. Read later in the newsletter for more details about both competitions.

Catholic Caring Foundation Mass On Wednesday our Liturgy Leadership Team attended the annual Catholic Caring Foundation Mass held at Christ the King Parish in Mt Roskill. This Mass acknowledges all of the schools who raise money to support the Foundation as well as those organisations in our local community who are recipients of grants from the Foundation in order to carry out their important Christian Outreach activities, supporting the poor and marganalised in our community. As part of the Mass, our two Liturgy Team Leaders, Zeke and Junia Rose, took up the offertory. Each member of the Liturgy Leadership Team was called by name to receive a blessing and a certificate from the Bishop  to acknowledge their leadership of Christian Outreach activities at our school which support the Foundation.

Looking Ahead 
Next week we look forward to celebrating Tonga Language Week next week. Look out for the Tongan flag which will be flying beneath our school flag out the front of the bus bay all week, with fun learning activities taking place in classes throughout the week.
Next Friday is Twilight Market Mufti Day – wear your own clothes to school and bring along a large bar of chocolate (or donate money that we can purchase chocolate with in preparation for the ever-popular chocolate trailer on the evening of the Twilight Market.
We will undergo whole school lockdown training next week. Please keep an eye out for the communication that goes with this trial via email and our website – we are ably supported by the team at Harrison Tew through these annual training sessions in order for our staff and children to be best prepared should circumstances necessitate the school to enter a lockdown to keep those at school safe.
We are very much looking forward to the Parenting Place parent presentation entitled ‘Kind Firm Calm Parenting’ on Tuesday 18th August, next week – this is a free parent information evening, 7pm in our school hall, run by the Parenting Place and is highly recommended for all parents to attend, follow the link to register.

The following week we have our Year 4 to 6 students going to MOTAT over the course of the week as well as our Term 3 PTA Disco on Friday 28th August to look forward to.

I wish you a safe and blessed fortnight ahead, until we next share news and updates from our beautiful school in our next school newsletter.

Arohanui, Zhù hǎo, ‘Ofa lahi atu,  Tōfa soifua, Cordialement, Loloma levu, Fakaue lahi, 안부 인사를 전합니다 , salamat po

Louise Campbell
Tumuaki/Principal

Encounter with Christ:
The Feast of the Assumption is our school and parish Patronal Feast. It is the day we honour Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Mother of us all, as we remember how she was assumed into heaven, body and soul.  After celebrating his first Mass on arrival to New Zealand, Bishop Pompallier placed our country under her protection. Mary is a person of special focus for Catholics. She is not only Jesus’ Mother, but she is ours too. Pope Leo XIV describes the Virgin Mary as the “perfect model, member, and mother of the Church”  She heard the word of God and acted on it. We too are called to do this as followers of Jesus. Her life would not have been an easy one. Like many today she knew hardship, poverty and heartbreak. Yet she also knew love, joy and peace. Her life story is a model for us of maia, manaaki, tika, awhina, and ngawari. We look forward to celebrating a special Feast Day Mass,  Friday 14 August, 11am in the Parish Church, Parkhill Road, Howick. Join us if you can. Donations for the foodbank are appreciated

Around 35 of our children will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation next Friday with Bishop Steve presiding. Over the regular Masses next weekend, they will then receive the Sacrament of  First Holy Communion. We congratulate them and welcome them into the church as fully participating members of the Church. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Growth in Knowledge:
The Proclaiming the Word in house competition took place last week. The competition was strong. The judges noted that since the start of  this competition, around 10 years ago, the level of our students’ ability to proclaim the word has greatly improved.  Congratulations to Cara McGuire who will represent our school at the Auckland Catholic Primary Schools Proclaiming the Word competition. 

Christian Witness:
The Caring Foundation is  guided by gospel values and by Christ’s message “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did to me”. (Matthew 25:40) This week during the Caring Foundation Mass at Owairaka Parish, our school LIturgy Team was acknowledged by Bishop Steve for the work they have done, leading the school by ‘seeing a need and doing something about it.’ Congratulations to Zeke, Junia, Amaara, Roxanne, Ariel, Orlando, Jake, Logan, Nastasia, Roseanne and Ava.  Thank you for your service. 

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

There are plenty of community messages to explore! Click the arrows to view all notices.