Dear Families,

Welcome to our third newsletter of Term 3 rounding off our sixth week of the term. It is hard to believe that we are only a month away from the next school holidays.

Parish | School Connect Two weekends ago we welcomed over 50 young people into full fellowship in our Church as they completed the Sacraments of Initiation in the form of Confirmation and First Communion. I wish to congratulate all who were welcomed into full participation as members of our Catholic faith. The celebration of Confirmation on the Friday evening with Bishop Steve and subsequent Masses on Sunday where the children made their First Communion, also celebrated by Bishop Steve, were wonderful experiences of connection between school and parish and most importantly, connection between families and their faith practices and our students and their relationship with their God. Bishop Steve did a fabulous job of assisting our young people in truly grasping the essence of the sacraments they were receiving and the connection to lived experience as faith filled people of the Church. We continue to keep these children and their families in our prayers.
Click here for this Sunday’s readings.

Community Dreaming Day – Saturday 10th September 2pm to 4pm
Your Board and staff are very much looking forward to hosting you all on Saturday 10th September as we dream big for our students and our school. We are lucky to have the support of Sancta Maria College senior students who will run games on the field for the children, with the PTA providing pizzas for them and afternoon tea for the adults. Come along and be part of shaping our school direction. Our 4 strategic goals are detailed below under the headings ‘Our School Our Culture’, ‘Our School Our Learning’, ‘Our School Our Community’, and ‘Our School Our Hauora | Wellbeing’. On the day, Board and school staff will update you on activity over the last three years that has brought each goal to life. Your contribution will help us to understand whether each goal is still relevant, whether they need to be refined or updated and what we can add to our approach towards our school goals over the next three years for the betterment of our learning community.

HPPA Dance Festival. Last week the Our Lady Star of the Sea staff did a great job of hosting the HPPA Dance Festival. It was all hands on deck over two nights as hosts, from parking wardens, ticket takers, looking after dance troops while they waited for their performances, ushering 650 guests, and ensuring dancers moved safely on and off the stage for their performances. The team really did a fabulous job as hosts with many positive comments from families from the 14 other local schools who participated related to how smoothly the evening ran and how warm, welcoming and helpful our team was as hosts – Our staff truly embody the values and dispositions of our school and model these to all they encounter.
Lilly Evans and Chloe Kendrick Jones, two of our Year 6 students choreographed a fabulous routine performed by 14 of our girls as part of the event – they also did us so proud! Please read more and enjoy the photos later in this newsletter under the ‘News from Outside the Classroom’ section.

HPPA Speech Competition  Tyler Dreaver competed at the HPPA Speech Competition last week. He was up against 12 others in the Speech competition and presented with confidence and clarity. Well done Tyler!

HPPA Zone Gymnastics Competition This week our Gymnastic Team competed at the HPPA Zone Gymnastics Competition. This was a tough competition with our Gymnastics Team doing us proud both as competitors and for the way they conducted themselves with our school values and great sportsmanship on the day! A number of our students have made it through to the Auckland Champion of Champions Competition.
Special congratulations to the following students who came in the first three places in the competition as individuals: Kara Chaytor 3rd place Year 3 girls, Maddy Rogers 2nd place Year 4 girls, and Ethan Vorster 1st place Year 4 boys. Congratulations also to the Year 4 Girls Team 2 who came 1st, Year 4 Girls Team 1 who came 2nd, and the Year 3 Girls Team 1 who came 3rd. See further details and photos later in this newsletter under the ‘News from Outside the Classroom’ section.

South East Christian Kāhui Ako Kapa Haka Festival Last night our Kapa Haka Group shared the stage at the South East Christian Kāhui Ako Kapa Haka Festival. This celebration of Te Ao Māori shared with many of the partner schools and ECEs in our local Kāhui Ako was a fabulous night of celebration. Our Kapa Haka performers presented their items with such passion and confidence. Again, another moment of great pride as our students really did their very best!

Gala – let the fun begin! Thank you, thank you thank you!!  So far we have had a fabulous response to our request for gala items – your support is truly wonderful!

Please don’t forget our Container Dates where you are welcome to drop off larger items, games, clothing etc (rather than these coming into classrooms). Remember how helpful it is to bring these items to the container in labeled bags or boxes so we can store them in an order that is easily unpacked ready for the big day.
Classroom collections Please also see the list of items we are looking for the children to bring in weekly to add to our gala stalls. These items will be collected each Friday with points given to the class for items brought in. The winning class will get a pizza lunch at the end of this term. Adding one or two items to your weekly shop would really support our efforts to make this gala a great event for our school community. We very much appreciate your support.

Looking Ahead Next week we celebrate Tongan Language Week. The theme this year is sustaining the Tongan language in Aotearoa. On Monday at the start of the school day we celebrate Fathers Day with a special Fathers Day Liturgy hosted by Rms 22, 10 and 12. All Fathers welcome with morning tea in the staffroom afterwards.We are very much looking forward to hosting families at our Community Dreaming Day on Saturday September 10th 2pm to 4pm. I encourage one and all to come along to experience community, meet other school families, hear about the wonderful work that has been going on at school and give voice to our school direction over the next three years.  The following week is the 50th year of celebrating our Bicultural nation through our nation’s annual Māori Language Week Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. The theme of this year is also related to sustaining the Māori Language in Aotearoa. Our qualifying Gymnasts attend the Champion of Champions Gymnastics Competition on Thursday 15th September. We wish them the very best of luck!

Wishing you all a safe and happy fortnight ahead.

Be safe and God bless.

Ngā mihi nui and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

Your new Board had its first meeting this week. We are very much looking forward to seeing you all at the Community Dreaming Day on Saturday 10th September from 2pm to 4pm where we can work together to give voice to assist us to plan for the next three years.

Introducing your School Board:

Fr John Fitzmaurice has been a member of our School Board since he began as Parish Priest of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish 6 years ago. We are grateful for his wisdom and passion for the Catholic faith and for the education of our children here at school.

Hola OLSOS Community, my name is Vaughan Fraser and I have the privilege to serve a 2^nd term on the Board. I was elected Board Chair (Presiding Member) at this week’s meeting. I have a 10yr old son in year 6 and we are members of the school’s parish. I look forward to what we can achieve collectively over the next 3 years. See you all at the upcoming Community Dreaming day.

Hi, I’m Alina, the deputy chairperson on your Board.  I currently have two children at school, Marceline in Year 2, Caleb in Year 5, and 3 year old Peyton is yet to start. My background is Leadership in the Financial Services industry, specifically Insurance and Banking, and alongside this we currently own the Lone Star restaurant at Alexandra Park in Greenlane. I’ve loved serving on your board for the last four and a half years, and am looking forward to continuing to contribute in the future.

Hi, I’m Sharon Yeh and I am a Parent Representative on your Board.  I have been a Board member for about a year now and have been re-appointed.  I have 2 children at OLSOS; Marcus in year 5 and Erika in year 2.  Besides from being a busy mum, my other ‘day job’ is working in Finance.  I really enjoy supporting our school through participating as a Trustee.  I’m looking forward to meeting more of our school community at our upcoming Community Dreaming Day!

My name is Linda McQuade and it is my privilege to serve on the Board as a Bishop’s Appointee. As a member of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish, I serve on the Parish Pastoral Council and am the Parish’s Safeguarding coordinator. My passion is Catholic education. I served as Bishop Pat Dunn’s Vicar for Education for 15 years and previous to that was Principal at Marist College and McAuley High School.

My name is Anil D’Silva and I am one of the Bishop’s Appointee on your school board. I live in Cockle Bay with my wife Joanne and two children Andrew and Roseanne. Andrew was a student at Star of the Sea and is now in year eight at Sacred Heart College and Roseanne is in year two at our school. I am humbled, honoured and privileged to represent the Special Character of the school on your board.

Nihao, my name is David Wu. My family has been in the Star Family for over six years. My eldest son, Tino, just graduated from school last year. And my younger son, Domi, is in Year 3 now, studying in Room 13.The Star Family is a large community that connects the communities of different ethnicities. I would like to be a bridge between them, especially with the Asian community. Thank you!

Kia ora I’m Lucy Rogers. My husband Phil and I have one child Maddy in year 4 at Our Lady Star of the Sea School.
I originally qualified as a Primary school teacher and have worked in the private and public sector in various roles since. I am now in my seventh year at Sancta Maria College as Head of Department, Careers and Transition. I love being part of a school community and working with our wonderful students helping them to find the right career pathway after school. Having had experience in the education sector I understand the challenges facing our schools. I look forward to working with the board, staff and whanau  and supporting our fantastic school.

My name is Bryan Mills. Both my wife Robynne and I grew up on the East coast of South Africa, in the heart of Africa’s biggest dairy area so moving to New Zealand five years ago seemed like moving from home to home. We have two fantastic and adventurous children Matthew, who is currently at Sacred Heart College and Julia who is in year five at Our Lady Star of the Sea. One of our main reasons for coming to New Zealand and settling here is because of the Catholic education offered here. Catholicism and Catholic Education are topics close to my heart and I look forward to serving the community at Our Lady Star of the Sea through the Board of Trustees.

Kia Ora. My name is Maria Kelly and I am the new staff representative on your school board. I work in the middle team as a Year 4 teacher and I am based in Room 15 at our school. I live in Howick with my husband Shaun and our 2-year-old, Charlie. We also have a furry baby called George. I originally hail from Ireland and have lived in Australia and New Zealand since 2009. I am very honoured to sit as the staff representative on your school board.

Congratulations to all the students in Years 4-6 who took on the challenge of sitting the ICAS tests this term.We have received two sets of results and we are very proud of all our students.

Special congratulations to the following students who performed extremely well.

Over the last six weeks our gymnasts have been training in their own time to learn a number of different routines on the beam, the floor, the vault and the bar (boys).

On Wednesday this week these students competed in the HPPA gymnastics competition. We were on Day 1 of a 3 day competition. We were very proud of all our gymnasts especially in the way they displayed our school values and represented our school with pride.

Individual place getters…

We were also lucky enough to be awarded some spot prizes on the day for sportsmanship and resilience.

Congratulations to Mya Hillerby and Isobella Evans who received a sportsmanship prize and Alicia Back who was noted for showing resilience.

Congratulations gymnasts – hard work and perseverance certainly pays off!

Dance Festival

Last Monday and Tuesday evening a group of very brave Year 5 and 6 girls performed at the HPPA Dance Festival in front of an audience of more than 650 people. This group trained hard for over 8 weeks learning a routine that was choreographed by our very own Year 6 students Lilly Evans and Chloe Kendrick-Jones.

All the girls did an amazing job and we were very proud of how well they represented our school. These girls will be sharing their talent again when they perform this dance as part of the Senior Team production.

Students involved were Lilly Evans, Chloe Kendrick-Jones, Daisy Baragwanath, Gaia Carrozzino, Isabella Dellabarca, Ruby Burnnand, Hayley Davids, Isobella Evans, Theresa Matthew, Julia Mills, Amalie Pratley, Tamia Tavita-Falesiu, Elise Ting and Stella Wakefield.

Last week we launched our Rubbish Free lunch challenge.  Thank you for supporting our students to grow their understanding of waste and recycling as we take steps towards having zero waste at school.   It was amazing to track the number of rubbish free lunches increase as the week went on and as more families jumped onboard! Thank you! Congratulations to Room 15 who was the class with the highest number of rubbish free lunches this week.
Last year our Enviro Team started this mahi and worked with a wonderful organisation Clean Plate.  Fern Pereira guided our team, along with other local schools to create an e-book full of recipes to help you provide lunches that are healthy and rubbish free. Here are the links to a promo video and the recipe book for some inspiration.
Clean Plate Less Waste Lunchbox E-Cookbook – https://www.cleanplate.co.nz/e-cookbook
Promo video: https://youtu.be/kwG2x4VJ674

Thank you – Millie, Charlotte and Miss Marten

We have been celebrating wonderful NZ authors and were excited to hear the winners of this years Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

We are lucky to have all of these books in our Information Centre and we were proud to see ex OLSOS pupil and Howick local, Leonie Agnew won the Junior Fiction category with her fantasy novel, The Memory Thief.