IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER
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NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Dear Families, Wènhòu Jiātíng,
This newsletter finds us at the end of our final week of Term 3.
This week we have had much to celebrate!
Firstly we have celebrated Chinese Language Week, learning and sharing the language and culture in our classrooms.
We also celebrated many great successes since our last fortnightly newsletter.
You will read details later in our newsletter about the HPPA Mandarin and Cantonese speech competition with special congratulations to Amber Law who came first with her Cantonese speech and Steve Rui who came third in the Mandarin competition.
You will read how our Mathex maths team obtained 5th place in a tough competition amongst 24 teams from other schools, an outstanding effort.
You will read that our Year 3 gymnastics team came third place in the Auckland-wide Champion of Champions Gymnastics competition, another outstanding achievement.
You will also read and see images of our incredible Year 5 / 6 Team production Birds of a Feather.
Not only are our students outstanding in their achievements, but they are also outstanding in the way they present themselves and represent the values of our school when they are competing and performing.
Year 5/6 Team Production Every member of our Year 5 and 6 team contributed to an amazing production week this week. From dress rehearsal to two evening performances and a matinee across the course of this week, every student gave their very best.
The author, Sally Sutton came to the first evening performance (which is the first time the play has been performed) and commented that it is not often she sees one of her plays performed better than she could have imagined – she called it incredible!
My sincere thanks to Heather Collins and her Year 5 / 6 Team who have worked tirelessly to put this production together. Special thanks to Ralph and Gill for their light and sound expertise, to Petra Fsadni who put together many of the props and fabulous scenery, truly bringing the production to life. Thanks to the staff of the Senior Team, Rebecca Sentch, Helen Burger, Zahira Salejee, Ruth Holt, Anne Marie Harvey, Maria Allan, Zelda Chun, and Helen Penney alongside Heather who have worked tirelessly on preparing the singing, choreography, costumes, props, sound and lighting. Thanks to the amazing parent helpers who sewed many a feather boa onto a costume and for the clever logistics (for example; 8 men, a flatbed truck and a hydraulic lift to get Tane Mahuta’s Tree in situ). Our students did a fabulous job all week – they deserve a well-earned rest over the holidays (as do our school staff!). They are rightly proud of themselves!
Community Dreaming Day Today, you will have received a summary of the content delivered and parent voice gathered from our Community Dreaming strategic thinking day held on September 10th. The online consultation period extends from now through to Friday 28th October. If you were not able to attend on the day, please email lcam[email protected] if you would like to add to the voice gathered on the day.
GALA we are rapidly approaching our Gala which is on Saturday 29th October from 10am to 2pm. Keep the donations rolling in! We are so grateful for the items that have been coming into the classrooms and the larger items being dropped off in our containers.
See here for our remaining container days. Over the holidays we encourage you to clean out any unwanted, gently used items and bring them in, and to create a ‘jolly jar’ with your children – a fun craft activity to do over the holidays for a very popular Gala item to sell on the day. The Gala team have shared inspirational ideas for these in their latest flyer.
To all families, wishing you a very happy and safe holiday over the next two weeks. We look forward to recommencing school for Term 4 on Monday 17th October.
Be safe and God bless.
Ngā mihi nui and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,
Louise Campbell
Principal
NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
At the recent Community Dreaming day the Culture table, which focussed on the Special Character of our school, we shared the three dimensions which all Catholic Schools work towards meeting. They are ‘Encounter with Christ’, ‘Growth in Knowledge’ and ‘Catholic Witness’. People asked for more information around the dimension Encounter with Christ and what that looks like for young learners, adults and families. The Catholic Special Character Evaluation for Development document explains that to encounter Christ is the most important event that can happen to a person. We constantly encounter Christ through the messages in the Gospel, through Scripture, the Sacraments and actions of love, mercy and justice. All of these help us to come to know Jesus personally. Pope Francis tells us when we spend time talking to Jesus and listening to Jesus, we come to know him more and more. Pretty simple really.
Building a relationship takes time and energy. It is very hard to get to know someone if we don’t spend time with them. Every day students have the opportunity to spend time with Jesus – Encounter Christ – through prayer, reading scripture and living out our school values. Our students are introduced to different forms of prayer such as meditation, personal prayer, traditional prayer and contemplation. Students in year 2 – 6 have a prayer journal in which they can record their thoughts and prayers. These things take place at school, but what about at home? It has often been said, the family that prays together stays together. Why not encourage your children to lead family prayer time. They are very confident and competent at doing this. Make sure your children see you pray, read scripture, and receive the Sacraments. There is no greater model for them than to see their parents living their faith.
GREAT NEWS. The final section of the outdoor Stations of the Cross has been enhanced by the completion of the boardwalk behind the information
centre and around to the Chapel space. Work is now underway to complete the area with planting. Many thanks to our Board for funding this work. The prayerful use of the outdoor Stations of the Cross walk is another way to Encounter Christ. Members of our parish school community are welcome to use this space.
Recently the vestment dresser from the old school Chapel has been gifted back to our school. We thank the Gallagher family for their generosity. The dresser is now in pride of place in our school Chapel space. Feel free to come in and admire it.
Mea ana te atawhai haere mai i runga i te aroha me te awhi
Mercy invites us to love and to care
Prayer Intention: We pray for the gift of a generous heart and mind, enabling us to be of service and support to those in the wider community who are in need.
NEWS FROM YOUR BOARD
Kia Ora Whanau,
My name is Maria Kelly and I am the staff representative on your board. You may have seen my profile in a recent newsletter, please feel free to stop and say hello if you see me around the school. It’s great to be a part of the board. Your new Board held our second meeting this week.
The Special Character report was presented and accepted with special thanks to Detta Fairweather and the staff for their continued efforts in rolling out the new RE Curriculum. Principal Louise Campbell shared the updated Annual Plan which was accepted by the board. Louise also shared the exciting news that our school boardwalk which goes round the back of Rooms 3, 2, and 1 leading to our Chapel area is complete ready for landscaping and mulch, which you may have seen at school this week, to go on either side of the boardwalk.
The intention and risk assessment to take our Year 5 and 6 students on a school camp to Kawau Island in February 2023 was presented and accepted by the board. We know the kids are already talking and getting excited about the idea of a school camp next year.
The staff and board would like to give a huge thank you to those who attended the community dreaming day. It was a pleasure to see our community come and work together to gather information to shape our strategic goals for 2023 and our action plan for the next three years. A summary of the information will be shared over the coming few days. If you were unable to attend you can still have your input. The consultation period will be opened online for those who couldn’t make it on the day to contribute.
Maria Kelly
Board Staff Rep
NEWS FROM THE P.T.A.
Exciting news below !!!
SAVE THE DATES !!!
Disco !!!
Friday 11th November.
Full school DISCO.
We have lots of fun planned !!
More info to follow.
HOT DOG LUNCHES
Wednesday 16th November
Wednesday 30th November.
Nicole Kelly.
PTA Chairperson.
ATTENDANCE DUES
ATTENDANCE DUES ASSISTANCE
We are finalising our applications to the Auckland Catholic Diocese for Financial Assistance for Attendance Dues.
Financial assistance is available to assist families who may need financial support with the payment of Attendance Dues for preference students attending Catholic schools in Auckland Diocese.
Families facing financial difficulties can contact their school office – [email protected], their Parish Priest, or Auckland Common Fund Ltd at the Catholic Diocese of Auckland on 09-360-3069 for further information.
Click here to download a financial assistance application form.
NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOM
Mathex
Congratulations to Tyler Dreaver, Julian Xiao, William Chen and Austin Jiang who represented our school in the HPPA Mathex competition. There were 24 schools involved. Our team did incredibly well scoring 85 points placing them 5th out of 24 teams. We are very proud of these boys for doing so well and representing our school with pride.
First Language Speeches
Two of our Year 5 students, Amber Law and Steve Rui presented speeches at the HPPA Mandarin and Cantonese Speech Competition. Both students worked very hard in their own time to write their speeches and were outstanding representatives of our school.
Congratulations to Amber Law who came 1st in the HPPA Cantonese speech competition and Steve Rui who came 3rd in the Mandarin speech competition. We are very proud of both these students.
NEWS FROM OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Senior Team Production; “Birds of a Feather”
There was bad news on KRAZi T.V. this week in the school hall…“The Baddies” were bringing in the bulldozers to build a carpark! The birds of Manu Bush had to put aside their differences, unite with Doc and Ranger to keep out the rat, and work together to save their home…or was the bush to be destroyed forever? The senior students in Rooms 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23 collaborated and creatively put on a show bigger than ‘Ben-Hur’ to delight their supportive audiences four times this last week. We are SO proud of the achievements that every student has made and hope that you managed to see this sustainable show which celebrated the arts and concept learning we have been undertaking this year.
Champion of Champion Gymnastics
A group of eager gymnasts headed over to Tri Star gymnastics club last Wednesday to compete in the Auckland School Gymnastics competition.
We were very proud of all our gymnasts who represented our school with pride and demonstrated resilience and perseverance. We thank the fabulous parents who transported the gymnasts to and from the event and Miss Curtain who supported the gymnasts on the day.
Special congratulations to our Year 3 girls who took out 3rd Team on the day
Students who took part…
Year 3 Girls
Kara Chaytor |
Year 4 Girls
Harper Williams Year 4 Boys Ethan Vorster |
Year 5 Girls
Isobella Evans |
Year 6 Girls
Selina Liu |
Congratulations to all our gymnasts.
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KEY DATES
TERM DATES
Term 1 Starts | Tuesday, 31 January 2023 |
Term 1 Finishes | Thursday, 6 April 2023 |
Term 2 Starts | Monday, 24 April 2023 |
Term 2 Finishes | Friday, 30 June 2023 |
Term 3 Starts | Monday, 17 July 2023 |
Term 3 Finishes | Friday, 22 September 2023 |
Term 4 Starts | Monday, 9 October 2023 |
Term 4 Finishes | Friday, 15 December 2023 |
TEACHER ONLY DAY | Monday, 13 November 2023 |
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Situations Vacant – Archivist/Archives Manager/Privacy Officer – Pompallier Diocesan Centre
We are seeking to recruit a proactive and committed Archivist/Archives Manager/Privacy Officer.
This role is full time and provides an exciting opportunity to manage and utilise our Archive Collection by providing appraisal, recording and direct safekeeping of permanent records and historically valuable Church documents and Museum Artifacts. The role also has co-responsibility as Privacy Officer for ensuring the Diocese complies with the Privacy Act 2020.
We’re looking for a people person with demonstrated experience and knowledge of established practice in Archives (appraisal, cataloguing, accession, standards of care and storage of art and artifacts). Knowledge of operation of museums, libraries, heritage management and information/records management. Sound understanding of digitisation systems and awareness of relevant IT development. Excellent research capabilities and with relevant degree with a tertiary postgraduate qualification in Archives, Records, or Information Management.
Please visit the Diocesan website www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz Diocesan Services, Staff Vacancies to view the full advert and position description.
During the October school holidays we run a Football Holiday Programme in East Auckland at Bucklands Beach Football club which welcomes kids from all over East Auckland. Follow the sign up link.
Tutor Classes Term 4
lasses that are run after school that provide an affordable and fun way for your child to explore areas they may be passionate about. Classes range from 30 minutes to 1 hour and range from musical, art and language.
How do I sign my child up to a class?
Email Ashley at [email protected] to sign up your child to a class. Your tutor will be in touch if they have available space. Children who have already been in the tutor’s class get first pick and then new students get any spare spaces.
Here is our list of classes for Term 4! If you wish to sign up your child, please email Ashley at [email protected] to check class availability. Your child is welcome to join the class from Week 1 (starting Monday of 17th of October). Classes run until week 8 (starting Monday 5th of December).
Tuesday
Art: Explore Chinese |
Wednesday
Ukulele: Beginners Guitar: Beginners Singing: Explore |
Thursday
Drama |
Friday
Art: Realism and Abstract |
Please note that classes will only go ahead if we have enough interest.
ALL CLASSES START WEEK ONE OF TERM 4. PAYMENT FOR CLASSES ARE DUE TO INDIVIDUAL TUTORS BEFORE 19th OCTOBER 2022.
Tutors will send bank account details to parents once your child is confirmed in their class.
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