Kia Ora Families,

Greetings from Kawau Island! Our Year 5 and 6 students have spent the week having the experience of a lifetime, learning and growing together as they face challenges and fun times. 

Parish Connect
Huge congratulations to our students who were confirmed last Friday night and then received their First Holy Communion at the various Masses over the weekend. We keep these children in our prayers.
We continue to keep Fr John in our prayers as he recovers from his stay in hospital. Huge thanks to those members of our parish and school community who have offered help and support. Please keep the prayers coming.

Please follow this link to this Sunday’s readings.

175th Jubilee Celebrations We are thrilled with the extended celebrations of our 175th Jubilee over the last couple of weeks. See below for images of each special event.

Step Back in Time Day

Drinks and Nibbles

Memorial Mass

175th Luncheon

Jubilee Mass

Star Idol

Feast Day Mass

Huge thanks to our fabulous PTA who gifted each member of our community with a special memento of our Feast Day in 2023, the year we turn 175. Our students will remember this as a very special time for years to come.

Covid Notifications This week the Government lifted mandated isolation for Covid, however they still recommend at least 5 days isolation should a person test positive for the virus. In an effort to support the health and well being of fellow students and our staff, I ask you to stick with the recommendation of 5 days isolation and only return to school when symptoms have passed. Thank you in advance for your support in this matter.

Looking Back Huge congratulations to our fantastic Gymnastics Team who did an incredible job of representing our school strongly at the HPPA Gymnastics Competition last Friday. See later in the newsletter for results.

Wishing you God’s blessings for a safe and happy fortnight ahead when we will share our next newsletter.

Ngā mihi nui, Tōfa soifua and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

The property purchased by Bishop Cleary included 20 acres of farmland, which was planned to provide support for the orphanage. The farm had a herd of ten cows who provided milk and cream. There were two large veggie gardens along with chickens who provided eggs for the orphanage. The trees on the property supplied wood for heating and cooking. Own Priestley, a parishioner of the past whose father Robert was at one stage the manager of the farm said, “ I remember the days when the orphanage catered for 75 – 80 girls ranging from preschoolers to 18 year olds. Mass was celebrated in the chapel every morning except Sunday when everyone went to the church.”

September is upon us. On Monday 4 September we will celebrate all the men in our lives who are like Fathers to us. To all the Dad’s, Grandads, Godfathers, and big brothers, we are thankful for the love and care, fun and laughter, courage and kindness you share with us. Your love gives us a little glimpse of how God the Father feels about us. Our morning liturgy and prayer will focus on giving thanks for this.  

Prayer is at the heart of our Catholic Faith. It is one of the ways we deepen our personal relationship with God, our loving Father. Building a relationship with God, is similar to building a relationship with the people around us. We talk and we listen. If we stop doing that, we run the risk of losing the connection and weakening that relationship. Family prayer times help children to come to meet God and grow their relationship with the Lord.  All children are encouraged to join in or lead prayer in their classroom. Encourage them to do the same in your family. 

Currently, with Father John recuperating from a medical event last week, the Parish Leadership Committee has made changes to the weekend Mass times to reduce the workload all round. Starting from Saturday 26 August Masses will be celebrated in Howick on

Me whakakā to wairua kia kite a iwi katoa
You should be a shining lamp, giving light to all around you

Prayer Intention: We pray for the men in our lives that they may be role models of God’s love for us all.

Attendance Dues for Term 3 are due on 30 August.   If you have outstanding amounts owing and have not been in contact with Sue Yandell this year, please make a time to meet and discuss a payment plan for the remainder of the year.

Assistance is available for families who are experiencing financial strain.

Star of the Sea Idol

Congratulations to all of the students that stepped out of their comfort zone and gave Star Idol a go this year. We had a good amount of heat entries and were fortunate to have a fantastic final held on our open day on the 14th of August. We were treated to an afternoon of dancing, singing, yoyo tricks, musical items and plays. We are very proud of every contestant for giving something new a go. We are especially grateful to Minjae Kim, Amelia Davies, Domi Wu and Cavan Reilly and the Teachers who shared their talent in the Showcase items.

We are proud to announce the following winners…

Junior Team – Cassie Reilly from Room 8

Middle Team – joint winners  – Roseanne D’Silva from Room 16 and Mya Hillerby from Room 13

Senior Team – Mason Locke from Room 21

The overall winners were

Rosalie Naylor, Mia Yandell and Sophia Gao from Room 22 and 19.

TapuAe Challenge

Our annual TapuAe challenge was held on our Feast Day, 15th of August. It was a hard fought final between Garin House and Barbier House.

Congratulations to Barbier House – winning the title 3-0

HPPA Gymnastics Competition

Congratulations to all the middle team and senior team students who have been training since mid way through Term 2 and competed on Friday the 18th in the HPPA gymnastics competition.

Every gymnast gave their very best on the day and represented our school with pride. Our sincere thanks especially to the parents who provided transport that allowed us to get to the competition.

Our gymnasts did very well with 27 students qualifying for the champion of champion event which will be held on the 7th of September at Tri Star Gymnastics club.

The following students were commended for their performance on the day:

Year 3 Girls
1st placed individual – Amelia Davies
2nd place team – Amelia Davies, Sara Zapata and Layla Ieremia
3rd place team – Emily Crouch, Sofie Smith and Angela Li

Year 3 Boys
2nd placed individual – Odion Petelo
3rd placed individual – Jensen O’Meara
6th placed individual – Zeke Mascarenhas
7th placed individual – Reece Julia
1st place team – Zeke Mascarenhas, Reece Julia, Jensen O’Meara, Odion Petelo

Year 4 Girls
1st placed individual – Kara Chaytor
3rd placed individual – Maria Sandoval
4th placed individual – Rach Chun
1st place team – Kara Chaytor, Maria Sandoval, Rach Chun, Nina Davies
Spot Prize – Nina Davies

Year 5 Girls
5th placed individual – Sloan Hudson
3rd place team – Emily Hunter, Harper Williams, Maddy Rogers

Year 5 Boys
1st placed individual – Ethan Vorster

Year 6 Girls
3rd placed individual – Tamia Tavita-Falesiu
6th placed individual – Elise Ting
1st place team – Cherrie Che, Amaya Wickramasinghe, Rosalie Naylor, Rachael Geor
2nd place team – Tamia Tavita- Falesiu, Isobella Evans, Stella Wakefield
Spot Prize – Tamia Tavita-Falesiu

Year 6 Boys
7th placed individual – Kaisyn Dang

Fun at Camp 2 at Kawau Island

Congratulations to Kaisyn Dang who represented our school in the Interschool Speech Finals this week.  Well done Kaisyn.

NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 

2023 Winners!

Juliette MacIver won best picture book with ‘Duck goes meow’, a lively, cheerful story about a group of animal friends, with a surprising conclusion.

David Hill won the award for best junior fiction with a gripping adventure story, ‘Below’.

“Below is a white-knuckled, powerful read, from one of Aotearoa’s most exceptional storytellers.”

We have the finalists and winning books in the Information Centre and the children are enjoying reading these fantastic stories by NZ writers.

The full list of awardees can be viewed here: NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2023

As a result of the rubbish free lunch challenge 88% of children are consistently bringing rubbish free lunches to school. This is great news.  Congratulations to McAuley house, who won the house competition and enjoyed a movie and popcorn last Friday afternoon. The house point competition will continue, so keep up the hard work. The competition was very close so every rubbish free lunch counts.  Spot prizes will also be awarded to classes who are making a big effort or individuals who are committed to being rubbish free.

Earlier in the year the Environmental team completed our annual waste audit. The results of this audit showed that we are continuing to improve our levels of waste in the school. As a school we diverted 231.65 kg of waste from the landfill in the past year and reduced 47.95kg Co2e of carbon emissions.  A few areas of potential improvement were identified and as a result we provided a bin for Bizzy Bodz so that the food scraps from their fruit can be composted. We are also educating children about sorting rubbish and paper in the classroom so that all paper waste can be correctly recycled.  It is great to see so many children aware of the importance of environmental issues and living out the messages from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si.

Get ready for our next Disco!

Friday 8 September, 6-8pm in the School Hall.

$3 entry, $2 for lollies, pizza, drinks and glow sticks!

Parent’s Committee meeting

We’re starting to think ahead to 2024.  Come and join us as we look at different options. Monday 11 September at 7pm in the staffroom.

Parent’s Committee AGM

Our AGM will take place on 9 October at 7pm in the staffroom, this will be followed by our monthly meeting. Please reach out to Kate (021 771 969) or Catherine (027 533 9927) if you have questions about the Parent’s Committee.  We’d love to have you on the team!

This coming week we are asking for Lucky Dip items for class collections.  At the end of our collections weeks, the class who has collected the most over the weeks will be TREATED TO PIZZA FOR LUNCH.

GALA RAFFLE TICKETS

Thankyou to the families who have already returned their raffle ticket butts and money.  There are plenty more tickets available to sell and the family who sell the most raffle tickets will be treated to a RIDE TO SCHOOL IN A POLICE CAR.  Requests for more tickets can be by a note with the sold tickets or by emailing:  [email protected]

Raffle prizes:    1st prize – $1,000.00
2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th prizes – $100.00 each.

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McAuley High School 60th Jubilee Celebrations

September 23rd 2023

An invitation to all past students and teachers to attend.

It’s your ONE chance to catch up

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by

Email: [email protected] for more details

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