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

Welcome to our second newsletter of Term 4. There have been lots of great happenings at our beautiful school and it is my pleasure to share some of them with you here in this fortnight’s newsletter.

Parish Update Last Tuesday we held a school assembly to bid farewell to Fr John before he heads away from our Parish and school, moving to Christ the King in Owairaka in early November. The school gifted Fr John with a special farewell book made up of a page of messages per class as well as his own OLSOS leaving certificate and a pounamu in the koru shape representing new beginnings. We will very much miss him and his support of our school and wish him all of God’s blessings as he moves to his new parish.
The Parish farewell for Fr John will be after 9am Mass this Sunday, November 2nd in the parish centre.
Next Saturday evening, November 8th at 6pm will be Fr Robert’s first Mass at our Parish. We are invited to the Mass where a Mihi Whakatau will take place as part of Fr Robert’s welcome to our parish.
Next Sunday morning, November 9th we are also invited to 10am Mass at Christ the King in Owairaka where we as a parish will hand Fr John over to his new parish followed by morning tea afterwards.

Follow this link to read and discuss the messages of this Sunday’s Mass readings with your family.

Twilight Market Two Fridays ago our Twilight Market took place, and what an event it was! Thousands of parishioners, locals, past families and current families converged on our school to enjoy the delicious food, play a game or two, buy a cake, a plant, try their luck at the quick fire raffle, browse the market stalls, catch up with old friends and soak up the atmosphere and beautiful springtime weather. Thanks to the efforts of the organising team, the generosity and support of our community and those who attended we raised $27,000!!!
We are most grateful to our organising team Michelle Espinosa, Vanessa Mori, Shasta Dang, Bernice Chiam, Zoe Faulkner, Sarah Westerlund, Narae Hong, Ranjana Surplis, Laura Shaw and Karen Noble-Campbell for all of their efforts across the year to bring together such a successful evening, supported by wonderful stall leaders and stall helpers on the night – we cannot thank you all enough.
Please enjoy the photos here, taken just before the market opened as the stalls were set up.

Ms Mori, Principal for the Day Last Monday Ms Mori fulfilled her responsibilities as Principal for the Day with great skill! As the winner of the prize due to her superb Twilight Market raffle ticket selling skills, she shook the hands of certificate recipients at assembly, attended an administration meeting, gave the school an extra ten minutes of morning tea play, and did duty to cover the teachers alongside Mrs Noble-Campbell and myself. She made the official ‘thank you’ to the Twilight Market organising team on behalf of the school community as well as visited each class promoting frozen Fridays this term. Thank you Ms Mori for doing such a great job!

Congratulations to Harper Berry who won the ‘Write On’ writing competition recently – a great achievement Harper, we are so proud! Congratulations to Mya Hillerby who also came highly commended. See later in the newsletter for more details.

Sancta Maria College Top Scholars and Leadership Roles for 2026. Huge congratulations to our past pupils who have obtained top scholars for 2025, and leadership roles for next year at Sancta Maria College.
Congratulations to top scholars in Year 11 Kari Chun, Ruiqi Jiang, Yulia Kwon. In Year 12 Aaron Santoso, and in Year 13 Sofia Bryan, Summer Earl and Greer Sullivan.
Congratulations to the following trophy winners: Year 12 St Catherine’s Trophy for Academic Excellence Aaron Santoso, Proxime Accessit Trophy for Academic Excellence Greer Sullivan, DUX St Catherine’s Trophy for Academic Excellence Sofia Bryan and the Navigator Award Luke McEnteer.
We also acknowledge and celebrate alongside Aaron Santoso as Head Boy and Mia Tay-Morrison as Head Girl for the 2026 academic year. Kiarna Makoare obtained the leadership role of Deputy Head Girl, Community, Lyla Latay Head of House, Waitemata, Connor Kumitau Sports Prefect and Siobhan O’Rourke Sports Prefect in 2026.
We are thrilled to see our past pupils rising into these scholarship and leadership positions in their college years.

Community Dreaming Day 2026 – Save the Date: Saturday 7th March from 2pm to 4pm please secure this date and time in your calendar. We are very much looking forward to reviewing our goals and activity over the past three years, and planning forward for activity in the next three years at this important strategic planning day – there will be food and entertainment for the children while the adults come together to share and dream big for our school. More details to come closer to the time.

Measles Update You will have seen in the media that Measles is circulating and is very contagious. There is now measles in Northland, Auckland, Manawatu, Nelson and Wellington and the Ministry of Health are expecting further cases across New Zealand. While not present in our school, it is important for us to be alert for symptoms of fever, cough, runny nose, sore eyes and a blotchy rash. Anyone with measles symptoms must stay home and seek urgent advice by ringing their doctor or Healthline on 0800 611 116. Anyone who is closely exposed to a measles case and is not immunised must stay at home. Health New Zealand will provide individuals with advice on a case by case basis. People are considered immune to measles after having two doses of a measles vaccine from 12 months or older, or if you have had measles before. I encourage you to check your own and your children’s immunisation status. For more information please follow this link: Measles immunity – Health New Zealand
It is also timely to share with you a poster to support you as families in the identification of certain infectious illnesses and what to do in each case. Please see later in the newsletter for the poster. Having this poster handy is timely as we have recently had a couple of cases of chicken pox pop up in our community – this is not a notifiable disease, but one that we need to be alert to for symptoms and that requires a careful response as families.

Looking Ahead We are very much looking forward to having Mr Andrew Chinn at school on Monday of next week working with all of our students. Andrew is responsible for writing many of the upbeat and engaging Religious Education based songs that we use in class and in celebrating Masses and liturgies at school. He is a gifted song writer, great entertainer, and most importantly, assists our children to understand many of the Religious Education concepts, ideals, and bible references through his gift of song.

We are also looking forward to better weather next Tuesday for our Senior Athletics Day.
We wish our Year 1 and 2 classes well as they journey up to our parish Church, attend Mass and learn more about our place of worship with a Church tour, taking place both today and into next week.

I wish you a safe and blessed fortnight ahead until the next opportunity to share news about what is happening in our beautiful school, in our next newsletter.

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

Louise Campbell
Tumuaki/Principal

 JUBILEE YEAR OF HOPE

Patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, sustains our hope and strengthens it as a virtue and a way of life. May we learn to pray frequently for the grace of patience, which is both the daughter of hope and at the same time its firm foundation.
Jubilee Year, Bull of Indiction.  2024.

Our school Pilgrims of Hope Cross has begun spending time in classrooms. If your family would like to host this  special taonga at some point please contact me to arrange. [email protected]

Encounter with Christ:

Every day during the month of October, a decade of the Rosary has been celebrated at school, either schoolwide in the hall on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, or in the school Chapel space on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students praying in the Chapel space have indicated they would like to continue gathering to pray a decade of the Rosary on a Thursday through to the end of the year. 

When the school gathered for the Rosary, reflective music was played to help settle and focus the students before prayer. It is impressive to witness all students, New Entrant to Year 6, engaging in meditative practises at this time. Through the classroom prayer observation process, our young learners have shared they find the use of reflective music and meditative practices calming. As we move from praying the Rosary back to our normal Monday morning liturgies, this practice will continue. 

Growth and Development:

The Religious Education focus for this term is ‘Being Church’. Our Year 1 & 2 students will develop an understanding that they are part of God’s family and recognise that the Church has rituals, symbols and holy things. Year 3 & 4 students will grow in understanding of what a Sacrament is and what they do. Year 5 & 6 students will develop an understanding of the 9 principles of Catholic Social Teaching and that they come from Jesus’ teaching. They will explore and show how they can live these teachings. Evidence of this work will be posted on Seesaw throughout the term.

Australian religious songwriter and singer, Andrew Chinn, will be visiting our school to share his songs with our children. Andrew’s songs are used in all our classrooms and most of our liturgies. His music is used in Catholic schools around Australia, USA and Canada as well. Andrew will host a concert in the school hall, on Monday 3 November at 1:30pm. You are most welcome to attend.

Christian Witness:

All Saints Day, Saturday 1st of November is when we join Catholics all around the world to remember and honour all the Saints in our lives. The church refers to saints as living individuals who have dedicated themselves to the worship and service of God.  On All Saints Day, we celebrate these holy men and women. When we were Baptised we promised to serve God and carry on Jesus’ work on earth, just as the Saints have done.  We ask them to pray for us, and through the model of their lives, recognise how we can be a model of Christ’s love to others as Christian Witnesses.

All Souls day will be celebrated on Sunday 2nd of November. Throughout November, Catholics around the world remember and pray for those who have died and are now in the arms of Jesus. A simple Catholic prayer for those who have died is something to pass on to your children. ‘Eternal rest grant unto them o Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them.’ 

During this month, our school Memorial book will be included in school and class liturgies at appropriate times to honour the memory of our loved ones. If you would like to have the name of someone special to you recorded in our school memorial book, please complete the form on our school website.

As mentioned in the Principal’s report, Fr John is moving to Christ the King Parish in Owairaka. The parish will be hosting a farewell morning tea after the 9am Mass, Sunday 2 November.  Please do make a point of attending.  Fr John has been our spiritual leader for the past 9 years and it is only fitting that we acknowledge all the time and energy he has devoted to growing our parish and school communities.

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

Frozen Fridays
Frozen Friday hit the classrooms last week and the kids absolutely loved it – thank you for getting on board!
The frozen fun will continue every Friday until 12th December – no need to reorder if you’ve already signed up.

School Disco – 21st November
Get ready to dance! DJ Andy is back for our Summer Beach Disco – a night of music, fun, and good vibes. Please fill out the form if you can assist at the disco Parent Committee Disco

Howick Santa Parade – Walking Float
We’re excited to be part of the Howick Santa Parade with a walking float this year!
If your child would like to take part, please email us at [email protected] – we’d love to have them join the fun.

Parents Committee AGM – 3rd November, 7pm (Staff Room)
Join us for some snacks and a relaxed recap of the year at our Annual General Meeting.
We’ll also be electing new officers, followed by a short regular meeting. Everyone is welcome!

Experience the Magic of Enchanted Christmas!
If you’re thinking of booking this magical event, don’t forget to use our school code: Our Lady Star of the Sea School
Enjoy 10% off your ticket, and 10% of the booking fee comes back to our school!
Wander through 240+ themed trees, twinkling lights, immersive scenes – and even book time with Santa or the Grinch. It’s all happening on Teed Street – a festive treat for the whole family!

Thanks for supporting our school community – we love doing this with you!

‘Write on 65: Living the Dream’ writing competition

Congratulations to Harper and Mya, two year 6 girls who had recent success in the ‘Write on 65: Living the Dream’ writing competition.

There were hundreds of entries from across New Zealand and the competition was fierce.

We are proud to announce that Harper won the competition and Mya was highly commended. Harper will receive a $30 book voucher and have her work published in the next issue of Write on.

Well done girls – we are in awe of your achievement!

Competition brief:

Your challenge is to pack a story into a small word count of UP TO 300 words.
Something from your dream follows you into the real world. What is it, and what happens?

Extra pineapple, hold the sanity

By Harper 

Mr Ham Pizza (Mr HP) grabs his baguette and declares war on Professor Pineapple (PP).

“YOU’LL NEVER BELONG ON PIZZA, A PINEAPPLE IS A FRUIT FOR GOODNESS SAKE!” Mr HP yells with rage brewing in his stomach.

“I GIVE PEOPLE A FRESH TAKE ON PIZZA!” PP snarled, grabbing her rubber machete. 

They throw their weapons at each other with terrible aim and both miss, but undaunted, they start tackling each other. PP pins Mr HP, and PP bites him as a form of self defence and HP is sent into a frenzy of deliciousness then…

I stop typing and my mind goes blank, ‘Great, I’ve forgotten my dream’ I say to myself, spiralling into a hole of frustration. My dream was a graphic novel in the making, and now I’ve forgotten it. I gaze at the clock, 6:00 am on the dot, time for work, a boring office job.

As I drive to work I chat to Mr PP and PP who are strapped into the trunk so nobody sees them. I’ve forgotten but they remember, so I pass my laptop to them. 

The next day I slept in until noon. I mean it wasn’t like I needed to go to work.

The first thing I did was check my computer and discover it had notifications galore, along with hundreds of messages from news reporters but at the top was an email from the publishers… 

They…Said… Yes!   

Following that I agreed to a lot of interviews and while I was at one, I saw a boy reading my book! He reached the last page, something crept out… it looked like pineapple and pizza…

B U

By Mya 

Recently, I’ve been having dreams, not normal dreams with rainbow unicorns and imaginary friends. My dreams are about someone who looks exactly like me but acts the complete opposite.

Last night, I fell asleep watching my favourite reality TV show… ALL SHARKS!! It was almost midnight when I heard a knock on the door.

There standing inches away from me was her; the creepy dream twin. Striding across the floor, she plonked down on the couch like she owned the place.

“Why are you here?” I asked. 

“I’ve been sent by the Dream Agency to stop you from ruining your life – and mine.”

“Hahahaha.” I laughed thinking she was joking, but she stared back at me deadly serious.

“How am I ruining both of our lives?” I inquired.

“Every time someone thinks they’re not good enough, the Dream World starts to die. Usually, it’s just for a day or two, but with you it’s just gotten worse. If you don’t start believing in yourself, Dream World could disappear, forever.”

I stared at her, guilt creeping in. My personal thoughts were hurting an entire world?

She stood up and placed her arm on my shoulder, “So tell me, what’s going on?”

I took a deep breath. “I just… feel like I’m not cool enough. Like I’m weird, everyone is popular except for me.”

She smiled. “That’s okay. You’re supposed to be you, not someone who’s the same as everyone else, that would make life soooooo boring.”

Her eyes sparkled, “Dream World is healing already.”

Then she winked at me and faded away. 

 My heart felt lighter. Maybe I don’t need to change who I am.

Maybe being me is enough.

Room 8

Room 8 and Mrs Stewart have been busy creating our own pencil holders using paper mache. Through this project, we have been learning important skills such as planning and designing, shaping and layering paper carefully and expressing our ideas through colour and texture. 

They are looking amazing and we can’t wait to share our finished pencil holders soon! 

Coastal Rotary Fun Run

We wish to congratulate Callum, who took part in the Coastal Rotary fun run recently. He managed to complete the 10km run in 51:43minutes and placed 26th out of 162 runners. Well done Callum!

HPPA Touch Rugby Competition

We congratulate our team of year 5 and 6 students who attended the HPPA Touch Rugby competition on October 21. Even though they did not win the competition (Although we made it to the quarter finals!), we commend our students for the sportsmanship, humility and grace that they showed whether they won or lost. Jacob, Callum, Sebastian, Amelia, Tevin, Ateca, Jackson, Paris, Tobiah, Kiaan, Georjia and Josh worked extremely well as a team and encouraged each other and their opponents. We thank Matt and Jasmyn, Tevin’s parents, for their help coaching the team and organising us at the game. 

Queenstown Rugby League Kiwi Festival

MANAAKITANGA AWARD

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