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It was wonderful to see everyone gather for our Beach Picnic on Tuesday night despite the fact it wasn’t the normal beautiful evening! It certainly didn’t deter our tamariki from spending a great deal of time in the water, whilst all the adults caught up with one another. It was lovely to see our new families being included so well so ka pai to you all!
Te Aroha, our senior syndicate had a blast at the Eastern Zone’s Cricket Tournament on Wednesday and I was thrilled to hear that Bianca Hanscomb was awarded the SPIRIT OF CRICKET AWARDS 2023
Cricket Wellington have introduced the Spirit of Cricket awards at Primary School Non-Stop Festival days throughout 2023 to encourage fair play, increasing the enjoyment of all involved.
Spirit of Cricket Values
• Respect your opposition, your team, umpires, coaches, supporters, and facilities.
• Do not swear or act in any form of bad behaviour on and off the field.
• Be a good sport – be humble in winning and gracious in losing.
• Play by the rules, respect the decisions made by the umpire and avoid cheating.
• Always do your best to listen and learn from coaches and coordinators.
• Thank your opposition, teammates, coach, and officials after every game.
• Make sure you play to the best of your ability and remember winning is not
everything.
• But most of all, HAVE FUN!
Their ambassadors were looking for individuals who showcase the above values over
the day and present them at the end of the day and Bianca was one of two chosen.
Out of any award, I think receiving this type of award is tops - so tino pai Bianca. Also our grateful thanks to those parents who provided transport and supervision on the day - your children were thrilled and we couldn't have done it without you!
Next week is Bazaar Week and the excitement is mounting. Huge work is happening behind the scenes by the team led by Emma Mulhern and we thank them all for this.
A few things to note:-
- Thanks to all who have donated goods for the Preserves and Cake teams - they were thrilled.
- If you have any white elephant donations to bring in then from Wednesday on feel free to leave it in the library
- Do you have a donation for the rapid raffles - we would love to hear from you
- Raffle stubs and money are due on Monday. Please note there are 3 prizes for the children that sell the most tickets
- First prize $100 cash
-Second prize $75 cash
- Third prize $50 cash
- Site set up begins Friday, March 3 from 12:30 pm on. We would love to have you join us as many hands certainly make light work.
- We are on the hunt for the loan of a Temporary Power Distribution Unit (like below)- have you one please that we could use?
- Does anyone have an air fryer we could use on the day?
- Thanks to all those awesome people who have volunteered their help on the day but we still need more, even if only for an hour or two so please email either Emma - emmamulhern@outlook.com or myself principal@stants.school.nz with your offers of help
An exciting week ahead with only 9 sleeps to go before our big community day.
Nga mihi mahana - Warm regards
Denise
Shrove Tuesday
On Tuesday we made these delicious pancakes. At the same time, we made Lenten calendar posters about the 40 days of Lent. The pancakes were purple because this is the colour of Lent. Olive and I both thought it was a great start to Lent. We both hope everybody else had loads of fun too!
by Charlie and Olive.
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent and is the first of the forty days of Lent leading up to Easter. At school, our tamariki have explored the idea of ‘fasting’ from bad habits and have chosen one to focus on for the next 40 days. We hope to see old habits are broken and a change of heart achieved.
We also focus on almsgiving and prayer, sharing with our tamariki that the reality is that prayer is important during Lent. Very important. God doesn’t call us to pray ‘longer’ during this time. Or prayer ‘better’—whatever that means. We start by working on taking time to pause and be with Te Atua.
In terms of almsgiving, a number of students have approached us to find out what fundraiser we can do to support the victims of Cyclone Gabrielle. It has been wonderful to see the empathy and ideas shared - so watch this space for our planned action.
And a few facts:-
The forty days refer to the time Jesus spent in the desert after being baptised in the Jordan by John and before beginning his public ministry (cf. Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13). The ashes used in the liturgy on Ash Wednesday are traditionally made from the palms used on Palm Sunday the previous year.
Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence. Abstinence from eating meat applies to everyone age 14 and above. Fasting applies to everyone age 18-59. During the season of Lent, Christians traditionally engage in praying, fasting, and alms-giving.
Whakamana tamariki, whakamana kaiako
We all want the best for our kids.
Our teachers love what they do, but not enough funding for schools means that they don’t have the time they would like to support all kids to thrive.
We can fix this though. NZEI Te Riu Roa primary teacher and principal members are making the case to Government for the best investment in tamariki. We are fortunate here at St Anthony's that our school board has already prioritised class sizes that allow our teachers more time for individual students and personalised learning but not all schools are as fortunate. Likewise, we need more specialist learning support staff to support those learners who need targeted support. A number of the conditions that we are campaigning for are about improving access to learning and success for our tamariki. This is what is paramount in the case we are making to the Government at the moment.
Keeping and retaining teachers is top of mind right now, and this term, our teachers will also be meeting to consider a pay offer – and assessing if it’s enough to make sure that teaching is valued and is an attractive profession.
That is why I attended the Principal's paid union meeting on Monday and the teachers at our school will be attending their paid union meetings this coming Wednesday at 2 pm.
When we support our children to learn and succeed, we are supporting whānau and communities to thrive. We look forward to another great year in 2023 – and together with your support building the case for better investment in our tamariki.
All year long, some of us at St Anthony's learn Drama each week with Cat from Kids4Drama. This play was about coal refining and how it affects the world and one teenage girl making a difference. We spent about two terms working on this masterpiece but then it got postponed. So in the Christmas holidays, we got told that it would be on in less than a week. So the drama team got together and in about two days it was showtime! We loved it and our parents were highly impressed with our performance!
Tēnā koutou katoa, nau mai whakatau mai
A warm welcome to the 2023 school year to our tamariki and kaiako - we hope you enjoyed your Christmas and summer holidays and are having a great start to the term.
We are excited to welcome new children, Leo, Nora, Olive, Tyler, and Natan and their families and our new Year 7 and 8 teacher, Sam Cripps, to St Anthony’s School and our community. We pray your days and years at St Anthony’s are blessed and that your learning is combined with friendship, faith, and fun.
Our School Board
The Board is a group of parent and proprietor representatives plus the Principal and a staff representative who collectively represent the St Anthony’s School community. The Board oversees the governance of the school and is the employer of all staff in the school. We are responsible for setting the school's strategic direction in consultation with parents, staff, and students, and for ensuring that our school provides a safe environment and quality education for all our students.
The Board had our first meeting of the year last Tuesday and we elected the Chair and Deputy-Chair of the Board for 2023. Congratulations to our returning Chair, Mark Mulhern, and, to Oliver Meech for taking on the role of Deputy-Chair. We are grateful for your commitment and enthusiasm to ensuring St Anthony’s is a great experience for all our tamariki, their whanau, and our staff.
L-R: Mark Mulhern, Oliver Meech
To learn more about the Board, see our website page: https://www.stants.school.nz/bot
St Anthony’s Bazaar 4 March
Every 2 years, we hold a Bazaar. It is a great fundraiser for our school but more importantly, it is a great community day for our school, parish and our local community. Thank you to all those you are working hard to ensure this year’s Bazaar is a great occasion. We are very fortunate to have a great team made up of current school families and past school parents and other community members.
One of the things the St Anthony’s Bazaar is famous for is its amazing baking, jams and preserves. Thank you to everyone who has been donating goods including baking goods.
If you’re thinking about helping a little or a lot, please know that it’s a great way to serve your St Anthony’s school community and to get to know other parents and helpers. There’s no minimum commitment and flexibility to fit in with everyone’s schedule, so please don’t be shy about contacting the Office to offer help.
Beach safety programme
One of the joys of our Seatoun location is access to the beach and it’s important to equip our tamariki with the skills they need to know to stay safe on the beach and in the water. We were so fortunate to have perfect summer weather for a couple of weeks to kick off the Beach safety programme before Cyclone Gabrielle arrived. This programme teaches our children how to be beach safe including how to keep themselves safe in the water by looking out for potential hazards, being able to float, duck-dive and swim confidently and how to signal for help. Thank you to the parent helpers onshore and in the water. We look forward to continuing the beach safety programme this term and building swimming skills in Term 3.
Health consultation survey
Every two years we go ask parents and our school community about our health programmes and priorities. Physical education including swimming confidence, and beach safety education are areas that support personal health and physical development and healthy communities and environments. We consulted with parents in the last term of 2022 and will be providing an update on our health survey results in our next newsletter.
Mauri tū, mauri ora | An active soul is a healthy soul
Clerihew Poems About Mrs Johnson
Mrs. J
Our principal Mrs. J,
She expects us to obey,
Although she can be strict,
She can always resolve conflict.
By Charlotte and Leanne
Mrs. J
Our principal Mrs. J,
Has never had a day away,
She would do anything to water ski,
Now that is a guarantee.
By Charlotte and Leanne!
Mrs. J
Our principal is Mrs. J
her hair is turning grey
She's excellent at mathematics
But I would like to see her try acrobatics
By Brea and Alice
Our Principal is Mrs. J
She’s never lead us astray
She won’t let me inside during recess
I try to protest but it’s hopeless
By William
