St Anthony's School Seatoun eNewsletter

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He waka eke noa
A canoe which we are all in with no exception

This whakatauki implies that ‘we are all in this together’ and as such our waka is the school of St Anthony so it was wonderful on Tuesday, our feast day that we unpacked our guiding values for our waka through our patron saint - Anthony. We looked at our school crest and considered the 4 aspects shown on it that details the life and faith of St Anthony. See below for further detail about this.

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One of the collaborative artworks created.

We are 100 years old this year and plans for the centenary are well underway. We look forward to you joining us for both the preparation and then the celebration. - please watch out for the signup notice. We are of course attempting to spread the word via social media so please tag people on either our FB or Instagram accounts so we widen the contact. Please mark your calendar for Friday, October 12 as the children will share their learning about the journey of faith, learning, and events over the past 100 years before the weekend of events begin that night.

We were very proud of the 14 students who competed in the Eastern Zones Cross Country a couple of weeks ago as they all competed with commitment. From that 7 were chosen to compete in the Interzones and although 2 missed due to sickness, 5 went on to compete. Ka pai to you all. Also our grateful thanks to Craig for taking the team there.

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A few things to remember:-

The teachers are busy preparing some wonderful learning for Matariki and our whānau evening so please mark the date in your calendar now (Wednesday, June 28, 5:30 pm start) to join us for kai and activity. Further information will be coming out regarding this
Just a reminder that our Kāhui Ako (the 13 primary and secondary schools in Wellington) is having a Teacher Only Day on Friday, June 30 so the end of the term for the children is Thursday, June 29
Pencil in Wednesday, September 13 which is our planned Grandparents Mass & Morning. We just need to confirm one thing so pencil it for now.

Ngā manaakitanga

Denise

St Anthony was an extremely beloved saint and was the second person to be canonised. Although he only lived for 36 years, his commitment to sharing his faith has impacted many over the years since he died in 1231.

St. Anthony’s life was what we as Christians hope for; steady courage to face the ups and downs of life, the call to love and forgive, to be concerned for the needs of others, to deal with crises great and small, and to have our feet solidly on the ground of total trusting love and dependence on God. On our school crest, we show 4 aspects that guide us as the school of St Anthony.

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The missal/bible - losing his missal and then finally finding it. So people started praying to St Anthony to help them find lost things including the fact that they had lost sight of God and many people found their faith again because of St Anthony.

Fish - Legend has it that after a crowd in Rimini, Italy refused to hear him speak, St. Anthony turned to the ocean and started preaching to the fish. Not long into his sermon, a school of fish rose from the water to listen to his words.

Bible - He loved to read books, especially the bible and then he loved to talk about what he had learned. He apparently had a way of preaching scripture that resonated with those who were not yet believers. We have the Tau cross which is the Franciscan cross.

Dove: St Anthony spent hows thinking about what he had read and what scripture was telling him - called on the Holy Spirit to help him hear the right message from God so we have the dove to remind us of the Holy Spirit

Hand: St Anthony loved meeting and talking with people - he was a great storyteller so we have the hand of friendship to remind us all how to reach out and include other people.

Our challenge is to now be like St Anthony!

On Tuesday 14th of June, we celebrated St Anthony’s Feast Day with a special Liturgy and some in class activities. We explored his life’s journey and miracles using the Dash robots, we created beautiful stained glass windows representing the different symbols on our school crest, deep fried delicious Portuguese doughnuts and made a collaborative art piece.

As part of our Inquiry- The Power of Gravity, we have been creating some art using new skills. One of these is sewing.

We are sewing the sun for inquiry. First we drew the sun with a permanent marker and then started the long process. You really need to get used to all that in and out thing to sew. It's a long process because a lot of the time the hessian cloth we are using gets pulled together and we need to solve this problem. Sewing is fun because we are finding out what is going to happen and keep thinking about the end result- do I need to blend the colours together to make it perfect?

- Alexander Meech

Tena koutou katoa and welcome to the winter edition! We hope this newsletter finds you in high spirits and looking forward to the July holidays.

Tēnā koutou katoa, nau mai haere mai!

A warm welcome to the newest members of our St. Anthony's School whānau - Pippa and Benedict in Te Awa and Rebecca in Te Moana, along with their families. We are blessed to have you join our school community, and we hope your journey with us will be filled with joy, growth, and cherished memories.

Starting a new school can be both exciting and a little bit daunting for both tamariki and their parents. We are here to help you feel settled and we want you to feel valued, included, and supported right from the start. We encourage you to connect with other parents, attend school events, and get involved in our school life (see the morning tea invitation below to get started). You are now an integral part of our school and you help build our small school with a strong spirit!

Wednesday 26 July at 7 pm, guest speaker Chris Bowden - building resilient children

We are thrilled to announce an upcoming presentation designed especially for you, focusing on building resilience in our precious tamariki, managing strong emotions like anxiety, and promoting well-being.

Resilience is a superpower that helps children and adults bounce back from challenges and setbacks. It empowers us to face life's ups and downs with confidence, strength, and a positive mindset. In today's world, building resilience has become more important than ever, and we want to support you in nurturing your child and developing this essential skill.

During this informative and engaging presentation, our guest speaker, Chris Bowden, an expert in child psychology and emotional well-being, will share valuable insights and practical strategies that you can use at home. You'll learn effective techniques to nurture resilience in your child and discover ways to help them manage and understand anxiety and other strong emotions.

This event is free and entry is open to the wider Motu-Kairangi community. We highly encourage parents, family members, and friends to join us for this event.

Book your tickets using this link:

https://www.eventbookings.com/b/event/building-resilient-children-wednesday-26-july-at-7-30pm

We can't wait to see you there. Please join us for drinks and nibbles from 7 pm, Chris starts speaking at 7.30 pm.

Friday coffee catchup - 23 June at 8:45 in the school library

We warmly invite you to join us for a morning tea gathering on Friday, 23rd June at 8:45 AM in our school library. There is no agenda or presentations, just a great opportunity for you to meet and catch up with other parents and family members, meet some of our dedicated staff, and take a moment to relax and enjoy the coffee (and maybe some delicious baking ). Preschoolers are welcome - we will have toys for them.

Ngā mihi nui, Suzy Tye, for organising this event. See you there!

Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe me he maunga teitei
Seek the treasure you value most dearly; if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.

This whakataukī ( proverb) encourages us to welcome others with open arms, treating them as treasures of great value. Just as we would humble ourselves before a majestic mountain, let us embrace and honour those who join us, recognising their worth and contributions.

Our Envirogroup is focussing on compost at the moment and we were very lucky to have visitors from Wellington City Council come to see our compost system and help us to learn what compost is and why it is an important part of our journey to minimizing waste at school. From this visit we decided to do a compost in a jar experiment so that we can see what the composting process looks like. Watch this space!

Shout out to our year 7/8 netball team who are playing so well together. All their training, support, and encouragement of each other has seen them regraded from E grade to C grade. In their first game at this new grade, they won by a landslide 29 - 2 against St Francis de Sales. In their previous games in E grade, they won 42 points to 2 vs St Francis De Sales and 49 points to 0 vs SWIS.

They are all playing so well and really enjoying the season once again!

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The team is Abby, Alice, Alina, Charlotte, Isobel, Issy, Leanne, Monica, Monesa, Parvati.

This week you can order Subway. Envelopes should have come home this week but if not there will be spares in the school office.

Thanks to our parent help Catherine and her year 6 helpers for getting this ordered for the students.

Father Bill has set aside some dates to sign preference forms for those wishing to enrol at St Patrick's and St Catherine's College for 2024.

He will be available to sign preference forms for St Patrick’s and St Catherine’s colleges on the following dates at Holy Cross School. The school office will manage booking the appointments so please contact them directly to book a slot. 04 388 7189 or administration@hcm.school.nz

Tuesday 27 June – 2.30pm – 4pm

Tuesday 18 July - 2.30pm – 4pm

Please make sure you bring your child’s baptism certificate and the preference form with you to your appointment.

★International Student Homestays Wanted★

St Catherine's College in Kilbirnie is looking for kind and caring families to host our international students. We are looking for hosts who can look after students arriving in July 2023.

We have both long-term and short-term options available.

If you are interested in becoming a host, please contact:

international@stcatherinescollege.school.nz

for more details.

We would love to hear from you!

What's happening at Ngā Manu Nature Reserve these July School Holidays

There is lots to do at Ngā Manu Nature Reserve these July school holidays - see https://ngamanu.org.nz/ for more details:

Scavenger Hunt – Find the Matariki stars hidden around the reserve, answers the questions correctly and go into win a Ngā Manu annual family membership
Wall-e and The Lorax conservation themed movies
Enjoy the Ngā Manu movie experience with a big screen, bean bags, chairs, pillows and throw rugs to cuddle up with as you watch. $5 includes movie entry, a hot chocolate and bag of popcorn (admission to the reserve not included)

Monday 3^rd July 2.30pm: Movie Wall-E
Monday 10^th July 2.30pm: Movie The Lorax