Filter Content
What a wonderful day our tamariki had on Wednesday at the Eastern Zones Athletics and some excellent success as well. Quite a number of placings by a variety of children but what we loved hearing the most was the perseverance that our tamariki gave to their events. A special shout out to Lorenzo who excelled in this!
It was a moving time of prayer last week when our children once again led the community in the Rosary. The prayers were said in numerous different languages including Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, German, Italian, Filipino, Afrikaans and even sign language. Our children were so proud that they could achieve this and we were too! As Scripture says, When two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20 and it was special to be part of this.
Ka pai to all our tamariki!
The cloud cleared into a beautiful day yesterday, allowing our seniors to once again run a very successful Mission Fair - there was lots of sugar and fun to be had and we thank all the whānau who supported our Year 7 & 8s by allowing your child/ren to bring money to spend. Te Maunga raised over $450 and this will go to supporting two missionaries in their work.
We are thrilled to have 6 of our tamariki (Tyler Krauss, Gila Crosbie, Leanne Crosbie, Lorenzo Esposito, McKenzy Paese, and Monica Paese) joining the rest of our parish community on Sunday, 10:30 am mass at St Patrick’s for the celebration of their First Holy Communion. Please go along and join in the celebration or keep them in your prayers for this very special event. Our blessing for our tamariki is:
'May you always know the peace of Jesus, the light of his love, and the joy of his life within you.'
Please mark your calendars for our upcoming events:
Monday, November 6: Our Teacher Only day is this coming Monday when we will be hosting the staff of Holy Cross & St Patricks to unpack the Te Mātaiaho | the refreshed NZ curriculum, in particular the Mathematics curriculum.
Friday, November 10: Coffee and Catch up in the library from 8:45 on, we invite you to come along to the whānau coffee morning. It is a great chance to connect with the rest of our community so we hope you can make it.
Wednesday, November 15: Please come along to our Pōwhiri and Mass to welcome our two new families to our community. We begin at 9:30 am.
Thursday, November 23: Our next speaker event is booked, come and join us. Please see the details below in the Board News.
November – the month of All Souls
The month in which we remember all those who have died and gone to their eternal reward.
On Wednesday we celebrated the Feast of All Saints – on this day that we as a Church celebrate and honour all those who have died and are now with God – Te Atua. The Church has publicly named some people who are saints with God, the saints who have been canonised. There are millions of other people who have lived hidden heroic and holy lives in their workplaces and homes and who also share in their eternal reward. Mother Aubert, the founder of the Compassion Sisters is currently undergoing the cannonisation process and if the process is successful Mother Aubert will become the first New Zealand saint.
Yesterday, 2nd November, we had the Feast of All Souls – this is the day that we remember and pray for all those who have died – especially our own family- whānau and friends. We are reminded that we too will one day die and we will then begin our journey to Heaven to be with our Father. We have hope for our eternal life.
You are invited to visit the church over this month of November and place the names of your loved ones who have died by the altar. These people are then remembered in the prayers of all our community.
We have had an appeal for all of us to say a little prayer for our Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa. He has been our Apostolic Nuncio (Pope's representative) here in New Zealand and Oceania for the past three years now. He was found very sick and was rushed to the hospital. Archbishop Novatus has suffered from a severe stroke and is now in the Lower Hutt Hospital. We are asked to please pray for him. Let us in a special way ask the intercession of Mother Suzanne Aubert, the founder of the Sisters of Compassion whose process of Beatification awaits a miracle.
Nau mai, haere mai Tim and Avery and their whanau
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Tim Rhodes (year 7) and Avery Henderson (year 1) and their families into our St Anthony’s school community. We extend our warmest greetings to them and look forward to getting to know them better. Our teachers will be helping Tim and Avery to settle in and we encourage all parents and families to say hello and introduce yourselves to help our new families quickly feel at home at St Anthony’s.
Centenary celebrations - A hundred years of excellence
St. Anthony’s School has been a cornerstone of our community for a century, and the celebrations of this milestone on 13 and 14 October were amazing! Our heartfelt congratulations to all our students, parents, teachers, and alumni who have contributed to our school's history. A special ngā mihi nui to our principal Mrs Denise Johnson and to the organising committee for making the centenary celebrations such a wonderful success. It was a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with old friends, make new memories, and reflect on the lasting impact our school has had on generations of learners.
We have special mementos of this occasion available: a school magazine, cards designed by our students, tea towels designed by our senior student Abby Johnson and pens with the centenary logo. Please see Kirsten at the office or email office@stants.school.nz to purchase these.
Working Bee Success – Ngā mihi nui for your hard work
Our recent working bee was a resounding success, and it's all thanks to the dedication and hard work of our incredible school community. Your efforts have kept our school buildings and grounds a beautiful and inviting place for our students and families. Thank you to all who participated.
Grandparents' Mass November 15 at 9:30 AM
We are delighted to invite you, your grandparents, and your whānau to the Grandparents' Mass on Wednesday, November 15, at 9:30 AM. This special event will be followed by our tamariki showing their grandparents their work in their classrooms and a morning tea, providing an excellent opportunity to spend quality time with your loved ones. Let us come together to celebrate our grandparents and their role in our lives.
Save the Date: "Nutrition and Our Tamariki" Thursday, November 23, 7 pm to 8.30 pm
We are excited to announce a special event for our school and the wider community which builds upon last term’s Building Resilience in Children presentation by Dr Chris Bowden.
On Thursday, November 23 at 7 p.m., we are hosting a presentation on nutrition and physical education and the positive impacts on our tamariki and their wellbeing.
Our guest speaker, Mr. Marco Mollo, is a passionate and dedicated professional with an extensive academic background in nutrition. Marco, a New Zealand Registered Dietitian, holds a bachelor's degree in human nutrition and a Masters in Dietetics from the University of Otago.
Marco's presentation will highlight the crucial role of nutrition in our children's lives, emphasising its impact on overall well-being, health, and physical performance. He will also discuss the importance of nutrition education for both parents and children, shedding light on how a balanced diet can positively affect our children's lives. Marco will also address the significance of physical education, including sports, and how it contributes to our children's holistic well-being.
This event is free and entry is open to everyone in our school community and the wider Motu-Kairangi community. We highly encourage parents, family members and friends to join us for what promises to be an informative and inspiring evening.
We can't wait to see you there. Please join us for drinks and (healthy!) nibbles from 7 pm, Marco starts speaking at 7.30 pm.
He oranga ngakau, He pikinga waiora
Positive feelings in your heart, Will raise your sense of self-worth
This whakatauki is at the heart of the NZ Curriculum’s health and physical education learning area. It embodies hauora — holistic well-being that includes cultural well-being, spiritual health as well as healthy eating and living, physical well-being, and mental health.
“He waka eke noa”, a lovely whakatauki (māori proverb) which means that ‘we are all in this together’. We started our year reflecting on this whakatauki and we have continued to reflect on it throughout the year. All students in Te Maunga work really hard independently but we also work hard together, and love group work as a result of this.
We can’t believe that we are already in Term 4! If you were to visit our classroom this term, you would see a lot of group activities happening, including: our maths talking buddies; reciprocal reading groups; our year groups doing fun learning in town for Technology; Te Reo groups; sport teams; writing groups; and more!
Here are a few photos of us in action:
I went to a Wellington U13 girls basketball tournament representing Wellington recently. It was a 4-day tournament at the Akau Tangi sports centre. During the 4 day tournament, my team and I played 5 games and we won 4 of them which meant that overall we came second for our basketball grade. Before this, I had been to another tournament with my same team in Levin and that was a 1 day tournament. We played 4 games in one day and we won 3 and lost 1. My team and I had training every Saturday and Thursday so we could build our skills as a team and to play in the tournament.
Ka pai Monesa on your wonderful play!
Calendar Fundraiser
We are offering 2024 Art Calendars for the price of $10 each again this year. This is a wonderful opportunity to purchase a piece of your child's treasured art. They are perfect for Christmas presents for friends and family. You can order as many calendars as you wish using the same piece of your child's art. The calendars are A4 size when closed, spiral-bound, lightweight, and easy to post.
For an extra $5 you can add up to 5 important dates to your calendars. For example, you advise the date and text and the following would be added (e.g. 5 November - "Nana's Birthday" or 31 October - "Mum & Dad's Anniversary")
Your child's art is now ready for viewing via your child/ren's Hero ePortfolio.
Orders will be accepted via the link below until Wednesday 15th November. To order click on the link below.
Payment can be made via internet banking into the FOSA account:
12-3140-0317046-00 (please use 'calendar' as the reference) or you can bring cash to the office.
The calendars will be sent home with your child as soon as they are ready.
New FOSA Treasurer
We are still on the look out for a new treasurer for 2024 as this is the last year that Claire our current treasurer will have a student at St Anthony's. This is not a difficult job and there would be a handover to show you what is required. Please let us know at the office if you would be interested in helping us out. This is a great way to meet other school families and members of the wider community.
A Merry Vinnies Christmas was established through the Vinnies Wellington commitment towards providing a more dignified and equitable service, by honouring a person’s autonomy over what they receive from us.
This service offers a shopping-style experience to families seeking support over the holiday period - giving people the dignity, ownership, and choice of presents for their children without the cost.
The Vinnies Welfare & Service Hub transforms into a festive toy shop over December, where unwrapped, donated gifts for children aged 0-16 years, are displayed for whānau to come and choose from!
This year St Anthony's will be hosting a collection box to support this initiative. We’re kindly calling on the community to donate new or near-new-condition toys for children aged 0-16. This allows parents the dignity to shop for gifts that they know their children will like. The box should be ready to go in the office from next week until early December.
The annual Hospice Strawberry Festival is taking place on Wednesday 15th November at Midland Park, Lambton Quay. All funds raised will help ensure that the Hospice can continue to care for those who are terminally ill, free of charge, when and where required.
As part of their fundraiser, they are offering strawberry sundaes to be purchased for $7 each and delivered to those who can't make it to the park on the day. As a school, we would like to support the work of the Mary Potter Hospice so we are going to take orders on their behalf to be delivered and eaten at school.
The cut-off date for orders and payment is 9 am Monday 13th November to allow them time to sort and deliver the order to us. Please fill in the order form below and pay by cash to the school office or deposit the total amount into the school bank account 12 3140 0322099 00 before the cut-off date. We will not be able to take any late orders for this fundraiser.
We are keen to hear from families who would like to host the students who come from around the world to study at St. Mary’s. The girls are here to improve their English language skills and to experience life in New Zealand.
The host family needs to offer a warm comfortable room, lots of chat, and outings to showcase our beautiful city and surroundings, the beaches, rivers, hills and mountains, Te Papa, Wellington Museum, Zealandia etc, AND of course our wonderful food options. The fee paid to families is $330 per week, Payment is made fortnightly.
We need short and long-term options for hosting. students stay for a year, a term or two, 6 weeks, or 2 weeks. It can be a rewarding, educational, and fun experience for all the family.
If you think your household would like to be a part of our school's international family please get in touch with Philly Smyth, HomeStay Coordinator, and she will send out the Guide to Homestay booklet for you to see if your family and lifestyle would be a good fit for our international students. philippa.smyth@stmw.school.nz
Element Rhythmic Gymnastics
Is your daughter or son looking for something a little different to do in Term 4? Come along to a Rhythmic Gymnastics class and give it a try! Email info@rhythmicgym.nz to arrange a FREE trial. For more information about Elements Rhythmic Gymnastics Inc. and our classes, visit www.rhythmicgym.nz
Does your child love dance, gymnastics, and tumbling? Cheerleading at Bigair Gym is a highly dynamic and skilled sport that provides opportunities to develop not only athletic skills and fitness but also leadership, discipline, and teamwork. This makes it a multifaceted and highly rewarding sport. Bigair has one of the finest cheerleading programs in the country, offering exceptional pathways for development as athletes progress and enter competitions.
Tryouts for the 2024 Cheer Teams are currently taking place, so don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity. Contact Bigair today to confirm your interest or to find out more.
Bigair Gymsports Kapiti ph. 297 0400 e. kapiti@bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Owhiro Bay ph. 383 8779 e. wgtn@bigairgym.co.nz
Bigair Gym Tawa ph. 232 3508 e. office@bigairgym.co.nz
Wellington Pickle Ball Club
The Wellington Pickleball Cup will be held at Akau Tangi over Waitangi Weekend next year and the Wellington Pickleball Club are fundraising for the event.
