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Nga mihi o te tau | Greetings of the new year
We have had such a wonderful start to the year with many of our whānau gathering for the working bee which allowed people to reconnect after the summer break - ka pai on all your hard mahi as well!
We are thrilled with the way that our tamariki have settled into the year of learning and the fun that they are having! If you haven’t already please take time to read the class newsletters that were sent out last week as they contain the term’s overview and of course dates!
Whānau conferences have once again been an invaluable exercise for our teachers in building relationships with your children. It has helped us understand and know our tamariki better as they enter their new year level, and of course improves our connection with you all because of the prioritised time - thank you for supporting us with this. As the whakatauki reflects - Mā ngā huruhuru ka rere te manu … It is the feathers that enable the bird to fly. If we consider that the learner is seen as a “bird” and the feathers belong to all of us in the school community. This involves the learners themselves, teachers (also learners), whānau, and the wider community. It is how the feathers all align and work together that will allow the bird to fly. Attending the whānau conferences is a valuable part of our learners gaining success ‘to fly’
Mā ngā huruhuru ka rere te manu
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A special welcome to our new tamariki for this year, Mira and Viraneath with Luel joining them next week. Please watch out for our new families and ensure they feel welcomed by us all. We also welcome Mrs Sandra Kern to our staff this year. Sandra is supporting the teaching and learning in He Atawhai (Monday to Wednesday) and it is wonderful to have her as part of the team. |
The beach safety programme is well underway and ka pai to all those awesome parents who are diving in to ensure our senior syndicate can participate in the learning. Of course, the ultimate goal is to jump off the wharf but our tamariki are becoming skilled at assessing the risks that are there in our local environment and making decisions to support their safety.
We have our first Friends of St Anthony’s (FOSA) meeting on Tuesday 5th March - 7.30-8.30 pm and the team would love your support. FOSA is the parent group that organises our social and fundraising efforts and of course ‘many hands make light work’ We hope to see you there or otherwise contact Wendy Desiles (wendydesiles@gmail.com) to let her know that you are happy to help with one of the events.
Kia ora rawa atu | Many thanks
Denise
Our tamariki had a wonderful day on Shrove Tuesday as they prepared for the Lenten journey to begin by making pancakes. In history, prompted by the fasting rules and lack of refrigeration, perishable food that was considered indulgent was used up before Lent began. So the tradition of preparing and enjoying pancakes began. In so doing a family depleted their eggs, milk, butter, and fat which were part of the Lenten fast.
We love eating our pancakes!Some of our juniors wrote:
I was so excited to dig my teeth into the pikelet so I gobbled it up. I was blasted with taste. I would've loved to eat more. I was just bubbling with the taste of pikelets.
-Benedict
As I got closer and closer to that fantastic smell of bubbling yummy pancakes I couldn't wait to eat the pancakes. It was Shrove Tuesday, pancake day! I was ready to flip the pancakes. As I got closer and closer to that fantastic smell of pancakes I was so excited! Then it was finally my turn! I flipped the pancake then after three or two more turns it was time to eat. I was so excited I ate them in a second! They were amazing.
- Caleb
On Shrove Tuesday we had pancakes it was fun. We also got to eat them they tasted delicious. On Ash Wednesday we went to the church and got ash on our heads.
-Patrick
With Ash Wednesday we began our 40-day Lenten journey and we remembered how Jesus remained in the desert for forty days and forty nights, tempted by Satan. (Mark 1: 13).
With Lent upon us, we share with you the thoughts of GPBS eNews…
| Jesus is good and loving. So how could he be tempted? Well, Jesus became one of us because he loves us. He shared in our lives, and so he experienced temptations just as we do. But he never gave in to them, and he showed us how to resist them too. But Jesus went further. He never hurt those who hurt him. He never refused to help those who needed him. Jesus showed us how to love others as he did and how to live as he lived. Then he said to us, “Follow me.” |
So the challenge for us all is to consider what we will work on over the next 6 weeks so that we are ‘fasting’ from bad habits. The idea is that if we work to overcome temptations such as greed, gossip, and unkindness we will have a ‘change of heart’ and become a better person/family. Please take time to discuss what would be a great focus for your family over this time.
Ngā mihi o te tau hou Pākehā | Happy New Year
Kia ora e te whānau
Nau mai, a huge welcome from the Board to all whānau both returning and new to St Anthony’s. We hope you had a relaxing and restorative holiday and it’s wonderful to see our tamariki enjoying the start of the school year.
Our School Board
The Board is a group of parent and proprietor representatives and 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 on Tuesday and we elected the Chair and Deputy-Chair of the Board for 2024. Congratulations to our returning Chair, Mark Mulhern and to our returning Deputy-Chair, Oliver Meech. 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
Treasurer vacancy
We are looking for someone to fill the volunteer position of Treasurer on the school board following the resignation of our longstanding board member, George Bouras (who will be greatly missed!). As a member of our school's board, you will work in a team and your role is to work with the principal to prepare the annual budget for the Board’s consideration and to review the monthly financial statements prepared by AFS our school accountants. You may also work with the auditors as required. You may have financial skills and experience and it is helpful if you have knowledge and understanding of our school and community. Free training and education is offered to every school board member through NZSTA’s range of learning and development opportunities, the Advisory and Support Centre and their regionally based team of advisors.
This is a great opportunity to contribute to our school and share your knowledge and skills. The time commitment is 2 meetings per term with some time for analysis ( a couple of hours) and conversation with the Principal from time to time. For further information or to volunteer, please email the school at office@stants.school.nz
Ngā mihi nui to the working bee helpers
A big thank you to our families who helped out at our recent working bee to get the school grounds and gardens ready for the start of the new school year. Your hard work helps build school pride and you can feel it as soon as you walk in the school gates that our place is a community that cares about our school. When students have pride in their school it gives them a sense of ownership which sets in motion a range of positive behaviours and increased engagement and achievement.
This year we will be running a working bee before the start of each term to ensure the school grounds and gardens are maintained and looking fabulous. It’d be great to see everyone there and to enjoy a sausage sizzle afterwards. Watch this space for more information later this term.
Speakers’ programme 2024 – your ideas please!
We would love your ideas for topics for our 2024 speakers’ programme. Last year we were thrilled to have great community participation in our speakers’ programme. These free community events covered building resilience in our tamariki and nutrition and physical education for our tamariki.
This year, we have a speaker booked for Term 3 who will cover cyber safety and what parents can do to keep their children safe online. We are planning to have an event in term 2 and would like to hear from you about potential topics and/or recommendations for particular speakers.
Please email your ideas to office@stants.school.nz
You are invited to our Board meetings
Everyone is welcome to attend our school board hui which is held twice a term at school. The next board hui starts at 6 pm on Tuesday 19 March.
Ko ngā pae tawhiti whāia kia tata, ko ngā pae tata, whakamaua kia tina.
The potential for tomorrow depends on what we do today.
Today Te Aroha had the excellent opportunity to have two outside providers of a Virtual Reality(VR) programme to look at the 'Threats to the Moana.’ This session covered the habitats, marine reserves, food webs, the effects of overfishing, the effects of pollution, and kaitiakitanga/guardianship of our environment. Of course, using all the VRs was an experience in itself and our tamariki learned a lot!
BLAKE. NZ. VR
I really enjoyed ALICE and REWA coming to our school and teaching us about Moana. We were all so excited to use the VR sets. The differences between the moana from 2014 and 2019 were CRAZY! Because in 2014 the ocean was blue and there were lots of fish and seaweed. But when it was the year 2019 the ocean was filled with Kina and there was no seaweed and not a lot of fish. Alice told us how to keep Moana clean and healthy. All we have to do is:
DON’T LITTER, DON’T FISH ALL THE TIME OR THE FISH WILL BE ALL GONE.
When we wore the VR set it looked like we were really underwater. In the ocean, there was no litter and a lot of fish. When we were under the wharf it was dirty and no fish. So our goal should be to pick up our rubbish and make the Moana healthy. I really appreciate them coming because it was fun and I learned a lot of things about the Moana. One of the things I learned about was there were these sponge things and they suck up the water for food, after they finish they wash out the dirty water and turn it into clean, fresh water.
By Gila
On Thursday the 15th two people called Alice and Rewa came in. They showed us what they knew about the Moana and how some parts were polluted. This part was my favourite, using the virtual reality goggles we could see the beautiful videos that were taken in real life! These videos were taken in the Whakatane White Island, Goat Island, and Hauraki Gulf.
When I put the goggles on for the first time it felt as if I was a fish living its best life. We saw sting rays, starfish, goatfish, and much much more. My favourite animal was the sea lion. They were so cool there were about 5 of them. I learned that in 2014 and 2019 the moana was so different because in 2014 the sea life was so beautiful and clear but in 2019 heaps and heaps of Kina came and started to eat all the seaweed so the rocks had little bits and pieces on them. Another really important thing was fish need seaweed to produce oxygen and fish are like us we need trees they need seaweed. By Charlie Smith
Our wonderful Year 8 graduate, Issy ended the year on a high after securing the Franken Arts Bursary for her skill with Art. The bursary is to be used to enhance and develop Issy's continued development in the visual and creative arts. Ka pai Issy on a highly successful final year at St Anthony's - we are thrilled for you!
HOLY TRINITY PARISH CHILDREN’S SACRAMENTAL PROGRAMME 2024
Enrolment forms are available for children in year 4 or older who have been baptised in a Catholic Church and would like to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion. You will need to include a copy of your child’s baptism certificate with the enrolment form. If you don't have your child's baptism certificate, get in contact with the Parish where your child was baptized to obtain a copy. Forms returned by 29 February.
A 2024 student information sheet should have come home for you to fill in and return. We know it is a pain to have to fill this in every year, especially when you think that your information has not changed, but we ask that please complete the form and not just write 'same as 2023' on it.
It is a chance to check that your emergency contact details are still accurate - and it is important to us to know that in an emergency we have all the correct details so we can get hold of you or release your child to an approved adult.
If for some reason the form has been misplaced you can find it attached here.
Eastern Bays Kea Club
If your child loves doing cartwheels, handstands, trampolining, flips, dancing, or parkour, then they will thrive at Bigair Gym! Bigair Gym classes are excellent for fun, focus and fitness! Children learn new skills and develop personal confidence and self-achievement! Strong focus is given to safety and technique, ranging from fundamentals to advanced skills. The structured classes follow a Bigair Badge Programme, which creates focused learning, and allows children to achieve and feel personal progression! Bigair classes include GYMNASTICS, TRAMPOLINING, TUMBLING, FREE RUNNING(thats parkour with flips) & CHEERLEADING! Inquire about Bigair BIRTHDAY PARTIES too!
Book online for Term 1 now at www.bigairgym.co.nz or please contact us for any inquiries:
Bigair Gym Owhiro Bay: ph. 383 8779, e. wgtn@bigairgym.co.nz at 14 Landfill Road, Owhiro Bay.
