Kia ora koutou 

And Lent begins - a wonderful 6 weeks to pause and ask ourselves as a family what we can ‘fast’ from in order to become better people. Many choose to fast from swearing, not sharing our toys etc and it would be a great time to consider what you could ‘fast’ for the whole family’s well being. Maybe it might be around tiredness, stress or lack of focused family time. Have a great discussion. 

Whānau Information Evening Tuesday 18th February

It was wonderful to see so many of you at our information evening. Your children loved sharing their knowledge with you and seeing you in action as a learner. We trust you now have a greater understanding of the work we have been doing with the Digital Technologies Curriculum as well as the varied communication platforms that we are using to share the tamariki’s learning with you.   If you were not able to attend the evening, we developed the google slide (with more information to cover what you missed in the discussion) and will be sending it to you via Linc Ed. 

Join me for the Principal Chats

As always there is not enough time to cover everything and while the Whånau Conferences and Information Evening provided insight for all of us about our children, we want to create the opportunity to chat in a smaller setting. To that end, I would now like to invite you to the Principal Chat sessions. This will be a time for you to share your ideas and questions with me so would you please email the office and let us know what time you are able to come along. 

Monday, March 9, 3.15 - 4 pm

Wednesday, March 11, 5 - 5.45 pm

Thursday, March 12, 10.15 - 11 am

Education Outside the Classroom

It has been an exciting week of learning through the various planned activities for EOTC. Te Aroha loved their day at the Zoo focusing on caring for the animals with a particular focus on Conservation. This, of course, links to the Learn About Faith focus of learning about Creation, how Te Atua created us as well as all the other living things and how we should care for all Creation. They have also been busy with their scavenger hunts around the school and walk along the Eastern Walkway.  He Atawhai has had a varied programme of Art linked to mapping skills, a visit into the City Gallery and waterfront, spending time in Te Aroha making pancakes for Shrove Tuesday and of course our Beach Safety programme. Blessed with beautiful weather, it was wonderful to see so many students control their fear and jump from the wharf yesterday. So we hope the children have some wonderful conversations with you each night even though they are very tired! Thanks to all the parents who have supported the learning by coming along on the various trips and activities. 

Kapa Haka 

On Monday we began Kapa Haka with our wonderful tutors and the tamariki loved revisiting songs that they learnt last year. We will be having the tutors - Tepora and Shareen each fortnight and look forward to seeing the children build their repertoire of songs.

Readathon

Next week we will be sending out the information for our Readathon and we look forward to you engaging in this as a family. While we are working to develop the children's 'reading mileage' we are also working to develop their love of reading and the fact that reading is much more than stories and novels. For that reason, we are developing various options for the learners so they see the vast scope of reading in our world. We also look forward to raising money for the school as well so we invite the children to begin considering who they will ask to sponsor them. 

Principal’s Award

Well done to James, Zoe, Samuel, Paris and Sophia for receiving the first batch of principal awards for 2020. They have excelled at being Respectful! Sadly Paris was absent on the day. 

Have a wonderful weekend one and all.

Ngā mihi

Denise Johnson

Faith News

On Tuesday the Senior Syndicate took part in our annual Burning of the Palms ceremony where we burnt last year’s Palm Sunday palms in preparation for Ash Wednesday. We then celebrated Ash Wednesday Mass with the parish the following day. 

On Saturday 21 March we are having a school and parish mass at 5:30 pm in the church. We would love to see as many families as possible attend this mass and your children will be given roles closer to the time. Please mark this date in your diaries. 

Ash Wednesday Reflection

Ash Wednesday is popular with children because ashes are such a tangible symbol. People of all ages love when the spiritual is made physical, when they can touch and feel something real. The Church gives us sacramentals such as blessed ashes, palms, rosaries, and candles to help us open up to God’s grace. 

Palms are a living plant, and a symbol of victory and triumph, but they are burned to dust and become a symbol of sorrow and repentance. The Church gives us Lent as a time to change, to become a better version of ourselves, and to become more like Jesus. The ashes we receive on Ash Wednesday remind us of our call to repent and believe in the Gospel. The disciplines of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—help us prepare for Christ’s victory on Easter.

The Board and staff are acutely aware of the need for a senior playground; since the gap left by the removal of our old senior playground due to it not meeting health and safety requirements. As you know, we were working on the idea of a supernova for the back area, but when we fully understood the requirements and costs for the surfacing required under the supernova, as well as students being clear in what they wanted, we decided this was no longer the best use of the funds that have been raised and allocated for the playground (the surfacing costing more than the equipment). Since then we have been looking at a wider range of options for the senior playground, including researching suppliers and speaking to professional playground designers (who have designed other successful school playgrounds). We will be involving our students and whānau as the project progresses and will share a timeline once this has been established. We wanted to assure you that all the funds raised through our community’s hard work are still available and will be invested in a way that meets our students' need for physical play.

Name: Amy Troy

Position: Year 3 / 4 Teacher

Tell us a little about your teaching journey

I studied for my Bachelor of Education degree at Dublin City University between the years of 2013 and 2017. Alongside this course, I studied for my Certificate in Religious Studies and therefore love teaching in schools with Catholic beliefs and ethos’ such as St. Anthony’s. The year following my graduation I did relief teaching in multiple schools across Dublin, teaching a range of year groups and also as a special education teacher. In 2018 I moved to the Isle of Wight in England where I took a job as a year 6 teacher in Lanesend Primary. While I taught there I completed my induction year to become fully qualified and registered with the Teaching Council in Ireland.

What do you like most about your job?

There are many aspects of teaching that I love. My favourite part is building strong, trusting relationships with my students, allowing them to thrive in an environment where they feel safe and happy. Teaching is most effective when you understand each child’s’ individual situation and what they need personally to grow and excel - this challenge is what keeps me motivated!

What is the best advice you have ever received?

‘Be the type of person you want to meet’ - This is something that I’ve been told at home since I was young and a piece of advice I always try to follow!

If you weren’t a teacher, what other career would interest you?

A must for me in a career is spending time getting to know others. I enjoy knowing about peoples’ lives and helping to make their everyday situation and emotions as positive as possible. For this reason,  I like the idea of becoming a therapist!

What part of your job do you find the most challenging?

The most challenging part of teaching is definitely not having enough time in the day! With so many ideas for each part of the curriculum we can never get as much done as we’d love to. We aim to plan the most engaging, active lessons we can so that children can love their learning every day.

It’s Movin’ March time! The prizes are here, and your child/ren have their record cards ready to stamp. Now, all we need are our tamariki to continue walking and wheeling to school each day! Too far to walk then how about Park and Stride and Walking Pou. Walking or scooting from a Park & Stride or Walking Pou location gives our tamariki a little independence and fresh air before school as well as reducing congestion around the school gate. To

get a feel for it, you could trial dropping your kids a little further from school. So who will set the record this year for the most days of moving to school leaving no carbon footprint? 

WOW Passport Challenge

Each day we will stamp the walk or wheel trips your tamariki do to OR from school. All entries go in

the draw to win one of 12 x $400 My Ride vouchers (that’s more than double the prizes from last

year!). Let’s get stamping!

Also, due to our early registration for Movin’ March, we received a $100 pressie card which we have purchased swing ball sets with.  Thank you to the team at Greater Wellington Regional Council and Wellington City Council for this prize! 

There is an extra opportunity for you, the Whānau & tamariki to win prizes with the:-

Movin’March Parent Photo Comp

Snap a photo of your family’s journey to school during Movin’March & win! It might highlight a small

adventure or wonder discovered along the way, or simply capture a moment in your journey. Post

your photo publicly on Facebook or Instagram with #movinmarch. 

All entries will go in the daily draw to win a family pass to a fun destination in the Wellington region.

Our school will hold a WOW Family Day walk or ride to school on Tuesday, March 31st. We invite all families to walk or wheel – even if it’s just for this one day on WOW Family day and be part of our celebration with coffee and muffins when you arrive. Give it a go as imagine if we achieved 100%  of everyone walking or riding to school - it would be a fantastic way of finishing the month of Movin March!

On Tuesday, February 25, the students from Te Aroha hub went on an educational visit to Wellington Zoo.  When we reached the zoo, we met Tim, one of the zookeepers.  He was incredibly helpful and showed us some of the animals.  Tim also gave us some useful tips such as not feeding the animals as well as keeping fingers well away from them!  We had plenty of time to explore at the zoo and broke up into small groups for this part of our visit.  There were so many animals to see!  We saw a tiger, some giraffes, an emu, squirrel monkeys, gibbons and a tarantula - as well as lots more.  It was a wonderful trip filled with learning.  Thanks so much to Lesi, Melanie, Irene and Natalie for accompanying us on our visit.