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But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Talofa,
I expect that you all saw our FB post welcoming our two newest members to our school community - Alexander Meech and Sylvie Burke. They will be part of an elite group of New Entrants who began school in Lockdown due to COVID19. Lucy Williams is enjoying catching up with them online and here’s hoping that in the not too distant future we will be able to welcome Sylvie and Alexander in person!
We hope you follow our school on FB but if not we’d love you too. Please then share it with your whānau as it is a wonderful way to showcase our creative high achieving students and the many opportunities that St Anthony’s offers. St Anthony's Facebook
Our other excellent news is that Lucy Williams has completed her two years as a provisionally certified teacher and has gained her full teacher registration. Congratulations to Lucy who has worked extensively to continue to learn and upskill in order to become the wonderful teacher that she is today! We are so proud of Lucy and know that we are lucky to have her as she certainly adds value to the team!
Of course, the Prime Minister has indicated that we are potentially heading towards Level 2 next week and over the next 36 hours, we will receive further information as to what exactly this looks like for our school. Please watch out for my notification of moving to Level 2 within the next couple of days that will be sent to you via Linc Ed.
We know that we will be focusing on the following health measures so we invite you to continue the conversations with your tamariki regarding this.
- Hand washing and drying
- Good cough and sneeze etiquette
- Staying home if sick
Once again I include the Ministry of Healths guidelines about the symptoms to monitor for and where to seek help, including getting tested
Today we feature further examples of the many wonderful pieces of learning that have been happening in your homes and we are so proud of you all. Please enjoy our children’s wonderful work.
Also, FOSA is asking your support in purchasing the Entertainment book so please check out this below and we would love you to help this fundraiser further by asking your friends and family to purchase one through us.
As always Yummy Stickers are another great way to gain equipment for our sports and playground so please continue to collect these.
God Bless
Denise
Are you exhausted?
I've spoken to a lot of people this week and many people say they are utterly exhausted. This surprised a lot of people. They think, "I've been at home, I've been sitting in front of the computer. I shouldn't feel tired." If you are feeling tired, there are good reasons for it.
First of all, New Zealand has been under the largest social change it will probably ever experience. We know that change is tiring. Getting used to a new routine, learning new computer software, and learning new ways of doing things requires a lot of effort, so it's natural that many people will be feeling really tired. On top of that there is the emotional effort of being in the middle of a disaster. It is emotionally draining to see what is happening around the world. It is important to consider the impact this is going to have on many people.
So, many people this week will be feeling really tired and exhausted. Some people think they shouldn't feel this way, or maybe they're not very strong and able to manage this. It's important that we acknowledge there are good reasons, as I've just mentioned, for you to feel tired. If we put pressure on ourselves to achieve lots of things and do more when we're tired, this just makes the situation worse.
So, this week what I would say in terms of advice is just take some time out, take some time to rest and recover, because let's face it, the last four weeks have been emotionally draining. Sometimes we look down on people that rest, but if we read the Bible we see that on day seven when God created the world, he rested. This is not a casual passage that was put in here. This is very deliberate. God knows that human beings are not robots. We need time to stop, and we need time to rest.
We often ignore it. We often say, "I don't need to rest, I don't need to stop." But the reality is human beings do have limits. Sometimes a lot of the stress can creep up on people and they don't fully realise what they're experiencing. For many people, that's what's happened in the last couple of weeks. Little by little their tiredness has increased until it's come to this week and then suddenly, they feel exhausted.
So, I really encourage you to sleep in and try and set aside some dedicated time throughout your day for a rest. In the past, when people went to work they would have a break for morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. Tragically, today, many people work through all these breaks and so they are always on.
I encourage you, in the coming weeks, just to set aside some times to actually have a break, not to do work on your phone in the break, but to actually pause, have a cup of tea, spend time with your family and really take a break because we desperately need rest. Rest is not a bad thing. When we are well-rested, we are more creative, we snap at other people less, and we're generally a lot happier. I encourage you, in the coming week make good rest and good sleep a priority. If you want to know more about sleep, go to my website, there's a lot more information about how to get good sleep, and some of the things that stop people getting good sleep and how to address
them.
Michael Hempseed
23rd April 2020
Gratitude to our tamariki, whānau, and kaiako
So much has happened over the last 7 weeks and the Board is very grateful for the support, leadership and person-power helping to support our tamariki during these extraordinary times.
Thank you to our tamariki. You are living through a historic moment in time, but in reality, it’s not always easy to do your learning at home and it’s hard not seeing your friends at school. Every time you try and keep working on your schoolwork is a win so well done. Keep at it! Be kind to your parents and family, please.
We acknowledge the hard work of our whānau, our parents and caregivers in making the necessary move into online learning a success. We know that this is a difficult time for many of our parents and caregivers, with some of you having to work from home while also looking after children and/or also trying to help support older relatives and manage household economic uncertainties. We understand the extra challenge presented to parents and caregivers when also trying to direct and manage children's online learning at home. Thank you for all your efforts in supporting your children's learning in these difficult circumstances.
We would like to acknowledge the actions of all our kaiako, teachers and staff and especially the senior leadership team in the period prior to the nation-wide level 4 lockdown and as we progress through lower alert levels (watch out for Level 2 and beyond!). During this time the many and constantly evolving recommendations from the Ministry of Education have been implemented immediately and effectively at St Anthony’s.
We thank all involved in implementing these tremendously time-consuming and disruptive changes. Your vigilance and dedication are very much appreciated.
We thank our new Principal Denise Johnson and appreciate it’s been a baptism of fire for Denise to start her principalship at St Anthony’s. All your hard work, commitment and leadership has not gone unnoticed and we are grateful.
“When you look into muddy or choppy water,
you will not see your face reflected.
If you want the face of Christ, who looks
on you, to be reflected within you, come away
from the disturbance of exterior things,
and let your soul be at peace.”
– St. Anthony of Padua
Playground news
Our landscape architect Mark from the Local Collective is finalising a concept design for our senior school playground. We are very excited to share this design with our school community for comments and feedback in the coming weeks.
Board of Trustees Vacancy
A casual vacancy has occurred on the Board of Trustees for an elected parent representative.
The board has resolved under section 105 of the Education Act 1989 to fill the vacancy by selection, rather than a by-election.
If ten per cent or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.
Any eligible voter who wishes to ask the board to hold a by-election should email Vanessa Monahan, Chairperson Board of Trustees, bot@stant.school.nz by 28th May 2020.
We may be nearing the end of this current period of lockdown so let's hope that it remains that way and we have some level of stability across NZ.
Congratulations to Sophia, Alina and Alexander who collaborated on the musical task that your teachers set you. It is wonderful to see you working together to create this piece and your teachers are thrilled.
There are so many changes happening around us, but at least some things stay the same – the Yummy School Sticker Promotion!
Start collecting the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy apple stickers for our school’s share of the $200,000 free DG Sport sports gear prize pool. Yummy apples are available from New World, PAK’nSAVE and participating Four Square stores. The more you collect, the more sports gear you get so get going and start collecting your Yummy cut-out labels and stickers now!
We normally ask that stickers and cut-outs be collected on the official sticker sheets, but to keep it simple and no printer needed, its fine to stick them on any sheet of paper.
Just drop your sheets filled to the brim with stickers into the school office.
Looking forward to seeing those stickers come flying in!
Just a reminder that we are promoting the Entertainment Book again this year. The good news is that it is a digital membership only this year so no hard copy will come home.
If you would like to support us by purchasing a digital membership then follow the link below. Our school receives 20% from each sale.
St Anthony's Entertainment Book Fundraiser
Thanks once again for your support.
FOSA