We remember Jesus' wonderful promise of assurance from the gospel of John — "Do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you through the Holy Spirit."

Tēnā koutou

Thank you everyone for responding so well to the procedures needed here at school with us now being at Level 2. Such a sense of déjà vu but it was good to see our tamariki settled and focused on the learning. With your continued support, we can face the challenges that the various Alert levels pose for us all.

Our congratulations to Mia, Tom, Jacob, Anna, Sophie, Harry, Liam, Blythe, Thomas, Alice, Joseph, Maria, Cobie, and Rueben - our children in our faith community who gathered last Saturday night for the Sacrament of Confirmation. It was wonderful to witness our tamariki take the next step in their faith journey. Te Wairua Tapu guides us throughout our lives so please remember these children in your prayers that they may always be open to the power of the Holy Spirit.

What a joy the Pump Bike Track has been for our tamariki, great to see their confidence growing the more they use it. Please join us for the official opening on Tuesday, August 18, at 2 pm.  

Likewise, we would love your support for our upcoming Quiz Night so please see below for these details and we look forward to seeing the sale of tickets.

At this stage, we will proceed as if we are going ahead with both events but of course, things may change as we have just seen.

Thanks to the parents who attended our whānau sharing session on Monday morning. The children love having time to share with their families so if you, yourself can't attend please invite other whānau to pop in for these sessions. Please see below the date for the next time of sharing.

Over the past two years, the staff has been on an eLearning journey considering our innovative practice and the Digital Technology Curriculum. This professional learning is now complete and some of the evaluation points that we made were:-

We have a deeper understanding of collaboration because of the innovative learning practice course we have completed as a staff. Working on this course has given us the opportunity to put into practice what we have been learning. We are working within syndicates on collaborative inquiry in response to the needs in our syndicate.

We have a better understanding that Digital Technologies is an integrated teaching and learning approach. This has been the biggest shift in our PLD journey. Part of our improving student outcomes is to have students involved in the whānau conferencing. The goals and plans are collaborative. It's about the continued learning conversations so we are gaining more agentic learning behaviours from our students.

Over the past 6 months, we have been developing our Digital Technologies Curriculum, with the key goal being that Digital Technologies Curriculum will help learners at St Anthony’s School to have skills, knowledge, and attitudes so they can be digitally capable. As you would have seen through the various posts and whānau sharing times we have been working through progress outcomes 1 and 2 for the two strands of Computational Thinking and Designing and Developing Digital Outcomes. We have invested in mircobits and STEM activity kits for our learners and our next step is to purchase some Edison Robots. 

Through whole school eLearning Professional Development, the skills of becoming digitally fluent are frequently practiced with our tamariki in class. Our students are becoming more digitally fluent (a skill that they will need to thrive for their future) which is seen with the regular use of iPads/Chromebooks that support learning. It is a benefit for students to be bringing their own devices to school so that this skill is continuing to develop and reach new potentials. 

Responding to the survey analysis of whanau engagement with E-Portfolios meant we made the decision for the whole school to be on the Seesaw App. This proved especially timely as when we went into lockdown it became an essential learning tool and a way of connecting more purposefully with whānau.  

When we, staff reviewed ourselves at the beginning of this professional journey,  most placed themselves at either pre- emerging or emerging. Now at the end of this learning journey, we see a significant shift in teacher pedagogy with us all evaluating ourselves on the other end of the spectrum of the learning. It has been a significant learning journey and one that we particularly love seeing increased the engagement and learning opportunities of our learners. I extend my grateful thanks to the staff who have engaged so positively with this professional development over the past two years - it has been impressive!

Please ensure that you have the Hero App up and running as this is the platform that we will use for announcements and/or changes to the programme/events. Particularly in this time of uncertainty, it is important that you do watch out for these.  If you did not receive my notification about returning to Level 2 yesterday morning please let Kirsten know as she is working with Linc Ed to fix any issues whānau are experiencing. 

Key Dates to Note

• Pump Bike Track Official OpeningTuesday, August 18, at 2 pm.
• Student-Led Conferences - September 3, 3 - 6 pm
• Whānau Sharing - Thursday, 17 September⋅2:15 - 3 pm
• Teacher Only Day - September 25 (this is the Friday of the last week of term)
• Term 4, Tuesday, October 27 is the other Teacher Only Day. Please note that this will mean a longer Labour Weekend for our whānau

Ngā manaakitanga

Denise

Confirmation by Tom, Year 4

At Confirmation, we sang cool songs.  Also we stood up and said, ‘Father, I wish to be confirmed.’  I read a Prayer of the Faithful, it was number four. We wore badges that looked like a cross with a dove on it. At the end we got certificates and we got to keep our badges. My sponsor was my Grandma. It was very fun. Father Ephrem was the priest at the Confirmation. He put oil on my forehead and that symbolised the Holy Spirit.

Confirmation by Alice, Year 4

On Saturday I had my Confirmation.  When we arrived we had to stay in the Gascoigne Room.  We made our way to the top of the church.  Ten minutes later I said, ‘Father, I wish to be confirmed.’  Another ten minutes passed and I was kneeling down in front of Father Ephrem.  He sealed me with the Holy Spirit on my forehead.  He said, ‘May the Holy Spirit be with you.’  My sponsor was Sue.  She is my babysitter’s mum and a really famous artist.  I had a sponsor so they could help me and put their hand on my shoulder.   Two hours passed and I was back at home.

Parish Masses

All Masses are suspended till Tuesday,18 August; No Holy Communion to the sick and homebound; priests will be available only for emergency call for sick and confession; No exceptions. Faithful are dispensed from Obligation of Mass as long as the restrictions remain. 
Mass will be streamed live via facebook Ephrem Tigga at the following times

• Thursday 13th Aug - 7pm
• Friday 14th Aug - 9.30am
• Saturday 15th Aug - 10am Assumption Mass
• Saturday 15th Aug - 5.30pm Vigil
• Sunday 16th Aug - 10.30am
• Tuesday 18th Aug - 9.30am 

All churches are now closed except Holy Cross Church which will be open for personal prayer between 9am - 2pm each day. 

Playground update

The Board of Trustees would like to thank both students and parents for their patience and support during the development of the senior playground.  Unfortunately, as with most building projects, things are taking longer than we had planned and anticipated.  COVID-19 has played a part, but other contributing factors include: 

• both an initial and then a revised concept from a specialised playground designer that were well over budget
• changing and conflicting information from various sources regarding building code and safety requirements
• a lack of interest from the playground building company we have been working with.

We are very conscious of the need to install a playground as soon as possible.  However, we are also very conscious that we wish to spend the money that has been raised wisely, to achieve as much as possible with the money that we have, and to install a playground that not only meets requirements but that we are all proud of.  The Board has, therefore, made the decision to begin liaising with a different playground building company.  Although this may extend the time without a playground, we believe the overall result will be significantly better.  Members of the Board have already met with a representative of the new company who has a wealth of experience and was extremely positive about the site and the possibilities it offered.  We still intend to share design options with the school community as soon as these are available. 

Covid-19: Be ready

The Board has reviewed our response and management of COVID-19.  We are very happy with the adherence to the Ministry of Education guidelines in all areas, including social distancing, hygiene measures, and the provision of at-home learning.  We thank the staff for their positivity, their high level of organisation, and the speed at which they created and implemented the home-based learning programme for our students.

“Stamp it out: Our plan to respond to new COVID-19 cases in the community” is the government’s high-level approach for how it will deal with new outbreaks of Covid-19.   

We are using this information and guidance from the Ministry of Education to plan and be ready for new Covid-19 cases in the community and how these might affect our school and education for our tamariki.  

Friends of St Anthony’s (FOSA)

When your child is a student of St Anthony’s, your family becomes part of Friends Of St Anthony’s.  FOSA is a committee of parents who come together to support the aims of the Board of Trustees through fundraising to supplement the school budget and organising events to bring together the school community in social activities.

The FOSA committee meets 3 times a year to agree on fundraising events.  Committee members are also involved with managing or participating in these events.   Current activities include the school quiz night tomorrow week - August 21 and the fortnightly school lunches.

Participating on the FOSA committee is a fun way of meeting more of our school community, helping us achieve some of our extracurricular goals such as providing new sports or play equipment, giving back to and building your school community.

We would really like more parents to volunteer on the committee and in particular, to fill the roles of Committee Chairperson, Committee Secretary, and a Treasurer.  These could be performed for a fixed term if parents want to commit to a certain period.

Please contact Kirsten in the school office or office@stants.school.nz for more information or to put your name forward.  Thank you!

 Toilets refurbishment project

We are delighted with the progress of the Toilet Block refurbishment in Te Aroha Block.  A huge thank you to the Archdiocese for prioritising this project.

Fortnightly School Lunches

A reminder that School lunches are back on this term.    This is a great way to contribute to school fundraising and an easy lunch every second Friday.

State-integrated schools give you best bangs for your bucks

The CathNews NZ shared this research with us recently and it is good to see that our schools are performing well. 

Please take time and review this document so that we have your feedback.

User name: stants

Password: ludlam

As many of you know we were due to have our school swimming sessions in Term 2 this year but sadly Covid-19 put that on hold.  Unfortunately we have been unable to reschedule these sessions so school swimming will not be held in 2020.

We realise that many families have already paid for this as part of their school donations for the year. We can offer you a credit against your account for the swimming donation amount or we ask that you consider donating this amount to the school.  Please let Kirsten know which option you would prefer via email  office@stants.school.nz and she will sort it out for you.

For families that have yet to pay their school donations the swimming cost will be credited against your account and a new statement with your current account balance will be sent out in the coming weeks.

If you have any questions about this then please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Book Character Day

Two weeks ago St Anthony's School held a book character and Grandparents day. We all dressed up like a character from a book and we love dressing up. Me (Isabella) and Katelyn dressed up, I dressed up as The Cat in the Hat and Katelyn dressed up as Nala from the Lion King. 

It was fun because all the classes had to line up outside in their costumes and walk around the court with music playing. All the people would watch us and then clap at the end. All the judges would also be watching and they would do their scores. It started from Te Akau (year 1 and 2) all the way up to Te Maunga (year 7 and 8). 

When it was our turn we all lined up outside and everyone else lined up and then the younger class sat up and started running around the whole court showing their costumes off. The teachers were Thing 1 and 2 and Mrs J was The Cat in the Hat. Isabella and I didn’t win an award. After that the Grandparents had morning tea.

After all the games we went to Mass with our Grandparents. Cardinal John led the Mass and after half an hour the mass ended. After that, all the Grandparents went inside and had morning tea and the school had their morning tea. While they were eating and chatting the kids showed them their work. Afterward we got to eat the leftovers! Which was very yummy and at the end of the day we got an ice block.

Sadly the day was over and everyone went home very happy. This was an incredible day and everyone had a great time.

By Isabella and Katelyn, Year 6

Our school won the Moving March. Our prize is that we get to have this cool black bike track. When I first tried it I couldn’t get to the top because my bike was too heavy and I was scared that I was going to ride off the sides but thankfully I didn’t. When you are on a scooter on the first downhill you feel like you will go over the handlebars. I Think it is really fun.

By Nina, Year 6 

Please read the grateful thanks from the Soup Kitchen for your generous donations during our Matariki Celebration

The following sitting dates have been set aside for those students who have opted to sit the 2020 ICAS Assessments in English, Digital Technologies and Mathematics.  All three assessments will be completed online.

Monday 24th August - English Assessment

Tuesday 25th August - Digital Technologies Assessment

Monday 31st August - Mathematics Assessment

Thank you to everyone who brought a plate of food for Grandparents Day.  We have some plates left waiting to be picked up from the office if you haven't collected yours already.

St Anthony's Quiz Night

Community Connector

You will work closely with the community activator; coordinating projects, events and initiatives such as a peninsula newsletter. It will be a role full of fun, creativity, variety and amazing people. It is a flexible 20 hours a week on a year fixed-term contract. We need someone who is passionate about community, sensitive, organized and has knowledge of the Te Motu Kairangi/Miramar Peninsula area. We particularly want people to know that in recruiting for this role, we value people's diverse lived experiences and backgrounds. This might be understanding what it's like to need support in some way or experience of being from a minority group etc. We welcome applicants who may not be 'formally' trained/experienced in this field of work and especially those who have experience of being on the ‘receiving’ end of community support as this is really valuable knowledge to the role.

Applications close Monday 31^st August, see ad for full details. Please get in touch for any queries.

An important update for SZapp has been released to accommodate for iPhones which have been intermittently receiving push notifications.

SZapp version 3.6.0 is available from the App Store now and we advise all iPhone users to install this version to ensure notifications are received correctly.

Users with automatic updates enabled on their device will receive this update automatically.