Tenā koutou

What a fantastic community we have - as I view the many wonderful photos of our Bazaar, they show the young and the old coming together to work for the good of the whole community. The Bazaar allows all those past parents and friends to once again work alongside the current school families and what a great sense of community it builds. It would have been the most challenging Bazaar we have ever had due to the dynamics of COVID19 but a fantastic team managed these conditions effectively showing great success in all ways. And we were blessed by Te Atua in so many ways.

A huge thanks to you all who worked so tirelessly to bring the day about. But of course, an extra special thanks must go to Emma Blades whose wonderful leadership ensured that everything was coordinated and on track - there are many added little jobs that the Bazaar Coordinator does and Emma always did everything with a smile! This meant that most importantly everyone was happy to pitch in and of course meetings were always sweetened with a box of chocolates supplied by Emma! An amazing day led by an amazing team who showed ‘ma tini ma mano ka rapa te whai’ Many hands make light work. Unity is strength.

Ngāmihi maioha

Recently I heard Cardinal John give a sermon when he challenged us to hold scripture close in our lives. He likened it to when we consider the Samoan ritual of enthroning the Bible as they carry it up with song, ritual and lei’s to place the reverence and focus on scripture. Cardinal John asked us to consider how life would be different if we enthroned scripture into our lives and acted on it so maybe that could be a focus for your family during this time of Lent. Some scripture that we are exploring at school is 

“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me.” – John 14:1

“Have life and have it to the full’ - John 10:10

“Love thy neighbour as thyself”- Matthew 22:37

What favourite verse could you enthrone as a family?

Have a lovely weekend as I am sure many of you are looking forward to a quieter one than last!

Ngā manaakitanga

Denise

And so Lent begins….

A time of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. 

Unfortunately being at Level 2 last week meant that we could not all come together for the special mass of Ash Wednesday.  We missed out on having the ashes on our forehead but we as a school did hold a liturgy. So let us all consider the word Ash in another way:-

Allow God to be in your life

Share your talents

Hunger for God - take the time to be with him

Lent is a time of 40 days that we are challenged to develop a “Change of Heart.” We are challenged by the scripture passage when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees saying: "You honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me." Jesus invites us to experience a change of heart that will in fact change every part of our lives. As a family or an individual, what focus do you need to make in order to become closer to God?

Questions to Ponder: 

• Are you in need of a change of heart?  
• What habit can you develop that will make you a better family/person?
• How much time, each day do we as a family/individual take to speak with God?
• What act of kindness will you commit to engaging this week?

We have our Lenten koha boxes and calendars in each classroom -  we invite you to read the calendar to see ideas for your family’s Lenten journey and of course the Lenten Caritas boxes are for coin donations that the children can make over this next 40 days for those who are in greater need than ourselves. 

Kia ora koutou

Welcome to our new and returning tamariki and whānau.  We are looking forward to a wonderful 2021 school year.

Thank you to our retiring Board of Trustees members

Our gratitude and warm wishes to our retiring Board of Trustees’ Chairperson, Vanessa Monahan,  our Deputy Chairperson, Anne Dowden, and our parent representative, Lynda Adams.  We very much appreciate your contribution, commitment and dedication to St Anthony’s over the last year Vanessa and Lynda, and over the last 8 years (!) Anne.  

Anne started as a parent representative on the Board in 2013 when her children Maddie, Burn and Devlin were at St Anthony’s.  For the last 8 years, she has served on the Board as a proprietor’s representative and her children are now in their last years of college and university.  We are very grateful to have benefited from Anne’s knowledge of the educational sector and Board experience and acknowledge the many voluntary hours she has worked on Board matters.  We wish you all the very best for your new adventures Anne.  Ngā mihi nui ki a koe Anne.

Vanessa, we’re delighted that while you have retired as Chairperson, you are remaining on the Board of the Trustees and have accepted the Deputy Chairperson position. You have a wonderful set of skills and we all benefited from your analytical thoroughness and conscientiousness approach particularly during the journey of COVID19 with the many documents/processes that you had to review in your role as chair - we really value the immense time and expertise that you bring to the board.

Lynda, we greatly appreciated your support on the BoT around school wellbeing and the efforts you made to support the fundraising efforts in a very difficult year. We are sad to lose you due to your full-time work commitments and wish you all the best in your new role. We look forward to catching up in the playground.

Election of new Chairperson and deputy Chairperson

At our first Board meeting last Tuesday, we elected a new Board chairperson, Mark Mulhern, and a new deputy chairperson, Vanessa Monahan. 

Mark Mulhern and Vanessa Monahan

Mark and Emma have 2 children at St Anthony’s, Isobel (10), and Alice (9) and his son Ben, will begin school later this year. Mark has been a proprietor’s representative on the Board since 2018.  Outside of parenting and school life, Mark works at L.T. McGuinness Ltd.

Vanessa and Paul have Nadia (11) and Thomas (9) at St Anthony’s and Vanessa has been a proprietor’s representative on the Board since 2020.  Vanessa is a pharmacist at Strathmore Park Pharmacy.

Please contact Mark and/or Vanessa by emailing: bot@stants.school.nz 

A Grand Day Out

It was a very grand day out for our biennial school and parish bazaar on Saturday 20 February.  We were blessed with gorgeous Wellington weather and the change to Alert Level 1 so that our bazaar could go ahead as planned.  

A huge thank you to the organizing committee and to all who participated by baking cakes and making beautiful jams and other produce, donating goods, setting up and cleaning up, serving on the food, toys, bric a brac and books stalls, running the raffles and tombola, and everything in between.

We want a special shout out for Emma Blades who took on the role of leading the bazaar organizing committee for the first time this year and did so with exceptional skills.  Ngā mihi nui ki a koe Emma.  You exuded grace under fire and that was an awesome weather report for our Grand Day Out.

He Atawhai block improvements

The school’s He Atawhai’s block (junior classes) bathroom facilities are being upgraded.  Hot water is now available and the décor is being refurbished with colour panels to bring them up to the same fresh and modern standards as the Te Aroha block’s facilities. While the toilets are fully functional, we are waiting for the arrival of the colour panels for this work to be fully complete. 

Senior playground
We are delighted that the colors and supplementary play equipment choices have been voted on by students and we can confirm that the new senior playground design is now complete (see below) and an installation date is confirmed for the week of March 22 This has been a project a long time in the planning but we are almost there.  E noho e, kia raungāwari   |  Wait and be flexible, Sit down and bide your time.

School Mural

Unbelievably we managed to finish the new school mural at the end of 2020 against all odds and the persistent rain!! Te Maunga, guided by the talented Helen Revill showcased their creativity and painting skills as they worked tirelessly to make sure we all contributed to this wonderfully fresh piece of new art for the school. Each student added their own special something when they painted a little ant to represent the part they play in school life. Our belief being that we are stronger when we work together as a team. There are lots of little secret messages hidden throughout the mural. Take a closer look and see if you can find them!! A big thank you to the "A" team who sealed the mural at the beginning of the school holidays!

Vacancies on Board

There will be two vacancies on the Board of Trustees effective at the end of the term and we will be providing more information about the Board election process shortly.  In the meantime, we would ask you to consider nominating yourself or another parent or interested person who has an interest in St Anthony’s School and its tamariki.

The School Trustees Association’s guide to school board trustees  is a good starting point for finding out more about the role of a board trustee.

Board meetings

A reminder to everyone that you are very welcome and encouraged to attend the Board of Trustees meetings each term.  Please let the school office (e: office@stants.school.nz) know in advance if you are going to be there so we can organise a bigger room if this is required.

Our next meeting for this term is:

•         Week 8 Tuesday 23rd March from 6pm

The Bazaar was really fun.  You got to play lots of games, it was like a theme park.  There were lots of lollies and lots of good food and singing as well. I loved playing cricket the most out of all the games that were there. I had a sausage and burger. I also liked to go in the police car because you got to ring the siren and it was also my Dad who was the police officer there.

- Joseph, Year 4

It was really fun at the Bazaar.  I got a Simon Says game and a lolly necklace.  I got to do the kids cafe with Hazel, Chloe and Glenys - the spiders were really good and we had a lot of customers.

-Alice, Year 5

I enjoyed the Bazaar because I went to Alice's and Hazel's cafe.  The most fun was getting the ticket for the Tombola - I didn't win anything this time though. I also did some archery.  It was so much fun to pull back the bow.  When I did it, it nearly hit the tent.  I went to my brother Glen's game which was golf and I got one ball in and got a lolly.

-Leanne

I enjoyed the Bazaar.  It was really fun. I played lots of games with my sister.  We had so much fun and I got so many lollies and when my sister played golf she always got the ball in and she always got the toys.  When I went with her she took my turn because she loved playing it so much.

-McKenzy

Thanks to those whānau that are making the effort to curb the packaged items in the lunchboxes and using instead the small containers - we appreciate it. It is also wonderful to see snacks such as carrots, celery, and cheese. These are great items to include for your child/ren. There are a few lunch boxes containing chocolates and sweets. Please can you keep these treats for home so that we all abide by the school rule. 

Each year we need to make sure the details we have for your family in our systems are up to date.  Families often change address, phone numbers and email addresses and we need to make sure that these are accurate so we can contact and communicate with you efficiently especially in the event of an emergency.

The 2021 student information sheet will be coming home this week -this year you only have to fill in one per family so hopefully this makes life a little easier for you.

We would appreciate it if you could complete the form and return it to school as soon as you can so we can ensure all your information is as accurate as possible.

Many thanks for your help with this.

We have quite a few lost polar fleeces and hats at the moment.  Could you please do a quick check of these at home just in case they have mistakenly been taken home with your child.  If you do find any items that are not yours then just drop them into the office.

Thanks

This Friday the lunch option is sausage in bread.  An order form for this week should come home today but just in case it doesn't make its way into your child's school bag it can also be found on our school website under the Friends of St Anthony's section.

Thanks to Simone Meech and her Year 6 helpers for getting the sausages ready for everyone. 

Seatoun AFC Registration

Worser Bay Beach Carnival

Seatoun Kindy Fundraiser