Kia ora whānau,

Well, the second week of Term 2 is nearly at the end - how quickly time flies and it has been wonderful to see our tamariki settle back into the learning so easily. We welcome Cadyn who has joined Te Ākau and Sam who has joined Te Maunga. We wish you both a wonderful time of learning and laughter with us all here at St Anthony’s.  We plan to hold our school mass and pōwhiri on Wednesday, May 25 and hope you are able to come along and welcome our new tamariki and whānau to the school. 

We loved finishing the term with our Easter Liturgy and spending some quiet time reflecting on the Passion of Christ while viewing our tamariki’s artwork. Thank you to Father Bill and all our whānau who joined us for this as it was wonderful to gather in the church once again.
Now, Easter has been celebrated and we have entered the Easter season - a season of 50 days, a week of weeks, derived in its length from the fifty days between Passover and Pentecost (which means fiftieth) in Judaism. Our Easter season began at sunset on the eve of Easter and ends with Pentecost the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church. To acknowledge this and to complete the series of artworks, Te Maunga has unpacked the symbolism of Easter and created the Resurrection for us all. 

Hilma af Klint inspired Resurrection Abstract Art

Te Maunga explains that ‘We have been exploring the symbols connected with the Resurrection of Jesus and seeking ways to represent this event in a more abstract way, inspired by our learning about artist Hilma af Klint. Lots of the class thought of circular/ring shapes to represent everlasting life, and bright golden colours to show the joy and happiness of Jesus rising from the dead. Golden rays also came to mind, and we represented these through triangular shards. We painted the background a green colour to represent new life and growth.’  It was Jamie's initial idea that sparked the final piece and he explains, 'The first thing I did was make interlocking circles to represent the tomb opening. That sparked an idea to go from dark to light to represent death, sadness to happiness.” Great thinking Jamie!

It is always wonderful to have some ‘quiet’ fundraising ideas happening and the Entertainment Book purchase is one such one. So if you haven’t already, and do wish to have an Entertainment Book then follow this link and our school will benefit www.entbook.co.nz/1042q81

Helen Revill returns to St Anthony’s next week and our intention is to complete the mosaic artwork - our tamariki have worked hard to achieve their pieces and are excited to see this completed. Please watch out for the notice regarding this and if you are able to help we would love it. Also, prayers for a week of fine, settled weather would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great Friday

Ngā manaakitanga

Denise

Jesus is hope for all of the world
A light shines for us all.
We are called to give hope and reach out to others in love
Hand in hand we follow the call.
In God’s Spirit of love, we gather here.
In this place of love, we all belong.
With faith in our God, with hope in our hearts
We grow in love; we gather as one.

May our gift of welcome, awaken minds to new possibilities and
expand hearts beyond their present boundaries.
May we guide those in our care with inspiration and enthusiasm.
May we help those around us to share in your love and bring
peace in their lives.
May our faith continue to renew us as we live and pray in your
presence.

Lord, we ask that we continue to delight in the gift of welcome in
our school community. Let us go forth with courage and hope
into the future.
God, we know that throughout our lives each path we choose is
one of promise traveled with you.
May we learn to trust in you as you guide us on this journey?
Bless us with your strength and wisdom

We share with you the reflection from The Catholic Daily Life…

Alleluia!  He is Risen!

Saying those words is like drinking a tall glass of cold water after being out in the desert all day.  Lent is over and it is now time to celebrate the great joy of Easter!

Easter is a time when we must do just that.  We must “cling” to our resurrected Lord!  We must cling to Jesus who is alive and well.  We must cling to His Resurrection and strive to share in it.  How do we cling to our Resurrected Lord?  There are many ways.  Here is one.

Take joy in everything.  Start with whatever it is that burdens you the most.  Whatever it is that makes you angry, sad, or depressed.  Whatever that is, it can potentially become one of your greatest sources of grace and joy.  Seriously, it can.  If the brutal Crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God, can turn out to be the greatest event in all of human history, then your personal suffering, your burden, or even your sin can very much become a source of great joy as long as you let God transform it into part of His Resurrection!

This is the meaning of Easter!  Easter means that nothing can keep us from the joy that God wants to give us.  Nothing can steal that joy away.  Sure, at times we will struggle just as Jesus did in the Agony of the Garden and the Via Dolorosa (the Way of the Cross), but those sufferings will not win.  The Resurrection won with Christ and it will win with us when we cling to Him.  Jesus persevered and, in the end, rose victorious.  This is Easter!

Know that God wants you to experience the joy of Easter in your life.  Let Him fill you with hope and with the joy that only the Resurrection can bring.  God wants Easter to begin now in our lives!  Happy Easter!

Today Kale from Miramar Rangers Football began the sessions for the seniors and they had a blast. Here is what a couple of them thought…

It was kind of challenging standing in a tiny area as the ball kept going out but it was to teach us to run along the boundary and to pass more. Kale is our coach this year and he explains everything clearly and it is fun working with him. Leanne Crosbie

At the beginning we completed dribbling skills and little touches on the ball. That was for our next game where there would be one ‘shark’ who would try to get you out and every 10 seconds a new ‘shark’ joined. The shark had to tackle you and kick your ball out so we were learning to put our body in the way of the shark to protect the ball. Fortunately I won that game. Tom Adams

Nau mai, hoki mai

Welcome back to school, we hope you enjoyed the Easter school holidays and are having a great start to Term 2.  

A special welcome to our new families in Te Ākau and Te Maunga.  Thank you for choosing to belong to St Anthony’s School whānau. Our school community is at the heart of our small school, strong spirit and we really value your involvement.  

There’re lots of ways to participate such as helping out with school lunches and working bees, contributing to FOSA (Friends of St Anthony’s) events or being a school board member (that’s a plug for later this year!).  One of the great benefits of getting involved is that it’s a great way to connect with staff, parents and families at school while helping our school thrive. We are holding our first FOSA meeting for the year this coming Thursday, May 19 at 7 pm. Thanks to all those who have signed up and we welcome others to come along ‘as the more the merrier.’

Contact Denise at principal@stants.school.nz to volunteer.

New fire doors in Te Aroha

On your next visit to school, come and admire the new fire doors in Te Aroha block.  Before these were installed, the doors were old and not as secure anymore so it’s wonderful that we now have modern new doors that will last for another generation. 

Contacting our School Board

If you would like to contact our School Board, you can email us at: bot@stants.school.nz  

Our policies and procedures can be found on the school website: http://www.stants.school.nz/school-policies-and-procedures 

If you need assistance and would like help to support you in following the correct processes, please do not hesitate to ask. Additionally, say hello and have a chat next time you see us at school! 

You are invited to the School Board meeting on 17 May at 6 pm

The School Board oversees the governance of our school and sets the overall strategic direction for the school. The principal is the board's 'chief executive' and manages the day-to-day operations of the school in line with the board's direction and policies.

Our School Board meetings are scheduled for twice a term and we welcome parents, whanau, and our wider school community to attend the meetings.  Our next meeting is Tuesday 17 May, 6 pm at school.

Me mahi tahi tātou mō te oranga o te katoa. 

We should work together for the well-being of everyone.

Gallipoli: The Scale of our War

Te Maunga has had a great start to Term 2. We have been researching Anzac Day and looking at the contributions and sacrifices made by many people from Aotearoa New Zealand during World War 1. We combined our first Electronics session at Mt Cook Technology Centre with a trip to the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa, where the scale of the war is told through the eyes of ordinary New Zealanders caught up in extraordinary times. We were impressed by the fantastic giant soldier creations and the wonderful artefacts and exhibits. Here’s what some of our students had to say:

Abby-Last Friday, Te Maunga went to the war exhibition at Te Papa. We got a cab from Mt Cook school down to Te Papa. We walked up to the entrance of the war exhibit and went inside. Some of the rooms had giant handmade soldiers that were super realistic, it was like we were actually there in Gallipoli with them! It must have taken a lot of work. The other rooms had different interactive props and videos about the war. It was an interesting and cool experience and I loved our visit there! 

Isobel-It was an interesting and educating experience, though some parts were quite gruesome. The history of the war is quite a surprising and scary subject but it was an amazing exhibition. I can tell how much time and effort they put into it,  I especially love how realistic they made the statues!

Back in the classroom, we created a display to remember and honour some of the people we learned about during this Inquiry.

Te Ākau was responding to a shared reading and we were impressed with Ben's art piece. He explained the thinking of his picture as,  "Adults are really tall and they were crying so I did some tears." Ben said, "Abstract art is something you don't know what it is the first time you look at it". We loved the influence of Hilma af Klint seen here. 

Friday Lunches

This Friday your child can order pizza as part of our lunch fundraiser.  Order forms should have come home already but if they haven't made their way into the school bags you can print one off at home from the attachment below.

Thanks as always to our parent and year 6 helpers for organising this for the school.

Entertainment Books

We are promoting the purchase of digital membership to the Entertainment Book again this year.  20% of your purchase goes to our school once we have more than 10 memberships sold.

Just follow this link to purchase yours today.

www.entbook.co.nz/1042q81

Since 2007, our school has joined the rest of Aotearoa's Catholic Schools for Mufti Mania - this is when on the last day of Term 2, our tamariki wear mufti in support of a specific school in need. Mufti Mania has been rebranded to YCC as you can see from the attached link. Just a reminder that our mufti day will be on Thursday, July 7 as the term ends then.

We are collecting Yummy Stickers from the apples this year.  Collection sheets came home last week to start collecting.  The more stickers we collect the more free sports gear our school is eligible for! You can collect individual stickers or look out for the cut-out on the bags of apples to collect!

Ready for a challenge?

The Heart Foundation are relying on big-hearted people, like you, now more than ever before so we can continue to fund our life-saving work. That’s why, this year, show your big heart by taking part in the Gazley Volkswagen Wellington Marathon on Sunday 27 June 2021 and at the same time, make your support go further by raising life-saving funds to fight New Zealand's single biggest killer - heart disease.

Walk, run (or a bit of both) or join with friends…however you decide to take part in the Gazley Volkswagen Wellington Marathon we’d love to have you join us and help make a difference!

It’s quick and easy to get started. Simply register for the event and enter the distance of your choice and then create your fundraising page and spread the word to your friends and family! We’ll be there to support you every step of the way, plus, once your fundraising is underway, you’ll receive a Heart Foundation running t-shirt.

Funds raised in the Gazley Volkswagen Wellington Marathon ensure that world-class research is funded, Kiwi cardiologists can undertake specialist training, and that the 170,000 New Zealanders living with heart disease receive the support, information and resources they need to live full lives.

We would be so thrilled to have the support of your school this year and hope you are able to join with us to help make a difference!

Can’t compete?

If you’re not planning to run the 2022 Gazley Volkswagen Wellington Marathon this year, how about joining this fun event as a volunteer? You’ll be out enjoying the atmosphere and helping with tasks like registrations and support at the finish line. If this is something you’d be keen to know more about or you’d like to register you can find out more here www.heartfoundation.org.nz/get-involved/wellington-marathon-2022

It's still 3 mārama away but an event doesn't organise itself!

We are calling for Matariki superstars (get it?) to help us on or before the day.

Mostly we need helpers on the day - you will be doing anything that is needed e.g. setting up, decorating, ushering, cleaning, answering questions or referring people to me or Grant...

If you have specific skills to offer some of us will be having hui to organise this event, skills could be things like giving kōrero about Matariki, or maybe you're a bit of a kaiwaiata... or anything else that you think would be great for this Matariki event, whakapā mai.

Hà

ha@mmcc.org.nz

04 388 1944

Kia pai tō rā,

Hà (pronouns: she/her/ia)

Wellington Hockey Fun Sticks

We at Wellington Hockey are excited to announce the return of our Fun Sticks programme for 2022! The Fun Sticks programme offers the children in years 1&2 (5&6 years old) a fun and engaging introduction to hockey. The 8-week programme will see a focus on the development of individuals foundational movement and motor skill development, building a young person’s physical literacy and preparing them for sport.

 The programme will begin the weekend of the weekend of the 7^th of May (first week on term 2) and be offered across four HUBs in the Wellington region.

- National Hockey Stadium (NHS), Wellington = 10.00am - 11.00am - Saturday

- Hutt (Fraser Park) = 8.00am - 9.00am - Saturday

- Porirua (Elsdon Turf) = 3.45pm – 4.45pm - Tuesday

- Karori (Samuel Marsden School) = 4pm - 5pm - Tuesday

More information and registrations are available via the Wellington Hockey website and the link below.

https://www.wellingtonhockey.org.nz/post/2022-fun-sticks-registrations-now-open.

Digital Technology Sessions Term 2

If your child loves doing Cartwheels, Handstands & Flips, then they will thrive at Bigair Gym! TERM 2 CLASSES ARE STARTING NOW, SO DON’T MISS OUT, BOOK IN TODAY! 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 progress! Classes include GYMNASTICS, TRAMPOLINING, TUMBLING, FREE RUNNING (thats parkour with flips) & CHEERLEADING! Inquire about Bigair BIRTHDAY PARTIES too!

Its easy to book online at www.bigairgym.co.nz or contact our Bigair Gym office. We would love to hear from you. Bigair Gym Owhiro Bay ph. 383 8779 e. wgtn@bigairgym.co.nz