End of Term Newsletter!

Kā mihi o te wā matariki me puaka ki a koutou katoa, just like that, half of the year is gone and we find ourselves at the midpoint of the Gregorian calendar, but more importantly for us as New Zealanders, we find ourselves at the end of the Māori calendar. Almost perfectly starting OUR country’s New Year at the end of our winter holidays.
I know I am ready to let this last year go and look forward. I am also looking forward to the break to stop and spend time with the family after a challenging few months for us.

At the end of this year (Māori calendar), i.e. this week, we need to make some farewells to some of our staff.  Caitlin Barnes (Room 6), Hamish Drummond (Room 5) and Clara Fleming (Room 7) are all leaving at the end of the term.

Clara Mapley
Clara is just for the term as she is headed to Europe on an OE with her husband. She will be back for term four.  We wish her an amazing time and hope she enjoys all the sights and places of Europe, especially many of the Holy sites. She has worked so hard at St Anne’s for the last 6.5 years as a teacher, DRS and Within School Teacher for the Kāhui. Enjoy the break Clara! Much deserved!

Caitlin Barnes
Caitlin Barnes and Hamish Drummond however are both leaving St Anne’s for new adventures. Caitlin arrived at St Anne’s 3.5 years ago, just a few weeks before lockdowns and traffic lights all became the new norm. Bearing that in mind, I just want to acknowledge whilst some schools just ‘stopped’, Caitlin helped St Anne’s to keep on charging. During the last three years Caitlin has;

-completed her certificate in Religious Studies whilst here with hours and hours of study needed to complete this.
-completed full training on the Better Start Literacy Programme and implemented this into her room. It was great to see exciting lessons in Caitlin’s room with science based learning as the backbone!
-completed Storytelling Professional Development with Storyways Literacy. We were quick to notice a great talent in Caitlin’s use of Storytelling and dramatisation to effect excitement into reading, writing, oral language, and the arts. She can really help children to produce quality work and results in this area.
-completed Te Ahu o te Reo Māori Level 2 and Level 3. Caitlin arrived with very little Māori and has grown so much in her ability and what she can assist the children to use. Seeing some of the work produced by children in her class was always impressive.
-helped lead our first ‘movie’. Although I wasn’t here during the time of the movie making. I can imagine this is using one’s talents for the greater good!!!! The end product was pretty special.
-co-led our latest professional development ‘Healthy Active Learning’. Caitlin has been creative and the person behind Wheels Weeks, movement days and activities and the increase in the amount and quality of PE at St Anne’s.

Apart from the list of achievements, what is important is that these have been the hardest three and a bit years of most of our lives. Caitlin supported her students with their learning, no matter what was going on in the world. This was hard for all of our staff and they all deserve a well done!
Caitlin had so many things to make school more enjoyable for her children, check out the picture of her jungle themed class, with a tent, washing line, jungle writing etc. I still remember the crime scene she set up for the children last year. The children were solving that all day. I love creativity and Caitlin lives this.
Caitlin is full of energy and life and the children in her class love this!
She will be missed and we thank you for all you have done for our children and as a member of the team. All the best Caitlin!

Hamish Drummond
Hamish joined us last year as a reliever and we managed to twist his arm to come here full time. Apart from his obvious downsides like supporting the weaker rugby teams (i.e. not the Crusaders!), he has been a great asset to the team. He has no fear and will jump straight in to help the team lead a haka, give you a lift (see picture) or whatever. Hamish has a kind heart, and would do anything to help you out. He’s a huge advocate for te reo Māori and is headed to high school to teach this subject. I’m sure he will motivate and encourage people no matter what age and we wish him all the best for what’s next!

We ask our Lord to bless these three on their new adventures and to keep them safe in all they do. Kia kaha, kia manawanui, kia haumaru!

New faces
We welcome:
Matt Brorens to Room 7 for term 3. (Pictured in the Cotswolds in England). He relieved for us a bit when he returned from overseas and the children loved him. We look forward to his skillset addition for the term!

Jean Chiron
Jean is French and is coming from Burnside Primary School. He currently is Head of Languages and is part of the French Bilingual Unit and the Māori Bilingual Unit. You read it correctly, French is his first language, he is fluent in English and fluent in Māori. He taught at Villa Maria in the past also. We look forward to his wisdom in effective bilingual schooling.

Te Māio Tamati-Stirling
Te Māio is coming from Shirley Primary School. He is pictured here with his daughter Harlow. He is Ngāi Tahu (Kāti Kurī) and fluent in te reo Māori and English. We also look forward to all the skills he brings to our school.

Which rooms? This will come out in due course (i.e. we haven’t sorted this yet).

Pasifika fono/talanoa
Thursday 3 August – starting 6pm
This meeting is for our families of pasifika descent. We would like to come together, share thoughts and ideas around education at St Anne’s (and the home). Please put it in your diary now as we would love every pasifika family represented there. Like Tug of War, let’s wrestle some ideas together!

Te Ahu Graduation
Congratulations to some of our staff who graduated from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori last week. We had Clara Fleming, Shelley Nicholson, Denise Woods, Hazel Harnett-Garbes, Maryse Vernon and Hamish Drummond all complete another level. Here is Hamish in action at the ceremony (excuse the photo taken from a video). Clara was also asked to share some of her work, but like many of us, was unwell on the day.

Support Staff Week
This week is Support Staff Week. Whilst we appreciate our support staff every day, sometimes we don’t let them know that. Without them, our children and school would really struggle. Our amazing support staff are:
Shelley Nicholson – Shelley runs the office, proof reads almost everything I write, pays the bills, payroll,  orders stationery, enrols children, chases up absentees, is the secretary for the kāhui, is our board secretary, answers 1001 questions both via email and on the parents Facebook page, helps children when they come in injured from lunchtime sport, keeps the staffroom topped up with milk etc and in her spare time, helps me tick off some of my to do list.
Denise Woods – Runs our library, helps in almost all classes, takes specialist groups, does duty.
Sharyn Beccard – Sharyn helps specific children to ensure they receive an education that best fits them, she does duty, and helps in almost all classrooms.
Penny Cherry-She helps purchase and maintain our sports gear, enters, organises safety plans, buses, notices for all sport from cross country to afterschool touch/bball, Koru games. She runs the parent page on Facebook giving you daily reminders.
Val Taaso – Val has just finished a term with us but was great helping out in many of the rooms, much like Sharyn and Denise does.
This is the dream team, they care about what they do and the children they help and this is much appreciated. A big thanks from me to them for their work, and the fun times we have.

Zones Cross Country
Zak Walker was our first student to qualify for the Canterbury Cross Country Championships from St Anne’s in many years. Although he didn’t make it to the start line due to illness, I want to congratulate his efforts in training and getting to that position.
Seen below with the zone team (Zak is the tallest one)!