Turou, ‘aere mai, tāpiri mai ki te epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani,
(well we are more at the end of Cook Island Language Week but welcome to it anyway! Two days left!)
The Cook Islands indigenous language is more at risk than NZ Māori now. We have two students of Cook Island descent at school, but as we do, we celebrate either way!
The words we have been using this week are:
Kia orāna = Hello
Meitaki = Thanks and Good
Ka kite = See you later
Mako = All good
Pōpongi = Morning!
Pōpongi manea = Good/Beautiful morning (like this morning)
Learning Conferences / Parent, Student, Teacher Meetings
Monday 7 August 12.30pm-6.30pm (early finish for students at 12pm)
Tuesday 8 August 3.15pm-5pm
These are coming up in three sleeps!!!! Please make a time through our Skool Loop app. It is important you only choose one time slot for the teacher. This app is essential for your household to have. If the whole household does not have a smartphone or device, please ask a family to call you and tell you of any important notices.
Learning Conferences are for ALL families unless you have had one already in the last month. Room 7, we apologise, but yours will be in the first few weeks of next term when Mrs Fleming is back from Europe. Feel free to pop in and say hello to Mr B and check out work with your child though.
Remember, if you are unable to attend due to work commitments, or there are no suitable times available, contact our teachers for an alternate time. Parents are always welcome to come in with children before or afterschool to look at work in books, on the walls or a quick ‘How’s he/she going?’ to the teacher.
Please note: Early finish on Monday 7 August (12pm) due to Learning conferences. Students can only leave with an approved adult or a note (if a senior). Otherwise, supervised reading in the library will be for anyone who cannot be collected. Kidsbase as usual at 2.50pm.
Mass this Weekend (Rooms 1 and 5)
This weekend Rooms 1 and 5 will attend Mass together and represent our school. This is a parish school (a school connected to a parish) and we expect all families to make this effort. At the moment it is only once or twice a year. Please do your best to get your child to the Mass. Tidy dress please (no uniform).
Touch Rugby
We are thrilled to announce that our school’s touch rugby teams will once again be participating in the Aupaki Junior Touch module at McCormacks Bay Reserve every Thursday afternoon. To make this a successful and enjoyable experience for our students, we are seeking whānau support for coaching and managing our teams.
Touch Rugby Coaching Information Session:
On the 21st of August, at 3:15 PM, Matt de Vries from Sport Canterbury will be delivering a special coaching session at our school. He will provide an overview of the key rules of touch rugby and share other essential information. This session is a fantastic opportunity for anyone interested in coaching or managing a team to gain valuable insights and skills.
If you are passionate about touch rugby, enjoy working with kids, and want to help out our kura we warmly invite you to attend the coaching information session. Whether you have previous coaching experience or are new to the role, nau mai, haere mai!
If you are unable to attend the information session but are still interested in helping with coaching or managing, please get in touch with Dean Isherwood (dean@stannes.co.nz)
Policies
A reminder, if you are interested and would like to take part in our termly reviews of policies, or are interested in any, they can be found here. Some noted in surveys that they didn’t know how. Please follow the link and then have a look around!
Waste Free school
A reminder that we are waste free. I know some parents say, “It’s only one thing”, “They bring it home” but again, you are teaching students some rules are okay to be broken.
Note: It’s definitely not all going home, here is one week of rubbish. 90% of this is from the few who aren’t waste free! 🙁
Lunchtimes
Unfortunately students have had a lot less options at lunch due to our field being saturated. Our flag is out which means only play on our concrete. This is hard as there is not much space. If students are muddy, please reinforce they shouldn’t be on the grass at the moment as it is killing it and annoying us all with the mud. We are opening the Mission Centre daily with table tennis and the library to give some other options. Hopefully it dries soon.
Talanoa / Pasifika Meeting
Fa’afetai, meitaki to all those who came for our pasifika evening. We had Samoa, Tokelau, The Cook Islands and The Solomon Islands represented. It was great to share our journey so far, where to next and your thoughts on our future. Minutes will be distributed when completed. Big thanks to Taitu’uga Geoff Siave who was guest speaker and the Tiatia family for their input. Thank you to December McVicar and Jean Chiron for giving up their third night in one week for the school! You deserve this weekend!!!
Feast Day
Our children enjoyed dressing up in the colours associated with St Anne (Red and Green) and their red and green iceblocks Matua Josh shouted them at the end of day. Thanks to those who came to Mass. We apologise for the organisation of Mass. Matua Josh, who was organising everything got called away at the last moment. Not our best moment!
Class Trips
The whole school went out and about this week thanks to Matua Josh’s organisation. I hope they enjoyed learning a bit about voyaging! I saw a double hulled waka made by Matua Josh sailing down our stream with some classes when they returned.
On Monday we went to the Art Gallery. We went into little groups so we could see amazing Matariki themed displays. The first thing we did was we walked up these huge stairs and went down on a glittery elevator. Then we went to see a boat in a big glass box. Jackie (the boss) then told us to draw it. After we did that, we went to this big screen that was singing to welcome us. We started writing ideas for our art. The next step of our walk around the Art Gallery, we saw Te Ra (an ancestor), it was really cool. Then we walked to the room where we did our art. Once we completed our work, I said a mihi to Jackie and her helper. Then we did our last bit to see extinct birds and then we went on the bus to go back to school. My favourite part was the extinct birds. I hope we do something like that in our next trip.
Sienna Fuataga Aukusitino – R5
Youth Group (Years 7 and 8)
Tonight 4.30-6pm
Parents: Please ensure to sign them in and out. A great time to be had!
Youth Group (Years 5 and 6)
Next Friday 11 August (fortnightly) 3.15pm-4.15pm
Parents: Please ensure to sign them in and out. A great time to be had!
Upcoming Events
Put on your calendar. Email address for contact person should you need more information. If no contact email, it is yet to be fully finalised and contact will be added when contact is available. There will be more events to come but the focus in the upcoming four weeks.
Week 3 (Cook Islands Language and Culture Week)
Thursday 3 August-Talanoa-6pm Mission Centre-Families of pasifika descent principal@stannes.co.nz or ateliana@stannes.co.nz or hazel@stannes.co.nz
Sunday 6 August 10.30am Class Mass (Rooms 1 and 5) jo@stannes.co.nz, jean@stannes.co.nz
Week 4
Monday 7 August – Learning Conferences/Parent Interviews-Early finish (12pm) due to Learning Conferences
Tuesday 8 August-Learning Conferences/Parent Interviews (second afternoon) No early finish
Week 5
Week 6 (Filipino Language and Culture Week)
Monday 21 August – 3.15pm Parent/Relation Touch Rugby coaching assistance (see above) dean@stannes.co.nz
Friday 25 August – Feast Day for Filipino Language Week – Traditional dress for this day (and rest of week if preferred)
Week 7
3 September- Sunday – School Mass 10.30am + choir/culture performances josh@stannes.co.nz
Week 8
Wednesday 6 September – Cultural Festival Catholic Cathedral College – 12.30pm-2pm Limited tickets available soon- ensure your Skool Loop notifications are going! Don’t miss out! josh@stannes.co.nz
Week 9 (Māori Language Week)
Week 10
Monday 18 September – Ski Trip Years 7 and 8 dean@stannes.co.nz
Tuesday 19 September-Thursday 21 September – Koru Games, Lincoln – dean@stannes.co.nz
Kā mihi
