Aftanun olketa,
Three weeks left people! There are so many events coming up. We will deal with 2025, room changes (we have quite a reshuffle due to starting nine classes next year), and staff changes in one of the next two newsletters but in the meantime, let’s stay focused on 2024 and enjoy some celebrations and need to knows!!
This week coming is the first ever Solomon Islands Pidgin Language Week. It has so much history, if you have time, do a bit of research and learn about how it came about. The 2024 theme for Solomon Islands Pidgin Language Week is ‘Protektim langguis an kalsa blong yumi – Protect our language and culture’. We have two students at St Anne’s of Solomon Islands descent, we hope they have a great week as we try a little Pidgin at school. Some you might try below!
PRODUCTION / WHAKAATURAKA MATAORA
We are very excited to present ‘Jonah – A Fishy Tale’ on Thursday 28 November, 3.30pm at Mapusaga Hall (8 Vili Place). This is a whole school production, with each class leading one section alongside the main actors.
All are welcome to come and watch, there is no charge or tickets to purchase, HOWEVER, we are collecting money for the Mission Sisters Appeal at the door so please help us there instead.
Students will walk to the venue with their classroom earlier in the day and will be ready to perform when you arrive. The hall will be open at 3pm for you to be seated. If for any reason your child will not be able to participate, please let their teacher know as soon as possible.
Costumes should be brought into school in a named bag. Please see below for a list of costumes for each classroom. The last day for bringing in costumes is this coming Monday 25 November.
Class Costume Requirements:
Room 2, 8 – Blue clothing
Room 3, 4 – White clothing
Room 5, 7 – Pasifika Clothing
Room 1, 6 – Beach clothing
**Those with additional costumes were given a separate notice.
If you are unable to provide any of the costumes above, please let us know and we can help organise them for you. We are looking forward to seeing all the students bring this production to life and to having a fun and memorable afternoon together. Thank you for your support in helping make this event a success.
PRIZE GIVING / WHAKAPŌTAETAKA
Wednesday 11 December
This will be held at Catholic Cathedral College School Hall. Doors open at 5pm for a 5.30pm sharp start. We will be having less performances this year to reduce the length for our children. Expected finish time 6.45pm. This prize giving is for all families as there are two awards for each class (GRIT and Faith) and our premium awards. Please come along and support our school and those leaving.
NZPPA VISIT TO ST ANNES / TE TORO A TE RŌPŪ NZPPA KI HATO ANI
No words! (Well maybe a few)
I am so proud of my students, staff and families for their efforts over the last few days and weeks. I fear listing as not to miss anyone. We know who you are and we are so thankful. I will do a shout out to Asa’amu Marquees (owned by a school family) who got a call from me a day out due to the forecast. With no marquees or time left due to the Pacific League Series, somehow, made it happen. Also to our Mamas (not ruling out papas) for all the food, it fed our visitors twice and then half the school. Such generosity!! Again, thanks to all, the continuous messaging of thanks and amazement is overwhelming at the minute.
Here’s a run down of events and participation so pics make sense!
The last few days we hosted the NZPPA (New Zealand Pasifika Principals), also participants and facilitators of a nationwide leadership programme at our school. We had: School tours, sharing of change in our schools, a joining of the Hīkoi, visits to Te Aratai College and Rāpaki Marae, then a school welcome involving a history tour (Issy Room 7), pū and drums (Kaitlyn, Eve, Felise, Joseph, Maua Rooms 7/8), a tū’oro (Arani from Room 8!), a Cook Island pe’e tū’oro (Room 6), a Kiwi haka (Keen seniors), a vaiata and ‘ei kakī giving (Room 2 and made by keen, helpful students and Ateliana Tiatia), pe’e turou (Mr Wichman), a mihi whakatau, Takitimu story launch (students from Rowley), kai (families of St Anne’s made and supplied), manākitaka (kapahaka performance group, Tagata Mai Saute performance group), a presentation and discussion with the University of Canterbury Child Well-being Research Institute around BSLA and its results on all learners and specifically pasifika, then to finish our school pe’e (any keen students). Each event above took so much thought and effort. Love your work team. (From a Facebook post after the event)
PACIFIC LEAGUE SERIES / WHAKATAETAE RĪKI NŌ TE MOANA NUI A KIWA
Well done to all of students who did a great job representing their cultures at the Pacific League Series. There were more students than this but it was a huge competition so couldn’t find them all. Great job!!!
ALL CULTURES DAY / TE RĀ O KĀ AHUREA KATOA
This is coming up again on Friday 6 December. If you have a game, activity, dance or sport you would like considered for the day, from a culture other than NZ (so we learn something new) that you could either, help teach our children, or teach a teacher that could then teach the children, get in touch. Maybe speak to your child’s teacher about it, they will either love your idea and take it on, or already have one, and write it down and see if any other teachers might do it. On this day, we also ask for a contribution to shared kai. This year we will start this at morning tea, so children can share morning tea, then again at lunch (there was a bit of leftover last year).
LANGUAGENUT AND MATHLETICS COMPETITION (ROOMS 5-8) 10 SLEEPS TO GO!! WHAKATAETAE LANGUAGENUT ME MATHLETICS (RŪMA 5-8) 10 KĀ MOE KAI TE TOI!!
Due to the smallish numbers of students who completed the challenge by the required date, we have extended the date so more children can complete it. It is now Monday 2 December! As we get a lot of donations and spend a lot of money on prizes for this, we really want children to have worked hard enough to earn these amazing rewards (and the learning itself as a reward). Please push the work on this at home over the coming three weeks. They are aiming for 100 gold bars in Mathletics (half of the seniors have now achieved this and a lot are close). They also need to achieve half of the yellow level in Languagenut. The six students who achieve the required amount by the first date will be drawn out of the prize box first! Well done to them! Please note: Students can be helped but not told the answers by anyone. Thanks for your honesty.
HEALTHY ACTIVE LEARNING / AKO HIHIRI HAUORA
St Anne’s Catholic School will be participating in an evaluation of the Healthy Active Learning (HAL) Initiative. This programme, a partnership between Sport NZ, the Ministry of Education, and Health NZ, aims to enhance the well-being of children and young people through quality physical education and healthy eating and drinking.
Your son/daughter should’ve brought home a Consent Form from Massey University earlier this week. This form is part of an evaluation process being carried out by the Massey University team, who first visited our school in 2020/2021. We kindly ask that you review and sign the consent form, and have your child pass it along to their teacher as soon as possible.
In Weeks 8 & 9, the Massey team will return to work with our students and assess the progress made at St Anne’s and in other schools (54 in total) since their last visit. Their findings will help further promote positive changes in schools across New Zealand.
Thank you for your support in this important initiative!
COOL DESIGNS / ĒTAHI HOAHOA RAWE
These cool designs were made by Jonny Parker of Derty Bull Creative. He is of Ngāti Porou descent and is on our school board. Langham Signs turned them from designs to what they are here. We have a pasifika based design, a Māori based design, and Maui’s monster. Maui’s monster is a pūrākau/story told by some kuia from Taumutu Marae which says that after Maui fished the North Island up, he rested here with his family and during this time they were terrorized by a monster. Maui fought the monster and buried him under a massive mound of dirt, over 1000metres high. Every summer, the monster would thaw out and would try to escape and his movements would cause an earthquake, soiled to erode and a harbour to be formed. This leaving the shape of Banks Peninsula. They say the last time he tried to escape was 2011 😉 We love telling stories at St Annes, especially ones of the area in which we live or ones that connect us like the windows on the Mission Centre.
BEACH EDUCATION (YEARS 7-8) / MĀTAURAKA TĀTAHI (TAU KURA 7-8)
On the 4th of December Rooms 7 & 8 are off to Sumner Surf Life Saving Club to participate in the Beach Education programme run by Surf Life Saving New Zealand! The programme is designed to provide practical water skills and teach tamariki how to be beach-safe using materials that align with the principles and Key Competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum. Beach Ed is a full-day interactive programme taught all over the country by qualified surf lifeguards.
TOUGH KID CHALLENGE (YEARS 7-8) / WERO MŌ KĀ TAMARIKI PAKARI (TAU KURA 7-8)
On the 5th of December Rooms 7 & 8 will be participating in Sport Canterbury’s Tough Kid event at the South Brighton Park, next to South Brighton School. Tough Kid is an urban-style obstacle course for primary & intermediate-aged students. Obstacles will include tyre runs, hurdle jumps, water slides, hay bale climbs, and more! This is an awesome event where up to 1500 other primary-aged students compete.
Sport Canterbury recommends students come in sports clothes or fancy dress; there will be prizes for the best-dressed students. There is a likelihood that students will get wet and very muddy from some of the obstacles, so we would advise all students to bring a change of clothes and shoes and a towel. Shoes must be worn on the course.
KORE SAILING (YEARS 7-8) / WHAKARĒRERE KORE (TAU KURA 7-8)
On Monday the 9th our seniors will head out to Lake Rua and learn to sail. It will be far more than a fun day out of school, KORE Sailing is grounded in the curriculum, and in particular all five Key Competencies from the New Zealand Curriculum; Thinking, Using language, Managing self, Relating to others and Participating and contributing. Also, the activities are planned to increase awareness of the importance of safe practice around water; the KORE team have worked closely with Water Safety New Zealand in developing the best possible sailing programme. The combination of fresh air, learning through play, physical activity, responsibility and being a member of a small team, brings a sense of pride in achievement.
TUNING INTO KIDS – is a free parenting course focused on emotional coaching of our Tamariki. The Diocese will be running this six session course from 366 Cashel St, from 4pm till 6pm, starting Monday 27th January 2025. We have limited spaces but if you are interested please contact Katie on 022 656 3400 or kgould@cdoc.nz to secure your space.
This course is so good, it will be offered again at school in Term 2 or 3, 2025 for those who are unable to make this event.
POLICIES / KĀ HERE
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. Please follow the link and then have a look around!
He mea maumahara tēnei, mēnā tō hiahia, tirohia kā here, mahia kā arotake hoki. Kai konei kā here. Whāia te honoka, kātahi, tirohia!
UPCOMING EVENTS / KĀ TAIOPEKA E HAERE MAI ANA
If you have any questions, please email or talk to the person whose email address follows the reminder. If there is no email address, it is just something to be aware of.
Mēnā he pātai āu, īmēra atu te īmēra, kōrerotia ki te takata kua whakaikoa. Mehemea kāhore he īmēra, he mea hai whakamōhio noa iho.
TERM 4 / WĀHAKA WHĀ
WEEK 6 / WIKI ONO
Friday 22 November – Youth Group Years 5 and 6, 3pm-4pm, Years 7 and 8, 4.30pm-6pm Mission Centre janette@stellamarisparish.org.nz
Saturday 23 November – Senior Mass 6pm clara@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 7 / WIKI WHITU (Solomon Aelan Pijin Language Week)
Thursday 28 November – Technology 8.30am Years 7-8 dean@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 28 November – Production ‘Jonah and the Whale’ (all students) – 3.30pm at Mapusaga Hall (8 Vili Place) jo@stannes.co.nz
Friday 29 November – Road Patrollers Jellie Park Trip dean@stannes.co.nz
Friday 29 November – Youth Group Years 7-8, 4.30pm-6pm janette@stellamarisparish.org.nz
WEEK 8 / WIKI WARU
Monday 2 December – Prize Draw and last day for Mathletics/Lanugagenut and Mahi Kāika (Homework Challenges) principal@stannes.co.nz
Wednesday 4 December – Beach Ed Day Years 7-8 dean@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 5 December – Tough Kid Challenge dean@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 5 December – Technology 8.30am Years 7-8 dean@stannes.co.nz
Friday 6 December – All Cultures’ Day principal@stannes.co.nz
Friday 6 December – Rotary Awards dean@stannes.co.nz
Friday 6 December – Youth Group Years 7 and 8, 4.30pm-6pm Mission Centre janette@stellamarisparish.org.nz
WEEK 9 / WIKI IWA
Monday 9 December – Kore Sailing – Years 7/8 dean@stannes.co.nz
Monday 9 December – Room 6 Willowbank Trip clara@stannes.co.nz
Tuesday 10 December – Mahi Kāika Trip option #1 principal@stannes.co.nz
Wednesday 11 December – Prize giving at CCC 5pm doors open, 5.30pm start dean@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 12 December – Room 1 and 2 Trip to Arion Park jo@stannes.co.nz december@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 12 December – Mahi Kāika Trip option #2 principal@stannes.co.nz
Friday 13 December – Leavers’ Mass 9.15am clara@stannes.co.nz
Friday 13 December – Youth Group Years 5 and 6, 3pm-4pm, Years 7-8 4.30pm-6pm
WEEK 10 / WIKI TEKAU
Monday 16 December – Last full day for 2024
Tuesday 17 December – Pop in and meet your 2025 teacher and Room
Tagio tumas,
Te Atua te aro’a ‘ē kia manuia,
Dallas Wichman
Tumuaki / Principal / Pū ‘Āpi’i Ma’ata