Kia ora koutou, talofa, kumusta, kia orāna
Lots of photos in this newsletter! The end of term newsletter is coming up in just over a week lots of information in it. In the meantime, enjoy all the events over the last few weeks. It’s been busy!!!
Note: Italics=Māori, italics and bold=Cook Island Māori
Our Big Day!
What a day! Big thanks to all the teachers who worked hard organising this day for the community. Official Classroom Opening, Samoan Feast Day and Healthy Active Learning / school consultation all in one. It is great post lockdowns and building work, to have events again. Also a big thank you to Penny Cherry for capturing these moments and Tori Tafua from Tori Wiki Creative for the amazing balloons.! The opening speeches are below for anyone interested.
Tētahi rā! E mihi nunui ki kā kaiako i te mahi uaua ki te whakarite i tēnei rā mā te hāpori. Ko te Whakatūwhera Akomaka Ōkawa, te rā hākari Hāmoa, te wānaka Healthy Active Learning / Kura hoki. He tino pai ki te whai wāhi anō i roto i ētahi whakaaturaka whai muri i kā mohoaotaka, i kā mahi waihaka. Waihoki ki tēnei, he mihi ka tika ki a Penny Cherry i te whakaahua i ēnei whakaahua, ki a Tori Tafua nō Tori Wiki Creative i kā poihou mīharo! Kai raro kā kōrero mai i te Whakatūwhera, mēnā, he aroka ki a koe!
E pū, e pū ka tangi. E ka’ara.
E pahu. E pātē. I reira e kitea ia ei,
Me’e tangata koe,
Me’e rangatira tiratiratu koe,
I runga i te ‘enua.
Ko au teia ko pāpā Dallas
Te tu’oro atu nei.
Te pō-rokiroki atu nei.
‘Aere mai. ‘Oro mai.
‘Oro mai, ki teia paepae tapu, ki teia api’i tapu.
I konei tātou ‘akatakapātoa ei.
I konei tātou tāmataora ei.
Tuatahi ake, me mihi ka tika ki te Atua.
Ko ia te take mō te tēnei kura.
Me pātaitia ia e mātou ki te tau tōna wairua tapu, tōna aroha ki runga i a mātou, mō tēnei whakaaturanga o ngā rūma hou, ngā rūma whakahou hoki.
He hōnore, he korōria ki a koe.
E ngā mate,
Koutou kua whetūrangitia haere
Koutou hoki kua hinga mai ki runga i ngā marae maha, i roto i a tātou whānau whānui i tēnei wā. Ki tōku hākoro, te kaiāwhina, te kaiwhakatika, te kaiwhakahou o te kura nei. Nui te mihi i te āwhina i te atawhai. Nāu te take mō te āhua o te kura. Haere, haere, haere atu rā. Kia ora tatou te hunga ora i tēnei wā.
Ki Kā Kōhatu Whakarakaraka o Tamatea Pōkai Whenua kei muri i a au, ki Maukatere kei mua i a au, ki Aoraki, Rakirua, Rakiroa, Rarakiroa kei uta, tēnā koutou.
Ki te kura nei, e tū mai nei, tēnā koe, tū tonu, tū tonu, tū tonu mai
Ki te oro tuatahi, ki ngā kaipatu, tēnā koutou i te tīmata o tēnei whakaaturanga.
Ki a koutou, E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha
Haere mai, tauti mai ki tēnei huihuinga.
Haere mai i runga i te karanga o te rā
Te whakatūwhera o ēnei akoranga hou, o ēnei akomanga whakahou.
Ahakoa, tino roa te tataritanga, kei konei tātou. Kua reri te kura.
Tino harikoa au ki te whakaatu ki a koutou te āhuatanga o ia akomanga me ngā whakaaro i mua te waihanga.
Engari, koutou mā, ko ēnei, ko akomanga anake. Ko te mea nui, ko ngā tangata me ō rātou ngākau ki roto. Āe, he wāhi hou, he aheinga hou ki te haere tonu ā mātou mahi tika, ā mātou mahi pono, ā mātou aroha ki te tangata, ki tō mātou Atua.
Nā reira, tirohia ngā akomanga, tirohia hoki ngā ngākau o ō mātou tamariki, o ō mātou kaimahi, o ō mātou kaiako kapahapa hoki. Koina te take tūturu mō nōku whakahī.
Nā reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa
Talofa and welcome to the official opening of our classrooms.
We are excited that you are here to celebrate with us today. I usually don’t approve of translating speeches from the original and official language of this land to English, but, there are a few things I hoped you all might be made aware of.
God is the reason for this school. To bring your children closer to him. If you brought your child here just because you heard it had this legendary principal, then you have made a mistake. I am merely a caretaker here. Our purpose will always be love and our faith.
On caretakers, I acknowledged my father who passed recently. His works are etched into this school through so many things. I am proud and thankful for his contribution to the school.
I also acknowledged you all for coming and how excited we are to show you around and sing for you. I did say to finish in my mihi, look at the classrooms, but while you are here, look at the hearts of my children, my staff and my kapa haka teachers, that’s what I am truly proud of.
St Annes, is a multicultural and multilingual school. We proud ourselves in being the first fully bilingual Catholic primary school in possibly all of New Zealand. I haven’t heard or found one yet, even with just one room. Our belief is that the Treaty of Waitangi is followed, and Māori should not have to choose between their Catholic faith and their language and culture, when choosing a school. We love our indigenous language! Taku reo rangatira! We believe, actually, scrap that, we know, bilingual and multilingual brains are the best brains. We love our children, and the cultures and languages they bring. Whilst I can’t speak Sāmoan that well, yet, I love it, and these ie faitagas are growing on me.
Today, I am unapologetic that some of the names you see today in our classrooms are the original names of the places and not the replaced names that you might know. I pointed to one of the mountains on display in the rooms and said to a child, “This is Mt Wichman.” And they replied, “No it’s not, it’s Mt Cook.” I said, “Nope, Mt Wichman.” He said, “You can’t name it, it’s already been named.” I said, “Exactly! Never say Mt Cook again. It’s Aoraki.”
I would just like to acknowledge a couple of people on behalf of our School Board. We worked with a range of people and lots were helpful in the project. We had numerous workers from Hanns Construction, Opus and the diocese helping. All were such a great team and we appreciate your time, professionalism and care to ensure the spaces and environment was safe and fit for us. Mike Nolan from the diocese, Jake Hann and his team from Hann Construction, in particular Angus Harrison, who would do anything to help or sort any issues and Chris Dunn from Opus. We have some of these people here today, let’s give them a huge pōkarakara.
That’s all from me until the tour. Thank you again for coming and for your help in making this school the place it is.
Fa’afetai lava!
Manuia le aso!
God bless!
Nā Dallas Wichman
Frostbuster 2023!
He maha kā whakaahua kai roto i ā mātou puka emi whakaahua. Tēnā, haere ki ā mātou whāraki Pukamata mō ētahi atu whakaahua! E mihi atu ana ki a Penny rātou te katoa kua āwhina inanahi!
Cross Country Zones 2023! (Kai raro kā whakaahua)
Great work team! We had a 5th and lots of top 20s! Awesome photos Penny Cherry!
Whirika whāiti mō te Oma Roa 2023!
Ka pai tō mahi e te tīma! Kua whiwhi mātou i tētahi tūraki tuarima, i ētahi tūraki kai raro i te rua tekau! Mīharo kā whakaahua, Penny Cherry!
Winter Woolies Fundraiser
Over the next week we will be supporting the St Vincent de Paul Society with their Winter Woolies collection. If you have any unwanted, warm Winter items, especially Jackets and blankets, please bring them to your child’s classroom by Friday 16th June. These items will be given out to help those in need to stay warm this Winter.
Tea Towel Takeover
A family of the school is fundraising for schools as well as helping local artists. The Tea Towel Takeover will be launched soon, and if you are interested in some amazing looking tea towels to add to your collection, you will be in luck. Keep an eye out as we hope to get out soon!!! Each tea towel that is bought, helps the school also! Like chocolates, you can sell to your friends and neighbours, but no pressure, we know a lot of people are struggling at the moment.
GRIT winners
We are having assemblies every week at the moment catching up from all the time we had no place to run them. So many children giving it everything!
Senior Competition (Rooms 5-8)
We are on! Like last term, students completing extra work shall be rewarded!!!!! Heaps of prizes! I already have $500 worth of prizes stored and ready, more to come. To be in this, students need to have completed:
# Half of their total gold bars (see pie graph) in Mathletics.
# Achieved 50% of all GREEN (mistake last time) on VOCAB TRAINER (Māori or home language) in languagenut, and Completed with 100% score those same topics on SENTENCE BUILDER (The list to make it easy: About me/Hobbies and Pets/Where I live/How I look/Animals, Colours and sizes/Food and Drink-total 6 activities/tests)
# Presented a story to the class by the end of week 9 for the storytelling sharing we are having.
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 at here.
Wow, you made it to the end! Nice job!
Please welcome all of our new families who have five year olds who have just started!
Nau mai, tauti mai! We look forward to the Mihi Whakatau next term!
Until the end of term newsletter, enjoy the frosty mornings and beautiful days!!!
The staff of St Annes!
