Newsletter #3, 2024 / Pānui-ā-kura #3, (7/03/2024)

Nau mai, afio mai, oro mai ki te wiki o kā wīra!
Welcome to Wheels Week!

The words of the week are: kutarere = scooter and paihikara = bike
A cool sentence, ‘Me haere tātou ki te kura mā kutarere/paihikara/raro!‘ (Let’s go to school by scooter/bike/walking)
It has been so cool to see students biking and scootering to school again! It’s like the olden days when life was a little slower! I especially loved seeing families all meeting up and coming in groups. I hope the students enjoyed it too! I know the bike shed was PACKED!!!! A big thanks to Dean Isherwood and his PALS crew who helped run ‘Wheels play’ and competitions at morning tea and lunch all week. Also to the students helping each other when bikes or scooters weren’t working or there was an injury (there weren’t many luckily!).
Check out this photo of some families meeting up! Pāia!!!
Here is a photo of the weaving races below!
The obstacle course race track below:

And finally the parade, here’s Room 1 and hopefully more to come on Facebook:

IMPORTANT / HE MEA WHAKAHIRAHIRA
Junior school mass / Miha mō kā taina
This weekend Rooms 1-4 are celebrating Mass with the parish. Mass is at 10.30am on Sunday. This happens once a term for your child’s class and is a wonderful opportunity to connect with our parish community and celebrate Mass together. Students wear tidy dress and will sit at the front with their class.

Learning Conferences aka Parent Interviews / Hui Ako 
These are coming up in week 10. How to book a time will be coming out soon. These are for all current students of the school.
Wednesday 3 April – Learning Conferences 12pm – 6pm (12pm Early Finish)
Thursday 4 April – Learning Conferences 3pm – 5pm 

Living our faith through our actions! / Mā te mahi, e whakatinana ai te whakapono!
Our stars of the last few weeks. Shown pointing to their hearts (or thumbs up) as that is the reason they were chosen for this treat by their teachers. Well done for using your hearts in your actions team.
Ko ō tātou whetū mai i kā wiki e ruarua kua hipa. E pākia ana ō rātou kākau (me ō rātou kōnui kai ruka) e ō rātou rikarika hai tohu o te take, nā kā kaiako rātou i kōwhiri. Ka pai e te tīma mō te whakamahi o tō kākau ki roto i āu mahi.


Hip Hop Group / Rōpū Hipihope
Last year we had an amazing tutor come into school on a Tuesday and run hip hop lessons. She is available again and on a Tuesday. If you are interested, please could you let Dallas or Shelley know at the office. Be aware that it is around $15 a session or $150 for a term and this is paid before starting. We need to know as soon as possible, so we can sort it all out and get started, email or pop in on or by Monday. Picture below from prizegiving. principal@stannes.co.nz

Bowling / Maita
Canterbury Bowling Club are taking our senior children for free lessons on how to Lawn Bowl. They teach, help and also provide snacks for them. One of the organisers, Marge taught Mr Isherwood and Mr Wichman at teachers’ college years back and Lilian, is Mr Wichman’s mum!
I whakatūria e Canterbury Bowling Club ēnei akoraka utu kore mā kā tamariki pakeke hai ako ki te maita. E whakaako nei rātou, e āwhina, e hoatu nei i ētahi paramanawa mā kā tamariki. Kotahi o kā kaiwhakahaere, ko Marge, Nāhana a Mr Isherwood rāua ko Mr Wichman i whakaako ki Teachers’ College i kā wā o mua, waihoki, ko Lilian te whaea a Mr Wichman! 

Bishop Visit / Te Toro a te Pīhopa
It was great to have our Bishop visit St Anne’s on Tuesday. He taught us what he does and answered lots of questions. Thanks for your time Bishop Michael!

I tino pai te toro a tō tātou Pīhopa ki te kura o Hato Ani i te Tūrei. Ka whakaakotia mātou e ia tāhana mahi, ā, ka whakautua kā pātai maha. Tēnā rā koe i te toro e te Pīhopa Michael!

Room 4’s Shared Writing – Bishop Visit / Te tuhi a-rōpū a Rūma 4 – Toro a te Pīhopa
On Tuesday afternoon Rooms 3, 4, 5 and 6 went to the Mission Centre to meet Bishop Michael.First, we sat down to listen to Bishop Michael. He taught us about his crosier. It is a really tall staff made out of wood and metal. We learned that the ‘p’ at the top represents Christ (it comes from the Greek language).
Next, we learned how Bishops become Bishops. Bishop Michael got an exciting phone call from a Pope’s representative! He asked him, “Will you be a Bishop?” He felt so surprised and nervous but he still said yes!
Did you know that there are 66,000 Catholics just in Canterbury and only one Bishop to look after them? He has a huge job, could you imagine doing that?
We really enjoyed learning lots of things about Bishop Michael and feel grateful that he had time to visit us. We hope that he comes again one day!
Nā Rūma Whā (by Room 4)

Stay and Play / Noho mai me te purei
We are working with Sports Canterbury to bring St Anne’s students the awesome opportunity to try out different sports and enjoy being active with their whānau. Our first weekly ‘Stay and Play‘ session will be supported by Canterbury Softball on Wednesday the 13th of March on the St Anne’s field after school (3pm start). Please come along and enjoy playing together and giving a new sport a try! Children need to be supervised by their parents and siblings are welcome to be a part of this too.

Tautai o le Moana
Look who you run into (below)! Last week, I was on a walk to Arai te Uru just out of Ōmāpere with some of this year’s Tautai o le Moana principals and we met all of NZ’s bishops doing a retreat at the same time. Although we were on the course last year, I was asked to present what our school had done and was continuing to do in terms of Pasifika education. The other picture was from Paihia/Waitangi, for day two!
Tirohia tēnei whakaahua! I tērā wiki, i te hikoi ahau ki Arai te Uru, tata nei ki Ōmāpere, ki te taha o ētahi o te rōpū Tautai o le Moana o tēnei tau, katahi, ka tutaki mātou i te katoa o kā Pīhopa o Niu Tireni. Ahakoa, i whakaotia te hotaka i tērā tau, i pātiatia ahau ki te kaikōrero pā ana ki te mahi kua mahia me te ara mātauraka Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. Ko te whakaahua atu, he pikitia mai i Paihia/Waitangi.

Trip to Ōtamahua / Te Tiripi ki Ōtamahua (some call it its second name given years later, Quail Island, but it already had a name, Ōtamahua)
Rooms 5 and 7 visited Ōtamahua, Ō=Of, tama=child, hua=eggs as part of their bilingual/bicultural programme. They learnt of the Māori history of the island and stories about Tūteraki Whanoa, saw his digging stick, learnt how iwi and their children used the island (and got its original name), looked at volcanic history, and then early European history there. Also participated in a bilingual rocky shore adventure.


School Term Absence Policy / Here Tamō Wāhaka Kura
For any holiday during term time, you need to advise the office in writing of the dates. Please be aware that Parents/Caregivers need to seek approval from the board for all planned absences that exceed 20 consecutive school days during school term time.
The board meets twice per term.

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!

Room 3’s work / Te mahi a Rūma 3
The story of Jonah as retold by Room 3.
God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh but Jonah disobeyed. Jonah went to Tarshish instead. There was a storm. Jonah ended up in the sea and got swallowed by a fish. He prayed to God and the fish spat him out. This time Jonah obeyed God and went to Nineveh.
Nā Rose te tuhi. Written by Rose
Nā Megan rātou ko Eva, ko Jaime ngā pikitia. Pictures by Megan, Eva and Jamie.

Uniform / Weruweru Kura
We have had a lot of questions lately about uniform. Staff, parents or children cannot change or decide on uniform, it is done at a board level and must have consultation for any change to be made. Apart from a logo change and adding our free jackets, nothing has changed to the uniform in well over 10 years, so if anything is newer than 10 years old, it can’t be uniform. So old in fact, pictures weren’t with the uniform expectations so the clothing types and black school shoes and school sandals had no pictures to go with them. The board would like your feedback on our uniform to see what the feel of the community is, and if how it is at present is reflective of us. We warmly invite you to give feedback. Click on the link, any problems, come and do a paper one!
https://forms.gle/gdcZ2yAKrVK53qpZ6
QR code for the survey if you are reading a paper copy of the newsletter.

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. 

WEEK 6 /WIKI ONO
Sunday 10 March – Junior Mass 10.30am-11.30am Rooms 1,2,3,4 are expected to attend and represent the school. This is only once a term. Tidy dress please. We will sit together at the front right looking in. clara@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 7 / WIKI WHITU
Wednesday 13 March to Thursday 14 MarchDallas away at a meeting and professional development (Clara Fleming is acting principal. If she is unavailable, Jo Smart).
Wednesday 13 March – Stay and Play – jo@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 8 / WIKI WARU
No notices at present
WEEK 9 / WIKI IWA
Monday 25 March and Tuesday 26 March – Teachers spelling professional development (some staff will be unavailable during the day and afterschool on this day)
Friday 29 March –
Good Friday – No School
WEEK 10 / WIKI TEKAU
Monday 1 April – Easter Monday – No School
Tuesday 2 April – Easter Tuesday – No School
Wednesday 3 April – Learning Conferences 12pm – 6pm (12pm Early Finish)
Thursday 4 April – Learning Conferences 3pm – 5pm
WEEK 11 / WIKI TEKAU MĀ TAHI
Friday 12 April – Last day of term 2.50pm finish
TERM 2 / WĀHAKA RUA
Monday 29 April – First day of term two 9am start

Te Atua te aro’a!
Kia manuia,
Dallas Wichman
Tumuaki / Principal / Pū ‘Āpi’i Ma’ata