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Nau mai haere mai – Greetings – Tena Koutou – Kamusta – Malo e Lelei – Talofa Lava – Namaste – Ni Hao – Hallo – Kia Orana – Bula – Fakaalofa Atu
Kia ora tātou
Last week we celebrated Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga | Tonga Language Week. Last week we experienced a variety of Tongan activities and thank our Tongan students for sharing their special culture with us.
This week we celebrated Māori Language Week. The initiative is also called ‘Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. It aims to inspire New Zealanders to speak the Māori language proudly. Māori Language Week is part of a larger effort to revitalise the Māori language. New Zealanders — and indeed, the global community — are encouraged to learn the language and experience the rich culture.
The Māori language is a part of the culture and identity of New Zealanders. This observance helps to preserve and advocate the usage of a crucial part of our nation’s history.
Cross Country
 On Wednesday it was great to have our School Cross Country at Liston Park. These events don’t just happen. A special thanks to Mrs Maree Flashman for her hard work and excellent organisation. Thank you to all staff for working together as the ‘A’ team. We loved seeing all the smiling faces from our students.
A BIG THANK YOU to our families for supporting the bake sale, generously donating items for our raffles and to the Community in Action parents for all their hard work behind the scenes and on the day.
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School Board elections have closed and the new St Mary’s School Board will be announced on Monday 19 September. We look forward to seeing the results!
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Every School Day is a Big Day
School attendance data has shown a marked decline since 2015 right across New Zealand and COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem. Right now, almost half of our tamariki do not regularly attend school (regular attendance defined as attending at least nine days in every fortnight)
In June this year the Government released its Attendance and Engagement strategy.
‘Every School Day is a Big Day’ is a part of ‘kia kotahi te ū ki te ako – all in for learning’.
Here at St Mary’s we have on average a 90% daily attendance, which is great. Attendance is tracked carefully and parents will be contacted if there is a pattern or concern. Education for our tamariki is a top priority.
Kia Manawaroa is the Ministry of Education’s pānui for whānau Māori.
Read the latest issue of Kia Manawaroa below:
Kia Manawaroa 26 August 2022
Kia Manawaroa 9 September 2022
It is written by Māori for Māori, with information about opportunities and milestones in education, Māori success as Māori, Te Reo Māori and COVID-19 updates relevant to whānau as and when appropriate.
Scratchpad
 Scratchpad Coding Club is at St Mary's school every Wednesday from 17th October to 7th December (8 weeks) after lunch eating.
We are able to offer this extra-curricular activity to Year 3 - Year 6 students. Students will need to have their own chromebooks charged and brought to every session. Scratchpad is an external business, they will charge their fees separately to the school.
Please click the flyer for more information, and the contact details to enrol in this activity.
Queen Elizabeth ll
The Queen’s dedication to public service has been an inspiration to children and adults alike over the past 70 years. Through her dignity and unswerving sense of duty, the Queen has set an extraordinary example to us all, and she has been a reassuring presence through many turbulent times. The Queen through her grace and dignity touched the lives of millions and she will live on in our hearts. We pay tribute to her.
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Loving Father,
We give thanks for the long life of Queen Elizabeth, for all that she has contributed to nations around the world.
We pray that she will be at rest trusting in the grace of God, as she is reunited with her beloved husband Prince Phillip.
Amen
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Key Dates Reminder
*Please note all dates and events are dependant on Covid Alert Levels - please monitor your school eTap emails, Facebook communications or look on our school's Public Calendar for up to date information*
TERM 3 - Week 9
Monday 19 September - Election Results - New Board takes office
Weeks 9-10 - Junior Swimming (not Rm16)
21-23 September - Year 6 Camp
Friday 23 September - Cans for Christmas (final collection day)
TERM 3 - Week 10
Week 10 - Chinese Language and Culture Week
Monday 26 September - PUBLIC HOLIDAY (Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day)
Tuesday 27 September - Art Extravaganza (more information via email)
Thursday 29 September - First Board Meeting 6pm
Friday 30 September - last day of Term 3 (normal 2.45pm close)
TERM 3-4 HOLIDAY (1 October - 16 October)
TERM 4 Early Key Dates:
Monday 17 October - First day of Term 4 (normal 8.45am start)
Sunday 30 October - Kids Marathon (Auckland Marathon)
Week 3 - Book Week
Friday 4 November - Grandparents' Mass and Book Character Parade
Saturday 5 November - Kapa Haka / Te Kōtuku Festival
8-9 November - School Photos
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Advanced Notice - 2023 Term Dates
Term 1 : Wednesday 1 February - Thursday 16 April
Term 2 : Monday 24 April - Friday 30 June
Term 3 : Monday 17 July - Friday 22 September
Term 4 : Monday 9 October - Friday 15 December
Note: Teacher Only days are not yet available
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“Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets.” - Matthew 7:12
The underlying theme of our Religious Education learning in the last 2 weeks has been Social Justice. The resources sent to us through Caritas, New Zealand focused on the theme of - Say No to Racism, We are one in Christ. It is always heart warming to listen to the deep discussions that the children have about social justice. It also gives me great confidence that the generation that we are raising is one that seems to be mature and unaffected by the differences among individuals. This in fact, is a huge reflection of fabulous role models that they are presented within all the environments they are a part of. Ka Pai to all strong, role models !
The Season of Creation began on September 1 and continues through till October 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. I do hope this resource from the Auckland Catholic Diocese will provide your with a resource to use with your family.
https://www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Stations-of-Creation.pdf
As we continue to enjoy this beautiful season of spring, let us always remember the richness of God’s creation and the blessings he has provided us with in this beautiful land of New Zealand. God bless you always!
Ma te Atua tātou e manaaki
God’s blessings
Charmaine D'lima
DRS
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Cans for Christmas
Cans for Christmas is an initiative that was started by Mr. Billy Hadnett (who used to be the Deputy Principal at our School) Mr. Hadnett realised that a great way for Catholic Schools to show service in action was to make a donation to the St. Vincent De Paul Society who prepare food packages for those who do not have access to daily food supplies. This initiative has grown amongst the Catholic Schools in Auckland. May I please ask for your support in donating cans to the annual “Cans for Christmas” initiative? Thank you very much in advance for your generosity as we continue to support our brothers and sisters around Auckland who need help.
~ Mrs Dlima
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Room 16
Room 16 has been learning about Patterns. Pattern awareness leads to higher level thinking and helps children with later mathematical skills such as algebra and logic.
The following are some important skills taught by pattern awareness:
- Patterns teach sequencing and predicting
- Patterns help students to understand change and show how elements repeat in a logical way.
- Patterns show logical connections and teach reasoning skills and later mathematical understanding.
- Identifying patterns is important in later seeing mathematical relationships and understanding number operations.
- Pattern awareness helps with spatial thinking and directionality which is so important for young children in both maths and reading.
We have been creating patterns using interlocking cubes and have also created Māori headbands that are made by a pattern. We have found patterning tricky but are enjoying the challenge!
~ Mrs Nelisi
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Room 15
For Social Justice Week Room 15 enjoyed reading all the beautiful books about our wonderful community and world. Our discussions have been about God's Creation and how he makes no mistakes and we are all here, the way we are on purpose
Lucy - “I feel happy that we all look different even in my family we look different.”
Sienna - “We all have different and beautiful hair.”
Eva - “My mum's eyes are different but I still love her.”
Max - “Even my twin Parker looks different and he likes different things to me and that’s okay, I still love him.”
Gabby - “God made us different and that was on purpose.”
These past weeks we have been exploring patterns! Patterns are things that repeat in a logical way. They can be numbers, images or shapes. For example, a pattern can be made out of plastic animals alternating between two and four legged animals or animals that swim versus animals that fly. Here are some examples from Room 15!
~ Miss Ahearn
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Room 14
To celebrate Tongan Language Week, we integrated some activities with our subjects' learning. One of the tasks was making a Flower Lei by making their own ‘patterns’ that we are currently learning in our Maths. The little hands created beautiful flower lei.
Our class ‘Show and Tell’ is always busy and Room 14 tamariki are very patient to wait for their turns. They proudly show a new toy from their families or friends, and amazing crafts that they created at home. Some of them present different stories with the same item every week, which is very creative. Their oral presentation skills and confidence have grown a lot! Ka pai!
~ Mrs Kim
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Room 13
Room 13 has been getting creative preparing some beautiful pieces of art for the Art Extravaganza which is coming up in Week 10.
We have been busy drawing, painting and collaging and we also made papier mache vases using the reading book Grandma’s Vase as our inspiration. We are creating something extra special to go inside our beautiful vases too.
~ Mrs Bowden
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Room 12
Room 12 has been enjoying learning a new game at PE time called Castles. The aim of the game is to steal the other teams 'gold' from their castle. We have been enjoy working as a team and thinking of new strategies to improve the next time we play the game. We have to practice dodging the other team so we don’t get tagged. We have learnt that we need to keep some of our team back to defend our 'gold' as well as send some of our team to try steal from the other team.
We have also been working hard on our Mary and baby Jesus artworks.
~ Mr Ryan
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Room 11
Room 11 has been continuing on our creative journeys in preparation for the art show. We read the story "Ten Black Dots" and then discussed the many things that dots can become. Then we were given the challenge of creating something with ONE black dot. We came up with so many creative ideas such as an attic window, a spider and even a unicorn's eye! Check out some of the artwork below.
We were all super excited about taking part in the cross country run at Liston Park and dressing in our house colours. For the last few weeks we have been practising every day after lunchtime and getting our fitness levels up. Room 11 is full of future sports stars for sure!
~ Miss Hutton
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Room 10
Patterns are everywhere! We can spot them all around school and home, but we are also learning that we can also find them in numbers too. In Room 10 we are repeating patterns with colours, images and numbers but the most fun we're having is when we get to create our own!
For Tongan language week we had a go at making our own leis. We're using them to decorate our classroom and have had a go at drawing patterns for the upcoming Art Extravaganza too.
~ Mrs Heyworth
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Year 0-2 Learning Community Hui
Congratulations to all the wonderful learners in Years 0-2 who have been awarded certificates at this week's Hui and welcome to Sophia in Room 14!
~ Mrs Bowden
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Room 9
Last Friday Room 9 went to mass with their buddy class, Room 11. We are so lucky to be able to go to mass again after so much uncertainty. The 5 readers, Eddie, Jerome, Hriday, Lucas and Lily were all very excited to be sharing the reading and psalm.
We have also been learning different Māori phrases like asking each other how we are by saying "Kei te pehea koe" and replying with "Kei te pai".
~ Mrs Hyland
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Room 8
In Mathematics, we have been looking at patterns and shapes. Luke and Henry took this new learning and added an element of creativity to tell a story using 3D shapes. This ignited interest in many children and now the 3D shapes have never been so popular!
We have been learning all about different aspects of drama and last week we explored how we can use objects as props in our stories. Each group was presented with a whiteboard pen and given ten minutes to create a one minute action play. The finished products were hilarious and no two plays were alike!
Room 8 are looking forward to learning more drama skills very soon.
~ Mrs Teviotdale
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Room 7
In Room 7 we have been busy getting our art finished for the Art Extravaganza at the end of the term. We decided to redo our self-portraits as we thought we could do a better job than our Term 1 ones. We have been using a combination of vivid and dye to create half a face and our name. They are looking awesome!
One Reading group has been stuck into finishing their novel study on 'How to Train Your Dragon'. They have been busy reading chapters every week and completing tasks. It has been amazing to see an improvement in their decoding and inferencing.
"It is a fascinating book to read" - Benji B
"I like it because there is a lot of dragons" - Maria T
"It is about a boy called Hiccup and his dad Stoick, who is the head of Hairy Hooligan tribe" - Hamish
~ Miss van Dillen
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Room 6
Room 6 put on their imaginary lab coats to tackle some huge science concepts, and they did so well! We talked about density which was very confusing at first but after we related it to things we knew it was much easier. One example we used was when we broke the wood in Taekwondo, if this was a much denser material like iron this would have been MUCH harder!
After learning that hot water is slightly less dense than cold water, we were able to test this in class. We used food colouring to make the hot water red and the cold water blue. By using a spoon we were able to gently layer the hot water on top of the cold water and could see that if we did it right our beaker would turn purple on top.
~ Miss Clubley
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Room 5
In Room 5 we've been working on our collages. We've painted backgrounds by mixing blue and black for a midnight effect, then followed it up with a collage moon made from yellow paper. The rays of the moon radiate outwards in shades of blue, which we made by colouring strips of paper with different shades of pastel. If you want to see the finished job, pop into our Art Extravaganza in Week 10!
~ Mrs Agnew
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Room 4
Room 4 has been loving Marcus and Daphne coming back from Otago Problem Solving with Mrs Kubala and leading our class Number Talks. The problems that they share with us are challenging, but fun. We like having our thinking stretched!
The special Language Weeks have also been enjoyable, as we have loved celebrating the many cultures that make up our class. It's been great sharing different greetings when the roll is called in the morning, with the children sharing their language.
We are proud of the art that we have been busy creating and we are looking forward to sharing it with everyone in Week 10.
~ Mrs Flashman
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Room 3
This week has been an exciting week in Room 3! For Reading, we have been looking at various Maori myths such as how Maui Slowed the Sun as well as Hatupatu and the Bird Woman in celebration of Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori.
The students have been working very hard in class in preparation for the Art Expo in Week 10, completing their name sculptures which have turned out beautifully!
~ Mrs Fepuleai
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Room 2
Well this week you would have heard Room 2 making funny sounds as they were trying to compose alliterative sentences. Finding the words and stringing them together sensibly proved to be a real challenge!
The flaming, fiery, ferocious fire infested the Florida forest. (Ryan)
The flaming fire flies with fumes. (Mason)
The flaming fire flickered fiercely while frightening fragile females. (Hattie)
Isn’t it amazing that the children have made each of these sentences their own. What has impressed me is that they are now using higher level vocabulary to create their image.
The children were asked to express their views about their work on the poetry that they have written over the last 3 weeks either by themselves or with a group. Here is what they said. 
“Helped me to think of more descriptive words and look at things in a new light.” (Miriama)
“Shows us different ways. That there is more to poems than rhyming and haikus.” (Taupeaevai)
“Makes me think outside the box and also taught me that poems can be very heartfelt and beautiful.” (Esther)
Our origami art has been a reading lesson in instructions. We have learned that it is really important to read them carefully and try not to assume. We also learned that when you are using diagrams it is a good idea to look ahead to the next step to make sure that you are on the right track. Now we are going to see how nimble our fingers are by cutting our squares smaller and smaller. This is what we are aiming for! Thank you Aanya!
~ Mrs MacKenzie-Browne
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Room 1
Room 1 is very grateful for our lovely student teacher, Ms. Ruby Wright whose cheerful and kind personality has added a positive flavour to our classroom. Ms. Wright patiently works with the children everyday in all areas of their learning. She even brought in her ukulele to class.
After being deeply engrossed in the book 'Dawn Raid' we finally met the author Pauline Vaeluaga Smith via Zoom. It was such a cool experience for the children to meet a New Zealand author and they were extremely well prepared with their questions, which the author noticed and appreciated. Ka Pai Room 1!
~ Mrs Dlima
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Sustainability - Trees for Survival Planting Day
This week the Gardening Club and Miss Ahearn ventured off to Clevedon to plant our beautiful native trees.
We planted Flax Cabbage, Manuka, Mahoe and Karamu, an estimated 900 natives in total. Thank you to the team at Trees For Survival for all your time and support, we could not have done this without you and all your expertise and thank you to Steph and Ben for hosting St Mary’s at your beautiful farm.
With the Trees for Survival Programme, St Mary's students display Kaitiaki/Stewardship for God's creation. They show care for the earth and acted in ways that will restore and protect the environment. In Genesis Chapter 1, God creates plants with seeds, and animals to inhabit the land, sky and water.
How can you be a steward of the earth?
Reduce, reuse, recycle. Consume less, carry reusable grocery bags and water bottles, and check what materials are recyclable in your city. Use less water and energy. Things like taking shorter showers, turning off lights, and unplugging appliances when not in use can all add up.
~ Miss Ahearn
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Digital - Room 9
In Room 9, we have been integrating our writing with digital technology. We have found a really cool website with so many tasks for us to practise our coding by moving a bee bot on an online mat.
Mrs Hyland read a story to us about where the bee bot needed to go. We were able to add the code to the online bee bot to make it move to the destination in the story. Now that we have practised our coding we are going to write a story then create a visual mat so we can code the bee bot to move around.
'I love the bee bots because they can move very well'. James McG
'It's easy to give the bee bots an algorithm. An algorithm is a set of instructions". Eddie
'It's super cool how you can direct the bee bots and it's fun to code them'. Amelia
'I like learning about the bee bot because you can learn what direction they need to go and where their location is. It is fun to learn about how they move and what code they need to move.' Jerome
Watch this space...we will update our journey in the next newsletter.
~ Mrs Hyland and Room 9
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Bounce Back Term 3 - Emotions
Managing Feelings
What can you do to help your child become more able to understand and manage feelings? - Teach your child how to manage their strong feelings.
Use the following five steps to help your child when their emotions are ‘hot’ such as when they are sad or afraid or angry.These five steps provide an opportunity to be close to your child and teach them how to manage strong feelings.
- Take notice when your child is feeling sad or angry or upset.
- Listen to your child and show them you understand how they are feeling.
- Name the emotion in words your child can understand.
- Help your child look for solutions to the problem within acceptable limits.
- Finish with a hopeful or optimistic statement, saying that you believe they can do something to deal with the situation, or find a way to feel better about it.
Help your child learn to change a bad mood into a good mood.
When they are feeling down, help your child choose something to do that would make them feel happier such as drawing, reading, watching a funny movie, playing a game, doing something nice for someone else, asking a friend over or playing a physical game outside.
Help your child to correctly name their feelings.
Sometimes children make a mistake about how strong the feeling is; for example, they say they are really angry when they are just annoyed.
Help them to use more low-key language like ‘cross’ instead of ‘furious’, and ‘down’ instead of ‘depressed’. Children also make mistakes about what they are feeling. For example, they may say they are angry when they are really scared because the sensations in their body are similar. Say ‘perhaps you’re also feeling ...’ as a prompt.
Help your child to understand and experience positive feelings.
Identify times when you can help your child to notice and ‘savour’ pleasant feelings (e.g. feeling proud, excited, satisfied, relieved, joyful, and hopeful) that arise from a positive.
~ Mrs Nelisi
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Bounceback Room 12
Worry Dolls
Room 12 has been learning about Worry Dolls.
In traditional and modern times, worry dolls are given or lent to anxious or sorrowful children. They would tell their doll about their sorrows, fears and worries, then hide it under their pillow before going to sleep at night. It is said that the child relinquishes their worries to the dolls during the night and by the next morning, all sorrows are said to have been taken away by the worry doll and they can move forward refreshed the next day.
Room 12 have been making their own Worry Dolls with Mrs Tapene.
These are looking fantastic, make sure you head to the St Mary's Art Extravaganza to check them out!
~ Mrs Nelisi
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New Learners at St Mary's
This week we welcomed eight new learners and their families to our St Mary's community of learning. Mrs Nelisi is looking forward to her class doubling in size in the next few weeks!
This was the first time, for quite a while, that we were able to share a morning tea together after the Introduction to St Mary's presentation. Many thanks to the St Mary's Community in Action who prepared the lovely morning tea for our new families.
~ Mrs Varoy
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Cultural Language Weeks
We have had a very busy past two weeks, with celebrating Tongan Language Week last week and Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori this week!
Tongan Language Week was a big success with our Tongan Phrase of the Day challenge around the school being a huge hit throughout the Learning Communities. The children all gave the language a go and felt very proud learning the new phrases everyday. Our Year 6 Cultural Leader, Taupeavai taught a Tongan dance class during the week and the students who attended the class enjoyed learning the Tau'olunga. To end the week, Taupeavai also performed the Tau'olunga to the whole school and it was brilliant to watch.
This week is Te wiki o Te Reo Maori and the school has been buzzing in speaking Te Reo throughout the classrooms. On Monday, we had a powerful performance by the Kapa Haka group. Many thanks to Whaea Kali for all your mahi and support in shaping the Kapa Haka group as the fantastic group they are today. A great sneak peek into what's in store for the Kapa Haka festival in November!
~ Miss Fepuleai
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Sport
In Week 6, we had Auckland Rugby come in to teach Rippa Rugby. It was an awesome experience and all the students really enjoyed it. Everyone learnt to pass the ball, catch the ball and rip the tags. Thank you to Eamon, Bryon and Marcel from Auckland Rugby.
"We learnt to pass the ball and it was fun to play" - Thomas V
"It was fun to work as a team and play a game of rippa" - Devdun H
We also had a Tug of War competition at the end of Week 6. It was great to see every class participating and trying their best to pull the rope the furthest. There were no winners as it was all about having fun! Thank you to Mrs Kim for the rope.
"I was having fun and trying my hardest" - Savio S
"We were against Room 6. It was really fun but sort of hard. It hurt my hands" - Isabel S
Yummy Sticker Reminder
Please get your Yummy Stickers into the St Mary’s school office or to your child's classroom teacher by Wednesday, 21 September so we can claim our Sports Gear!
~ Miss van Dillen
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Board News
Tēnā koutou e te whānau o St Mary’s Ellerslie
This year marks the 50th anniversary of te Petihana Reo Māori (Māori Language Petition), a significant event that led to many of the kaupapa we have today, including Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. Kia ora rawa atu Mrs Kubala, Whaea Kali and staff for playing a part in ensuring that te Reo is alive at St Mary’s.
Earlier this week Aotearoa’s COVID-19 Protection Framework (traffic light system) ended. The most noticeable change for our tamariki is that masks are no longer required in the classroom as well as many other settings. However, please be mindful that there are still members of our community that have immunocompromised tamariki and whānau and therefore welcome the extra protection that mask wearing brings.
Thank you all for voting in our Board election. The final day for postal votes to be accepted is 17 September. We will hear the results early next week. As our winter sports season draws to a close, we also extend our gratitude to all the coaches, managers, drivers, supporters, and organisers who have made it all possible.
Noho ora mai rā i roto i ngā manaakitanga katoa
Siata
~ Si’ata Tavite
Presiding Member - St Mary's Board of Trustees
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Community in Action Newsletter
The Community in Action Group (CIA) have our own newsletter in 2022 - you can subscribe through the website HERE. If you'd like to get in touch with us, including for the second hand uniform shop, please email stmaryspta@gmail.com.
We would like to thank the school community for their amazing support of our Cross Country fundraisers - we raised over $3500!
~ Justine Harvie
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Word from the Parish
On Sunday 2nd October we are having our annual Food Festival. This is a wonderful time to come along and taste the many different culinary delights especially prepared by our various Parish ethnic groups eg. Tongan, Samoan, Indian, Phillipine, Maori, Malaysian etc. Yum yum yum! Come along about 10am and enjoy the fabuous company and the delicious food!
~ Len Casey
PPC Chairman
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Community Notices and Advertisements
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