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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
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Nau mai Haere mai to Term 2!
It was lovely to see all our students returning to school last week – looking rested, relaxed and re-energised after the holidays and ‘ready to go’ for another term of striving to live out our school vision statement of ‘Together We Grow and Serve’.
We especially extend a warm welcome to our new students and their families.
 An Easter Season Blessing
Easter is a celebration of life and love. We give thanks to God for the gift of new life and we renew our commitment to follow Jesus, the Risen Lord, wherever he leads us. May the hope and joy of Easter fill our hearts and lives!
 
During the holidays one of our staff members had an exciting celebration. Miss Jade Fepuleai was married and is now Mrs Jade Owen.
Best wishes Jade and Dale for your future happiness. |
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My name is Sasha. I am the Liturgy and Service Leader. I support and help with our school Masses and special liturgies. I am Year 6 and in Room 2. My favourite subjects are writing and mathematics. I have an older sister who is at Baradene College and a younger sister here at St Mary’s. Every week I look forward to meeting up with the student council and Mrs Kubala. In my spare time I help Mum cook dinner and I enjoy playing outside with my sister.
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Hi my name is Milan and I am one of the Euphrasie House Captains. I am Year 6 and in Room 3. Being on the student council is a great opportunity for me to be able to share my ideas about things we can improve at St Mary’s and hear other ideas from the rest of the student council. My favourite subjects are physical education, mathematics, art and reading. My hobbies are football, playing sports, video games, swimming and baking cookies (which I love to eat!)
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Carpark
 PLEASE be mindful and patient at the end of a school day with parking in the front car park.
ALL car park spaces are to be filled BEFORE starting the two pick up lines. We need to do this to help traffic congestion on Main Highway.
NO parking on the yellow lines
NO parking on the grass by the exit
NO parking in the presbytery driveway
- Have you thought about picking up from the back gate?
- What about older students walking and meeting up with you at Ellerslie square or on Mitchelson Street (back way)
- What about joining the Morrin Street walking school bus?
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Wishing you all a safe and blessed fortnight ahead.
Ngā mihi nui
Sue Kubala
Principal
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Key Dates Reminder
*Please note all dates and events are correct at the time of publishing. Please monitor your school eTap emails, Facebook communications or look on our school's Public Calendar for up to date information*
TERM 2 - 2023
Monday 8 May - NZ Sign Language Week
Friday 12 May - Science Roadshow
Tuesday 16 May - Community in Action Meeting 7pm
Wednesday 17 May - Pie Day fundraiser
Wednesday 17 May - Fono Meeting 6pm
Friday 19 May - Mother's Day Brunch (Community in Action event)
Thursday 25 May - Board Meeting 6pm
Wednesday 31 May - School Feast Day (Visitation)
Monday 5 June - King's Birthday (school closed)
Monday 12 June - Swimming Yr3-6 (Weeks 8-9)
Sunday 18 June - St. Anthony's House School / Family Mass
Tuesday 20 June - Community in Action Meeting 7pm
Wednesday 28 June - (early close 1.30pm to accomodate STP LC event)
Wednesday 28 June - Student, Teacher, Parent learning conversations
Thursday 29 June - Board Meeting 6pm
Friday 30 June - Last day of Term 2 (normal finish time 2.45pm)
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Welcome back to Term 2! In our faith, this is a time for celebration as we celebrate the birth of the Catholic Church - the feast of Pentecost. This year it will be celebrated on May 28, 2023. So, a Happy Birthday to all of us, the School Community of St. Mary’s !
As we continue through this term, I’d like to share with you ‘The Optimist’s Creed’ shared by one of our teachers - Mrs Flashman on the first day of Term 2.
The Optimist Creed
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticise others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
(The source of this prayer is The Optimist Creed and Other Inspirational Classics
Discover the Life-Changing Power of Gratitude and Optimism - Christian D. Larson)
Pope Francis’ prayer intention for April 2023 :
For a culture of peace and non-violence
We pray for the spread of peace and non-violence, by decreasing the use of weapons by States and citizens.
Ma te Atua tātou e manaaki
God’s blessings
Charmaine D'lima
DRS
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This term, we welcomed Evelyn, Charlotte, Rosanna, Demi, Georgia, Adriana, and Nyarai to Room 15! They have all enthusiastically begun our new Structured Literacy programme, where they are learning to consolidate their first phonics sounds: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, and d.
Some of the boys in Room 15 have been building their dream castle as part of our house design project. Keep up the great work team!
~ Miss Ahearn
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Room 14
For the first two weeks of this term, Room 14 children enjoyed learning about Measurement during maths lessons. We began direct comparisons between objects, using terms such as: longer than, shorter than, and the same as. The children then measured the height of soft toys from home with non-standard units, such as wooden blocks, unifix-cubes, milk bottle tops, or string. Descriptive writing about their toys was also exciting. I appreciate our Room 14 families' contribution to our children learning with fun!
We also did collaborative colouring for ANZAC Day. After discussing how we can commemorate ANZAC Day in our class, our young learners worked together to create a piece of artwork. I was impressed with the children's focus.
~ Mrs Kim
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Room 12
Room 12 has enjoyed a busy start to term 2.
We have loved getting back into our school routines. In maths, we have been learning about measurement.
We were challenged to sort our class into height order without talking, this was very challenging. We've also been learning to use rulers to measure objects.
~ Mr Ryan
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Room 11
We are artists in Room 11! We have been learning about Vincent Van Gogh and how he used bright colours in his later, most famous paintings. We studied his painting Sunflowers, looking at the different proportions of his art and gave it a go ourselves. The results were fantastic and show how we can all take the same concept but create such different work.
We've also learnt a technique to build colours to create a depth and variation in our paintings. We used this in our Anzac Day poppies which we created this week and are on display in the school office.
~ Mrs Heyworth
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Room 10
Room 10 has been learning about the Coronation that will be taking place on Saturday and has been using their creative skills in making a profile of King Charles. They then decided that it would be a good idea to create their own profile and put a crown on their heads making them a Prince or Princess. We are looking forward to our Year 0-2 Learning Community Coronation Day on Friday.
~ Mrs Worthington
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Year 0-2 Hui
Nau mai, haere mai!
We welcome our new Year 0-2 learners and their whānau to our Learning Community.
~ Mrs Nelisi
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Room 9 has had a busy start to Term 2. We have started learning about the New Zealand Histories and the important people that are part of that. Captain Cook and Kupe are both very important to our history and we can't wait to learn more about them.
We were also lucky enough to learn about ANZAC and what that means to us. We talked about the Poppy and what it signifies for New Zealand and Australian soldiers. At the end of our lesson we did some art around this...have a look at the finished product. Mrs Hyland took photos of us holding some poppies and when she printed them out we decorated them using the collage technique.
If Room 9 parents would like to come and see our art, you are more than welcome.
~ Mrs Hyland
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Room 8
Room 8 jumped straight back into learning this term with an exciting new maths programme called, Times Table Rock Stars or TTRS for short. With a proven track record of improving maths outcomes, Times Tables Rock Stars has the power to boost recall, fluency, and most importantly - maths confidence.
Here is what some of the students in our class have to say about the programme.
Leo: " I am really enjoying learning more Maths and it helps my mind work faster".
Nathan: " I am really enjoying division and earning lots of coins".
Eva: " It is really helping me learn my Maths Facts".
Maia : “You have endless possibilities at how fast you can improve Times Tables.”
We also began the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum with a provocation involving photos of Kupe, Captain Cook and Abel Tasman. The three photos were placed on a piece of paper and each child was asked the following questions.
Who do you think this person is?
What do you think they are known for?
The answers were varied and this was a great way to get the children's minds humming. Room 8 are really excited about the next part in their learning journey to discover the answers to these questions and more!
~ Mrs Teviotdale
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Room 7
Room 7 has jumped into Term 2 full of enthusiasm. I have been blown away by their commitment to Literacy. The class undertook the poetry writing process to complete an "Autobiography poem". We began by brainstorming different things about ourselves, then we used a formula to put out ideas together. We then did buddy editing to fix any mistakes that were made. Once editing was completed it was time for publishing. It was great starting off the term learning more about ourselves and our classmates. Check out some of our amazing autobiography poems below!
~ Miss Hutton
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Room 6
This week Room 6 have taken a step into the world of fractions. We had a lot of fun creating the fractions ourselves using paper, here you can see our fraction walls we created in our books with coloured paper. The challenge was to fold the paper how Miss Clubley asked (folding into 3 equal pieces was especially challenging), and then try and figure out how many pieces there would be when we unfolded it. We also figured out what to name each of these pieces.
Room 6 would also like to invite their lovely parents to come in and check out our “WOW WALL”. Each week we publish a piece of our own fabulous writing up there for the whole class to see! Our current published work is about what we did in our holidays. The piece we are working on publishing at the moment is about what would happen if we woke up with a tail!
~ Miss Clubley
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Room 5
In Room 5 we have been improving our basic facts by using an exciting new website called Times Tables Rock Stars. We've also been working on fractions and learning about even sharing. Some kids were interested to learn that a larger denominator means a smaller fraction of the whole, not a bigger one!
~ Mrs Agnew
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Room 4
What an exciting start to the term the Room 4 students have had! It was wonderful that ANZAC Day fell close to the term's beginning, as this meant that we were able to explore what happened at Gallipoli. We enjoyed participating in ANZAC themed sports, visiting the museum, making ANZAC biscuits and writing letters, pretending that we were the soldiers in the trenches.
On Monday we enjoyed listening to Jane Kubala. She is an engineer and is our ambassador for the Wonder Project. We will be working with Jane this term as we explore the best design for our rockets.
Times Tables Rock Stars has been a popular addition to our daily routine too. We are all going to be Basic Facts Champions!
So much achieved and it's only the end of Week 2!
~ Mrs Flashman
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Room 3
Room 3 has had an exciting start to the term, focusing on ANZAC day! Room 3 enjoyed their trip to Auckland Museum last week and seeing the various exhibits especially the exhibit on World War I. Thanks Aaron for being an excellent facilitator! For Art, the class created ANZAC silhouettes of the Last Post. The class also baked some ANZAC biscuits and learned about the history of them in the First World War. A great way to start the term!
~ Mrs Owen (Fepuleai)
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Room 2
After taking a couple weeks break, Room 2 came back refreshed and excited about the term ahead of learning. It was fantastic to start off with a trip to the Museum, which tied in beautifully with our ANZAC Day learning in class. It was a great trip and students impressed the educator with their vast amount of knowledge!
After learning more about ANZAC facts and stories we were able to display this knowledge through the use of creative art. A great start back to the term for Room 2!
"I enjoyed getting to go into the Volcano House!" - Beckett
"I liked learning about the planes that were involved in the war" - Joel
"I thought learning lots about the wars and why they happened was interesting" - Charlotte
"I liked looking at old fashioned clothes and how they have changed over time" - Kaea
~ Mr Drumm
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Room 1
First week back of Term 2 and we have dived deep into our learning from day dot. ANZAC day being an integral part of NZ and world history has been the key focus of our cross curricular learning. From ANZAC themed games to a visit to the Auckland Museum to baking ANZAC cookies and creating ANZAC memorials using Minecraft Education, it has been a hugely rewarding learning experience.
In Religious Education we are focusing on Mother Mary as it is the month of May. In Mathematics we have been working on Fractions and doing collaborative learning tasks to affirm our learning. Room 1 has been working very hard and I am proud of all their mahi.
Jerome “The folding part was hard. But I learned that to get 11 parts, I need to fold the paper 10 times”
Orion “ All the parts of a fraction must be equal”
~ Mrs Dlima
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Sustainability
Over the past few weeks, the Sustainability Team, Gardening Club, and Miss Ahearn have been busy clearing the way for a new herb and spice garden!
If you're interested in planting your own herbs and spices at home, we recommend checking out this helpful and cool herb growing tool on the Tui Garden website.
~ Miss Ahearn
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Bounce Back - Core Values
This term in Bounce Back we will be looking at Core Values.
Our values are statements about how we think we should behave and what we believe is important. Our values are our moral map, which guide our behaviour and actions.
The following values are taught in the Bounce Back! program. Acting
on these values can connect your child to others, increase your child’s sense of belonging and help them to be a kind, well rounded person and to be more resilient.
Key messages to communicate to your child about values:
- Your values are easy to talk about but harder to act on.
- Be honest.
- Be fair.
- Be responsible.
- Be kind and supportive.
- Accept differences in other people.
- Cooperate with others.
- Be friendly and include others.
- Be respectful - to yourself and others.
~ Miss Hutton
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Digital - Maths
The Year 3-6 classes have been integrating Maths and Digital Technology. Times Tables Rock Stars is an online programme that recognises the children's times table gaps. All children need to complete something called a 'GIG' on the 1st of each month (or as close to it as possible). From this, the programme works out an algorithm for the students based on their own needs.
They can then go into the programme (using the 'Garage' mode) each day and the games they play all relate to their specific algorithm. It adjusts the questions they face to match their individual needs.
Ask your child about it and they will be able to show you this amazing learning tool.
~ Mrs Hyland
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Welcome to School!
Welcome to our ten New Entrant learners who started at St Mary's on the first day of Term Two. They all looked so smart in their school uniform and were very excited to begin their learning journey.
There are still about eight more learners to start this term and then we will have the grand opening of Room 16, with Mrs Nelisi as the classroom teacher. Mrs Nelisi will be working in Room 15, with Miss Ahearn, until her class opens officially.
~ Mrs Varoy
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Year 0-2 Royal Coronation
The Year 0-2 Learning Community have sparkled their way through an array of royal activities today! From learning how to wave like a King and Queen, balancing crowns on their heads, to galloping their pretend horses to victory. We had a crafty morning decorating our own crowns and preparing for a royal tea party. We even had a few special guests that made an appearance.
Throughout the week we have been learning about King Charles III and wondering what it would be like if we were the King or Queen.
What a momentous occasion that we will remember for years to come!
~ Mrs Heyworth
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Pie Day!
We have a Community in Action Fundraising Pie day coming up on Wednesday 17 May.
Purchase now through Kindo (Click on the image) to have a hot fresh pie delivered in time for lunch.
~ Mrs Baker
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Nanogirl Professional Development
On Tuesday afternoon teachers participated in another science workshop presented by Nanogirl. This was our third and final workshop for teachers to work together to experiment and solve problems.
This week we learnt about anthocyanins which are blue, red or purple pigments found in plants. We extracted the purple from red cabbage and investigated what substances would change the colour of the purple water.
During these workshops teachers experienced engaging science and engineering activities to take back to the classroom.
~ Mrs Varoy
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Board News
Noa'ia 'e mḁuri gagaj 'atakoa/Greetings everyone
Term 2 is underway and we are yet again facing challenging weather. With the impending start of the winter sporting season and the recent measles case it seems timely to remind our community that Te Whatu Ora encourages whānau to vaccinate their tamariki for pneumococcal disease, Meningococcal B, measles, and flu to provide the greatest level of protection heading into winter.
Tamariki aged six months to 12 years are eligible for free flu vaccinations. For more information, visit:
Flu immunisation for tamariki – KidsHealth: https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/flu-immunisation
Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine – Te Whatu Ora: https://www.immunise.health.nz/about-vaccines/nz-immunisations/measles-mumps-and-rubella-mmr-vaccine/
Next week is the first of our Pasifika language weeks for the year, Rotuman Language Week (RLW). The theme is Vetḁkia ‘os fäega ma ag fak hanua - Sustaining our language and culture! Find out about upcoming RLW events here: https://www.mpp.govt.nz/programmes/pacific-language-weeks/rotuman-language-week/
Have a great weekend.
Fạiåkse'ea
Si'ata
~ Si’ata Tavite
Presiding Member - St Mary's Board of Trustees
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Parish News
We had a wonderful Easter Surprise when the Bishop of Auckland hosted the Sunday Easter mass. It was truly a blessing to have him do the homily. Some were excited to have met him and even treated him like a local celebrity.
Thank you to the students and families that came to help out (even in the bad weather) at the Working bee day (1st Apr). The church is looking much cleaner in time for the Easter celebrations. We are now waiting for another blast of good weather to finish off the picket fence.
Father Thomas also would like to thank the children who helped out on vocational Sunday Mass. Being aware that it was quite a late and last minute arrangement, he was most pleased to see how students had offered to help out.
Lastly, some Sacramental Programme Dates to remember:-
- First Reconciliation date: Tuesday 23 May, at 7pm.
- For participants only: Full practice for Holy communion is on Friday 26 May, at 6pm.
- Confirmation and First Holy Communion date: 27 May at 12 noon.
~ Leonard Casey
Parish Chairman
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Community in Action Update (a.k.a PTA)
MOTHERS DAY BRUNCH –  Friday 19th May
The St Mary's Community In Action invite our wonderful Mums to a Mother's Day Brunch on Friday, 19 May from 8.30am in the Parish Hall. Join us for a bite to eat, a cuppa and a chat. Please see the invitation attached and be sure to RSVP here.
ANNUAL AGM
The 2022 Community in Action AGM will be held 7pm Tuesday 16th May in the staff room. We would love to see you there to say hi, hear about the year that’s been and the year ahead. View the agenda here and the minutes from the 2021 AGM here.
2023 FAMILY FUN GALA
 The big one will be the FAMILY FUN GALA that we’re planning to hold on Saturday the 25th of November. It’s a while away, but the planning needs to start now. We’ll need all hands on deck on the day, but for now we’re looking for volunteers to help with anything big or small. Watch this space as we will have a regular update in the newsletters. And please, email us if you can help!
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Community Notices, Events and Advertisements
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