Term 3 Week 2 27 July 2023 Newsletter #11
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Tena Koutou Katoa Talofa Lava Kamusta Malo e lelei, Mauri Malo ni Faka talofa atu Namaste Greetings to all
It is great to be back at St Joseph’s School this term despite the wet and cold winter weather. Last term, during my sabbatical, I was able to spend some time in the northern hemisphere’s summer weather but most valuable was the time I was able to spend with my daughter who is expecting our first grandchild.
I’m thrilled to see the continued improvements in our school environment as we prepare for our school centennial in September. It is great to see our fence bank planted due to the generosity of Farrell’s Nursery. The new electric driveway gate is such a bonus to staff wellbeing. No longer will we have to get out of our cars to lock the gate on dark winter nights. You will be relieved the pedestrian crossing is finally finished. The front-of-school projects are now complete and I appreciate the positive comments from people in our community who are admiring our school’s upgrade.
You would have received the Term 3 Key Dates last week. We have an exciting term ahead; not only our usual winter activities and our final Year 7 & 8 winter camp, but we will also be celebrating our centenary. St Joseph’s School will have been on this site for 100 years . This year we have found out so much more about our origins and the land around us. I didn’t realise that we were here first and the housing on this side of the street came later. Of course, the original Catholic Church was where the cemetery is now, with the graveyard surrounding it, and there was a dirt road between Princes St to Seddon St where our school path now is.
On Friday 8th September, Bishop Steve Lowe is coming to say our Mass so that we can celebrate this special occasion as a school with our students on a school day. This is probably our most significant event as we rededicate our Catholic school for the future. This will be a day for our school community with a powhiri to welcome Bishop Steve onto our school grounds. In the afternoon our Year 5 & 6 Ako 2 students will perform a reenactment of the Mission Sisters arriving in Pukekohe in 1885 to start their first school. As the roll grew, St Joseph’s School was established for younger students in 1923.
Although everyone is invited to the Mass, the adult part of the programme begins on Friday night with a Meet & Greet in our school hall where our school history through the decades will be on display. On Saturday we will have our student cultural performances, formal speeches, decade photos, and open classrooms where you can see our students’ learning on our school history. That night, celebrations will end with a Dine and Dance at Pukekohe Park.
With six weeks to go, I encourage you to be part of our centennial weekend and register to come to an event through www.stjosephscentenary.co.nz or hard copy registration forms are available from our office. I’d love to see our current families there. PLEASE REGISTER NOW as we need to confirm numbers for catering purposes.
This year our school whakatau has been “Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamau – Look back and reflect in order to move forward”. You may have noticed we now have a large rock placed on the side of the driveway bank. This stone has been brought down from Pukekohe Hill and placed in our school grounds to commemorate our centenary, connecting our past to our future. The stone will be used as a gathering point where visitors wait before we invite them on to the school grounds with a powhiri. Many thanks to Mrs Jeannette Irwin and Shane Balle who organised this for us, and Cory Foley and our caretaker, Peter Jones, who installed it.
This term Mrs Nia Ali and Mrs Helen Farrell are manning our office in a shared position. We thank them for moving into this position and making this transition so smoothly. We welcome Mrs Louise Archer and Mrs Rachel Dickson who have taken on additional teacher-aide hours in their place. Mr Elroy Muller is on leave as he and his wife attend their daughter’s wedding in France. On his return, Elroy will be leaving St Joseph’s as he has secured a new Year 7 & 8 teaching position.
I wish to acknowledge the amazing staff we have here at St Joseph’s School. They are committed and dedicated to providing our students “Excellent education befitting our Catholic character”. I would particularly like to thank Mrs Lori Mravicich who was acting principal in my absence, and Mrs Robin Burns as acting deputy principal. I had no hesitation in leaving the school in such capable hands and, I am sure you will agree, they are very capable ladies.
I hope you all stay warm and well through these cold winter months.
God bless.
 
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Term 3 Key Dates
Please note these dates are subject to change For further dates see calendars on the Skool Loop app or at: www.stjosephs.co.nz
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Special Catholic Character
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Confirmation and First Eucharist
Congratulations to the following St Joseph’s Students:
Hana Aiavao, Olivia Arries, Lily Bain, Rene Barrington, Cayden Blundell, Caroline Dang, Leanne Domingo, Macey Donelley, Taylor Douglas, Ashlyn Ephrem, Kalan Farrell, Marlowe Farrell, Oliver Gonzalez Guia,Tessa Hartland, Gaby Heaton, Ben Hunter, William Kempthorne, Destine Magpantay,Ruben Norris-Ruru, Shania Norris-Ruru, Cortez Onehi, Honey Onehi, Marjiam Peña, Kingston Perese, Molly Randle, Tamara Raymundo, Maria Terubeiti, Veronika Tewete, Grace Tucker,Charlie Vaughan, Keith William
Upcoming Feast Days: Mary MacKillop and Assumption of Mary
August is a special time to celebrate two saints who are important to us: Mother Mary (15 August) and St. Mary of the Cross McKillop (8 August). August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary to heaven. This is one of the remaining holy days of obligation, so our school will attend Mass at 9am on Tuesday 15 August. Mary is the patron saint of our beloved Aotearoa.
St. Mary MacKillop (1842 – 1909), of Scottish descent, was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. She is the first religious figure to be canonised a Saint from this part of the World (Australia and Oceania). She founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a congregation who established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor. Some of her famous quotes are:
“Make room for all”
“Never see a need without doing something about it”
St Pat’s Kids Choir
Welcome back to another term of Kids Choir! New members are welcome to come along to our Thursday practices at the Church..
Please note these dates on your calendars:
1) We will have practices on Thursdays this term 3pm – 3:40pm
2) There will be no practice Thursday 3rd of August, Thursday 7th September and Thursday 21 September
3) Masses we will sing for: Sunday 6 August 10am, Sunday 27 August 5pm and Sunday 17 September – time to be advised.
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Dear School Community,
The Board of Trustees would like to acknowledge both Mrs Mravicich as acting principal and Mrs Burns as acting deputy principal last term while Mrs Hall was on sabbatical. Thank you both for keeping everything running smoothly.
A great amount of work has been completed over the holidays to improve our outdoor environment. The new electronic gate on Seddon Street has been installed which will make it safer for staff who are onsite after school hours.
The bank at the front of the school behind the Euphrasie block has also been planted thanks to the generosity of Farrell Nurseries.
The school is looking very tidy in preparation for our upcoming centenary.
– Nicola Hewitt,
Board of Trustees Secretary
SchoolDocs Term 3 Policy Review
This term we are reviewing the Learning Support section: Learning Support Coordination, Identify Learning Support, and Gifted Learners.
Parents can view our school policies and procedures online by visiting the schooldocs website. SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. To review:
- Visit the website https://stjosephspukekohe.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm
- Enter the username (stjosephspukekohe) and password (mission).
- Select the Parents and Whanāu section on your SchoolDocs site
If you don’t have internet access, school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.
If you would like to contact the Board directly at any time, please do so through our new email address schoolboard@stjosephs.co.nz
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School Notices / Upcoming Events
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SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY
On Thursday 10th August the children from Years 3 to 8 will be participating in the school cross-country event as part of the school Physical Education programme. This event is organised by Te Roopu Ako 1. It will be held at the Franklin A & P Showgrounds on Station Road in the afternoon. Unfortunately if it is too wet the event will be cancelled as there is no saving day available to us.
To run this event safely Parent helpers are essential. If you are available from 12:00 pm to aprox 2.30 pm on 10 August, please fill in the parent helper slip on the notice coming home in Week 2 or contact Mrs Sokimi by email – lindas@stjosephs.co.nz.
Scholastic Book Club
Orders are due by Monday 31 July.
Second hand uniforms
The second hand uniform shop will be open on Mondays and Thursdays 2.30 – 3.00pm.
Mitre 10 Sausage Sizzle – If you are doing any DIY this Sunday 30 July or Sunday 13 August, pop down to Mitre 10 for a sausage cooked by our fabulous Arahi students and parents as we gear up for our last few weeks of fundraising before we head off to camp.
We would like to thank Hellers and Bakers Delight for donating the sausages and bread.
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Aroha News
What a busy start to the term we have had! We welcome our new akomanga (classroom) with our lovely teachers Mrs De Faris and Mrs Logan. We hope you are enjoying your new classroom. In Aroha our learning has included; learning about how different cultures celebrate special occasions around the world, how to use dance elements with Footsteps, Jump Jam for fitness, learning about the special charism of our school and applying new knowledge in Math with multiplication (just to name a few). We also have been enjoying writing about our experiences such as the strike drum show. Here are a few examples of our amazing writing.
Yesterday Strike came to our school. Now we are going to talk about it. Miss Sarginson and Mrs E battled it out and it was a draw. Then they were shooting flames out. – Ariel
On Tuesday Strike came to St Joseph’s. I liked when they did the flames song. Katie played the violin and the drum. It was very loud but it was exciting. – Finn O
Yesterday Strike came to our school and they entertained us by drumming. I liked when they used flames to make music. I felt like an instrument. – Aiden
Yesterday Strike came to do a drum show for our school. I liked when Katie played the violin and the drums. It was exciting. – Macie
On Tuesday we watched Strike. One of my favourite parts was when the whole band played a song with the flames in the dark. It was amazing. I felt great. – Harlow
After lunch we went to the hall. The songs were so amazing they played drums and we were so amazed. The teachers had a turn. It was too loud and then it was our turn. It was so cool. Ada played the biscuit drum then they played a quiet beat with fire and spray! – Stella
Arahi News
 Percussion Drum Show
We had a special treat yesterday afternoon with an enthralling performance by Strike Productions who came with a range of percussion instruments to entertain the children. Some staff and students were also lucky enough to join in with the group and all spectators agreed, it was a very entertaining afternoon.
Ako 2 News
Ako 2 have had a super busy start to the term with preparing for our upcoming School Production in Week 8. We have had footsteps the last two weeks, which has been a lot of fun. We have been learning about energy, and other dance movements, which will come in handy for our production as well. Ako 2 also attended the Strike drum performance, where they all nominated Mrs E to have a drum-off with Miss Sarginson. Renzo also got a chance to play on the Cook Island drums! It was high energy, loud, and the kids loved it.
Ako 1 News
Ako 1 has had a wonderful start to the term. It has been great to see all of our students ready to learn every morning. We are really enjoying footsteps dancing, netball lessons and cross country training. We are excited to share our learning about the Mission Sisters arrival in Pukekohe, what we love about our school and our poems. Ako 1 are looking forward to sharing their assembly with the school on Friday.
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School Centennial 8-9 September
St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College transition meeting for parents/students Thursday August 10th 6-7pm at St Joseph’s School.
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