Term 3 Week 6 24 August 2023 Newsletter #13
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Tena Koutou Katoa Talofa Lava Kamusta Malo e lelei, Mauri Malo ni Faka talofa atu Namaste Greetings to all
Tena Koutou Katoa Talofa Lava Kamusta Malo e lelei Mauri Malo ni Faka talofa atu Namaste Greetings to all
We are well into our third term and gradually ticking off the events of this winter term. It has been lovely to enjoy some fine weather the last few days.
Our Ārahi Year 7&8 students thoroughly enjoyed their winter camp based at Turangi. I was pleased to be able to spend a night with them and share in the joys and achievements of individuals who shared their day’s activities with me. We have been so privileged to be able to provide such a wonderful experience to our intermediate students over many years but now, with the decapitation to a year 0-6 school in 2024, it has come to a natural end. Thank you to the many families and sponsors who have supported the fundraising efforts over many years to ensure this camp remained affordable for all of our children.
Just a reminder, St Joseph’s School will no longer provide education for the Year 7&8 intermediate levels next year. Recently, our office staff have been contacting parents to confirm where our current Year 6, 7&8 students will be going to school in 2024. We were surprised to find that some of our children had not been enrolled in another school yet and so we have endeavoured to help them with this process. To our Year 5 parents, you will need to be planning where your child is going to attend school for Year 7 in 2025. Some of our Catholic school enrolments close in Term 1, 2024. Of course, if you are choosing our local intermediate school, they will accept enrolments throughout the year. Like us, all schools like to know about the number of children attending the following year so that adequate staffing is in place.
Our school centennial preparations are coming together and, with just over 2 weeks to go, the excitement is building. On Friday 8th September, we will be having our Centennial Mass at 11:00 am at St Patrick’s Church. This will be celebrated by Bishop Steve Lowe, Frs Robert and Thomas, and visiting priests Frs Peter Gray and Mark Napa. We have some special guests coming including representatives from the Catholic Education Office, principals from our Catholic Kāhui Ako, and eight of our RNDM Mission Sisters; some of whom have taught here in the past. After the Mass, there will be a powhiri welcoming Bishop Steve onto our school grounds followed by kai for our invited guests. I want to thank our wonderful PTA parents who have offered to cover our lunch duties in order for all staff to be able to attend this.
It was wonderful to attend our annual South Auckland Catholic sports event, St Anne’s Shield, on Tuesday – our first fine day in ages. This is an opportunity for our Catholic schools to get together and compete in a variety of winter sports codes. The day was enjoyed by our Year 5&6 representatives and we were placed 3rd in the Year 6 Netball and Under 50kg Rugby competitions. Some of the participating schools are much bigger than us so we were pleased with this result and most of our children were able to participate. Once again, thank you to our staff and parents for the coaching and supervision that enables us to join in these days.
Looking forward to a fine weekend.
Stay well and God bless.
 
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Special Catholic Character
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Values Awards
Shae McLagan: Arahi – your helpful attitude in production practices. Thank you!
Isileli Mamatuki: Aroha – showing love and compassion for a classmate at camp and helping him get prepared for a day on the mountain.
Devon Concepcion: Arahi – Devyn sets a wonderful example of how to treat others with kindness and respect.
Rene Barrington: Arahi – Rene always sees what needs to be done and does it without being asked. He sets a wonderful example of how to be a follower of Jesus.
Kate Teves, Jayden Herewini, Tunutue Fa’ave, Leilani Cairns, Shanesse Itaifafo, Coleen Manalansan, Tita Teoro: Arahi & Aroha – for leadership and love while working with the youngest students of our school in Te Roopu Aroha last week.
Assembly
Arahi students prepared a beautiful liturgy about their experiences of camp. They reflected on the importance of friendship and that Jesus will always be a friend to all of us. They demonstrated an understanding that through the teachings of Jesus they learn to support one another through the good times and bad. They also read a prayer about gratitude and expressed a lot of thankfulness for being able to experience such a wonderful opportunity with their friends and teachers. A slide-show of photos was also presented to showcase the awesome adventures that the students took part in.
Production
As part of our School Centenary Celebrations, our Year 5 / 6 Tamariki are working hard on a production about the life of Euphrasie Barbier. Book your ticket soon! Tickets will be sent home Friday 1st September. Here is the link to the ticket notice for more information.
Production Help
- If you have any spare make-up you can donate for our production (e.g. foundation, powder, eye make-up), please deliver it to the Ako 2 Team. Also if you can help apply make-up Thursday 7th Sept 6:30pm and/or Friday 8th Sept 12:30pm, please email kerrie@stjosephs.co.nz
CANS4CHRISTMAS MUFTI DAY FRIDAY 1st SEPTEMBER
Students who bring in a can of food any day next week to give to those in need, may wear mufti on Friday.
St Pat’s 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 7th September and Thursday 21 September
3) Masses we will sing for: Sunday 27 August 5pm and Sunday 17 September 10am.
St Patrick’s Altar Servers
We are looking for some more Altar Servers at St Patricks.
There will be a training session on Friday 3pm, 01 September 2023 in the Church.
If your child is interested in becoming an Altar Server, please email the Parish Office ASAP office@pukekohecatholic.org.nz
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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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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 PHOTOS TOMORROW
SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB ISSUE 6 OUT TODAY
ORDERS DUE BACK BY MONDAY 28TH AUGUST
NEW ENROLMENTS 2024
If your child, or someone you know, is turning 5 years old next year, we need them to enrol at St Joseph’s School now! Knowing how many children are coming helps us to plan ahead for our staffing. Please contact the office stjoesoffice@stjosephs.co.nz
Please use the Pedestrian Crossing!
Parents, when road patrollers are on duty before and after school, please be a good example to your children and use the pedestrian crossing. If you are crossing to Blair Ave or to the Church car park, we ask that you get back into the habit of using our pedestrian crossing. We have been previously asked by NZ Transport to keep our small north gate closed to encourage crossing the road safely at the crossing, however, we did open it when the pedestrian upgrade was happening to reduce the numbers of people leaving by the front entrance. We hope we can continue to leave this open for children as long as they are walking north on that side of Seddon St.
Attendance Dues: Term 1 and 2 Attendance Dues should now be paid. Term 3 attendance fees are now due for payment. Attendance Dues are compulsory. If any family is experiencing difficulty with paying their term/annual Attendance Dues due to financial hardship, please make an appointment with Mrs Hall to discuss the options available, or contact the Revenue Manager at the Catholic Diocese of Auckland on 09 360-3069. Financial assistance is not available for non-preference students.
Second hand uniforms
The second hand uniform shop will be open on Mondays and Thursdays 2.30 – 3.00pm.
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Ako 2 News
Ako 2 has had a busy two weeks (a bit of a pattern this term). We are in full swing for our upcoming Production in just two weeks time. It has all been coming together nicely, and we can’t wait for you to see it on Thursday 7th September at 7pm – tickets are $5! Every child is involved in some capacity, and they are integral to making this Production run smoothly.
We had a little break from Production with Cross Country in Week 4 and St Anne’s on Tuesday. St Anne’s was a wonderful day for our Ako 2 students, and with the amazing weather it was a stunner of a day. We had our Year 6 Netball girls place 3rd after a great run of 6 wins in a row. Our last two games were a little tougher, facing defending champs Holy Cross and just losing 8-6, then their last game against St Anne’s they went down as well, but not without a fight. Our tackle rugby boys also placed 3rd in their discipline, having won the first two games, but narrowly losing the last two. The other disciplines all fought hard and did well, making us proud. Thanks to Renee Farrell, Andy Farrell, and Jono Bucheler for coaching our teams, and a massive thanks to all the parents who came to support our school.
In the classrooms, our students are still working hard on writing their narratives, reading using comprehension strategies, and applying their mathematical concepts of fractions, decimals, and percentages. We are moving on to the strand of Geometry from next week, where they will explore Transformation/Position and Orientation.
Arahi News
Congratulations to Summer Morton who is competing in the North Island Schools Equestrian Champs. We wish her all the best. We would also like to wish Annabelle Shields who is competing at the AIMS games for swimming next week in Tauranga. We can’t wait to hear how these two young people get on at their sports.
Where do we even start in explaining what a wonderful week we had at camp. I am sure your children have talked your ears off telling you all about our week away in Taupo and Turangi. The children were exemplary in their behaviour and would make all of the parents and Mrs Hall proud of how they showed our school values at all times. We did have a slight hiccup with too much snow on Thursday. However, I think this turned out even better than we could have imagined, as we still got to play in the snow for three hours, then warm up at Debrett’s hot pools and water slides, followed by a few competitive rounds of bowling. On Friday, Chris Jolly scenic cruises were able to accommodate our large group by organising an extra boat and crew to take us on an amazing cruise of the lake. We saw the maori carving and learnt about the magnitude and history of beautiful Lake Taupo.
I would also like to take the time to sincerely thank our parent helpers who took the week off of work to support camp. Thank you to Tanya Hunter, Joe Hunter, Caroline Harrington, Bridget Hartland, Reece Hewitt, Darryn Muir, Jasmine Richardson and Heather Lieshout. Camp would not have been possible without you. I know that the children you looked after loved having you as their leaders and the teachers loved having your support.
 
A massive thank you to Grassroots Trust for the Grant that helped our Arahi students get to Snow Camp!! The students had an amazing time. A BIG thank you also to our wonderful parents and teachers that helped with organising fundraising events and donating goods. A big thank you to Mitre10 Pukekohe, for allowing us to run sausage sizzles outside their store, Bakers Delight Pukekohe for providing the bread and Hellers for providing the sausages. We would also like to thank Tanya Hunter from James Crisp Ltd for providing the Graze chocolate almonds for the Barbie Movie fundraiser,- Graze snack packs for camp and some tasty samples of Fix and Fogg Cookie Time peanut butter as well as the donations for the Barbie Movie Fundraiser raffle which include:
- Ignition Firewood
- Counties Gym
- Adrenalin Forest Auckland
Lastly, we would like to thank all the students and families who bought hotdog lunches and supported the disco and movie night and other fundraising events.
THANK YOU!!
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Only 2 weeks to go until our school centennial. We hope you can join us
Playground upgrades in Pukekohe
Franklin Local Board wants your ideas about how to renew the playgrounds at Colin Lawrie Reserve and Jutland Road Reserve in Pukekohe. Please share your ideas at akhaveyoursay.nz before 25th August.
FREE COMMUNITY EVENT!!
AKOTECH CodeCamps October School Holidays – FREE PRIZE & EARLY DISCOUNTS
Our holiday camp allows children from the ages of 7-12 to develop 21st century skills in a fun and action packed environment. Create and train your own AI Avatars, make games, code drones & go to work for a simulated Tech Gaming Studio to build games for a big client.
Develop confidence & initiative through design, creativity, solving problems, presenting & collaboration. Create your own games, worlds and apps to make our world a better place.
We also have Literati Lab just for girls, which includes AI Art & Animation.
Enter our competition to win a FREE 4 day pass to one of our CodeCamps
Pukekohe Christian School: 25th – 28th September
Book Now at www.akotech.nz
Competition: www.codecamp.co.nz/competition
EarlyBird Save Up to 21% Until 25th Aug
Siblings Save 6%
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