Term 2 Week 10 2 July 2024 Newsletter #6
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Tena Koutou Katoa Talofa Lava Kamusta Malo e lelei Mauri Malo ni Faka talofa atu Namaste Greetings to all
Term 2 has flown by and it is hard to believe our July holidays are about to begin.
In Week 8, our DP Robin Burns, DRS Mairead Gallagher and I attended the NZ Catholic Education Convention in Wellington for three days. It was a very special reunion of Catholic educators as one had not been held since 2018 (usually triannual). All five Bishops from our five dioceses attended and various keynote speakers were brought in from NZ, Ireland and the USA. The theme was Tuhono Whakapono – Together One Faith Community and reflected on how we establish links, make connections and relate to our sisters and brothers in Christ, who belong through the shared experience of baptism. I can assure you that we felt revitalised in our faith by having this experience. Having the opportunity to catch up with my sisters during the weekend made it even more special for me.
On our return, this led beautifully into our Matariki Week accumulating with Thursday’s Grandparents Day where we welcomed grandparents into our school to share liturgy/karakia, Aroha’s performance of The Eyes of Tāwhirimātea, Kapa Haka and kai as we welcome Matariki and the Māori New Year. I hope your whānau were able to enjoy a day for families on Friday and that the children could communicate their understanding of this special NZ observance to you. Throughout the week the tamariki participated in various cultural activities acknowledging Matariki’s importance to us; a highlight was home-made vegetable soup and parāoa parai which every child enjoyed. I want to acknowledge our staff and whānau who worked so hard to prepare such an awesome week of activities. We are very appreciative of our Friends of St Joseph’s/PTA who coordinated the kitchen and photo booth. Our whānau continually support the school to provide our tamariki and whānau with these experiences and for this we are grateful.
We held our school speech finals in Week 9 and I was so impressed with the quality of written speeches and their delivery from our students. For the first time, we included Year 4 speech makers and they did so well. Some topics included “Why we should be grateful”, “Get Reading” and “Why we should wear mufti to school”; so the children will be pleased to know we will be having a Young Catholics Care mufti day this Friday. Catholic schools were encouraged to support this day at the Catholic Convention.
This week we farewell Mrs Samantha Tino who leaves us to prepare for the birth of her baby. We thank her for her service and dedication to St Joseph’s School and hope she will return to us in the future. We also wish to thank Mrs Manpreet Kaur who has been in Ako LS on her teaching practicum for the last 5 weeks. I am sure her presence will be missed and we wish her well for her teaching career.
At the beginning of Term 3, we welcome Miss Morgan Jones and Mrs Sophie Hartnett who will teach Mrs Tino’s class in Arahi for the rest of the year. We also welcome Mrs Jess Knight and Mrs Ashley Clarke who will open an additional Year 1 classroom in Aroha. This is to cater for the additional roll growth we have been experiencing in Years 1-3. If this growth continues, St Joseph’s School will soon reach 300, the size we were as a Year 0-8 school, God willing. Mrs Natalie Flynn will be working in Ako alongside Mrs Jenni Logan (replacing Miss Jones).
As you can imagine this reorganisation and procurement of additional staff has been a mission and bringing in our relievers into part-time positions will impact our ability to find relieving staff for the rest of the year. Already we find ourselves splitting classes on some days. We are grateful to have a small bank of relieving staff who know our school well and fill in when they are available. I wish to thank them for their dedication to our school.
As we come to the end of another busy term and a winter break from school, I wish you and your tamariki a safe holiday. I hope you find time to rest and rejuvenate for our coming winter term.
God bless and keep you.
Nga manaakitanga ki a koe.
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Special Catholic Character
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Values Awards
Okusi Puamau, Izrael Sau-McLaren, Sililo Vea: ARAHI – For giving up your time after school to get our learning space ready for speech night.
Arahi Ki Runga: ARAHI – Last Thursday on Granparent’s Day you all stepped up as leaders. We are proud as a school that we can rely on our leaders to represent St Joseph’s with such mana. To God our Best and Greatest.
Joyal Jijo: AROHA – For always jumping up to help his peers and teachers. He is always ready to lend a hand.
Ezra Jijo: AROHA & ARAHI – For using her initiative by helping Mrs Hall with the bus roll each afternoon.
Macey Donelley, Matthew Stallworthy, Taylor Douglas: ARAHI – For your leadership shown during Matariki Rotations, you are patient and caring when helping younger students.
Proclaim the Word 2024
Congratulations to this year’s Proclaim the Word Competition winners: Year 2 Category – Xanthe Kempthorne, Year 3 / 4 Category – Maia West, Year 5 / 6 Category – Leanne Domingo. All of our finalists should be very proud of the hard work and dedication that each of them put into understanding and proclaiming the Word of God. Special thanks to Fr. Robert and Lizzie Farrell for adjudicating this competition for us this year. They both gave very positive feedback about the reverence and excellence of our readers.
Caritas STOP IT! Challenge 2024
Our tamariki succeeded very well in doing the STOP IT! Challenge this year, staying off devices for the day on June 7th. This was a special act of solidarity in keeping with our Catholic Social Justice principles, walking in the shoes of those who do not have the privileges we have. The total sponsorship money our students raised was $1,788. The Holy Spirit is certainly living in us! Thank you whanau for supporting your tamariki in taking the challenge.
Bishops send latest NZ Synod consultation document to Rome: Towards October 2024
A new consultation document prepared by the bishops as part of the Holy Father’s Synod 2021-24 process has been sent to Rome.
This document, titled Towards October 2024, follows the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference being asked to establish a consultation process to discern responses to specific questions related to the Vatican’s Synodal Church in Mission report. That report was published after the First Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in Rome last October.
National Catholic lay organisations, agencies of the bishops conference, religious, diocesan bodies, educational institutions, young people’s groups, parish groups and groups involved in previous synodal processes took part in the consultation, between February and April this year.
A statement about the document Towards October 2024 and the document, are online here: https://www.catholic.org.nz/news/media-releases/synod-4/
St. Pat’s Kids Choir
New members wishing to join – email maireadg@stjosephs.co.nz
Upcoming Practices: No practice today 3 July.
Practices will resume on Wednesdays next term, starting Week 1.
We will sing Sunday 5 August at 10am Mass.
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Term 2/3 Key Dates
 Please note these dates are subject to change For further dates see calendars on the website at: www.stjosephs.co.nz or the eTAP app
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SCHOOL POLICIES
A link to our school policies can be found on our school website or through www.schooldocs.co.nz
- Go to www.schooldocs.co.nz/
- Click Search for your school
- Start typing the school’s name (St Josephs School Pukekohe) and then select it from the dropdown list.
- Enter the community username: stjosephspukekohe and password: mission.
Our next Board meeting is on Wednesday 21st August.
If you would like to contact the Board directly at any time, please do so through our email address schoolboard@stjosephs.co.nz
The St Joseph’s School Development Trust
The St Joseph’s Development Trust was formed in the 1990s. At that time the school did not meet the diocese’s criteria for funding the new school hall, so the school and parish community fundraised and built the hall themselves. The Trust was established as a mechanism to fundraise separately from the school and to build, operate and own the hall building.
Since that time, the Trust has funded through donations received from the school community, parish and benefactors, for other capital works. It operates to receive donations and assist when there is a shortfall in the funding for chosen capital works that are not funded by the diocese or the school board. This means that those capital works can be completed faster and to a higher specification because the Trust can provide some contribution towards the works when there are shortfalls from the diocese or MOE. Works that the Trust has assisted with in the past ten years, include the site development and beautification, structural changes to classrooms, additional steps up to decks, improved lighting, contributions towards playground, play and safety equipment, turf and shade sails.
The Trust also administers the maintenance of the hall and oversaw the repair work that was required as a result of the fire in the hall in 2017.
The current trustees are all ex-parents of St Joseph’s pupils. None of the trustees currently have children at the school. The trustees consider it vital that the Trust is representative of the school community and therefore that it has a representation of current parents as trustees. We are looking for parents who have experience or knowledge in various areas including building, engineering, site development, trust management, legal, accounting or government tender and policy work. Most importantly, we are looking for people who are community-minded and have the interest of our St Joseph’s School Community at heart. The Trust only meets 1-2 times a year in the evening, so it does not involve a large time commitment.
If you are interested please let our principal, Ursula Hall, know.
Our next St Joseph’s School Development Trust AGM and Trust meeting will be held at 6:30 pm, tonight 3 July, in the school staffroom.
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School Notices / Upcoming Events
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School Attendance Dues
Term Two Attendance Dues should now be paid in full.
Please pay your account in full at the beginning of each term, or by regular automatic payments into our account: ASB 12-3023-0338374-01 ref: student’s name
We would like all 2024 Attendance Dues to be paid in full before 30 November.
The Catholic Character Contribution is a voluntary contribution forwarded to the Catholic Education Services Board. The St Joseph’s Development Trust Contribution is a voluntary contribution which the Trust is extremely grateful to receive. This is used in our school for improvements to our site and facilities. Both of these voluntary contributions are tax deductible.
Taking Holidays During School Term
A reminder about our school Attendance Procedures policy, In the case of planned absences, requests must be made to the principal at least one week before the planned event. Any parents/caregivers taking students out of school for more than 3 days need to let the Principal know in writing. An absence where no information is provided is unjustified. When a student is on a
New Zealand or overseas holiday during the school term, the absence is unjustified.
A parent’s note does not provide justification, just clarification.
Parent Communication
Congratulations!! We have most families on the eTAP Caregivers App now.
If you do not have this app you will miss out on important information and dates.
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NOTIFICATIONS TURNED ON IN THE APP AND IN YOUR DEVICE SETTINGS.
STEAM Club
There will be no Steam Club this Thursday 4th July.
Little Steamers will still go ahead.
Second-Hand Uniforms
The second-hand uniform shop is open on Mondays and Thursdays 2:30-3:00 pm.
The Second-Hand Uniform Shop will be open during the holidays on Thursday 18th July 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
LOST PROPERTY
There is a huge amount of student’s clothing in the lost property box. The weather is getting colder and your children must be missing their jerseys and polar fleeces! This clothing will be displayed over the next few days. If it is not claimed it will be washed and put in the second-hand uniform shop for sale. Please come and check if any of the items belong to your children.
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Aroha
During the term, Aroha have been learning about a Matariki Pūrākau – The Eyes of Tāwhirimātea. For Grandparents Day we performed the play, a dance and a couple of Matariki songs.
The theme for Matariki 2024 is Matariki here kai (coming together and celebrating with food). It also pays homage to Matariki the mother star “bringer of food”. As a way of celebrating this, we collectively made soup for our entire team. The students peeled, cut, grated and prepared a delicious vegetable soup. They also had the opportunity to make bread.
We really enjoyed learning about the different stars through our rotations in the afternoon. We made science experiments, sang waiata, created craft activities and played games.
Ako
We have enjoyed a very productive and happy term. We especially enjoyed Matariki week last week where we were able to learn alongside our Tuakana (Big buddy) classes. We tried string games, weaving, science experiments, creating wishes for the future and many more. We also got to make our very own vegetable soup and fry bread. It was delicious! Thank you to all the whanau who sent in ingredients and those parents who came in to help make the delicious kai!
Arahi
We have enjoyed writing persuasive speeches this term. Last week we held our School Speech Competition in Arahi with our top 8 finalists speaking. Well done Isla Shields taking top place. Isla will be representing St Joseph’s School at the Franklin Speech competition this week. We are extremely proud of all of our students, including Year 4 students who have written and presented for the first time.
Congratulations to this year’s winners:
Aroha: 1st = Rosa Lines, 2nd = Keira Murray, 3rd = Caleb Hewitt
Ako: 1st = Mika Singson, 2nd = Amelia Magbutay, 3rd = Zoe Webster
Arahi: 1st = Naomi Logan, 2nd = Mackay Methven, 3rd = Tilly Wilson
 
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Catholic Diocese of Auckland Job Vacancies
Job Vacancy 1 – Administration Assistant to the Leader Pastoral Services Group
The Catholic Diocese of Auckland is seeking a methodical, cheerful, dedicated, and highly efficient person for the role of Administration Assistant to the Leader PSG to provide administration and operational support. This is a part-time role of 20 hours per week, Monday to Friday, with flexibility of hours between 9.30am and 3.30pm.
Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, along with proficient IT competency in Word, Excel, Free Source Design e.g. Canva and knowledge of websites (WordPress), Facebook. Can work under own initiative, be creative and have a can-do approach to work and is efficient, accurate and organised.
For more details, and a full position description, please visit the Diocesan website https://www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/staff-vacancies/
Applications close on 23 July 2024.
Job Vacancy 2 Marriage and Family Life – Administration Assistant
Marriage & Family Life are seeking an exceptional hardworking administrative assistant to join their team of marriage educators. This is a Part – time role of 16 hours, working 4 hours a day 10am -2pm Mon, Tue, Wed and Fri every week (with some evening and weekend work in venues) at the Pompallier Diocesan Centre in Saint Mary’s Bay.
For full details and requirements please visit the Diocesan website www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz, under Diocesan Services and Staff vacancies. Closing date 23 July 2024.
The NZ Modern School of Music held their 45th Annual Counties Music Competition on 7 and 8 June 2024. Twenty-one students of St Joseph’s were entered in the Piano and Keyboard competitions.
Our students did extremely well and walked away with numerous awards.
Jack Edmonds won the Cath Murphy Trophy for the youngest competitor at this year’s competition. He also won the Music Mania Trophy for Beginner Keyboard – 7 years and under. Rosalinda Emelio won the Zinzan Trophy for the next age group – Beginner Keyboard 8 – 10 years. Jake William won the Modern School of Music Trophy for Keyboard – 7 years and under.
The Judith Fulton Cup was won by Gabrielle Heaton for Classical Piano – 9 years.
The students also walked away with a number of medals:
Jake William: Gold and Silver
Charlie Vaughan: Gold
Isla Shields: Gold
Jack Edmonds: Gold
Rosalinda Emelio: Gold
Gabrielle Heaton: 2 x Silver Medals
Aubree Knowles: Silver
Adeline Shields: Silver and Bronze
Leanne Domingo: Silver and Bronze
Lucy Watling: Bronze
Xanthe Kempthorne: Bronze
Eoin Pile – Bronze
Amelia Magbutay: Bronze
**** A REMINDER THAT D’SAINTS WILL NOT BE RUNNING A HOLIDAY PROGRAMME THESE HOLIDAYS 8TH – 19TH JULY****
 
RISE AND SHINE CAFE HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
   
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