Term 4 Week 6 Newsletter #11

Term 4 Week 6                           21 November 2024                                       Newsletter #11   

Principal’s Message

Special Catholic Character

Values Awards

Eddie Wynne – Arahi: For being an incredible leader and consistently going above and beyond to support our PE lessons. Your initiative in offering to help set up PE equipment showcases your dedication and outstanding leadership skills.

Charlee Pedder, Jarvis Fidow, Christianna Navarro, Lewis Littlejohn, Archer O’Neill, Eoin Pile, Ohorere Moka, Jolenahr Vaeafisi – AKO: For an incredible improvement in their reading this year. You have all worked so hard on this.

Alfie Farrell and Liam Millar – Arahi: You were both amazing in attaining raffles for your school, working tirelessly at the stall the whole time, and even giving your extra tokens to others.

Renzo Johnston, George Farrell, and Keith William – For Aroha and Arahi: for your wonderful display of love and leadership during Mission Day, supporting everyone at your stalls. 

Iliyahr Vaeafisi – Arahi: Thank you for your dedication to her stall at Mission Day. 

Liam Millar & Gabrielle Heaton – ARAHI & AROHA: For using their own time to complete a paragraph for the school magazine

Dayton Kemp-Brownlee – AROHA: For putting others before yourself and showing amazing generosity towards your classmates on mission day.

Harlen Vickers Williams and Peter Lekasa – ARAHI & AROHA: for all of your help in the toy stall. You were great leaders in this stall by supporting the younger students and keeping this stall running fairly and with the missionary spirit. 

Jack France – AROHA: For standing up for others.  You set a great example by treating others with kindness and fairness.

Mission Day

A special thank-you to our sponsors for our raffles: Pak’nSave Pukekohe who donated a grocery hamper full of all sorts of yummy treats and to Counties Energy for the very generous donation of a Samsung Phone. Well done to Liam Millar and Alfie Farrell for contacting these businesses and organising these raffles. We also had a lovely Garden Raffle donated by Farrell’s Nurseries. All of these businesses are great examples of the Missionary spirit by continually supporting and giving back to their community. Thank you Pak’nSave and Counties Energy & Farrell’s Nurseries. 

Here are the names of the lucky winners of the Mission Day Raffles:

Cricket Bat Raffle – Flynn Nicolson

Arts & Crafts Raffle – Steel Harris

Boys Raffle – Jay Marc Buena

Girls Raffle – Naomi Logan

Pak’nSave Grocery Raffle – Mrs Logan

Farrell’s Garden Raffle –  Macneill Mendes

Phone Raffle (sponsored by Counties Energy) – Nanise Ratulevu

Lollies in the Jar – Richard Chamberlain

We raised an amazing $4101.60 for the Mission Sisters!!!!

Thank you for your generosity

MISSIOAOTEAROA

This year the mufti money from Mission day went to MISSIOAOTEAROA.
MISSIOAOTEAROA  is Pope Francis’ international  mission agency here in New Zealand. They support projects all over the world supporting children, communities and future church leaders.   This year for World Mission Day MISSIOAOTEAROA encouraged Catholic Schools throughout New Zealand to join with Pope Francis.  We were invited to… 

• PRAY that ALL will hear the call
• DO what one can do to help ALL hear the call
• GIVE to the Pope’s missionary endeavours through a donation

Key Dates

Term 4 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       

School Board

SCHOOL POLICIES

A link to our school policies can be found on our school website or through www.schooldocs.co.nz

1. Go to www.schooldocs.co.nz/
2. Click Search for your school
3. Start typing the school’s name (St Joseph’s School Pukekohe) and then select it from the dropdown list.
4. Enter the community username: stjosephspukekohe and password: mission.

SchoolDocs Term 4 Policy Review: 

This Term the Board is asked to review the following policies: Finance and Asset Management Policy, Managing Income and Expenditure, Financial Conflicts of Interest, Asset Management and Protection.

The following reviews are open to the staff and the school community: School Donations and Student Activity Payments/Attendance Dues and Other Income, Expenditure, Property Planning and Maintenance, Prevention of Bribery, Corruption, Fraud, and Theft.

This Review closes on 13 December 2024.

Our next Board meeting is on Wednesday December 11th.

If you would like to contact the Board directly at any time, please do so through our email address schoolboard@stjosephs.co.nz 

School Notices / Upcoming Events

School Attendance Dues

We would like all 2024 Attendance Dues to be paid in full before 30 November.

into our account: ASB  12-3023-0338374-01 ref: student’s name

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.

School Start Time

Students are expected to be at school by 8:30 am. Teachers are not in class until 8:15 am.  

Any children who come to school earlier than 8:15 are not supervised. 

Our Term 3 Attendance Summary from the MOE says that 70% of our students are regularly on time to school. That means 30% (92 students) are not. That needs to improve. 

Parents, you need to ensure your child is at school by 8:30 every day. Thank you.

Second-Hand Uniform Shop

The second-hand uniform shop is now open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30-3:00 pm.

All students should now be in their summer uniforms. Lightweight grey shorts for boys with a short-sleeved school polo. A summer tunic for girls and black or brown sandals with an ankle and heel strap for boys and girls.  Sun hats are compulsory and children who are not wearing them will have to play under the shaded areas.  

YEAR 6 STUDENTS

As the end of the year draws closer please consider donating any uniforms in good condition to the uniform shop if you don’t have younger siblings to pass them on to.  We appreciate any items you are able to donate.

Please be mindful that the secondhand shop is for families who are struggling to buy new uniforms. The items are donated and we charge a small amount that goes back to the students through the PTA.  We are not a retail store, we do not have all items, we only have what is donated. If you require items we do not have, you will need to buy them new from The Uniform Shoppe on Glasgow Road, Pukekohe.

New Enrolments

 If you have a 4-year-old child or a child who is turning 4 in the next few months we would like you to come and collect an Enrolment Pack please.  If you know of another family who is thinking of enrolling at St Joseph’s please let them know we need to hear from them now.  

Enrolment documents can also be found on our website.

Knowing the number of new students starting in advance assists us with our staffing allocation.

School Photos

Your school photos have now been distributed.  If you would like to purchase a class photo or have any other queries please contact Masterpiece, Phone 07 823 4306 or masterpiece @xtra.co.nz

Year 7 2026 Enrolments

Attention current Year 5 families and students!

Do you know which school your child will be going to for Year 7 in 2026? St Ignatius of Loyola is currently taking enrolments for 2026. Their enrolment cut-off is Friday 21st February 2025. All other Catholic Colleges will be accepting enrolments for 2026 at the beginning of next year. All St Joseph’s Students who wish to continue their education at a Catholic College should be completing enrolment applications or making enquiries now.

2024 School Magazine/Year Book

Your school magazine should now be paid for if you are ordering one this year.

School Communication

Please make sure you are using the eTAP @students app. This is the main way we communicate information about the school. The best way to make sure you are receiving all information is to ensure that you have notifications turned on and that you receive emails from the app.

If you are experiencing any difficulty please let the office or Mrs Burns know.

Year 6 Graduation Event

As most of you are aware, St Joseph’s School always celebrates the graduating class with a celebratory event. This year the dinner will be held on Thursday 5th December 6 – 8:30pm. The invites and RSVPs have now been sent out to our Year 6 families. Behind the scenes a dedicated bunch of Year 5 parents and members of our PTA are busy planning the event. This is another tradition at our school. The younger year (previously Year 7, now Year 5 parents plan and organise the event for our graduating class). At this time the planning committee needs the school’s assistance in loaning some supplies

We are currently seeking:

Rice Cookers – accepting any capacity please

Warming Trays

If you are able to lend us these items from Wednesday 4th – Friday 6th December we would be very grateful. Please make sure your item is clearly named. Please email Mrs Burns to let us know if you can assist. robinb@stjosephs.co.nz        Thank you very much!

Celebrations 

Aroha

Last week, students in Aroha had an exciting visit from Watercare, where they learned all about the importance of water conservation. The students were engaged and enthusiastic as they discovered simple ways to save water both at home and at school. They especially enjoyed working together in teams to solve the challenge of moving water without spilling! A highlight of the visit was receiving a special water timer to challenge themselves in taking shorter showers, aiming for less than 4 minutes. A big thank you to Sarah from Watercare for providing such an informative and fun educational experience!

Ako

Over the past few weeks, the tamariki in Ako have been busy completing all of their crafts to sell on Mission Day. We painted, varnished, threaded, packed, filled, tied and created right up until Mission Day. Our table was full of shiny rocks, squishy squish balls and beautiful mini rosaries ready to be shared with the wider school. We had a successful day and nearly sold everything. There are only a few weeks left of this year and we are looking forward to swimming and getting ready for a kiwi Christmas.

 Arahi 

Arahi has been super busy over the last few weeks organising Mission Day. Next week, our Year 6s are off to camp for a four-day, three-night camp at Totara Springs. Our Year 4 and 5s have Bigfoot Adventures next Tuesday to look forward to as well. Take a look at our exciting Mission Day photos!

Community Notices

Congratulations to past pupil Vuniani Naiqara (Year 8, 2019) who achieved the Proxime Accessit Award from Wesley College this year; and 1st in Classical Studies. Well done Vuni.

ACCOMMODATION NEEDED

We have a school family in need of rental accommodation close to St Joseph’s School and St Patrick’s Church.  Please contact the School office if you can help.  

Ph: 09 238  7745 

WIN A SUMMER SPORTS PACK FOR OUR SCHOOL!

Puni School is excited to host the Barfoot & Thompson Pukekohe Colour Run, taking place on November 24th at Navigation Homes Stadium! This vibrant fundraising event is designed for families & children of all ages, featuring a fun run with eight exciting obstacles and bright coloured Holi powder to run through. Our goal is to promote physical fitness, teamwork, and most importantly, a fun-filled day for our youth.

By using our schools unique code at checkout, PCR25 families can enjoy discounted tickets, automatically go into the early bird draw to win $150 Pac & Save Voucher AND A Tamariki River Family Package (4 pax)  & most importantly help our school win a summer sports pack. All while contributing to a great cause—fundraising for new accessible swings and playground equipment at Puni School.