Term 4 Week 9 12 December 2024 Newsletter #12
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Tena Koutou Katoa Talofa Lava Kamusta Malo e lelei Mauri Malo ni Faka talofa atu Namaste Greetings to all
The busyness of the end of the school year has caught up with us all and we are pleased to have an extra week in Term 4 this year.
In the last three weeks, the swimming lessons (postponed from Term 1) have been underway and it is pleasing to hear the excitement and joy of our tamariki in the water. Next year, swimming lessons will take place in Term 1 again and I wonder if the shorter distance in time between lessons will benefit our akonga’s progress. I hope you can provide them with the opportunity to increase their water confidence further over the summer holidays.
In Week 7, our Year 6 students attended camp for four days at Totara Springs, Matamata. Mrs Egelmeer organised this EOTC event and Mrs Burns and Mrs Farrell led the camp while Mrs Julius and Mrs Roberts attended. We are always grateful for the parents who attend camp enabling us to provide this wonderful opportunity for our Year 6 students. Mrs Egelmeer and I drove down to visit one evening. By all accounts, it was a very successful event. Thank you for supporting all of the fundraising initiatives that made this camp affordable for every child.
Meanwhile at school, our Year 4&5 students participated in Big Foot; an Education Outside The Classroom experience on our school site. This was funded through the MOE donation scheme.
Last week we celebrated our Year 6 graduation event in our school hall. It was a lovely evening for the tamariki and their parents. Year 6 tamariki were presented with their graduation certificates and our PTA/Friends of St Joseph’s School decorated the hall beautifully and prepared a special meal for us to enjoy. We are so grateful for the support of our school community.
Our Parent-Helper morning tea took place on Wednesday. This is an opportunity for our teachers/staff to acknowledge the support of our parent/helpers over the school year in appreciation of their gift of time and service to our school. I also want to acknowledge our staff who continue to serve our school so well. Teaching is a vocation and our staff (teachers and support staff) go above and beyond their job descriptions to ensure your tamariki have the best possible school experience.
Tonight we will be holding our whanau picnic and Christmas carols; a lovely occasion to celebrate our year in our Advent season. Our youngest Aroha students are dressing as shepherds, kings and angels, and a nativity scene will be re-enacted. This year there will be food trucks on the grounds but they will be closed while our carol event is on. I hope you are able to attend.
Our annual prize-giving will be held tomorrow, Friday, at 11:30 am. While some children will receive prizes for their special achievements, we acknowledge that all our akonga have made progress and shown success in a variety of ways over the year. Every child is blessed and precious. School reports and 2025 placement letters will be sent home Friday afternoon.
The End-of-Year School Mass will be held at 1:00 pm on Tuesday 17 December. Our Year 6 students will receive their leavers gift and a Christian Living Award will be given to one child in each kaitiaki roopu. This year, we will announce our St Joseph’s Award recipient at our prizegiving.
This year we say goodbye to Mrs Suit-Keen Waru who is moving on to take up a leadership position in another school. Mrs Waru has been with us since 2021 and her expertise in the classroom and contribution to our Pasifika and Maori groups has been greatly valued. Mrs Kelly McArthur is moving with her family to Christchurch, and Mrs Kerri Egelmeer is leaving us to go on maternity leave. We wish them many blessings as they take on their next life’s venture.
I want to especially thank all the parents of our leaving Year 6 students for their generous spirits and their contribution to the success of many events over their time with us. Some of our families are saying their final goodbyes after a significant association with St Joseph’s and we want you to know that we have valued these relationships. We wish all of you all the best for the future and hope you will continue to be a friend of our school. If you no longer have a use for your child’s school uniform, we would welcome their donation to our second-hand uniform shop to benefit other whanau.
Because of our increased roll, in 2025 we are once again able to employ an Assistant Principal to be part of our Senior Leadership Team. We look forward to Miss Amy Massey joining our school. Amy lives locally and is looking forward to returning to work in a Catholic school.
Our school year finishes next Wednesday 18 December at 1:00 pm. Please ensure your children are collected by 1:15 pm as our office will be closed and there will be no one available to supervise them after this time.
I hope you all have a peaceful and safe summer holiday full of special family moments.
God bless you and watch over you always.
Nga manaakitanga ki a koe.
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Special Catholic Character
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Values Awards
Flora Sili: Aroha, Ako & Arahi – for demonstrating our values by supporting and encouraging your friends while at camp.
Alfie Farrell: Ako – learning that trying new things and giving new experiences a go can be exciting and fun. We were all so proud of you.
John-Mefi Sau-Mclaren: Ako – Being the most improved Year 4 Speller in the Chunk, Check, Cheer programme.
Arie Cassidy: Ako – learning to overcome a hard challenge
Hana Nguyen: Aroha – for helping a student transition to a new school and country
Joshua Yeldho: Arahi – for being able to clearly explain his maths knowledge to a buddy
Liam Millar: Aroha and Arahi – for being my dedicated guide showing me around Totara Springs Camp. I felt very special. Mrs Hall
Denrei Espiritu: Aroha – For noticing what I was doing in the garden and offering to help take weeds to the bin. You are always so respectful.
End of Year Mass
Please join us for our End of Year Mass.
Tuesday 17 December, be seated for a 1pm start at St Patrick’s.
We will be presenting our Christian Living Awards at this mass.
Message from St Patrick’s Church
On behalf of St Patrick’s food bank, we wish to thank you, the teachers, the families, and the school for the donations. We really appreciated your generosity.
Thank you for your thoughts and beautiful hearts.
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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
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The Board thanks our Principal/Tumuaki Mrs Ursula Hall and her dedicated staff for all their work this year. The school is blessed to have such marvellous people supporting our children. We would also like to thank you all for your support of St Joseph’s this year and wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas.
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 Joseph’s School Pukekohe) and then select it from the dropdown list.
- 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.
If you would like to contact the Board directly at any time, please do so through our email address schoolboard@stjosephs.co.nz
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School Notices / Upcoming Events
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School Prize Giving
Tomorrow, Friday 13 December is our School Prize Giving. We welcome all families to attend this special event, celebrating various achievements and cultural performances from throughout the year.
It starts at 11:30 in the school hall.
School Attendance Dues
All 2024 Attendance Dues should now be paid.
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.
The Second-Hand Uniform Shop will be on Tuesday 28th January 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
YEAR 6 STUDENTS & LEAVERS
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.
BYOD – Yr 4 – 6
Students in Year 4, 5 & 6 will require a chromebook please keep an eye out for sales over the new year or you can purchase through our partnered IT provider Cyclone. By purchasing through Cyclone you can purchase a chrome, warranty and bag option and have the security in knowing you are purchasing a robust commercially used chromebook suitable for a classroom environment. https://byod.cyclone.co.nz/
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.
DUE TO THE UNPREDICTABLE NATURE OF THE WEATHER, WE WILL NOW HAVE THE CAROLS IN THE HALL BUT WILL STILL ATTEMPT TO EAT OUTSIDE. PLEASE COME PREPARED FOR THE WEATHER.
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Aroha
In Aroha, we have had a wonderful time learning about the true meaning of Christmas as part of our Nativity play preparation. The students have enjoyed reenacting the story of Jesus’ birth during our class assemblies, and we are excited to perform it again at our Carols Evening. Alongside our Christmas celebrations, we have also been having a fantastic time with our swimming lessons through Fulton Swimming. It has been a joy to see the students’ confidence grow as they develop essential swimming skills.
As the year comes to a close, we want to wish all of our whānau a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable holiday season. Mere Kirihimete and God Bless!
Arohanui, Mrs Wallace, Mrs Wilcox, Mrs Waru, Mrs Knight, Mrs Clarke & Mrs de Farias.
Ako
As the year comes to a close we have been as busy as ever in Ako! We have been swimming, writing all about Christmas, learning about time in Maths and completing some Christmas art. We chose a Christmas design, traced it four times, outlined with black vivid, chose warm and cold colours and coloured with pastels. They are looking bright, beautiful and Christmassy!
Arahi 
Our recent EOTC Bigfoot day for Year 4 and 5 students was a fantastic opportunity to engage in team-building and skill-development activities outside the usual classroom setting. Through a mix of fun challenges, problem-solving tasks, and outdoor adventures, students learned the importance of communication, collaboration, and resilience. It was a memorable experience that strengthened relationships and equipped students with valuable life skills.
Swimming
School swimming lessons are going well!! These lessons offer students the wonderful opportunity to develop essential life skills. Swimming has been a great way for students to enjoy themselves, stay active, and learn important safety skills.
Y6 Celebrations
Over the past few weeks, our Year 6’s have had much to celebrate. With camp in Week 7, which was lots of fun! Thanks to Mrs Burns, Mrs Julius, Mrs T Farrell, Mrs Roberts, and parents – Libby Timms, Losa Helu, Tracey Farrell, Anitha Thomas, Hayden Onehi, Jono Bucheler, Bryce Millar, and Jeremy Farrell – for your effort and support to ensure that our Year 6’s had the best time! A big thank you to Grassroots Trust who helped our students get to camp!
In Week 8, we had our Year 6 Graduation where they celebrated their 6-year journey concluding at St Joseph’s School. We had lots of laughs, tears and cheers for our leaders of the school.
Coming up this week is Carols tonight from 5 pm – to start at 6 pm and tomorrow’s prizegiving from 11:30 am.
Next week we farewell our Year 6s at the End of Year Mass the whole school will attend, starting at 1 pm on Tuesday. We strongly encourage you to attend this special event if you are able.
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Good Luck to Honey Onehi who represents Counties Manukau U13’s Tag Nationals this weekend starting tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. Next weekend, she also represents Counties Manukau U14 Girls Touch in the Northern Region Competition. We are super proud of you and wish you all the best!
Last weekend at her dance prizegiving, Isla Shields won Most Promising Senior Contemporary Dancer and the Outside Achievement Award for her solo comps this year. She also won the Highest Senior Exam marks trophy and got gold medals for each of her exam classes. For her jazz exam, she is in the top 8% across the Asia-Pacific and has been put forward for a possible scholarship next year. What a wonderful achievement in Dancing this year Isla! We are so proud.
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
As you may be aware, passenger trains will be returning to the Southern line between Papakura and Pukekohe on Monday 3 February 2025. These electric trains will be faster and quieter than our diesel trains. Before passenger trains resume, I wanted to share our ‘Expect trains’ poster and an important safety message.
There will be an increase of trains on the Southern Line between Papakura and Pukekohe from Monday 3 February 2025.
Be aware that they can come at any time, from either direction. Always use official level crossings and look both ways for trains.
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