Weekly Notices, Term 2, Week 10

Good morning and welcome to week 10, the last week of term.  It has been a busy term with many activities and lots of progress made with learning.  

Thank you to those who attended the Matariki dinner on Thursday night.  It is an event we look forward to and again, it was a big success.  Next year will be our 10th time putting this on.  

We have enjoyed watching the children learning through play and would like to ask for help in collecting the following items if you have them lying around not being used.                        Boxes and recycling

We all have recycling and the children love to use these materials in their artwork.  We always have the need for these materials.

What is useful

* Cereal Boxes

* Egg cartons

* Clean yoghurt containers 

* Bottle tops. Milk, beer etc

* Old newspaper, flyers, magazines etc

* Fabric pieces

* Wool-off cuts

* Untreated wood off cuts

If you have something that you are not sure of please check with the teachers,

Other things we are collecting for our mud kitchen 

* Old pots and pans

* Old kitchen equipment

Sandpit

• Buckets, spades, spoons, rakes, sieves

Many thanks for your help with this.

What is happening this week

• Tuesday - Room 15 Library.
• Wednesday - Room 16 and 17 Library.
•                      - Principal's lunch
• Friday - Pacifica, Choir, Golden Time and Assembly. 

School production

ROCK N ROLL SINGERS GROUP - If you are interested in being part of this group, there is a Sign-up sheet at the student counter. There will be more information in Term Three / Week 1!

Keep warm and healthy and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Lorette Tiedt and Team Kahikatea

Weekly Notices Term 2, Week 9

 The Matariki Holiday was a special day with much celebration around the country. The three-day weekend was also a chance to recharge the batteries, as we come to the end of term. There have been many sicknesses over the last few weeks in our community, we appreciate parents keeping children at home when they are sick to limit the spread of viruses.

A big thank you to Miss Bowie, Mrs Tiedt and all the children of Rooms 15,16 and 17 for the warm birthday wishes given to Mr Bach last week. See below.

Our Sacred Heart of Jesus Mass was great last Thursday. A particular thanks to Mrs Mines and Mrs Dobson for their preparation and of course their enthusiasm as Directors of Religious Studies.

Thanks to Mrs Dinniss for taking our Ripper teams to the Regional tournament, Mr G for taking the Chess team to their competition and Mrs Holmes for taking the golfers away for their ‘give it a go’ day. All students acquitted themselves very well by all accounts. Thanks also to Shanelle who is doing all the support work so these trips can go ahead.

School Production

On Wednesday the auditions for our school production are being held and it is fantastic to see so many of our students who want to be involved. Mrs Trask is doing a great job and has already put in many hours of planning.

Matariki Cultural Dinner

We have our Matariki Cultural Dinner on Thursday evening. It would be awesome to see as many parents and caregivers there as possible.

A reading log will be sent out at the end of the week for children to use during the holidays.

Coming up this week:

• Tuesday - Room 15 Library.
• Wednesday - Room 16 and 17 Library. 
• Thursday - Matariki Cultural Dinner. 
• Friday - Pacifica, Choir, Golden Time and Assembly. 

Have a wonderful Sunday evening,

Lorette Tiedt and Team Kahikatea. 

Weekly Notices - Term 2 Week 8

 Kia ora parents and whānau, 

I hope you have had a lovely weekend so far. I know many children would've played sport on Saturday, I'm sure they all had a great time. 

It's hard to believe we are well into the second half of term 2. There has been some great learning going on and plenty more to come. On Friday we had a BIG cleanup of the play-based learning equipment which all the children helped with. We look forward to heading into a freshly organised space tomorrow. 

Coming up this week:

• Tuesday - Room 15 Library.
• Wednesday - Room 16 and 17 Library. 
• Thursday - Sacred Heart Mass. 
• Friday - Pacifica, Choir, Golden Time and Assembly. 

Have a wonderful Sunday evening,

Lorette Tiedt and Team Kahikatea. 

Weekly Notices - Term 2, Week 7

Good morning on this wonderful, wet Sunday morning.  I hope you are all managing to stay warm and dry.  We had a very rewarding week of testing reading, writing and maths last week.  The children have worked hard this year so far and it can certainly be seen in the gains that they have made.

Once again, St Mary's provides our children with many opportunities to participate in a variety of sports and activities.  

Young Vinnies have the finals of the Talent Quest tomorrow at 9.15 am in the hall.  Congratulations to those who are in the finals.  Remember to be prepared and bring any props, clothes etc which you may need.  The rest of the school look forward to watching and seeing the talent in our school.

The Ripper Rugby Tournament is scheduled for this Wednesday, with Friday as the postponement day. This event has been postponed twice already so let’s hope that it happens this time. 

The interschool Cross Country is scheduled for Tuesday, with Thursday being the postponement day. Ray is with the team at the Springfield Golf Course.

Our Chess Teams have done exceptionally well in the three tournaments that they have played in over the last 10 days. In the last tournament they played in over in Tauranga, one of the teams came in second, by one point,  against year 7&8 teams. In Taupo, we were 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Players have now qualified to compete in the Nationals.  Claire Delos Santos has been the top girl in all three of the tournaments.  Thanks Mr G for the awesome job you do with our Chess players.

June also starts the month of Matariki, over the next two weeks our play focus is on planet earth and beyond.  The teachers will be providing opportunities for the children to participate to extend their learning around this.

Kahikatea is leading the Matariki Liturgy in the hall on Thursday.

Toast

This week the children will be able to have toast in the mornings.  They are learning how to use the toaster, make their toast with spreads and then wash and dry their plate after they have eaten.

We are still able to provide the bread, but we are asking for donations of spreads for the children to use.  If you are in the position to supply a spread the children will gratefully have them.

Our week

Monday - Talent Quest finals

Tuesday - Library Room 15

Wednesday - Library Room 17 & 16

Thursday - Matariki Liturgy led by Kahikatea

Friday - Pasifika, Choir, Golden time, Assembly

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, see you tomorrow.

Lorette Tiedt and Team Kahikatea

Weekly Notices - Term 2 Week 6

 Bonjour parents and whānau, we hope you have had a wonderful long weekend thus far.

We are now halfway through the term. It is going to be a very short Week 6 as Monday is Queen's Birthday Public Holiday and Tuesday is a Teachers Only Day. This means there are only 3 days when the children come to school, from Wednesday through to Friday. During these three days, all Year 3 teachers will be testing their children in Reading, Writing and Maths, in preparation for mid-year reports and to assess how much progress has been made leading up to the midpoint of 2022.

Weather permitting, our two 7s teams are competing in the inter-schools 7s tournament on Thursday.

We celebrated Pentecost Mass together as a school last week and weren’t our little readers fantastic. The singing was great too. Thanks to Mrs Mines and Mrs Dobson for organising the Mass.

Our Chess team performed particularly well in Taupo, being placed first, second and third and Claire Delos Santos received the top girl award. The team has now qualified for Nationals later in the year. A team is travelling to Hamilton this week to compete in a tournament over there. Thanks Mr G.

Things happening this week:

• Monday - Queen's Birthday Public Holiday - no school.
  
  
• Tuesday - Teacher Only Day - no school for children
  
  
• Wednesday - Room 16 and 17 library. 
  
  
• Thursday - 
  
  
• Friday -  Pasifika, Choir

We hope you have a wonderful week ahead, 

Lorette Tiedt and Team Kahikatea. 

Weekly Notices - Term 2, Week 5

 Morena parents and whānau, we hope you have had a wonderful weekend thus far.

It is hard to believe we are almost halfway through term 2! The weeks are really flying by. We are so proud of the growth the children are making, both academically and socially. We are noticing a lot of creative thinking happening from the children during play-based learning and new friendships developing. 

Here are some photos from our measuring mass activity on Friday.

                

Things happening this week:

• We celebrate Samoan Language Week! There will be activities that children can participate in during lunch times. 
  
  
• On Monday and Tuesday the Young Vinnies are hosting a talent show. Please encourage your child to give it a go if they have a special talent to share. 
  
  
• Wednesday - Room 16 and 17 library. We will also be visiting the Mary Mother of God Icon. 
  
  
• Friday - Pentecost Mass. 
  

Just a friendly reminder that we have a Teacher Only Day on Tuesday June 7th, therefore there will be no school for students to attend on that day. 

We hope you have a wonderful week ahead, 

Lorette Tiedt and Team Kahikatea. 

Weekly Notices, Term 2 Week 4

Pink Shirt Day was a great success - thanks for supporting this. Please keep the antibullying message alive; it is essential that the Pink Shirt Day is not just a one day wonder. We celebrate diversity in all forms and we want our school to be safe, supportive, welcoming and inclusive for everyone. We need to remind our students to be kind. 

Some reminders from Mr Macmillan

- We have Ascension Liturgy in the hall at 10.15 am on Wednesday. This is being led by the Totara team.

- Tuesday 7th June is a Teacher Only Day. The Teachers at St Mary’s will be joining John Paul College for this day’s focus of ‘Matariki’. There will be no school for children on this day. If you require childcare you can contact Maryanne Rolling on 0211 215599.

The week ahead

Monday: Fun Gym at lunchtime - girls bring a change of clothes

Tuesday: Book Club at lunchtime, Library Room 15

Wednesday: Ascension Liturgy, Library Rooms 17 and 16

Thursday: Normal School day

Friday: Sausage Sizzle & Juicies $1.50 each 

Choir - 12 o'clock in the hall

Rollerskating club at lunchtime

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday

See you tomorrow.

Mrs Tiedt and Team Kahikatea

Weekly Notices - Term 2, Week 3

 It was great to catch up with parents and caregivers at the teacher-parent-child conferences last Tuesday and Wednesday. The children are generally making good progress despite the interruptions due to covid. 

Class Photos

Class photos are tomorrow - Monday. Could parents please ensure that children come to school in the correct uniform, including wearing a named jumper and having hair tied up where necessary?

Structured Literacy Parent Information Meeting

Are you curious about the new approach to spelling and reading taking place at school? You may have learnt a little about this at your parent conference last week. 

Come along and learn about the structured literacy approach, what this means for your child and how you can support their learning at home.

Our consultant, Marion Kirby from Learning Matters will give you a brief overview of how the brain learns to read - you may learn a thing or two yourself!

See you upstairs in the Staffroom at 3.15 pm Wednesday the 18th of May. Tea, Coffee and snacks provided. 

Teacher Only Day 

There is a Teacher Only Day June 7th, there will be no school on this day. If you require child care you can contact Maryanne Rolling on 0211 215599. 

Principal For the Day

This week the PTA is running a raffle. The main prize is Principal for a day, this is usually a silent auction at the Gala, but with that not going ahead, we thought we would try a raffle. It is running Monday-Wednesday this week and it will be drawn next Friday. The children can have as many entries as they wish.

Enjoy the week.

Mrs Tiedt and Team Kahikatea

Weekly Notices - Term 2 Week 1

 

Welcome back to Term 2.  We look forward to a busy term of learning and growing.  We hope everyone had a good and restful holiday with lots of time to catch up on doing the things we love to do.  

Exciting news!  Our carpets are down and look fabulous.   It was touch and go due to the fact that there were only eight working days during the holidays. Radiators in affected rooms will be reinstalled over the next few days. The library is closed until things are reinstated there.  Children will be able to come through the gates in the morning at any time. The classrooms will be open at 8.30 am. Normal hygiene protocols need to be followed with children sanitising each time they enter a learning space and wearing a mask (year 4 up). There will be an assembly on Friday.

In week 2 we have Parent / Student / Teacher conferences.  If you have not yet made a booking please note the following:

We have Three-Way Conferences (for Parent/Student/Teacher) scheduled for Tuesday 10 May and Wednesday 11 May. Families can choose the day that will work best for them. 

Students and their parent(s) need to attend a 10 minute appointment on one of these two days. Details are provided below for how to make an appointment.  

Appointments available

Tuesday 10 May 3.15 - 6.45pm

Wednesday 11 May 3.15 - 5.35pm

How to make a booking

Bookings are now open. How do parents make a booking for their child's Three Way Conference?

There are a number of ways bookings can be made. Either:

1) Go to the School App and then the Links section then School Interviews. Enter the code akwma

2)  Go to www.school interviews.co.nz and enter the event code akwma

When making the booking parents will get the following message: 

Thank you for booking an appointment for our Term 2 Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences. Ten minutes is allowed for each appointment. If you are late for your appointment you are likely to be asked to rebook for another time. This is because the class teacher needs to consider the bookings made by other families and keep to the times they have booked for. We look forward to seeing you and your child at the conference.