Children in Rooms 15, 16 and 17 are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to have a little bit of breakfast at school from 8:30. Thanks to all those parents who donated a range of tasty toppings from which the children are able to make a selection. The children are also expected to wash and dry their own plates and we have some Breakfast Monitors to help with the cleanup at the end. Bon Apetit!!
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.
Today we had our Matariki Liturgy which was led by Kahikatea.
Our opening prayer was
Haere mai
We come to this place
of kindness and welcoming
We come to worship God
We come to welcome God
with our prayers and songs
We come to think of people
who have died
and who shine like stars around us.
We come to thank our lucky stars
for warm homes, for hearty food and clean water
We come to share
the starlight of love.
We were proud of all our children who did readings and prayers with confidence and courage. The rest of the Kahikatea Team sat and participated in the prayers and songs respectfully.
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 that you may need. The rest of the school looks 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 and 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 it.
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.
David Bach and Team Kahikatea
The children enjoyed the magnet provocation run a couple of weeks ago by Mr. Bach. We looked at the attractive and repulsive force of North and South magnetic poles and how we can feel that invisible force. We also looked at the types of materials that are attracted by magnets.
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.
Yesterday we were lucky enough to visit a beautiful piece of artwork showing Ko Hāta Maria, te Matua Wahine o te Atua - Holy Mary, Mother of God. It was created by Dunedin artist, Damian Walker, who has integrated aspects of the Māori culture into his work. For example, Mary is holding 12 fern fronds and each koru represents an apostle. She is wearing a tiki around her neck which symbolises her motherhood. Baby Jesus is wearing a kahu kiwi (Kiwi feathered cloak) which was only ever worn by Māori chiefs or people with prestigious mana. The children were blown away by the stunning details within the painting and how they all had a special meaning. Father Thomas was able to answer many questions about the art before leading us in singing Ave, Ave, Ave Maria.
