St Benedict's School Pānui ā-rorohiko (Online Newsletter) Week 9, Term 4

Children's Nativity Play – St Benedict’s Church

Planning is underway for the final nativity play at St Benedict’s church at the 6pm Christmas Eve Family Mass.  We need lots of angels, shepherds, wisemen, inn-keepers, animals, and of course Mary and Joseph. If you (we want to involve anyone who has ever been in a Nativity Play at St Benedict’s church) or your child would like to be involved, please contact Andrea Lai at calai@outlook.co.nz or on 021 0826 7019. 

There will be a practise on Sunday 18 December after the 9am Mass.

Catholic Character

Christmas Hope

Father, I pray that you will turn our hearts toward you as Christmas approaches. Let us not get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season this year and miss the chance to celebrate the gifts of hope, peace, joy, love, that you sent to us on that first Christmas. That first Christmas, you gave us the gift of hope wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Thank you, Father, for your immeasurable gift. In Jesus’ precious name, we pray. Amen. - Stephanie Raquel

Farewell to our Year 8 Leavers

Begining of school year whānau meetings

Begining of school year whānau meetings

1 and 2 of February we will have whānau conferences to support a seamless and positive start to the year. Tamariki only need to attend school for their 20 minute interview with their family. 

Booking your interview

Bookings will be open from Tuesday 13 December 2022  at 5pm and will remain open until 30 January 2023 at the following link:

https://stbenedictsnz.schoolzineplus.com/2023WhanauMeeting.

The  link here or the video below will explain how to make a booking, please record the login details for your account as they will be used to book future interviews. 

Tumuaki End of Year Speech

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

I te tuatahi, ngā mihi nui ki te Matua, te Tamaiti, me te Wairua Tapu; kei konei rātou i tō tātou taha ināianei.

Ko Tania Savage tōku ingoa.

As you are more than well aware I am Tania Savage, and I had the privilege of being appointed as principal in October last year for 2022. And what a year 2022 has turned out to be!

Before I speak any further, I want to acknowledge the wonderful preparation of our staff, ably lead by our DRS Jacqui for this carol service. Jesus is the reason for the season and taking time as a community to gather and reflect together helps us to strengthen our faith community. 

We were so lucky to be together last night, in the space that has meant so much to the St Benedict’s community. To call ourselves a community we do need to gather together. When I have asked people so what happens at the carol service, they have mainly mentioned that it is packed and often hot. What they failed to mention is the sense of aroha and wairua that is present. What a privilege to be part of this. What a privilege to be able to return to our end of year traditions allowing us to publicly acknowledge those who are moving on to new challenges

As always, we are farewelling a group of Year 8’s who are moving on to the next part of their educational journey. Thank you to all you have given our school and we know you will enrich the communities of your new schools. This year we say goodbye to a group of families who are finishing their time at our school. Some have been a part of our community for 16 years. Thank you to Isabelle, Jessie, Ivan, Anya, Zac, Georgia, Kate, Aston, Ria, Maia, Sophie, Gwen, Nayomi, William, Santé and Annabelle’s families for all you have done for our school community.

We are also farewelling Paul Cunningham who is moving back to Canada. We thank Paul for all he has given our community. We hope to see Paul when he visits NZ in the future.  

Over the past few years, the predictability of school has been flipped on its head. We were one of the lucky schools this year, able to keep our doors open and to support us in school and at home learners. In 2020 and 2021 we were in your living rooms and kitchens; we felt a sense of closeness and we are in it together. 2022 has been different, we had to cultivate a school bubble that for most of Term 1 and 2 disconnected us from one the three key components of our school our whānau. After restrictions had lifted, our driveway works continued to impact on accessing our school.

As Daniel has mentioned Term 3 and 4 is when we really started to Reconnect, and I started to see the true heart of the St Benedict’s Community through the Disco and Father’s Day Breakfast.

I will forever be grateful to our HoK group – the only parents I really got to meet in the first term for their support as I came to know our community. I particularly want to thank Lou who has been a fantastic chair of the group, thank you.   Kaye, I know that I’ll continue to receive such excellent support with you at the helm in 2023.

I cannot reiterate enough how hard this year has been on our teaching staff on top of two very hard years prior. Even with all the challenges we have faced I am filled with pride for my teaching staff when I review our recent academic results. The Manuka Syndicate has had excellent acceleration of reading and writing skills through the Better Start Literacy Approach, their commitment to studying while working full time has been admirable.  Our PAT results for Kowhai and Kauri, while a test that only captures how students are on the day, again shows that we are consistently above the New Zealand normed data for each year level. You’ll be able to see the PAT results in our school newsletter tomorrow. The ICAS results had one High Distinction, 11 Distinctions, 30 Credits and 16 Merits awarded to Year 4-8 students who entered this exam.

2022 has seen some completion of some long-held goals for St Benedict’s. The amazing new playground has been a place of EPIC challenge and the driveway is an amazing feet of engineering, improving our access and our visual presence on Nicholson Road. Our Kapa Haka group, after 18 months of preparation, has blown their audiences away at the St Brigid’s Kapa Haka Festival, The Kāhui Ako festival and the Khandallah School fair. The real testament to how far St Benedict’s has come to their commitment to Te Tiriti was the impromptu haka and waiata shared to thank the Central Pulse for helping the teachers to lose the netball game!  

The completion of the planned works has allowed us to look towards the type of school buildings we want for our future. The teachers and the Board have worked on a draft of a new 10-year property plan for St Benedict’s and we look forward to sharing this with the school community once we have final agreement from ADW.

So, what does 2023 have in store for us?  For St Benedict’s, 2023 will focus on the reconnecting with our whānau and wider community. 2023 gives us the opportunity to strengthen our school, reconnect with each other and get to know members of the community we do not know already. So, let’s start now, turn around and introduce yourself to a family you do not know so well.

Some of the ways we will reconnect are through:

Our Whānau conference on the 1st and 2^nd of February allow time for connections to be built between home and school. The more successful that connection the more our learners taste appropriate challenge and success. And our tamariki do need to experience challenge, tolerable levels of stress, in order to build the strength of their resilience. If we make the growing up easy and sweep way responsibilities and challenges, we teach our children that we don’t think they have it in them to do it.  EPIC Learners need EPIC challenges.

Our Excellent Catholic Character Review has highlighted a next step of strengthen our EPIC values to connections to the stories of Jesus and to Te Ao Maori. We look forward to developing EPIC further in 2023 to be an active guide for all our tamariki. To help them become the social justice warriors our world needs.

Reconnection requires clear communication.  I am delighted to be working in partnership with Aimie Peters from HoK and Anna Raddich from our Board to review and refine the communication for our school. In Term 1 we will be sending out a brief survey to help us plan our school app and website launches coming later in Term 1.

There is so much to look forward to for 2023 and I encourage you to lean in and be part of the opportunities that we will offer to reconnect with us.

It gives me great pleasure to invite our team up to acknowledge our Year 8 leavers and their achievements in 2022.

 Mā te Atua koutou e manaaki, e tiaki hoki,
May God bless and care for you,
Tania Savage - Principal

Academic Achievement

In December last year the School Board shared with you a snap shot of achievement for our Year 4-8 tamariki.

The below video gives a brief explanation of the changes to reporting format from 2022 to 2023 which have been made by the New Zealand Council of Educational Research. The PDF can be downloaded for ease of viewing. 

Prize giving

Convent Cup  This is based on the season’s play. The team coach is consulted. Winner: ASTON JETLY
Fraser Cup  This is largely based on the swimming times from the school swimming sports, also considered are outside successes within the region. Winner: ALICE MAZUR

Radomski cup  This is largely based on the swimming times from the school swimming sports, also considered are outside successes within the region. Winners: SHANE PIERIES & CALLUM ALLOTT

Brockie Netball Cup This is based on the season’s play and the team coach is consulted. Selection as a regional representative could be an indicator. Winner: LUCY BERGQUIST 

Marie Bradshaw Sporting Cup  This is chosen on general sporting ability. This person also helps with sport within the school and cares for sports resources. Winner: ASTON JETLY 

The Glen Gup for Music This cup is presented to the student with all round contribution to Music:
It could be in singing or instrumental. There may be a contribution to the school production. They will often support the choir, orchestra or music group. Winners: SHANE PIERIES, HAMISH BURNS & DOMINIC KHOO 

Art Cup (St. Benedict’s School Cup)  This is based on visual art created throughout the year. Winner: RIA MATHEW KULATHINAL 

Seah Cup for Excellence in Science This is for the highest achievement in Science.   This achievement is based on work throughout the year; taking into account Science Fair results, class work, Science badges and interest in science.  Winner: NISHA AGARWAL

St. Benedict’s School for Excellence in English This is for the highest achievement in English, both oral and written.  This will be based on classroom and external assessments.  Winner: ISABELLE ADUNA

Peter Garty Cup for Mathematics This is for the highest achievement in Mathematics. This will be based on classroom and external assessments. Winner: IVAN FARAON & NISHA AGARWAL 

The Rose-Brown Cup for Effort and Attitude For consistently having a positive attitude, working hard and being a good role model to other students. Winner: WILLIAM TUCK

Suzanne Aubert Cup for Service
For outstanding service to the school, both in terms of leadership responsibilities and willingness to help out in the class and school. Winner: LUCY BERGQUIST

Empathy Award For demonstrating a strong sense of empathy towards classmates. This is someone who has gone out of their way to support others. Winner: ANYA GUEVARA

Perseverance Award For demonstrating persistence and determination in all areas of school life. This is someone who does not give up when things get difficult.  Winner: NAYOMI SUBRA

Integrity Award For demonstrating tika and pono in all their interactions with others. This person acts with integrity and works to promote justice.  Winner: CHASE WINTRINGHAM

Creativity Award  For demonstrating creativity in classwork and an innovative approach to solving problems. Winner: IVAN FARAON 

Lloyd Davies Cup for General All-Round Excellence Academic excellence with consistently high levels of effort in all areas of the curriculum, completing work on time, initiating own learning, and pride and care in presentation. Winner: ISABELLE ADUNA

Reunion Cup for Special Catholic Character
This cup is based on: 
•    Participation in school and parish Masses.
•    Displaying Christian principles in their everyday behaviour
•    Being a strong role model of our Special Character to younger students Winner: RIA MATHEW KULATHINAL

B.O.T. Cup for Excellence – DUX The highest academic achiever. This is ascertained by consistently high achievement in the classroom, taking into account all classroom and external assessments. Winner: NISHA AGARWAL

Speech Competition Shield Winner: RIA MATHEW KULATHINAL

House Cup
This cup is awarded based on the house points that have been earned throughout the year.

Winner:            MURPHY

Prizewinners

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Catholic Character Team for 2023

Addy Stone, Tomi Marinkovich, Violet Foskett, Jack McDougall, Lauren Lamb, Octavia Burns, Makomborero Mutambudzi and Penny O’Styke

House Captains for 2023

Evans – Joelle Bebawy and Jack Robilliard

Brigidine – Charlie Clark and Aaron Siby

Murphy – Reuben Leilua and Posy Hanlon

Ngatoto – Elise Peet and Xavier Johnson

House Carols Competition

Manuka Christmas

Manuka Christmas

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Room 6 Operation Christmas Card

A few months ago Room 6 spread some advanced Christmas cheer by creating Christmas cards for the NZ Army - through Operation Christmas Card.

The beautiful cards and messages inside have been distributed to those serving in the NZ Army on overseas postings. Inspired by a call to help in the Army magazine The Bugle, Kennedy Hines asked his room mates to help him - his Dad is currently serving for NZ/The UN in Lebanon. 

This week the work of Room 6 paid off with acknowledgment of the beautiful cards and messages published in The Beagle. 

Thank you Aimie Hinds for introducing us to this wonderful kaupapa.

On Wednesday we received an unexpected reply:

Good Morning

Thank you for the lovely cards that you done for the soldiers deployed overseas for Christmas. They were very happy to receive them and they have them displayed in their work place.

Have a Merry Christmas

EPIC Gratitude

Year 5-8 Big Day Out

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Carols in the Village

Congratulations to...

Charlie McDougall and TJ Duggan who received a plethera of awards at the St Patrick's College end of year prizegiving. 

Jack McDougall received Distinction in his Euphonium Grade 3 Trinity exam and also cubed up a storm at the National Cubing championship.

William Tuck for his support of Albert.  Albert has been training Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with the Olympic Harriers running club coaches, John Cope and Craig Holden, since the beginning of term 1.  From March onwards, every Thursday, William Tuck has been Albert's training buddy. Rain (and they train no matter the weather) or shine William has turned up to help Albert. William has also been Albert’s buddy for a number of club cross country runs. 

All participants at Inter-regionals get a participation medal, in addition to medals for places. John Cope managed to get a participation medal for William in recognition for all his efforts. 

It was a real honour to present this medal to William at the Year 8 Assembly. 

Rock Bottom Photo and Video Links

Thank you to our EPIC photographers Jason and Aneta for these wonderful pictures of the show. Please feel free to follow the link and download photos of your stars!

https://clients.wedo.net.nz/st-benedicts-rock-bottom (password: roar)

Photos can be downloaded from here using the Select Photos function:

Video of Night one can be downloaded here 

Merry Christmas from ASC

Kia ora koutou 
As another school year draws to a close, I have been reflecting on some highlights of 2022 at After School Care.  This year we welcomed to our team some energetic and creative "youth" in  Marcus McGowan, Charlotte Simpson and Patrick Garner (ex St Benedicts student). These three talented individuals have bought to our team a natural ability to relate well to our children and, with their individual strengths, have added more fun and creativity to our programme.  We have also had the pleasure of watching our children enjoy the new adventure playground whilst keeping them safe and having fun.  The purchase of some new games has provided ongoing entertainment on inside days not only for our children but for our team whether we are participating or observing. Knitting has also been a welcomed new craft to keep our children busy.

There are a few special people who deserve a huge round of applause in assisting us during times of staff shortages and the recruitment of new team members. Firstly Coralie.  Thank you for always being there to fill in at very short notice.  You are worth your weight in gold Coralie. Also our not so new principal Tania Savage has been instrumental in her support to me personally with staff recruitment but also always being there for us whether it be to cover at short notice, being a listening ear and simply supporting us in whatever way she can.  I can't thank you enough Tania. 

To James Tuck another ex St Benedicts student, thank you so much for your assistance with our programme and we hope to see more of you in the new year. Finally we would like to thank you all as parents and caregivers for entrusting us to look after your special child(ren) ensuring they enjoy our programme and are kept safe.  To other families in our school community if you have any questions or would like to know more about our programme please do not hesitate to email us on asc@st-benedicts.school.nz

Our team would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2023.  May god keep you safe over the holiday period.
Ngā mihi nui

Donna (Supervisor), Feliz, Emma, Marcus, Charlotte and Patrick

School Uniform

School uniform Price review

The school has been informed by our main uniform supplier Moana Clothing Ltd that they have had to review the prices of some of our uniform items.  Therefore there has been a slight price increase on some uniform items.

Summer Uniform orders
The school office will be open from 16 January next year if you wish to collect any ordered items.  Please call prior to check your items have arrived.

Term 4 Events

Generally all events are in our St Bens calendar which you can add to your own Google Calendar through this link.

February 2023 

1 and 2 of February will have whānau conferences to support a seamless and positive start to the year.  https://stbenedictsnz.schoolzineplus.com/2023WhanauMeeting.

 Term Dates 2023

Term 1: Feb 1-6 April 

Term 2: 26 April-30 June 

Term 3: 17 July-22 September 

Term 4: 9 October- 15 December.

Raroa Music Centre - 2023

RĀROA MUSIC CENTRE REGISTRATION FOR 2023

Rāroa Music Centre offers Saturday morning group music lessons for primary and intermediate school children at low cost ($70 per year + $40 koha or parent volunteering).  We offer music basics, cello, clarinet, drums & percussion, flute, guitar, keyboard, orchestra, recorder, saxophone, ukulele, and violin.

You are welcome to come along to see what it’s all about.  Orientation tours will be held on Saturday 3^rd December between 10:00am – 12:30pm at Rāroa Intermediate School.

To register for 2023 visit our website and enrol online.  Registrations close 18^th February 2023.

www.raroamusic.org.nz

Parent Road Patrol Roster

NICHOLSON ROAD
(Mornings and Afternoons)
Parents: Please be present from 8:25am - 9:00am and again from 2:45am - 3:15pm

Lost Property

Helping Our Kids

Frosty Friday

Thank you to all the helpers who made Frosty Friday happen on 2/12and to Khandallah New World for their generous support. We raised $874.50!HOK secondhand summer uniform sale

Second Hand Uniform Sale 

The Term 1 second hand  summer uniform sale will be held on the 1st and 2nd of February between 0930 –1330 each day.

Donations for summer items are very welcome as we are in need of more items, particularly summer t-shirts and shorts. Please donate these to the office before the end of the school year. Proceeds from the uniform sale make up around 15% of HOK’s fundraising for the year that is reinvested into our tamariki so please do donate if you have items tucked away at home.

If you would like to resell items, you are welcome to join the sale and sell these itemsyourself.

Parent Quiz Night is back!

After a year off in 2022 due to COVID restrictions we’re bringing back the Annual Parents' Quiz -the first of many exciting HOK events for 2023. This is a chance to get to know parents within your class and the broader school community as the year kicks off.The quiz will be at 7pm, Sunday 19th February 2023 at 1841 Bar and Restaurant, Johnsonville

Entertainment Book

Wider Community Notices