St Benedict's School Pānui ā-rorohiko (Online Newsletter) Week 2, Term 3

EPIC values development

What does it mean to be an  EPIC Year 8 student leaving St Ben’s?  As part of building our Positive Behaviour 4 Learning school-wide framework we are identifying what it means to be an EPIC kid at St Ben's.  Please join with us at our Parent meeting on Monday night at 6pm to share your ideas of what it means to be EPIC.

How do our values link to the Bible? 

Empathy:  Do for others what you would want them to do for you. – Matthew 7:12

Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ. – Ephesians 4:32

Perserverance:  We must not get tired of doing good… We must not give up. – Galatians 6:9

Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. ⁶ With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way. – Proverbs 3:5-6

Integrity: We are trying to do what is right. We want to do what the Lord accepts as right and also what people think is right. – 2 Corinthians 8:21
Show them by what you say, by the way you live, by your love, by your faith and by your pure life. – 1 Timothy 4:12 

Creativtiy: We all have different gifts. Each gift came because of the grace God gave us. – Romans 12:6
Remember to use the gift you have. - 1 Timothy 4:14

Board update

The Board's recent meeting was the on 21^st June and a number of key items were covered including:

• Board succession planning which covered Proprietor's Representatives and the upcoming Parent Elections.
• Detailed Principal update which covered numerous topics including:
• Maths & English curriculum refresh
• Strategic Plan deliverables reviewed.  Plan includes requirement to reflect the new National Education and Learning Priorities (NELPs)
• School Community engagement plans on Strategic Plan update
• Property Plan updated including expectation on what Archdiocese of Wellington (ADW) will cover.
• Parish update including upcoming key events – St Benedict’s Day and Grandparents Mass
• Financial Position – school continues to be in a strong financial position.

Thank you to all the nominees who have put their names forward to stand for the Board.  Please remember to vote. Your voting link should have been received by email around the 28th of June. Please contact Coralie in the office if you have not received it. 

Tumuaki Korero - A word from our Principal

Tēnā koutou e te whānau,

Welcome back

We were so delighted to see all our tamariki back after a lovely sunny mid-winter break in Wellington. Last week was action packed with Matariki celebrations, Year 4-8 swimming sports and Grandparents Mass. Our tamariki shined bright through all these activities by sharing their EPIC values with all.

On Monday we were able to celebrate the amazing Sokry and all he has contributed to our school community over the past 20 years. There is a short video below of the ceremony for those who were unable to attend.

Unfortunately, the winter weather seems to have arrived with a vengeance for the start of Term 3. Please make sure you encourage your tamaiti to pack their jacket in their school bag to deal with the four seasons in one day of Wellington weather.

Report to whānau feedback

At St Benedict's School we use a mix of face to face and written reports to provide information on your child's/tamaiti progress throughout the year. In Term 1 we started the year with 20 minute whānau meetings. In Term 2 we ended the term with 10 minute parent/teacher/child interviews and a written action plan. The following survey will help us to review our current practice and identify possible ways to strengthen how we report to whānau. Thank you for your participation.

Survey link 

PB4L Family meeting 

Monday 31^st July at 6pm. Join us at 5:30pm for a sausage sizzle if you are coming from work. We will be sharing our Positive Behaviour for Learning journey so far, including draft behaviour matrix and explanation of responses to behaviour we are considering implementing. Bring your thoughts also about how you would describe an EPIC Year 8 student leaving St Ben’s. We will be capturing these ideas to support further development of our EPIC values. You are welcome to bring your tamariki with you. Please email Coralie to register your attendance for catering purposes. 

Matariki Celebration

Thank you to everyone who helped to make a very successful Matariki celebration of singing, soup making and kite building and flying. We were blown away by the generosity of the community who donated extra vegetables and were delighted to pass these on to the Home of Compassion Soup Kitchen in Tory Street. Check out the gallery below to see the day in action.

Grandparents' Day Mass

Our Grandparents’ Day Mass is a special event on the St Benedict’s School Calendar. This year we celebrated it for the first time in the St Francis of Assisi Parish church and with Monsignor Gerard Burns leading our mass– an old boy of St Bens. To help with getting to the new venue we put on a bus for our Grandparents and other whānau, separate from the children. We had a great uptake of this, and we will provide it again next year.

We were delighted to have several of our grandparents take part in the liturgy with their grandchildren by taking up offertory, reading a prayer or as eucharistic ministers. After mass we headed back to school for a light luncheon provided by St Ben’s for our Grandparents, cards, and an ice block for the children.  See the Gallery below for some memories of the day.

As our Mass celebrated, our Grandparents are a special taonga for us all and we enjoyed spending time with them at church and at our school. If you are a nearby Grandparent, we hope we might see you at our Library Liturgy sessions held on Thursday at St Ben’s.

Our School App 

Notifications can be sent to your phone via the School APP. Make sure you allow notification in the app and in your phone’s settings. Currently you should be receiving an APP message as well as a an email as a backup while we move to using the APP for most communication. 

Upcoming Events from our calendar:

Term 3 

Recurring events

Mondays Week 3-Week 9  Kelly Sports Athletics Rooms 6,7,1,12,13 to wear sports uniform.

Tuesdays Week 3-Week 9 Kelly Sports Athletics for Rooms 8-9 wear sports uniform.
                                                     Kelly Sports Gymnastics for Manuka Syndicate - sports non-uniform.

Thursday Library Liturgy (click here for schedule) 

Week 2

Red Nose Day Friday 28th July  -  This is a non-uniform day fundraising for cure kids, please bring a gold coin donation. 

Week 3

PB4L Family meeting Monday 31^st July at 6pm. Join us at 5:30pm for a sausage sizzle if you are coming from work. We will be sharing our Positive Behaviour for Learning  journey so far, including draft behaviour matrix and explanation of responses to behaviour we are considering implementing. Bring your thoughts also about how you would describe an EPIC Year 8 student leaving St Ben’s. We will be capturing these ideas to support further development of our EPIC values. You are welcome to being your tamariki with you.

Room 13 Trip to Parliament and National Library Thursday 3 August

Room 12 Trip to Parliament and National Library Friday 4 August

Week 4

 School Photos see notice below for details Tuesday and Wednesday

Thursday 10th August 5:30pm  Families of Faith for Mānuka Syndicate 

Reminder of Teacher Only Days 

Term 3:  Teacher Only Day 25 August Professional Development in Universal Design for Learning  and completion of Safeguarding Children course for all staff. 

Term 4: Teacher Only Day 24 October Curriculum Assessment Professional Development 

Curriculum Refresh Day 17th November 2023 (MOE mandated)

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

Matariki

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Grandparents Day

Syndicates Newsletter Term 3

Welcome back, we hope you have had a good rest and are feeling refreshed and ready for Term 3. 

Art Exhibition

This term one of our major events is our Art Exhibition in Week 10. We hold this in alternate years to the school production. The students will be working on a range of visual art activities this term, building up to the exhibition for parents, whanau and friends on Thursday 21 September. The theme this year is an Artist - each class has chosen a particular artist to focus on. 

Mobile Phones

Just a gentle reminder about the use of mobile phones during the school day. Mobile phones are allowed at school but are to be kept in school bags from the moment your child/children enter school until when they leave. Any phones seen out and about during the school day are handed to Mrs Savage and a family member will need to come by the office to pick the phone up. Please can you talk to your child/children about this if they carry a phone to school. 

This Term’s Programme 

Religious Education 

Mānuka  integrated inquiry will focus on different ways of communicating with God including traditional prayers, song and Christian meditation. We will explore blessings and saying thank you to God.

Kōwhai are focusing on the Caritas Social Week resources this term as part of our Religious Education this term.  Our Integrated inquiry also includes a strong Religious Education link.

Kauri will be focusing on the theme ‘Love and Service’. Jesus said; “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” Students will be able to define the word “vocation” and give several examples of how Jesus’ life was a life of service. We want the students to be able to recognise their own gifts, talents, and skills and be able to explain how they could be used to make God known, loved, and served. 

English

Mānuka will explore how people use visual, written and spoken language to communicate with others, and we will practise conveying messages through these media. A focus will be how people try to influence others’ emotions and opinions through words and visual images.

Kōwhai are focusing on figurative language.  We will do this through a variety of genre including  character descriptions and poetry.

Kauri will be focusing on persuasive writing and oral language to tie in with our integrated inquiry (NZ History/Elections), and will continue to give the students opportunities to read and write in a wide range of genres. We will also be running book groups as part of our reading programme. Book groups are student-centred and involve small groups of students reading the same novel. This provides the opportunity for students to read, reflect, discuss, and respond to a book in an authentic and natural way. 

Mathematics

Mānuka continue to focus on addition and subtraction; using strategies to effectively work with quantities to 20 in our younger students and amounts well above 100 in our older students. All classes are doing some form of multiplication, even if it is under the guise of skip counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Our strand is Measurement, including the measurement of weight and volume.

Kōwhai will be using a variety of strategies to solve problems involving all four mathematical operations.  We begin with a focus on finding the area and perimeter of 2d shapes.  Please remind your child/children to complete their study ladder homework which supports the mathematics that we are doing in class.

Kauri will be focusing on geometry this term; shape, reflection, rotation, and enlargement.  Our focus for number will be fractions, decimals, ratios, and percentages. There will be continued opportunities for problem solving and group work. 

Languages

Te Reo, Kapa Haka   Whaea Adrienne, our specialist teacher in the Maori language, will work with classes on a fortnightly basis. Matua Hemi will continue to develop our Kapa Haka skills each Wednesday morning.

Mandarin For Kōwhai and Kauri, there is the additional language of Mandarin, taken by our Learning Assistant Li Ping. These lessons are held on a Friday. 

Digital Technology

We integrate digital technology into areas of the curriculum so that students develop confidence and skill with a wide range of programs, apps, and websites which are level appropriate.

Physical Education / Sport

Mānuka Syndicate Kelly Sports will be coming to deliver gymnastics for years 0-3. This will be held on a Tuesday starting from Week 2. Please make sure that your child/children are wearing appropriate sportswear for the lessons. 

Kōwhai/Kauri Syndicates Kelly Sports will focus on athletics skills starting from Monday Week 2.  There will be a session or two down at Nairnville (on the fields) for running, weather permitting. Please make sure that your child/children are wearing the appropriate sports uniform for the lessons.  

Integrated Inquiry 

Mānuka Our integrated inquiries are our Religious Education topic on communicating with God, and our Visual Art theme on an artist of choice. 

Kōwhai Our integrated inquiry this term is “Kindness”. This unit includes the curriculum areas of Social Science, Health, Religious Education and NZ History.  A large part of this unit is a focus on Suzanne Aubert and her model of love and kindness towards others.

Kauri This term we will be focusing on an integrated inquiry centred around Social Sciences and New Zealand History (Elections & Parliament) to tie in with the General Election in October. We will be learning about New Zealand’s history of how the country was and is run, how laws were made and are now made, and we will look at how New Zealand’s system of democracy works. We have planned a trip to Parliament and He Tohu (National Library) as part of this unit.

Kauri Syndicate extra infomation

Technology A reminder that every Wednesday we go to Mt Cook School for technology classes.  We leave school at 10.20 pm and arrive back at lunchtime.Students are required to wear covered shoes for safety reasons, so please no sandals.

Science Fair/NIWA The top ten projects will go on to the NIWA Wellington Science Fair at the end of August. More information will be sent to parents and students about this. 

If you have any questions, either about your child or what is happening at school, please feel free to contact your child/children’s classroom teacher.  

Kind Regards,

Staff of St Benedict’s School 

ASC Holiday Programme 2nd-8th October

Last term we decided to trial a school holiday programme. Many parents were interested in this programme however some had already made plans therefore our program did not proceed. Some parents advised they would definitely be keen to book their children into a September/October program. therefore we anticipate the demand will be high. The programme will run during the second week of the holidays,  2nd October 2023 to 6 October 2023.

Again we  have capped the programme to 20 children and will be taking registrations on a first in first served basis.  At this stage we will also be giving preference to families who would like their children to attend all week.  However if you would prefer part of the week we will take your name and details and make contact should spaces become available.

Whilst our activity schedule is still being drafted, it is our intention to have one day offsite. There will also be different activities every day, opportunities for free play and a wind down period. Details are as follows:

Time: 8.30 - 5.30pm (everyday) Cost $50 per child per day (non-trip days)$65 per child per day (trip days) Children will be provided with afternoon tea, timetable for activities to be advised.
Finally could you please advise Donna by emailing asc@st-benedicts.school.nz no later than 8 August 2023 if you wish to proceed in registering this program.

Swimming Sports

Swimming Sports - Years 4-8

Regional Cross Country

Congratulations to the following students who qualified and competed: Albert O’Brien, Winston O’Brien, Oscar Cakebread, Octavia Burns.  Also Jack Robilliard and Joseph Byrne who were support runners.

Our results- Albert 2nd, Octavia 10th, Winston 9th. All making the Inter-regionals team.

Congratulations to....

Congratulations to Jack

Congratulations to Jack who competed at the National Brass Band Competition in Dunedin.  Jack played in the Buzzing Brass Wellington band which is in the D Grade group. They won their grade in the Marching competition and came 4th in the Performance competition.

Jack was required to hold his very heavy euphonium for at least half an hour during the marching! 

Well done Jack

Helping Our Kids

HOK FUNDS NEW NETBALL POLES AND HOOPS

Keen netballers may have noticed we are down a netball hoop, HOK had already agreed to fund two new poles and hoops (along with court markings) so the timing is perfect. As you can imagine netball hoops are a specialised area of manufacture. We hope they are 10 weeks away and will be ready in Term 4. 

SCHOOL PHOTOS  -  8 and 9 August

Inspire Photography will be onsite Tuesday 8^th and Wednesday 9 ^th of August.

On Tuesday 8th August the Inspire team will be taking class photos, individual and siblings photos and cultural photos. Please send your child/children in the correct school uniform INCLUDING a school jersey if they have one.

On Wednesday 9^th August  the Inspire team will be taking photos of the school touch, netball, miniball and basketball teams and the Cross Country reps Inter-zone. Inspire  will be taking the senior team’s photos first prior to them leaving for EOTC/Tech.

Kauri and Kowhai Syndicate students should come to school in their SPORTS uniform.

Year 3 students involved in sports teams or Cross Country Inter-zones should come to school in the uniform of their team or the school sports uniform if they have one.

The Year 1 and 2 touch team will have their photo in school uniform.

If your sports team has a sports uniform (eg. Basketball singlet, netball dress) please bring these as you will be required to change into them for your team’s photo.

Choosing and ordering photos

The Inspire Photography team will be in touch with information on accessing and ordering your school photos in the week or so following the photo session.

SAVE THE DATE: HOK FATHER'S BREAKFAST - FRIDAY 1 SEPTEMBER

One of the most anticipated events on the HOK calendar is coming soon. Save the date of Friday 1 September for the annual HOK Father's Day breakfast. Dads and father figures - clear the calendar to bring your kids along to school for breakfast. Mums - send them along with some cash and start the celebrations early. 

We will have a call for volunteers of our incredibly capable St Ben's mums to make this huge event a success soon.

Entertainment Book

'YUMMY STICKERS’

– Now until the end of Term 3.   

Please remember to save ‘Yummy Stickers’ for your sticker sheet.

Thank you to - to families who are collecting stickers for their sticker sheet.

We have 2498 stickers so far.

It’s time to start collecting yummy apple stickers and the cut-out labels on the yummy 1.5kg apple bags.  You will find all your favourite yummy apples at your local New World or Pak’n Save (and some participating four Square stores).

Eat ‘Yummy’ and support our school.  Crunch on apples and collect ‘yummy’ sports money. 

Collect the ‘cut out’ labels from the 2kg bags of ‘Yummy’ apples or individual ‘Yummy’ apple

stickers, available from New World and Pak’n Save stores.  Cash them in for Rebel Sports

gear for our school.  Send all your ‘Yummy’ stickers to the office.  

Collect more sticker sheets from the office or visit www.yummyfruit.co.nz.  Lets get munching.

Last year we received $373 worth of Rebel sports equipment for FREE. 

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

Wider Community Notices

Asthma Study

If you would like to particiapate in the Children's Asthma Study please visit the link for more information.  

St Anthony's School Centenary

St Anthony’s Catholic School, Seatoun, Wellington are gearing up to celebrate 100 years on 13 /14 OCTOBER 2023.  We invite all past and present students, staff, families and supporters to celebrate this amazing occasion.  Please register by completing the registration form here or you can find it on the St Anthony's School Centenary Facebook Page 

If you have any queries please email us at centenary@stants.school.nz or contact Julie O’Brien on 021 377 192.

If you are planning on travelling to join us, there is accommodation held aside at Brentwood Hotel on a first in first served basis. 

Fill out the accommodation form here.