St Benedict's School Pānui ā-rorohiko (Online Newsletter) Week 10, Term 3

Upcoming Events from our Calendar

Recurring events

Thursday Library Liturgy (click here for schedule) 

Week 10 

Art Exhibition Thursday 21 September 3pm-6pm Our school will be open for viewing of the art exhibition, a whole school celebration of the artworks of Famous Artists. You are welcome to take pictures of  the art works and share these on social media. Please do not post photos of staff or  fellow attendees to the exhibition unless you have their explicit permission. 

House Dance Challenge Friday 22 September 2:30pm Children to wear  their House colours to school. Whānau are very welcome to be part of the audience, we hope to see you there. 

Term 3 ends Friday 22nd September  at 2:50pm - 

School Holidays Saturday 23rd September to Sunday 8th October. 

ASC Holiday Programme 2nd-8th October - Waitlist only available. 

School office  open - 5 & 6 October 

Saturday 7 October 2-3:30pm - HOK Second Hand and new uniform sale (Library)

Term 4 

Week 1 Term 4 begins Monday 9th October. 

Week 2 

Year 4-8 Athletics Day Tuesday 17th October PP date Thursday 19th October The Athletics day will be held at Nairnville Park from 9am-2pm. 

Week 3

Labour Day Public Holiday 23rd October 

Teacher Only Day 24th October - School closed for instruction 

Week 4

All Saints Liturgy @ 10:00am 1st November  (@ School) followed by Parent thank you morning tea RSVP to office. 

Catholic Character

Congratulations to Timothy in Room 7 who recently celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation

Cardinal Mario Grech, General Secretary of the Synod Assembly starting in Rome on 4 October, has invited all the faithful to participate in prayer for the Synod from next Sunday 24 September with Prayers for Intercession.

On fifteen occasions since Vatican Council II the Pope of the time has called together the Synod of Bishops to consider various matters concerning Christian life in the present day. Synods have considered topics from Evangelisation to the Vocation and Mission of the Family in the life of the Church. On 4^th October, Pope Francis will open the first session of the 16^th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, ‘For a Synodal Church. Communion, Participation, Mission.’ This synod will include for the first time the full participation of members of the Lay faithful, Religious and Clergy as well as Bishops.

School Board Update

A Board meeting was held on Thursday 14 September.

At this meeting we welcomed our new board member Aimie Hines.  Aimie was voted in as parent representative recently.

Introducing Aimie Hines, the newly elected member of the St Benedict’s School board. 
Aimie Hines is the mum to Kennedy Hines in Year 4. A proud member of HOK for the past few years and a touch rugby coach for the school. 
Aimie is looking forward to ensuring the connections between the parent community and the school is strong, vibrant and beneficial to the community. 

Items that were discussed:
1. Strategic plan - Tania and Cheryl had attended a Strategic plan information meeting with the Ministry of Education.  They reported back on this and it appears St Benedict’s is on schedule for having our Strategic plan ready for March 2024.  There is still work to be completed on implementation of the new NELPs. 
2. The Board discussed who is part of the school community and how we will engage with all these groups to ensure they have input into the strategic plan.  There will be a number of avenues for the community to have input over the coming months. Our first consultation will be held during the Art Exhibition tonight. 

3. Approved changes to After School Programme staff to student ratio for unexpected staff absences.  Recent changes have been made to the guidelines for OSCAR accredited Holiday and After School Care programmes. The changes have relaxed the required ratios for supervision which were previously a 1:10 onsite or 1:8 offsite ratio. We will continue to use these guidelines for the everyday running of the programme.  The Board has approved that the Senior staff member ie principal; or acting principal may approve a higher ratio. This would only occur when we might be a staff member down due to sickness and will take into account the experience of staff on site and the needs of the students.

4. The school would like to hold a working bee.  We need volunteers to organise and run the Working bee, please contact Tania if you are interested.

Nomination round
Our school will be undertaking a mid term parent election for two School Board vacancies. This process will start with the issuing of nomination papers to our caregiver community by Friday 22nd September 2023.

We have employed CES to undertake the election process on our behalf. This year with legislative change, our nomination form and full instruction on how to place your nomination into our own School’s Election website will be emailed to you if we have your email address in our database or you will receive it by post if we don’t have your email in our database.

Nomination papers will also be available at the school office. The school will send those on to CES for processing upon receipt from candidates.

Nominations close on Wednesday 11th October at 12 noon. Election day is Wednesday 15th November.

We look forward to your participation in this process.

Wayne Jamieson
Returning Officer
CES

Tumuaki Korero - A word from our Principal

Tēnā koutou e te whānau,

Term three

We finish term three with a strong sense of accomplishment and artistic pride. Our tamariki have used their creative problem solving to develop artworks that reflect their class  artist. We are so proud of all of our young artists and hope you enjoy walking through each class to see what they have created. 

We have also shone on the Michael Fowler stage as part of the combined Art Splash Choir and delivered a challenging Kapa Haka bracket at the St Brigid's Kapa Haka festival. All of these artisitic endeavours involve committment from our tamariki. They also add extra to our kaiako/teachers everyday responsibilities. Term three has had many events that  have been held because our teachers go above and beyond for our tamariki at St Benedict's School to ensure they receive a holistic education. 

I am immensly proud of our teachers and hope they have a great break over the holidays to refresh and restore for term four. 

Farewell Mrs Kreichbaum

This Friday marks the end of  Rachel's time  in the Manuka Syndicate. Rachel joined us to cover  Gill's maternity leave position and now leaves us to embark on her own adventure as a brand new parent. Thank you Rachel for the care and professionalisim you have bought to our staff. 

Interested in meeting new community members - Try the Spring Fling

Many a lasting friendship has been made attending a  HoK event and the upcoming Spring Fling is an opportunity to meet members of our community  without having to run the BBQ or bake cup cakes! See the HoK update below for further details. 

Confirmation of Ministry of Education Curriculum Refresh Teacher Only Days

We can now confirm that these days will be attached to the  Kings Birthday and Labour Day Holidays. 31st of May and 25 October. 

House Dance Competition

Tomorrow at 2:30pm we are holding a House Dance Competition on the turf. Our  tamariki have been preparing for the competition since term 2 with dances choreographed by each house. Our tamariki can wear house colours to school this Friday. Whānau are very welcome to be part of the audience, we hope to see you there. 

Enrolments for 2024...

Our enrolments are open for 2024. Please ensure that you have completed enrolment papers for your pre-school  tamariki who are joining us in 2024. This allows us to plan a great transition from Early Childhood Education to School through a series of visits. Equally if you have whānau or friends who are considering enrolling their tamariki, please encourage them to make appointments next term so we can accommodate these new enrolments. 

Have your plans changed...

for 2024? Our community is very dynamic and has many ties to places outside of Wellington.  This can mean that your family may be facing an unexpected move for 2024. If you suspect you will be moving on from St Ben's in 2024 please let us know.

Class Organisation for 2024

The overall classroom structure for next year will look very much like our current one. Next term all teachers will be involved in the placement of students into classrooms for next year as they bring knowledge of who works well together, who might benefit from being in a separate grouping etc. Much time and effort is dedicated to getting a good mix for everyone as we look for:

• A mix of students’ learning abilities, behaviours and dispositions
• A good gender balance
• The age range of students
• Specific needs of students
• Friendship groupings

Occasionally parents may email me with a specific need they would like us to take into consideration when making these placements. We will always take this into account but cannot guarantee they will be reflected in the final decision as this must take into account the balance and needs of all students. For example, it is not possible to accommodate specific requests for individual teachers you or your child might like to have. We aim for a consistency of learning programmes and behaviour management across  the school which provides an assurance to parents of a unified approach and quality experience for all students. 

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

St Benedict’s Speech Competition

The St Benedict’s Speech Competition takes place on Friday 24th November.  Students are selected
after presenting to their peers to go into this competition. This competition is judged by members of Toastmaster Wellington. The Year 8 winner has their name entered onto the trophy and receives a gift card.

• At Year 1 and 2 the students are encouraged to learn a poem and recite it to their class.
•  At Year 3 and 4 write and present a speech which is 1-2 minutes long.
• At Year 5 and 6 write and present a speech which is 2-3 minutes long.
•  At Year 7 and 8 write and present a speech which is 3-4 minutes long.

The speech can be on a topic of their choice and can be to persuade, entertain or inform their
audience. Props can be used but no slides or power-points displays.

We encourage students to begin working on their speeches during the holiday break and early next
term. Preparing for speeches will replace homework over this time.

Congratulations to our Kapa Haka performers.

Our Kapa Haka group again showed their comitmmnet and talents when performing at the St Brigid's Kapa Haka festival. Our standard of performance has continue to develop  and  we will now work towards entering the Wellington regional Kapa Haka festival in 2024. Our performance features at  01:31:18 within the video below. 

We have a final performance for 2023 on Sunday 10th of December at the Khandallah Rotary Fair. 

I thought the St Benedicts' kapa haka performance was superb at the festival on Saturday. The rōpū both looked and sounded fantastic and the soloists were so strong. 
It's such a lot of work to get to this level of performance. Ka mau te wehi.

Whaea Adrienne

Congratulations to....

Assembly Certificate and EPIC Lotto recipients

Interzone Swimming 

Congratulations to the seven students who proudly represented St Benedict's at the Interzone Swimming last week after qualifying at Northern Zones earlier in the term. Thank you to the parents who took these students along for the day!

Art Splash

Road Patrol Parade

Last Friday, the Year 7 and 8 Road Patrollers took the train into Wellington and walked from Civic Square to Parliament with Road Patrollers from other schools.  We were parading with banners to bring awareness about road safety.  We had lots of fun chanting and parading around town dressed in orange.  Unfortunately, we had to leave town a little bit earlier than planned because it started to rain so we sprinted to the train station.  Overall, it was a very fun day and it made us feel good knowing that we were showing citizens of Wellington that road safety is important.  

By Charlotte Boyle, Zara Taylor and Shenaya Pieres

Futsal Tournament - Yrs 1-8

Year 1 - 8 Futsal Tournament. - We had 112  Year 1 - 8 students play in the futsal festival at Akau Tangi Sports Centre (Kilbirnie) over 3 days last week.  It was awesome to see everyone getting involved and having a good time.  One of the best parts was watching the teams support each other.  Each team had 6 - 7 games and they all represented St Benedict's school by encompassing their EPIC values throughout the festival.  Thank you to all of the parents for their help over the three days.  We would not have been able to provide this opportunity without your help and support.

Molly Kelly

Teacher/Sports coordinator

Congratulations to Jono (Karori Waterside), James and Daniel (Onslow) who played in the Western Suburbs Graded Champs football tournament in Whitby recently. 
James and Daniel's team won the Plate trophy after defeating Jono's team at the finals.  Jono was awarded U9s player of the tournament.

Best of luck to Hugo who has an upcoming regional Ice Hockey game in Christchurch. Hugo is the goalie for his team. 

Tennis Tournament

Congratulations to Raff and Jack who both appeared in the semi-final match of their age level at the Wellington Regional Tennis Tournament. 

Nairnville Rugby 7's Tournament

Held on 16th and 17th November at Nairnville.  Year  3-6 competition is on Thursday (16th).  The Year 7/8's is on Friday (17th).  Friday is a Teachers Only day at school so there will not be a teacher attending.  Families will need to get their tamariki to/from Nairnville and be aware that there will not be a teacher there to supervise on the day.  Each team will need a minimum of 12 players and 1 coach in order to attend the tournament.  The coach will also need to be available for an officials briefing on 10th November.  Please fill out the Google Form (which was also sent in an email) to register interest.  I will be in touch if we get enough students registered and if we have at least 1 committed coach per team.

Wheet-Bix Kids TRYathlon

The Wellington event will be held on Sunday 17th March at Kilbirnie Park and Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre. If you would like to register your tamariki for this event, please click HERE.  This will take you to the link for the St Benedict's School team.  Please visit the website: https://tryathlon.co.nz/info/ for more details and information. 

Touch Rugby

Final call for term 4 touch rugby - please email lizziemid@gmail.com by 1 October if interested

Kia ora all, with summer approaching, St Ben's is hoping to enter a few teams in the touch rugby school competition that starts in Term 4.

Touch rugby is a great summer sport for all, which complements a wide range of sports, including for example, rugby, netball, basketball, and football.  The Term 4 competition is on Monday afternoon/evening at Alex Moore Park in Johnsonville and runs for 6 weeks, starting Monday, 30 October. 

Teams can be registered in the following grades:  Year 1/2 Open • Year 3/4 Boys • Year 3/4 Mixed • Year 5/6 Boys • Year 5/6 Mixed • Year 5/6 Girls • Year 7/8 Boys • Year 7/8 Girls.

The fee for entering a team is $185, which is split between the number of players in each team (likely to be about $25 per player).  Each team will also need a coach and a manager.  For the coaching you don't have to know a lot about the game, just a few basic rules.

If your child is interested in playing, please email me at lizziemid@gmail.com, and I can help you form a team (depending on numbers). Please also let me know if you are keen to help as a coach or manager.

For any children who want to have a go at touch rugby without joining a team and/or can’t commit to Monday games, there is also the option to join other St Ben’s players in a fun run around on Sunday afternoons during Term 4 to learn basic skills and have friendly games. Details are TBC but are likely to be at Nairnville at 3 pm.  Please also email me if interested in this.

Lizzie Hunter

Summer Uniform

Please email your summer uniform requirements to office@st-benedicts.school.nz.  New items will be available at the HOK Second Hand Uniform sale on Saturday 7 October, 2-3:30pm.

Inspire Photography - School photos

Hello parents,

We would like to invite you all to view your pictures at Inspire Photography's online ordering site. This gallery and ordering system is live and working as of now. 

Please check your order confirmation email closely and get in touch if you are unsure that you wanted to order does not match what you have entered on your order. Please also check your child’s name is spelled correctly and let us know before the fundraising period finishes if not.

Incorrectly-ordered prints cannot be swapped or reimbursed. 

The gallery will remain live and online for up to 12 months after the main ordering period closes, postage and packing fees may also apply as drop off at school is not available with late orders.  The school does not receive any fundraising donations on sales after the main ordering period finishes.

 To view and order your photographs:

 Go to our website at https://www.inspirephotocart.co.nz

1. Enter this access code in the box: kakariki667

If you require help with the ordering ordering process or have any questions around ordering, then please feel free to call or email us: orders@inspirephotography.co.nz. 

Kind regards, The Inspire Team.  orders@inspirephotography.co.nz

04 384 8009

ASC Holiday Programme 2nd-8th October

Our inaugural school holiday  programme is full and we are currently running a waitlist for spaces to fill late cancellations. 

Attendance Dues Team

We are getting a new database which will be going live by the end of the year.  This will include a Parent Portal at some stage, which will mean parents can log in and see their account balance and manage their account details. This secure self-service platform will also allow you to make payments. Watch this space!

All communication by us are now via email so please check that emails from dues@wn.catholic.org.nz do not go to your Spam/Junk Inbox so that you receive all communications from ourselves.  If you are paying by regular instalments your account should be paid by the end of November, or by payment plan as agreed by us. It is preferable to have a regular instalment that keeps your account in hand. 

Financial assistance is available to families experiencing financial hardship (loss of income/redundancy, family reasons, etc.). It is a condition of the assistance application that the family has an affordable regular payment in place. You apply for this assistance with the school.

If you have any questions, please so not hesitate to contact us:

Phone: 0800 462 725       Email: dues@wn.catholic.org.nz

Helping Our Kids

Save the date - Summer uniform sale during Term 3 holidays
Saturday 7th October 2-3.30 pm in the school library. Second hand and new items will be available
for purchase.

The HOK Spring Fling
When: Saturday 28 October 
Time: 7.30pm 
Where: Khandallah Tennis Club, 55 Delhi Crescent, Khandallah
Cost: $20 plus an unwrapped child's gift or non-perishable food item
Cash bar | Nibbles | Music
Join us at the first ever HOK Spring Fling  - a social event for parents of St Benedict's School. Book the
babysitter, ask the grandparents or combine with a fellow family to ensure you can come and
socialise with the school community. Additionally make your contribution to the school gifting tree
for the annual Christmas drive - earlier this year but at a less hectic time. 
RSVP here, and deposit to the HOK bank account

The HOK committee is made up of parents from the school who volunteer their time to make stuff happen – come and join us!  We’re always on the lookout for fresh ideas and new members.

Let us know if you want to join our next meeting to see what we do and how we work.
Contact Johanna (HoK secretary) for details: hok@st-benedicts.school.nz

Teatowel fundraiser

HOK is delighted to once again offer customised tea towels as our end-of-year fundraising activity.
 
As attached, each school house has a tea towel in their house colour with a self-portrait of everyone
from that house. They are a lovely souvenir of your time at St Ben's, and the perfect Christmas gift
for those hard-to-buy-for people.
 
You can see samples at the art show this week, and copies will also be circulated by your class reps
via email. 
 
Tea towels cost $15 each. Use the form below to let us know how many tea towels you would like to
order, and for which school house. Pay into the HOK account (12-3141-0352804-00) by 13 October,
using your name as the reference. Tea towels will be delivered early November in time for
Christmas overseas mail! 
  https://forms.gle/t6LDtmiBp2KbcKxK7  
Please contact HOK if you have any questions at hok@st-benedicts.school.nz.

Unclaimed Cup Cake container.  Please collect from the office.

Entertainment Book

Promotion Dates:  Thursday, 31 August 2023 at 8:00 pm - Monday, 25 September 2023 at
2:59 pm
Offer Name: When you purchase a 3,12 or 24 month Single City Membership your new Membership will be upgraded to a Multi City Membership for FREE!
The Offer: When you purchase a 3,12 or 24 month Single City Membership between 6pm AEST / 8pm NZST, Thursday 31st August 2023 and 11.59am AEST / 1.59pm NZST, Monday 25th September 2023 your new Membership will be automatically upgraded to a Multi City Membership for FREE. Multi City Membership gives you access to 20 cities across Australia and New Zealand.

Based on the price of a 3 month Single City membership purchase. Offer excludes
Entertainment Merchant waitstaff offers and Corporate Partner offers. Offer cannot be used
in conjunction with any other offers, special promotions or discounts.

Lost Property

School sports jacket, size Large.  Please call the office to collect.

'YUMMY STICKERS’

– Now until the end of Term 3.   

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

Thank you to Sasha, James, Jax, Elise, Henry, James and Immy for their collection of stickers.

We have 3566 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

School dates 2024

Each year the Ministry of Education sets down the number of half days that a school should be open for instruction. For 2024 the number is 384.  For further information about our Call Back Days please visit the following link  https://stbenedictsnz.schoolzineplus.com/newsletter/article/477 

Call back day one TOD/Retreat Monday 29 January 

Call back day two Whānau Conference Day Tuesday 30 January 8:30am-5:30pm

Call back Day three Syndicate/Leadership and Class meetings 31st January

Term One (96)
•    Thursday 1st February First day of school Pōwhiri and beginning of year Blessing Liturgy
•    6th Feb Waitangi Day
•    29th March Good Friday 
•    1st and 2nd of April Easter Holiday no school 
•    12th April Last day of Term 1
Term Two (94)
•    29th April First Day of Term 2
•    31st May Curriculum Refresh day (Teacher Only Day)

 •   3rd June King’s Birthday
•    28th June Matariki
•    4th July Last Day of Term 2
•    5th July Staff only Day Kāhui Ako
Term Three (100)
•    22nd July First Day of Term 3
•    27th September Last Day of Term 3
Term Four (96)
•    14th October First Day of Term 4

•   25th October Curriculum Refresh day (Teacher Only Day) 
•    28th October Labour Day
•    18th December Last Day of School

384 half days

St Catherine’s College vacancy

St Catherine’s College seeks applications for the position of Finance Administrator
As part of the administration team, you will be responsible for accounting and assisting with
reception and backup payroll (EdPay) support within the College. Predominantly accounts
payable, accounts receivable and daily banking. Knowledge of Xero, and GST would be
preferable.

This is a permanent position.
You will have: strong attention to detail, with accurate numeracy skills being paramount: computer literacy; excellent communication and time management skills; a positive attitude with a commitment to teamwork and sharing tasks.

Hours are: 18 hours per week in the school term time. A few hours maybe required to be
worked in the school holidays. All days and hours are negotiable.

Written application including CV and the names of two referees should be directed to Katrina
Kerr-Bell, Principal, St Catherine’s College, P. O. Box 14076 Kilbirnie, Wellington 6241 or
emailed to chris.perry@scc.school.nz. To obtain a copy of the job description or if you have
any queries please contact Chris Perry, PA on (04) 939-8988.
Closing date is Friday 22 September 2023 at noon.

Wider Community Notices

Asthma Study

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