St Benedict's School Pānui ā-rorohiko (Online Newsletter) Week 8, Term 3
Weekly Reflection
The earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) - American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, slavery abolitionist and poet
School Board Update
Property Update
DRIVEWAY The driveway took a significant step towards completion this week with the final reinforcing of the concrete beam pour completed. Next the driveway will be compacted and then, over the school holidays, it will be resurfaced. The asphalt requires a couple of weeks to set before being used so we expect that we will continue using the alternative entrances at the beginning of Term 4.
LIGHTING During the last week of this term the installation of new LED lighting will be completed across the school. We are looking forward to the improvement this will bring to our classroom environments.
ROOFING In the later part of Term 4 scaffolding will be erected to support the replacement of the roof above Room 13 to Room 10. The majority of this works is scheduled to be completed over the summer holidays.
Policy Review
The School Board would like to invite our community to take part in our current policy review. Key review topics for our community this term is Sun Protection, Harassment and Child Protection. The link to our school policies can be found here:
Visit the website
Enter the username (st-benedicts) and password (3000stbens). Then use the side bar search engine to find the relevant policy. The review button will be on the top right hand side of the screen when visiting the policy.
Driveway progress
Kapa Haka festival
Kia ora e te whānau,
Please see the flyer below for the St Brigid's kapa haka festival for 2022.
For our performing group, your children will be bringing home a letter with more information today. Please check their bags and if you have any questions, contact nicole.simson@st-benedicts.
Ngā mihi nui
Nicole
Tumuaki Korero - A word from our Principal
Tena koutou e te whānau,
We warmly welcome Grace (Room 2) and her family into our school communty and we wish Grace a very happy birthday today.
Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to witness our EPIC parent community in action. The Father's Day breakfast was an amazing example of what our community can do when it works together. It was my first experience of the breakfast and I was blown away at the response of our parent community to both volunteer or partake. The response to the call to be of service to others and to build community was amazing to behold.
The following Friday I felt privileged to be trusted with face painting at the Disco, incidentally my first time ever painting faces and possibly an undiscovered talent until now! Again, the way our community pulled together to provide a safe, fun and exciting event for our tamariki filled me with a huge sense of pride and honour to be part of the team at St Ben's.
Thank you to the Helping Our Kids team who provided these events for our community.
WE ARE STILL IN SEARCH OF...
a skilled and experienced operator of the lighting board at Aotea College for school production. If you, or someone you know, is able to help out, please email: molly.kelly@st-benedicts.
Congratulations to..
Jack who had a very successful weekend cubing, with multiple podiums:
1st North Island Skewb (2nd overall Skewb)
3rd North Island and overall for 3x3 multiblind
3rd North Island 3x3 blindfolded
3rd North Island 7x7 cube
Social Media:
NetSafe meeting resources...
Thank you to all those who were able to join us for the NetSafe online hui on Monday night. For those who were unable to join us here are some of the helpful site shared to help navigate the online environment in a way that displays our EPIC Values.
https://netsafe.org.nz/advice/parenting/
Māori Language Week
Over the past week we have celebrated Maori Language Week. The following activities have been a highlight of a jam packed week of activities.
Buddy class – Each buddy class has come together throughout the week in a variety of ways. To make poi , sing, use rakau sticks or complete art challenges.
Wednesday – we celebrated a staff morning tea and meet the challenge of labelling our food in te reo Māori. At 12pm we joined the whole nation challenge to stop what we were doing and sing or speak in te reo Māori. We chose to sing E ihowa.
On Friday - We will gather on the turf at 12pm on Friday 16th September to sing E te iwi e and have a celebration for our winners of the te reo Māori kahoot in each class completed on Friday morning.
“Ko te reo kia tika, ko te reo kia rere, ko te reo kia Māori. Let the language be correct, let the language fly, and let the language be Māori.” Sir Tīmoti Kāretu.
Described as "the OG of kapa haka competition", Sir Tīmoti Kāretu was the country’s first Māori Language Commissioner, a petition signatory, and the mentor for Waiata Anthems project. Click here to learn more about Sir Tīmoti Kāretu
Mā te Atua koutou e manaaki, e tiaki hoki,
May God bless and care for you,
Tania Savage - Principal
Kapa Haka Festival - Saturday 24 September
Kia ora e te whānau,
Please see the flyer below for the St Brigid's kapa haka festival for 2022.
For our performing group, your children will be bringing home a letter with more information today. Please check their bags and if you have any questions, contact nicole.simson@st-benedicts.
Ngā mihi nui
Nicole Simson
EPIC Gratitude
Kia ora Mrs. Savage,
I'd like to nominate my lovely class for an EPIC award. We had an unexpected water feature in our class and the students were so adaptable when we had to find different places around the building to do our mahi. This showed Creativity and Perseverance.
They have also been showing a lot of kindness and support of each other's plays they created and performed in front of our own and other classes. They're a joy to come and teach every day and I think they are very deserving of this award.
Sincerely, Mrs Short
Congratulations Room 7 - Latest recipients of EPIC Eddy.
Certificate Recipients
Year 6 Camp- El Rancho Waikanae
The Year 6 camp took place between Monday 5th and Wednesday 7th of September
A group of 31 students attended camp supported by Mrs Wallis and myself and 5 parents; Mark
Sayers, Mike Bowen, Robyn Wishart ( all of whom stayed at camp for the duration) and Angie Morales and Matt Wiig who each stayed for a day to help run activities. Our heartfelt thanks go to these parents for their support. Also, a huge thanks to the parents who provided lifts to and from camp and those who attended the Southward Car Museum with us on the return trip. Without this support camps and EOTC would not be possible.
The children experienced a number of challenging activities; horse riding, kayaking and raft building along with confidence course, water slide and orienteering.
The children gave everything their best and it made us very proud to see the team-work and support for each other that they displayed. At times having to persevere through the challenging conditions was hard (deep mud and freezing conditions) and a sense of pushing beyond their comfort zone.
Regards
Cheryl Taylor
Camp Y6
Musical Fun
At St Benedict's School in mid August, a percussion group called Strike came to give 3 performances for our school. They brought different kinds of drums including a wall of drums on scaffolding! They played a song called Tropical Rainforest on a glockenspiel and on drums that were on metal pipes. We were told to copy them so we could make rain sounds using our hands and bodies. Some teachers were lucky to be chosen to play an instrument at the front, one teacher would get the snare drum and the other went on the cymbals. The winner got a juice can. Our performance winner was Ms Blackwood. On the Cook Island drums, Strike taught some kids in the school how to play them. Everybody loved it! Some people's tummies were vibrating the whole time. When it finished Strike told us that we could make our own drums out of our stationery by banging it on the tables. Mrs Short said not to do it with pencils because that would shatter the lead and that meant you would not be able to use them even if you sharpened them to a stump!
Authors: Eli, Lucia, Ellie, James, Tayla from Room 7
The Youth Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre
We went to the Orchestra in a cool theater and saw music. I liked the Jasmine music from Alladdin. It was fun going down the staircase and I wished I could slide down it - but I didn't. Miriam R4
I liked listening to the Star Wars music with my Dad. My sister and her class were also there. I got to be the conductor. I put on a special jacket and I conducted the cancan. James R4
It was good because the music was good to listen to. We got up and danced to the music and we clapped. I really liked when the Orchestra told the Yellow Digger Story. Zoe R4 Check out the Little Yellow Digger below.
Room 4 roving reporters.
St Benedict's Sports
Basketball and Miniball registrations for Term 4
All players need to re-register for Term 4. Please read the following and fill out the google form and pay your fee of $40 by Wednesday 21 September.
Miniball
Miniball is for Year 3-6 only. Year 3 & 4 play on Mondays, and Year 5-6 play on Tuesdays. Games will be scheduled between 3.20 pm – 6.50 pm.
Basketball
Basketball is for Year 7 & 8 only. Basketball will be played on a Friday. Games will be scheduled between 3.30 pm – 9.00 pm.
Please click on the link to fill in a registration form https://forms.gle/Q58XAVqWw1BqpY8N7
Lost Property
We have a size M unnamed P.E. jacket and a number of unnamed sweatshirts in the office, please claim if you think one belongs to your student.
size 6 - x1 / size 8 - x3 / size 10 - x1 / size 12 - x 1 / size 14 - x1
Still Missing: Named school P.E. jacket belonging to Joseph Byrne. Please check your student has not mistakenly taken it home. If found please return to Joseph or the office. Thank you.
‘YUMMY’ STICKERS’
Celebrating their 25th anniversary of running this promotion for schools.
Please remember to save ‘Yummy’ Stickers for your sticker sheet.
* Now until the end of Term 3. We have 1382 stickers so far.
Thank you to the families who have sent in their sticker collections.
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 4 Square stores). Plus three new varieties now.
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 your sticker sheets from the office or visit www.yummyfruit.co.nz. Let's get munching.
Helping Our Kids
We’ve had two great community events in the last two weeks, aimed at bringing the community
together and raising money for the school - the two objectives of HOK.
Father’s Day breakfast
A huge thank you to all the Dads, role models, grandads and other significant people in the lives of St Ben’s tamarki that showed up for the Fathers Day breakfast. It was fantastic to see you all together enjoying yourself at school.
Thank you for the patience for the wait for food. An even bigger thank you to all the mums who
volunteered their time, baked or helped in other ways. It was a big school community effort that
made this event the best and biggest yet - with around $2,200 raised to go back to St Ben’s pupils'
benefit. Also a big shout out to Khandallah New World for their continued generosity and support!
You can view photos from the event on gallary below.
Fathers Day Breakfast
Disco ’22
After a one year break the St Ben’s disco returned – this time better than ever. The twilight,
decorations, music, stalls, DJ, food and atmosphere made an excellent night for everyone. Thanks to Jo Prince for leading the huge team of HOK and school volunteers who worked hard to make it
happen.
We raised $2500 from ticket sales and sales on the night. Thank you for your generosity.
If you haven't paid for your disco ticket/s yet, please pay into the HOK account ASAP. We'll be
chasing up any payments that haven't come through by Friday.
The following items were left behind at the disco. Please claim from the office if they are yours:
- red jacket with '16' on the front (size 5) - not named
- minion wallet
- blue fingerless glove
- butterfly notebook
Where the money goes
Money raised at both events will go towards HOK purchases for the school this year - these have
already included items from teacher's wishlists including classroom learning supplies and furniture, as well as a fantastic new bbq for the school for all those sausage sizzles and Father's day bacon sandwiches. We have also purchased new basketball hoops which will be installed as soon as we can safely access the driveway with the scaffolding required to put them up, and we've committed to funding the new newsletter to make it easier for families to know what's going on at school.
Upcoming fundraisers
We have a few more fundraisers this year, including:
a portion of school photo sales (get your orders in by 22/9!),
Secondhand uniform sale 15 October 2-3:30pm: -HOK are holding a second hand uniform
sale for summer uniform items. The sale will be in the library.
Children’s art in calendar and stationery form, ideal for Christmas gifts: details coming soon
and a Frosty Friday/Sausage sizzle is on the cards for Term 4.
Thanks for your ongoing support of HOK and St Benedict's school.
The HOK committee is made up of parents from the school who volunteer their time to
make stuff happen.
HOK are always on the lookout for fresh ideas and new members. Let us know if you want to join our next meeting at school on 26/9 and see what we do and how we work. Contact Johanna (HoK secretary) for details: johanna_reidy@hotmail.com
Entertainment Book
Attendance Dues
Message from The Attendance Dues Team
Now that we are sending all invoices/statements by email to families, please contact us if you have changed your email address so that we can update your account. Invoices will still be posted to families without an email address.
The Term 3 invoice will be emailed to all families shortly. Please check that the invoice has not gone to your Spam/Junk Inbox and that all your children are listed on the statement. If you have not received any invoices this year, please contact us.
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.
If you have any questions, please contact us:
Phone: 0800 462 725 Email: dues@wn.catholic.org.nz Text: 021 08907902
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
| Term 3 | 2022 | |
| Thursday | 15 September | Pope family |
| Friday | 16 September | Powlesland family |
| Monday | 19 September | Prince family |
| Tuesday | 20 September | Radich family |
| Wednesday | 21 September | Railton family |
| Thursday | 22 September | Reidy-Black family |
| Friday | 23 September | Robbins family |
| Monday | 26 September | Public Holiday |
| Tuesday | 27 September | Rubio family |
| Wednesday | 28 September | Sayers family |