St Benedict's School Pānui ā-rorohiko (Online Newsletter) Term 3, Week 6, 2024

Upcoming Events from our Calendar

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Term 3, 2024

Week 7 PRODUCTION WEEK
Tuesday 3 September Whole School Production Rehearsal - Nairnville - 9am - 2pm
Wednesday 4 September Production dress rehearsal the evening performance Hutt City Church 6pm show
Thursday 5 September Production 6pm show Hutt City Church

Week 8
Tuesday 10 September  Year 1 - 4 Futsal Tournament - Akau Tangi
                                          Kōwhai Te Aro Pa trip - 9.20-2.50 (Room 9, 8, 7, 6)
Wednesday 11 September Kapa Haka dress rehearsal at school 9-10am
Friday  13 September  Onesie Day for Wellington Free Ambulance Wear Onesie, PJ or Odie, Gold Coin. 
                                              Baking for Kapa Haka Festival deliver to staffroom
Saturday  14 September St Brigid's Kapa Haka Festival 

Week 9  - Mrs Savage attending the Trans Tasman Principals Conference
Tuesday 17 September  Year 5/6 Netball tournament (School teams)
Thursday 19 September  Kāhui Ako Cultural Performance Day Kapa Haka Group St Pats college - 9-12.30

Week 10  
Thursday  26  September  Inter - Regional Cross Country- Go Oscar!!!
Friday  27 September Last day of Term 3 

28 September - 13 October School Holidays

Items found in the School APP
School Notices
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Documents Section
Syndicate Newsletter  Term 1 and 2 
2024 School Dates
Winter Uniform Order form
St Ben's Handbook
Road Patrol Roster 

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Account information
Absences notification and rate of absences. 
School Calendar
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Tumuaki Korero - Production Info

Tēnā koutou e te whānau ō Hato Penetika,

We warmly welcome to Room 2: Andy, Cara, Lyanna and her family into our school community.

Thank you to all parents who attended John Parsons' presentation!
We appreciate your time and engagement in learning about cyber separation and how to support your child's online safety. Over the next few weeks, you'll receive more information to help you with this important topic.

Fathers Day Breakfast
A heartfelt thank you to the FWFC for organizing such a fantastic Father’s Day breakfast! Every year, I am amazed by the dedication and effort of our volunteers who come together to create such a special event.

A special shoutout to Aimie Hines, the coordinator for this event, and to all the other FWFC members who played a role in its success. Your hard work and commitment truly make a difference.

Stay tuned for more updates from the FWFC in our next newsletter!

Upcoming Events and Activities
Production Information
Dates: September 4th and 5th
Location: Hutt City Church 22 Marsden Street,  Melling,  Lower Hutt 5010, New Zealand
T-shirts: Your child should have received a t-shirt for the production. Please feel free to wash it before the event.
Tickets: Tickets for the production are $15 each and can be purchased from the office either in person, by email or phone order.  If you have ordered your tickets by email or phone they will be sent home with your children so please remember to check their bags.
Rehearsals: Next Tuesday: Whole school practice at Nairnville
                         Next Wednesday (September 4th): Whole school practice at Hutt City Church
Production Duration: The production will last approximately 80 minutes.
Attendance: Every child has a role to play. Please let us know if your child will be unable to attend.
Post-Production: Your children may be tired on Thursday, September 5th, and Friday, September 6th. While teachers will be at school as usual, you are welcome to have a late start for your tamariki at 10:30am.
Group Arrival Times: Students in Year 7-8 will need to arrive between 5:00 and 5:15 pm. Students in Year 1-6 will need to be at the theatre by 5:30 for the evening shows which will start at 6:00pm.
Where to go: Please report to their class teacher when you arrive.  The Year 1-3 students will be in the Creche area at the back of the church - turn right when you enter.  Year 4-6 in the auditorium and Year 7 and 8 backstage.
Pick up procedures: After the show has finished the students will remain in these areas for you to pick them up, please make sure that you check with your child’s teacher before taking them so that we can account for them all.

Thank You to Our Production Team
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mrs Blackwood, Mrs Kelly, Mrs Miranda, and Mrs Taylor for their hard work and dedication to the production. Additionally, we acknowledge our Year 7/8 leaders and class teachers who have choreographed the dances. The recent run-through was fantastic, and we can't wait to share the final performance with you.

Onesie Day 13 September

We are excited to announce our upcoming Onesie Day, a special event where students can wear their favourite onesies, PJ's, or oodie's to school! This fun-filled day is more than just a chance to dress comfortably—it’s an opportunity for us to give back to an organization that means a lot to our school community.

We’re raising funds for the Wellington Free Ambulance in honor of the care they provided to our wonderful Donna. This is our way of showing appreciation and supporting the incredible work they do for our community every day.

We encourage a gold coin donation to support the Wellington Free Ambulance.

Community Fundraising for the Kapa Haka Festival 14 September
This year, we're hosting the Kapa Haka festival in partnership with St Brigid's and Newlands College. This event doesn't receive any community grants. Instead, each host school is responsible for raising funds to cover the event through volunteer efforts to support the bake sale, sausage sizzle, raffle, and koha entry. Any remaining funds will be distributed among the schools, with ours going towards the FWFC canopy fundraising.
How can you help?
Volunteer: Sign up to take on a role on the day of the festival.
Bake: Contribute delicious treats for our bake sale.
More details about volunteering and baking opportunities will be shared next week.

We look forward to your continued support and involvement in our school community!

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

Year 7/8 Technology

In Tech we have been making lots of different things. In Woodwork we made stools. From Room 13, Ellie, Grace, Kathryn and Saxon worked hard on their stools. Eliasz and Nathen made small storage units; they had two lifting lids and one drawer. While in Electronics Chelsea made a cat puzzle that she drew and painted. Ena made a model wooden house which she cut and spray painted.

By Saxon

The most recent rotation at Tech was woodwork for our group.  This year, most of us made stools.  Woodwork was a really fun experience to learn how to use different tools and to build our stools.  I enjoyed woodwork because it was a fun experience, it was one of a kind, it took time.  Some of the things we did were hard to do but we are all really pleased with the final result.

By Charlotte, Zara and Izzy

Social Justice Week

Social Justice Week is coming up- from the 8th to the 14th of September. The theme is 'Imagine Peace for all'. During this week our 2 weekend masses, on Saturday the 7th September at 5pm, and Sunday 8th September at 10am, will have the Caritas Social Justice focus. There will also be a special Children's Peace liturgy on Sunday 8th September at 4pm, this is specially designed for our school children. Please come along, and if you, or your children, would like to be involved by playing music, drama, art, readings, or prayers, please email jacobbang@challenge2000.org.nz, or gabriellelawson@challenge2000.org.nz. We will also be visiting our local schools and contacting children on our past sacramental programmes to catch up with you again.

Student Celebrations

Albert (x-student) with the new O’Brien Cup which celebrates the AWS athletes at the Inter Regional Schools Cross Country.  Albert is incredibly honoured to have a cup in his name, it is awarded to the regional team (Canterbury, Wellington, Tasman, South Canterbury) with the most AWS athletes to finish. This year the cross country is being held at Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt on Thursday 26th of September.  We wish Albert good luck.

Congratulations to Mary and Zara who scored 90 points at the Upper Hutt Society Competition recently.  Their Wellington Ballet Intermediate Troupe team placed 1st and received the Josh Linkhorn cup for their Lyrical dance 'Golden Hour'.  Can you also spot Charlotte and Posy.  Well done Team. 

Sports Updates

Sports Uniform/Sportswear 

Mánuka Syndicate (Rooms 2-5) to wear sportswear on Thursday, weeks 8,9 & 10 only.

Kōwhai Syndicate (Rooms 6-9) to wear PE uniform on a Tuesday for the time being.

Kauri Syndicate: (Rooms 12 & 13) to wear PE uniform on a Tuesday. 

School Swimming Sports Update

Due to the rising costs and limited availability of suitable pools, the Northern Zone cluster has made the decision to allocate funds to alternative activities this year. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a venue for the Northern Zone Swimming Sports that would accommodate both participants and spectators. However, we are actively reviewing this situation and are optimistic about reintroducing Swimming Sports next year if appropriate facilities become available.

Our ongoing partnership with Primary Sport Wellington ensures that our students continue to benefit from a broad range of sporting opportunities throughout the year. This year, we are pleased to introduce Ki o Rahi to our event schedule and are exploring additional options to broaden student participation and access to a diverse array of sports.

Futsal Festival Update

We have 99 students in Years 0 - 8 who have signed up for the Futsal Tournament in September!  This is our largest number of attendees at a sporting event so we are very excited for two fun filled days! In order to accommodate all of the students signed up we have had to shift the Year 5 - 8 Tournament to Friday 20th September.  The Year 0 - 4 Tournament will still be on Tuesday 10th September.  

We will be leaving school at 9:00am on both days.  The festival will finish at 2:30pm and we will head straight back to school.  Please note that we will likely be back to school after the 2:50pm dismissal.  

Every student will need to come in their sports uniform (Year 4 - 8) or Production shirts (Years 0 - 3).  They will need a packed morning tea/lunch, drink bottle and appropriate sports shoes.

Thank you to all of the parent volunteers.  We are still looking for one volunteer for a Year 7/8 team. Please email molly.kelly@st-benedicts.school.nz if you are able to help!

Whole School Athletics

Whole school athletics will be held on Monday 14th October (Day 1 of Term 4, PP Friday 18th October) at Nairnville.  The Year 4 - 8's will be competing to qualify for Northern Zone Athletics (being held at Newtown Athletics Park on 4th November, PP 11th November).  The Year 0 - 3 will be participating in Athletic skills events run by Kelly Sports.  

That's a wrap for St Benedict's Netball 2024!

Once again we have had amazing results from our teams:
St Benedict's Flyers 3rd
St Benedict's Stars 1st
St Benedict's Spice Goals 1st equal
St Benedict's Smilies - unbeaten all season.

None of this would be possible without the hours of time and energy from Coaches and Managers. A huge thank you to Tracey Clark, Rachael Matuszewski, Nicci Hughson, Arran Stone, Robyn, Wishart, Ruth Burns, Joana Torres, Kaye Herrick, Sarah Bergquist and all the parents who stepped up to support and help score games. We look forward to seeing all our netballers back for the winter season in 2025 and good luck to all our year 8s moving onto college netball.

Thank you!

Camilla and Sarah
Netball Co-ordinators

2024 Construction St Ben's

Update 30 August

Room 7 is currently in  old Room 9 for a month to enable the rebuild of the decking and staircase to Room 7. The new staircase will take up a similar space as the current temporary staircase. 

The teaching walls are about to be installed in these classrooms and will be a fantastic modernisation of these classrooms. 

The Fire alarm and school bell upgrade is nearly complete. 

We expect that the work will be completed in time for the start of Term 4. 

Construction @ St Ben's

HOMESTAYS NEEDED FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ARRIVING IN OCTOBER

We need your help!  Get the word out! Let your friends know!

We have 3 international students that we need to find  long-term homestays for starting in October for Term 4.  While we would love to find them a long term family immediately, we would appreciate a homestay taking them for Term 4 until we can find them a permanent home for 2025. Please consider this option.

1 Thai student

2 Chinese students

All three boys are long term students, returning for the 2025 school year. 

St Patrick's offers a homestay fee of $340.00 per week for 2024, and $360.00 per week for 2025. If you would like to host one of these young men please email Meg Szulinski, the International Student Coordinator at St. Patrick's College, at meg.szulinski@stpats.school.nz

YUMMY STICKERS

‘YUMMY’ STICKERS’ – Now until the end of Term 3.   

Thank You to:    Declan, Rosa, Edward & Ariane, Ben & Alex for their collection of stickers.  

We now have 1937 stickers 

Last year our collection of stickers earnt us $720 to spend on sports equipment.   

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 1.5kg 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.

FWFC

Kia ora e te whānau ō Hato Penetika,

Friends and Whānau Fundraising Committee update:

Father's day breakfast
Thank you everyone who came along, volunteered and sold tickets for the Father's day breakfast. We hope you had a great time. We will put photos and an update on the funds raised in the next newsletter. 

Entertainment Book

Holiday Writing Workshop

Love to sing?

The RSCM and Wellington Cathedral of St Paul is offering a two-day holiday programme just for you!
Make new friends, learn new music, and improve your singing skills with one of New Zealand’s foremost choral directors.The 2024 RSCM Two-Day Choir School offers two days of singing and fun, culminating in a service featuring the premiere performance of a brand new piece of music specially composed by the Cathedral’s Director of Music Michael Stewart.

WHERE: The Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, 2 Hill Street, Wellington. Wednesday, October 9, 2024 Drop Off: 9am Pick Up: Between 04:30pm - 05:30pm Thursday, October 10, 2024Drop Off: 9am Choral Evensong: 05.30pm Pick Up: 06.00pm COST: $140 for both days including lunch and snacks (there are a limited number of scholarships available - contact dom@wellingtoncathedral.org.nz)Billeting can be arranged with Cathedral Chorister families for singers coming in from out of Wellington.
The link to the website is: https://www.wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/choir-school and tickets  payment is via Humanitix: https://events.humanitix.com/choir-school

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

Challenge 2000 Fundraiser

Challenge 2000 run our Seasons for Growth course and provide liturgy experience for our school. They also support our schools wider Catholic mission by their engagement in our parish. 

Challenge 2000 warmly invites you to our movie fundraiser "Ghostlight"  when a construction worker joins a local theatre's production of Romeo and Juliet" the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.  - Sunday 1st September 5pm Penthouse Cinema Brooklyn.  Contact Gabrielle Lawson gabriellelawson@challenge2000.org.nz to book your ticket.  If you are unable to attend, but would like to sponsor a ticket please let Gabrielle know.  All proceeds will go towards unfunded programmes - counselling services, youth activities and group work.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Wider Community Notices