PRAISE GIVING
Set aside Tuesday 10th December at 10.30am for our
annual Praise Giving. Each child is “praised” for
something that makes them unique. We will aim to
have a short break at 11.30am for our junior students
(year 0-3) to depart if they wish, and continue through
with our senior students (year 4-8) from 11.40am. This
ceremony will be held in the church. It is a really special
time for our students and we welcome whanau to join
us. If you require a letter for your employer from our
school to get leave, please contact me and I will arrange
it.
YEAR 8 FAREWELL/CANDLE LIGHTING
Our year 8’s will have their farewell at our Candle
Lighting Mass on Friday 29th November at 9.15am. We
encourage our whanau to come and support them in
our leadership “handover” and sharing time. This is a
little different from previous years, as our students will
speak in this special Mass, rather than at the end of
Praise Giving. We have a group of 23 year 8 leaders
moving forward to secondary school and feel this will
be the way to ensure they can treasure their time with
us, sharing their journey.
NATIVITY/CHRISTMAS FUN
Thursday 28th November we will perform a Nativity
Play and then enjoy lunch on the field with whanau.
The afternoon will include tabloid fun and games.
Again, we welcome whanau to join us for this day.
McAULEY DAY
On Monday we celebrated our whanau house group
McAuley. Saint Catherine McAuley is a special role
model to us, modelling the charism of Mercy (Atawhai).
Check further on in the newsletter for the gifting that
Kea class shared at assembly. We certainly treasure the
fact that our school charism is Mercy, founded by the
Mercy sisters.
Have a wonderful and safe weekend.
God bless, Kathryn Carey (Principal)
Greetings, Kia Ora, Talofa, Bula Vinaka, Konnichi wa, Dobrodošli, Sawa dee, Failte,
Vitejte
So many wonderful things to chat about in the
newsletter this week! We are charging through the term
with so many exciting opportunities for our students.
Remember to keep an eye on the calendar for updates
on events.
MANAIAKALANI
Last week our students had the wonderful experience of
seeing their 3 minute film created, scripted, edited and
acted out on the large screen at Te Ahu Cinema. They
even got to walk on the red carpet! The learning from
start to finish has been immense and we will look
forward to being bigger and better next year. Check
out further on in the newsletter for photos of the
Manaiakalani Film Festival.
Set aside Thursday 14th November at 5pm for our roll
out evening to purchase your own device for 2020.
These devices are purchased in bulk through the
Manaiakalani programme, which means as part of this,
we can offer the best device to you for your child.
These devices are tested, with the highest quality
specifications and the best insurance possible. All
devices come “white gloved” and complete with all
apps required. It is open for year 4-8 students and is a
wonderful opportunity for you to buy outright, or pay
off over a period of 1, 2 or 3 years. Come along for
more information.
ATHLETICS
We had so much fun at athletics last week. Our
students have so much talent and skill. The highlight for
me was watching them compete with great big smiles!
Check out Blake’s movie that he put together for us to
enjoy. It is a wonderful snippet of the great day we
had together.
Special points of interest: • Friday 15th November—Far North Athletics • Sunday 24th November—FAMILY MASS • Thursday 28th November—Nativity Play • Friday 29th November—Candle Lighting Mass • Tuesday 10th December—PRAISE GIVING
15 November 2019 Week 5 Term 4
The Feast of Christ the King
This Liturgical year began on the First Sunday of
Advent, and it ends this Sunday with the Feast of Christ
the King. During the Liturgical year, we re-live the life of
Christ and try to immerse ourselves in the kingdom he
came to establish. It is right, therefore, to ask yourselves
at this end of the year: "Is Christ more king of my life
now than a year ago?"
Kings today are an unfamiliar breed. The few that are left have no political power. But, in ancient times, kings were sacred and absolute. They were crowned at their coronation with a special consecration and anointing. And the ancient king set the tone and spirit of his realm. A good king made for a prosperous and orderly king-dom.
That idea is by no means dead today. The influence of a
leader is still a powerful factor in modern life. For exam-
ple, take education. A school takes its spirit from the
principal. Does he or she love and respect children? The
staff will reflect that spirit in the classrooms.
We seldom face great challenges to our loyalty to Christ the King. Most moral decisions seem insignificant and without consequences at the time.
to be angry in traffic; or patient under provocation; to
steal small stuff; to cheat on an exam; to take a paper
off the Internet. But as time goes on, a pattern emerg-
es. The little decisions set the stage for the big ones. I
remind you of the old saying:
Sow a thought and reap an act; Sow an act and reap a habit; Sow a habit and reap a destiny.
Hence the call of Christ the King is for each of us for constant conversion. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand."
To do this is astonishingly easy WATCH THE LITTLE THINGS.
And so, after another year of following Christ, we con-
clude with the question we began with: "Is Christ more
king of my life today than a year ago?"
God Bless, Phil.
Kiwi/
Pukeko
Kea
Tui
Kakapo
Te Kahu
Karly Kopae, Toby Mulholland,
Devante Iose and Khloe Hokai
Leila Pereira and Soham Patel
Aprillia Herbert and Kaidence Knight
Piper Harrison and Therese Birch
Markayla Tufuga and Zoe
Holland
Congratulations to our students of the week. They are
chosen by the classroom teacher based on standing out in
the past two weeks around our focus RISE—respect, in-
spire, service and excellence. Part of this award is a book
that the school sponsors. We are always very proud of
our students of the week! Ka pai!!
We are currently planning classes for 2020. If
you have any new enrolments, or changes that
we need to be aware of, please let Mrs Carey
know. It makes our planning more efficient if
we can be pre-warned of anything that is
changing prior to the first day of school.
We have spaces for students who are Catholic
for 2020 and look forward to welcoming new
families and whanau to our great school!
What a wonderful experience our students have had creating their own 3 minute movies for the Manaiakalani
Film Festival. The red carpet was a wonderful welcome! To see themselves on the large screen at the Te Ahu
Cinema was very special. The learning that was encompassed in this project was absolutely huge. The students
learn how to write a script, edit, act, role play, tweak, collaborate and share with others. All of the students in-
volved have their movie linked directly to their blogs. We would love to hear your comments—positive,
thoughtful and helpful to keep building up their learning. Check with your child’s teacher if you need some help
to access their blogs. Thanks to all the whanau who supported this kaupapa by attending the Te Ahu movie
screening.
PLEASE NOTE!! We ask all drivers to enter and exit on Dominion Road for safety. If you do go down by the church onto Eden Terrace please wait until our walkers have used this driveway. Please ensure to drive slowly and stop at the bottom of the hill. Thank you for your co-operation with this.
A reminder, for safety of our children, please remain in the carpark until 3pm to enable our children to depart safely. Please drive slowly in the carpark. No child is to leave the gate area unsupervised. Please do not park in the yellow lines for safety.
This calendar gives you an idea of what is coming up during the term. Put the dates somewhere important to remember them. Dates can change at times, so please check this calendar each newsletter. If there are
last minute changes we will notify you by text, and add comments onto our school Facebook page and Skool Loop (free app). Make sure you contact Helen in the office to ensure you are part of our “phone tree”
and information.
November/December 2019 Wk5 11
McAuley Day
(wear blue)
Bot meeting
12 13
PTFA meeting
3pm
14
Device Roll out
evening 5pm
15 Far North
Athletics Zones
16
Wk6 18 19 20 21 22
ALIM maths at
PCS
Assembly
23
Wk7
PCS Mass
25
Jo CBEC creat-
ing swim bags
26
Jo CBEC creat-
ing swim bags
27
Jo CBEC creat-
ing swim bags
28
Nativity Play/
Christmas in the
Park Day
29Candle Light-
ing Mass 9am
Jo CBEC creat-
ing swim bags
30
Wk8 2
Yr 5/6/7/8
camp
3
Yr 5/6/7/8
camp
4
Yr 5/6/7/8
camp
5
Yr 5/6/7/8
camp
6
Assembly
7
Wk9 9
BOT Meeting
10
PRAISE GIVING
10.30AM
11 12
Yr 8 Social
13
Yr 8 sailing
Last day
14
Kea class had a special gift giving for their peers at assembly last week. They created “cups and saucers
of Mercy charism” to gift to each class in the school. These represent the values of Mercy charism as
Catherine McAuley. Service to others. She was well known for offering a cup of tea to all her visitors
and guests as she listened, shared and offered service to them. Taking time to spend with others is
such an important thing to do and we can learn much from Catherine McAuley. We were founded by
the Mercy sisters and now have this special candle to celebrate being a Mercy school during our prayer
time. Thanks Mrs Ryken and Kea class!
Our Support Staff are currently working with
the Ministry to get better pay and conditions.
They are a valuable part of our team and we
appreciate them. An act of support is to write
a letter to them this week. Feel free to do this.
Our student led liturgy on Monday led by our McAuley leaders was a special tribute to Catherine McAuley our
patron Saint. She taught us a lot and we can use her modelling to be better people ourselves.