Dear Parents

It was great to hear on Friday that there was no change in our COVID-19 Alert Levels. Schools received a communication from the Ministry of Education with these key messages for the Auckland region:

• Continue to wear face coverings on public transport – this does not include school buses.
• Continue to wear face coverings at events, particularly large gatherings.
• Get tested if you are unwell and showing symptoms of COVID-19.

The Principal’s Message will cover the following topics:

• Welcome
• PTA Meeting
• School Photos
• School Disco
• Soccer
• Hockey
• Shore-to-Shore

Ka manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman

Principal

Welcome to Matthew, Olive, Harrison, Matthias and Talia who had their first day at St Joseph’s on Monday. We know they will have a wonderful time at our school.

Tonight, at 7pm, our PTA will be meeting in the school staffroom. All parents are welcome to attend.

On Thursday the 12th of November the kids had an awesome time at the St Joseph’s School Disco. To enter, the kids kindly brought some food for the food bank to donate. Four hundred cans and non-perishables were donated. We had a range of songs. Miss Strother was our DJ for the night – she chose some really good songs. We had some lasers and rainbow lights for decoration. The kids brought some cash to buy the candy and food on offer at the disco. At the end the kids were showing tapu by cleaning up all the rubbish before the final song. The kids kindly donated to charity at the free sausage sizzle. Special thanks to the PTA for organizing this wonderful event and providing the lollies and sausage sizzle. Can’t wait for next year’s Disco!

By Hamish (HG4)

On October 20th, 3 teams represented St Joseph’s in the North Shore United Football Festival in Devonport. This was a really big tournament with 8 pitches being played on and many schools involved. When we arrived we got told who we were going to be playing and we didn’t know if they were going to be good or not. We made our way to the pitches we were playing on and got into positions. We played about 3 games during the day and some were easier than others – some were tough! Then it was the Semi Finals and the Finals. The Year 3 and 4 team won their Semi Final against Takapuna and went to the Finals where we versed Belmont. It was a tough Final and we took a corner which bounced off Dominic’s heel and into the goal! We won the Competition and got a plate for the school. The Year 5 team made it through to the Semi Finals and won that game. Then it was onto the Plate Finals where the game was so close against Hauraki that we had to keep dropping players every minute. It got down to Harrison and Manuel against two others and we decided to call it a tie and share the plate. The Year 6 team put in a good effort with some wins throughout the day. It was a fun day out for all!

On November 11th, 2 teams represented St Joseph’s at the Takapuna Football Tournament across the road from school. When we got there we put our bags down and had a team photo. Then the games started and both St Joseph’s teams were up against Takapuna. Cory’s brother Ashton helped us with the positions and Danny’s dad looked after the Year 5 and 6’s. The captains did paper, scissors, rock to decide who would start. We demolished some teams but some games were close and we won. Overall both Year 3/4 teams and Year 5/6 teams won all their games and made it to the Semi Finals and then Finals. We both won the tournament. We had prizegiving and got medals and a trophy. I was lucky enough to get Player of the Tournament for the Year 3 and 4’s. We had lots of fun. 

In total 10 teams across 9 primary schools played in the competition. We were unbeaten over the day, playing Hauraki, Belmont, Stanley Bay, Bayswater, Takapuna Primary and Milford.  

A big thank you to all the teachers and parents that took us along. We thank you for using up your time to take us to the event.

By Josh, Alexander and Ana

This week was a big week for Hockey at St Josephs. We gave one of our longest serving coaches (maybe longest!) a surprise party to say THANKS for a whole 12 years of coaching.

Tracy Thompson has been coaching at St Joes for her kids hockey teams, first Matt and Dylan and now Liam and our team who have pretty much all been together since year 2!  Now most of us are in year 6, Tracy is hanging up her coach hat – but we know she will still be keeping an eye on us for all our seasons ahead!

Twelve years is a long time! It’s a lot of early Monday mornings, a lot of Late Monday nights, a lot of the time in the rain. It’s also a lot of wrangling a pile of us into some sort of a team….but Tracy never gave up!  She has shown us how to work as a team and use each others’  strengths to our advantage. She has the highest expectations of us when it comes to being “good sports” and good representatives for Hockey – the sport she tells us all the time that she loves. She never missed a game that we can remember.  She pushed us to work hard but she has always been fair.  

Tracy has kept a group of us coming back every season, because we love playing, and a lot of that is because of Tracy.  Thanks for giving St Joes 12 years of hard work, we are so lucky to have had you.

By Oskar G, Ben R, Danny S, Lemi J and Josh H

Shore to Shore Run

On November 8th, the 5.9km Shore to Shore run finally arrived. It had been delayed since March! We were all getting ready but then lockdown happened. It then seemed like it was going to be cancelled but then when we came out of 2nd lockdown, we heard it was still on! We got our runners, got in our costumes and went to the starting line. I was feeling so excited because I got to run the race with my friends, Emmy and Ana. We had an amazing time and were so happy when we saw the finish line. At the end, the helpers were so nice and gave you a cup of water, a packet of gummy bears and a free ice cream! Overall it was a great day and my friend Emmy and I even won a prize for best dressed!

By Ava S (HG4)