Dear Whanau

Today the teachers spent the day learning about the Ministry of Education’s Mātaiaho – Curriculum Refresh. Te Mātaiaho,  the refreshed NZ curriculum, is designed to give practical effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and be inclusive, clear, and easy to use.

It has been developed over the last two years in collaboration with the education sector, students, whānau, communities, and a wide range of interested organisations and communities.

Three refreshed learning areas have been released: Te Ao Tangata | Social Sciences, English, and Mathematics & Statistics. The other five learning areas are being refreshed, and will be released in 2024 and 2025. Schools have until 2027 to begin using the complete refreshed curriculum, although Mathematics & Statistics and English must be used from 2025.

Similarly, the New Zealand Bishops have had the Religious Education curriculum refreshed. ‘Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith’ has been completed and this year has seen our Year 0-2 teachers participating in professional development programmes on the document. Next Year will see teachers of Year 4 – 6 receiving similar PD.

In the last two weeks of this year we have two very special celebrations. Wednesday, 6th of December @ 6.30pm is our Year 6 Mass in the church. At this Mass, we farewell our Year 6 students, who will be heading off to their new colleges in 2024. All school families are welcome to come to this Mass. 

The following Wednesday, 13th of December @ 11 am, we will be having our End-of-Year School Liturgy in the Rosmini Auditorium. All families are welcome to this liturgy. It will be followed by performances by our Choir, Cultural and Kapa Haka groups, along with Christmas Carols. After the End of Year Liturgy, families will be welcome to have a family picnic on the bottom lawn. Food trucks will be available if you wish to purchase your lunch.

Take care.

Ka manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman

Tumuaki

The Principal’s Message Will Cover the Following Topics:

• Calendar Art – Orders Close on Monday
• End-of-Year Liturgy & Family Picnic
• Kahui Ako Day (student report & photos)
• Community Notices

This is a reminder that we’re currently taking orders for Calendar Art.

Orders close Monday, November 20th, and we just want to make sure everyone that wants to get products made from their child’s own art has the opportunity to.

These make unique Christmas gifts for family and friends and are perfect for posting overseas.

Follow these instructions to place your order online:

1/. Go to www.kidsartworks.com

2/. Use the Entrance Code: KZ1044-23A and enter your child’s room & name

The order is open until Monday 20th November at 11.30pm

Payment can be made over the website via credit card or account2account.

If you have any questions please contact the school on pta@sj.school.nz

Kahui Ako Day    

By Avishka and Catherine, HG1

Two teachers in every Catholic school on the North Shore belong to a Kahui Ako group. The aim is to share and improve education by working together.

This term, all of the Year 6’s were lucky enough to go to St Mary’s to meet all the Year 6 children from these schools. This was to get to know each other before we move on to Carmel and Rosmini and other schools in 2024. It included some Atawai leaders from Carmel college. Reuniting with old friends, and making new ones, we were put into groups with a Tuakana leader in charge. 

We had a great variety of stations and activities, like a scavenger hunt, song battle and who could complete the most activities. In my group, I was the only person from St Joseph’s, but I ended up making new friends in my Atawai group. After that we had a sausage sizzle and went down to sit under the canopy to sing school songs. Then the principal of St Marys said his final blessing and we said our goodbyes. We really enjoyed our day and look forward to our new schools next year!

Please check out the latest community notices  which you can find on our school website.