Kia Ora Whanau,

Congratulations to our students who completed the Read-A-Thon the past few weeks. What an AWESOME four weeks of reading. It would be great for the children to continue maintaining the reading mileage they have been achieving as reading is both a great skill and a great way to chill.

A huge thank you to parents and whanau for encouraging your children and sponsoring them. Your child’s Read-A-Thon money is due by Tuesday 8th November (next Tuesday).

Speaking of reading, yesterday the Scholastic Book Fair arrived and was set up in the library. Today the students are visiting the fair and creating their ‘wishlist’. This is the beginning of the 2022 Book Week which is being held next week.

The Book Week sees a range of activities for the students and parents beginning with the Whanau Breakfast on Monday along with the Book Character Parade at 9am. We look forward to seeing the children in their book character costumes.

During the week the students will be listening to a guest speaker who is running poetry workshops, a buddy dog is coming to listen to the Team Kiwi children read and we have a special guest reader sharing their favourite stories to several of the classes, along with an awesome guest author.

I look forward to seeing you all at breakfast on Monday and seeing your children dressed up as their favourite book character.

Take care

Ka manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman
Principal

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at principal@sj.school.nz

The following topics will be covered in this weeks Principal’s message:

• Welcome
• Swimming Recount by Sophie & Gabby
• Parish Carpark
• Community Involvement Survey
• Back By Popular Demand…
• Book Week Petting Zoo
• Whanau Breakfast & Book Character Parade
• Parihaka
• Volunteers Needed to Run the Scholastic Book Sale
• Read-a-thon: Please Return All Forms & Funds
• Get Your Library Cards Here!
• sKids Job Vacancy
• Community Notices

Finally it was the day we went to the swimming competition and we were all so excited! Our school came 8th out of 19 schools. Considering we were one of the smallest teams competing, I think we did really well. When we reached the National Aquatic Centre, all the schools got ready for the first few races. The kids swimming for our school were Charlotte, Sophie, Gabrielle, Blake, Matthew Mc, Josh, Jeremy, Jacob, Matthew M, Scarlett, Michaela and William.

There were quite a few races, and everyone tried their best in the events they did, and everyone did a great job. At the end we did relays, and there were two teams competing for our school. One team was Sophie, Gabrielle, Matthew Mc and Blake; and the other team was a mix of Charlotte, Matthew M , Josh, Jeremy, Michaela, Scarlett and Jacob. Both teams did well in their relays. The first relay was 100m Freestyle and the second one was 100 Medley which is a mixture of all 4 strokes: back, breast, fly & free.

Overall, it was slightly chaotic but we had a great day. A big thank you to parent helpers Clare, Annabella and Suzanne who helped get us to our races on time; and to the other parents who cheered us on during our races. For those who want to give swimming races a go, give it a try next year.

We are fortunate to have access to the Parish car park when dropping off and collecting the children. Please take care when parking and opening the car doors. Please ensure your children are taking the same care when getting in and out of the car. Cars have been damaged due to care not being taken. Thank you!

Last week you will have received an email from AskYourTeam. The email contains a link to our annual Community Involvement Survey. We appreciate if you could complete the survey, as the community feedback assists us with our planning for 2023. 

If you have not received the survey link, please contact Lizzy at secretary@sj.school.nz. The survey closes Monday, 13th November.

Friday November 4 – Thursday November 10

As part of Book Week, the school is running a Scholastic Book Sale. The sale provides an opportunity for families to purchase books for home. The school also receives a percentage from every book sold, which goes towards purchasing new books for our school library – a win-win!

The Book Sale will be open from 8am – 9am, 12.50pm – 1.30pm and 2.50pm – 4.00pm on school days from Friday, 4th November to Wednesday, 9th November and we need volunteers to help run the stand. This will involve helping students select books and taking payments.

We will also need helpers on the afternoon of Thursday 10th, November to pack-down the sale.

There’s no need to commit to helping throughout the week – you can simply volunteer to help for a single shift.

If you’re available to help, please pop your name onto the days and times you are available on this roster.

Attention all Read-a-thon participants…

Thank you for everyone’s support of the read-a-thon!

To be eligible for a prize, forms need to be returned by Tuesday, 8th November.

As it has now concluded, we ask that all students collect and return their sponsorship money asap.

There are two ways to return the sponsorship money:

• Deposit funds directly into the PTFA bank account using your child’s name, home group and “Read-a-Thon” as the references: PTFA Account: 12-3026-0316672-00

OR

• Place the sponsorship money and Read-a-Thon form in an envelope and drop it in the PTFA box in the school office.

Again, to be eligible for prizes, please make sure your child’s forms are returned to school by Tuesday, 8th November (even if you have deposited the funds into the PTFA’s bank account).

All the money raised will go towards fundraising for the new junior playground which will be needed as our current one reaches the end of its lifespan.

On Wednesday November 9th, one of our fantastic local librarians will visit the school to issue library cards and read to our children.

If your family does not have a library card:

1. Apply via the link below.
2. Email your child’s HG teacher to let them know your child will be receiving a card.
3. Your child will then receive the card on Wednesday.

If you forget step two (but your child knows you’ve applied for the card), they will still be able to collect it on Wednesday. Emailing their HG teacher will just mean they can remind your child to go and pick it up when the librarian is on-site.

Library cards are free for all Auckland residents and ratepayers; and you can use the card at any of the Auckland Council Library locations.

To sign up for your card, click here.

Click here – latest community notices – to check out what’s happening in our community on our school website, including the latest notice regarding the 2023 St Joseph’s Youth Group Summer Camp.