Tēnā koutou katoa St Michael’s Catholic School Community,
Haere mai, Bula, Ni hao, Bonjour, Talofa Lava, Namaste, Hola, Salam, Kumusta!
Last weekend we celebrated the Sacrament of First Holy Communion for 39 of our St Michael’s students. I was so proud of the prayerful, reverent manner in which the children conducted themselves. A big “thank you” to Rebekah Capon for all of the time and effort that she devoted to ensuring the success of this event for our children.
Today we had our Cultural Mass. It was such a joy hearing the Prayers of the Faithful being spoken in different languages, a real celebration of cultures.
I would like to thank our wonderful school community for all of your support over such a busy term. I wish the children a safe and happy holiday break, and hope that each family has the opportunity to spend some quality time together ahead of Term 4!
Cultural Week
Did you know that we have 24 different cultures represented here at St Michael’s Catholic School. This week we have been fortunate enough to hear a number of children speak in their native tongue both at Mass and over the school speaker system. Thank you to the number of parents who have given up their time this week to share their culture with us. We will conclude our Cultural week celebrations tomorrow with a ‘cultural dress’ day and a parade at 9:15 in the hall. All are welcome to join us.
Mathematics Success
Our Year 4-6 classrooms recently took part in the Times Table Rock Stars – New Zealand Rocks competition, and we are thrilled to highlight the outstanding achievements of two senior students. A huge congratulations to Veronique, who placed 3rd nationally, and Andrew, who finished4th. Their dedication and effort throughout the competition truly paid off, placing them among the top students across the country.
We are incredibly proud of all the students who participated. It was a fantastic opportunity to practise their mathematical skills while fostering perseverance and a love of learning. Well done to all!
Term 3 Reports
Term 3 Progress Reports will be emailed home on Wednesday 2nd October. These reports will give you an indication as to your child’s progress over the last two terms, and will be a point of reference for next term’s Parent/Teacher Interviews. If you are yet to book an interview time, please follow the instructions below.
Parent/Teacher Interviews
Our upcoming Parent/Teacher interviews will be held on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October - Week 2 of Term 4. These interviews will run for 15 minutes each. You will be able to make a booking through the Skool Loop app from today.
Wednesday 23 October:
Rooms 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10: Interviews run from 1.30 - 7.30pm.
Supervision for children in these classrooms will be available in the School Hall until 2.55pm.
Rooms 1, 2, 3 and 6: 3.15 - 7.30pm
Thursday 24 October:
All Rooms: 3.15 - 5.30pm
Book your Interview on the Skool loop App.
To download the Skool loop APP:
To make your Parent/Teacher booking:
1. Click on your “Interviews” tile (you may need to 'refresh' the App) 2. Select “Select Interview” 3. Select your child’s teacher 4. Select day/date 5. Select your time preference 6. Click “Select” 7. Enter student's details and sign at the bottom 8. Select “Book Interview” 9. A confirmationemail will be sent to you with your bookings details.
Unplugged Rebels Webinar
Are you wondering about when to give your child a smartphone? Or feeling alone and unsure about how to navigate this, including access to social media?
The Unplugged Rebels will be hosting an online webinar in term 4 and would love for you to join them.
Laura Massey will facilitate the discussion, including the risks of smartphone use in adolescence, ideas around what alternative norms we might agree to for our children, as well as connecting with each other as parents and providing support for one another in this tricky space.
This is relevant for parents at any stage and might particularly appeal to those with year 5+6 students nearing the move from SMCS.
More details to follow next term, including the date, but if you’re interested in finding out more, you can email Jacinda Calkin at jacindacalkin@gmail.com
Laura and Bruno
This week we farewell Laura and Bruno Massey, who have been kindly volunteering their time over the last year as part of the St John’s Pet Therapy programme. Bruno has brought so much joy to our children and our staff, and we have been so lucky to have Laura, a trained teacher, working alongside our kids as they increase their confidence around dogs, and practise their reading aloud.
Laura and Bruno have an exciting adventure ahead of them as they embark on further training and we wish them all the best.
St Michael’s Catholic School Policies – all our policies are on SchoolDocs, please follow the next four steps.
Start typing the school name and then select from the dropdown list
Enter the community username and password: Username: smcs Password: mackillop
This term we are reviewing:
Concerns and Complaints Policy (board); Media; Performance Management (board); Professional Development; Protected Disclosure (board); Staff Conduct; Staff Leave
Please click on “Current Review” and then click on and read the policies. Next you click on “Under Review” and complete the survey. Your feedback would be appreciated.
We would like to welcome the following family this term to SMCS: the Harvey Family (Hazel) who has an older sibling already attending SMCS.
Friday 27 September - Cultural Week Dress Up Day
Friday 27 September - End of Term 3
TERM 4 Reminders
Tuesday 29 October - Teachers Only Day - School Closed
Monday 18th November - 3:15pm - 2025 Year 6 Camp Meeting
Monday 28th November - 9:15am - Jesse Tree Mass
Wednesday 11 December - 1:30pm - Christmas Concert
Thursday 12 December - 9.15am - Year 6 Thanksgiving Mass and Special Character Awards and at 11:30am - End of Year Prizegiving
Director of Religious Studies News - Whanau Faith Discussion
Theme: Body of Christ
1 Corinthians 12:12-16
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Questions: * How can you be Christ’s body on earth? * How can our family show that we are part of Christ’s body? * Why is it important to be part of a church?
School Rosary: Fridays at 1:15pm at the reflective area (Church if wet).
School Masses - 9:15am
Thursday 17th October – Room 8 & 2
Thursday 24th October - Room 9 & 5
Friday 1st November - Whole School All Saints Mass
Thursday 7th November - Room 7 & 3
Thursday 14th November - Room 10 & 2
Thursday 21st November - Room 4 & 1
Thursday 28th November - Whole School Jesse Tree Mass
Thursday 12th December - Thanksgiving Graduation Mass
Liturgy - September 2024
Liturgy is a quarterly magazine, curated to support liturgical life in parishes, schools, and faith communities. The Liturgy Centre, from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland in New Zealand, has been producing this magazine for nearly 50 years. Please see the link to the September 2024 issue of Liturgy.
Religious Education Term 3 Overview
For Year 3-6
Week 5-10: Strand - Sacrament
The themes in our Religious Education Programme are broad categories of knowledge and learning that overlap, weave together and build upon each other.
For Year 1-2
Over the last 4 years , a new Religious Education Curriculum, To Tātou Whakapono Our Faith, has been developed. Level 1 ( Year 1 & 2) students will be learning from the new Curriculum from this year. The term 3 Theme is - Ā Tātou Whakapapa Our Story. This theme focuses on the Church.
Prayer For the Diversity of Races and Cultures
O God, you created all people in your image. We thank you for the astonishing variety of races and cultures in this world. Enrich our lives by ever-widening circles of friendship, and show us your presence in those who differ most from us, until our knowledge of your love is made perfect in our love for all your children; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Manaaki ki te Atua,
Ann McKeown
Principal Tumuaki
SMCS GARDEN CLUB
Friday afternoon gardening with Jim and Lucy
The past few weeks Year 5 have been busy planting seed potatoes in the school garden, below the junior playground. We have planted one bed of Agria and one bed of Desiree. We dug a trench about 15cm deep and used our rulers to space the seed potatoes 20cm apart.
The children have loved getting their hands dirty and learning the process of planting these. Our next job is to 'mound up' the soil around the new potato shoots. This will warm the soil around the roots of the potato plant and will result in a bigger crop.
We also have a beautiful truckload of mulch that has been spread over the compost pile in the upper garden.
PTA NEWS
And just like that, it is the end of term – and what an amazing term it was!
At assembly yesterday we gladly announced the results of our Runathon. Together we raised $8,482.20 to go towards a new audio system for our school hall.
We want to say a BIG thank you to all of you for helping us achieve this!
We also want to acknowledge the top three fundraising families: The ‘Hibberd’ family, The ‘Howie’ family and The ‘Goh’ family. They have all been treated to a fun and active day out!
We also want to acknowledge Room 5 as the class which raised the most fundraising money and Room 3 as the class which handed forms and money first (and for they very high participation rate). Both classes will be treated to some exclusive playground time and ice blocks in term 4 and the teachers will advise the parents when this is happening.
Thanks everyone for helping us and we are looking forward for more fun activities like this!
Second-Hand School Uniform Shop: Winter Sale!
The Second-Hand School Uniform Shop is open tomorrow Friday, 27 September from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM and will be running a WINTER SALE!
All Girls and Boys Jumpers and Jackets are $25 each (RRP $78–$87)
All Girls and Boys long-sleeve shirts are $10 each (RRP $48–$51)
All Unisex PE Shorts and Tops are $5 each (RRP $33–$45)
Free house T-shirts, shoes, and socks!!!
Limited sizes and stock are available!!!
Payment methods are EFTPOS (no PayWave), MyKindo or bank transfer to the PTA bank account: 12-3075-0199134-00. Uniform Donations are always welcome! Please drop off uniform items (cleaned/washed) with Genevieve at the school Reception.
To make the uniform shop a success, we rely on parents volunteering a bit of their time to help us run the shop, so if you have any spare time at school pick up, pop by, say ‘Hi’ and please lend us a hand. Thank you for helping us raise funds for our children.
Calendar Art Extravaganza!
Our talented SMCS kids have been busy bees all term, creating amazing calendar art! Their masterpieces have been transformed into Diaries, Greeting Cards, Mouse Mats, Calendars, and Sketchpads.
In Term 4, keep an eye out for a flyer with all the details on how to order these fabulous items online. Just log in with your child’s unique code number to view and order their artwork.
Don’t forget to swing by the bookshelves outside Genevieve’s office to see samples of these high-quality products. They make perfect Christmas presents for family and friends!
Prices:$20 for a diary and $15 for all other items.
Yummy Stickers
Last month to collect your Yummy stickers! Sticker sheets can be put in the PTA box located outside the principal's office by 18 October 2024.
And for our Yummy apple enthusiasts: when cutting out stickers from the apple bag, ensure you're cutting out the Yummy sticker labels and not the barcode stickers. Here's an example of the correct labels to be cut out: Thank you for your continued support and assistance in spreading the word about this initiative towards our school's sports gear!
Pizza Fridays
Thank you to Room 1 for helping with Pizza this week. We really appreciate your help. Have a great holiday everyone! See you all in term 4! Gio & Sam
SPORTS NEWS
Remuera Zones
Congratulations to Louise Fougere Y5 whowonthe Remuera Zones cross country held last Thursday at St Kent’s College. This was an outstanding effort for Louise and St Michael’s Catholic School. We couldn’t be more proud of you.
Community Notices
Need something to do these school holidays? Create and enter your very own LEGO creation inspired by our Auckland Brick Show theme ‘Explorers’ and enter the competition to win a LEGO prize pack for you and your classroom!
But that’s not all, finalists will win a family pass and have the opportunity to feature their creations at the Auckland Brick Show 2024 October 26-27 at Te Pai Stadium in Henderson.
