Tēnā koutou katoa St Michael’s Catholic School Community,
“E hara tā kutoa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini” My strength is not as individual, but as a collective
What a wonderful gathering at our Matariki Breakfast. A big thank you to Isabella Anderson and Rebekah Capon, our Cultural Lead teachers. The food was delicious (thank you) and everyone seemed so happy to be able to come together as a community.
On Tuesday two of our Year 6 students, Anya Hancock and Boston Recordon, were acknowledged at the Caring Foundation Mass for the outstanding care and commitment they display to caring for others in our community.
The Catholic Caring Foundation provides grant funding for the care and support of families and communities who struggle with the affects of poverty and hardship. Read more about what the Foundation does in the Catholic Diocese of Auckland Section, below.
FIFA Fever
It was sad to see both NZ and the Philippines teams not get into the next stage but maybe next time. It was thrilling to see the Australian team have a good win and get through to the next round.
SMCS Cross Country - Friday 25th August at Monte Cecilia Park - Help needed
This year our School Cross Country is being held at Monte Cecilia Park in Hillsborough. We would really appreciate and need parent help to make this event successful. Please email John Hazelj.hazel@smcs.school.nz or Jo Petriej.petrie@smcs.school.nz if you are able to help out.
Seasons for Growth
Change and loss are issues that affect all of us at some stage in our lives. At St Michael’s Catholic School we recognise that when significant changes occur in our lives, young people may benefit from learning how to manage these changes effectively.
We are therefore offering a very successful education program called Seasons for Growth (commencement date TBC). This program is facilitated in small groups and is based on research which highlights the importance of social support and the need to practise new skills to cope effectively with change and loss. A trained Seasons for Growth facilitator will lead the sessions. The program focuses on issues such as self-esteem, managing feelings, problem solving, decision making, effective communication and support networks.
If you think your son or daughter would benefit from Seasons for Growth, we would encourage you to talk to him/her about participating in the program. Please email Philippa Barlingp.barling@smcs.school.nz by Friday 11 August if your child would like to do the programme. If you require further information, please contact Ann McKeowna.mckeown@smcs.school.nz
Lost Property
Our bins are overflowing with lost property. Please ask your children to look in them if they have misplaced their uniform. There are a number of uniforms that have the names of students who have left our school so if you have bought uniforms second hand please put your child’s name on it.
SMCS 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 Inclusive Education, Māori Educational Success and Learning Support - Learning Support Coordination, Identify Learning Support, Gifted Learners.
Please click on the 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.
Whole School Museum Trip
As part of our inquiry into Migration (Junior School) and Navigating and Voyaging (Senior School) we will be visiting the Auckland Museum to participate in an hour-long educational session called Stars in their Eyes.
SENIOR School: Monday 14 August
Rooms 7 and 10 will depart from St Michael’s at 9.30am and return to school at approximately 12.00pm.
Rooms 8 and 9 will depart from St Michael’s at 11.30am and return to school at approximately 2.00pm.
JUNIOR School: Wednesday 23 August
Rooms 1, 3 and 5 will depart from St Michael’s at 9.30am and return to school at approximately 12.00pm.
Rooms 2, 4 and 6 will depart from St Michael’s at 11.30am and return to school at approximately 2.00pm.
In order for our trip to be successful, we require parent help to supervise groups of children when onsite at the Museum. Children will be transported to and from the Museum by bus.
Please contact your child’s teacher if you are able to help on the day.
24/07/23 to 06/08/23 - Bible-a-thon
Bible-a-thon 2023 (St Michael’s Parish winter fundraising): Five minutes a day for St Vincent de Paul
Let us challenge ourselves this winter: Two weeks. Five minutes a day.
Read a chapter or a story from the Bible, and fundraise for a good cause. For just $2 a chapter or story, we can collectively make a difference to help the less fortunate and enrich our own lives. Registration starts on 17 July. Read the flyer for more details.
07/08/23 - PTA Meeting at 7pm
08/08/23 - Feast of Mary MacKillop - Mass at 9:15am
09/08/23 - Rooms 1 and 2 Assembly at 2pm
10/08/23 - The NED Show at 2pm
13/08/23 - St Michael’s Parish AGM at 11am to 12:30pm
14/08/23 - Museum Trip for the Senior School
16/08/23 - ICAS English 9am to 11am
18/08/23 - Michael Mangan Concert
22/08/23 - Winter Field Day for some Senior Students
23/08/23 - Museum Trip for the Junior School 23/08/23 - ICAS Science 9am to 11am
24/08/23 - Daffodil Day - Yellow Mufti
25/08/23 - SMCS Cross Country at Monte Cecilia Park (Rain Day 28/08/23)
27/08/23 - SMCS and Parish Mass at 10am
30/08/23 - ICAS Mathematics 9am to 11am
31/08/23 - Photolife - Class and portrait photos 01/09/23 - Photolife - Sports Photos
05/09/23 - Catholic Cross Country (Rain Day 07/09/23)
06/09/23 - Remuera Speech Finals
08/09/23 - SMCS Disco - 5pm to 7pm
11/09/23 to 15/09/23 - Cultural Week
OTHER NOTICES
Need Help? A registered Social Worker is available, on a part-time basis, to provide free consultations to families seeking guidance with accessing specialist support, or who may be struggling with more complex challenges. Please contact Annie on 021 240 6454 or email anniesummerfield@yahoo.com to make an appointment. All consultations are conducted in strictest confidence.
From the Auckland Transport Speed Programme Team
Auckland Transport is consulting on Katoa, Ka Ora: A draft speed management plan for Auckland 2024-27. We are proposing to set new speed limits on approximately 24% of the roads around Auckland, many of them near schools. Public feedback is open until 28 August 2023. We are contacting you to let you know that roads near your school are not included as part of Katoa, Ka Ora.
This is due to one of the following reasons:
Your school was included in a previous round of speed changes.
Your school will have changes in the future as we’re working towards legislative targets to set safe speeds around all schools by 2027. If this applies to your school, we’d still like to hear your thoughts on variable speed limits here. To learn more about Katoa, Ka Ora please visit https://haveyoursay.at.govt.nz/kko
Excerpt from ‘The Catholic Education of School-Age Children’ (NZ Bishops, 2014)
“The Catholic character review process examines what a school does to maintain its Catholic character. The process needs to consider the lives of the students if it is to produce a focused picture of the impact of Catholic schooling on the students concerned. An incisive Catholic character review will seek to determine whether the students have “encountered the living God”, grown in knowledge and, as a result, have formed a deep and lasting relationship with Christ and his Church. ” (Page 8, 29)
Religious Education Term 3 Overview
Weeks 1 -6 – Sacrament Strand
Week 7-10 – God Strand
Week 8 - Caritas Social Justice Week
Across the school, during the Sacrament Strand, children learn about the different roles of the Sacraments in our lives and how they help us to grow closer in our relationship with God. In the God Strand, we learn about Who God is, how He is present in the world and our loves and the love and care he has for us.
Rosary Group Meet Every Friday at 1:15pm to 1:30pm at the Reflective Area (Church if raining)
St Michael’s Parish Website – Mass times - Sunday 8am, 10am & 5pm; Monday - Friday 7am & 12noon; Saturday 8am.
Bishop Barron CATHOLICISM Video Series - Venue and Dates: St Michael’s crypt for six weekly sessions beginning 3 August at 7.30pm. For more information and registration please click on the link above.
School Masses - Every Thursday at 9:15am (except on Feast Days)
Tuesday 08/08/23 - Feast of Mary MacKillop - All families welcome
Tuesday 15/08/23 - Feast of the Assumption - All families welcome
24/08/23 - Rooms 6 and 10
Sunday 27/08/23 at 10am - School and Parish Mass - It is compulsory for all students to attend this Mass. Students wear their school uniform and meet in the Parish Centre (under the Church) at 9:40am
07/09/23 - Rooms 4 and 5
14/09/23 - Rooms 1 and 9
21/09/23 - Feast of St Michael - All families welcome
Feast of St Dominic (03 August)
“Let us pray, O Holy Father St. Dominic, who showed us the way to eternal happiness, and won many souls to God by founding the Order of Friars Preachers, pray for us, that we may follow in your footsteps, and ever work for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.“ (https://www.nashvilledominican.org/)
Manaaki ki te Atua,
Ann McKeown
Principal Tumuaki
Catholic Diocese of Auckland
The Catholic Caring Foundation
Through the caring generosity of donors the Foundation is able to connect your donation to real need.
Donations support the most vulnerable:
Food for the hungry
Safe houses for women and children fleeing domestic violence
Early intervention for extreme at-risk young people
Opportunities for youth development, skills and opportunities, including counselling
Parenting classes for parents in crisis
Help for mums and their babies
Wrap-around services for those facing homelessness
And so much more!
The need for our funds in the greater Auckland area and Te Tai Tokerau is needed more than ever, as more families fall into desperate times.
Vacancy -Pastoral Services Group Administrator & Communications Officer
The Catholic Diocese of Auckland is seeking a methodical, cheerful, dedicated, and highly efficient person for the role of PSG Administrator & Communications Officer to provide administration and operational support to the Leader Pastoral Services Group and providing communications support for the Diocese. This is a part-time role of 25 hours per week with flexibility of hours between 9am and3pm.
Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills, along with proficient IT competency in Word, Excel, Free Source Design e.g. Canva and knowledge of websites (WordPress), social media, Facebook. Can work under own initiative be creative and have a can-do approach to work and is efficient, accurate and organised.
The Religious Education Committee invites you to gather on the 4th Friday of each month in our Church to pray for the needs of parish, diocese and country.
For our first Holy Hour we will pray for:
The parish as we prepare for the 90th Anniversary of St Michael’s
Vocations to priestly ministry, religious life and the permanent diaconate in our diocese
That we may embrace Gospel values in our country
Please join us on Friday 25th August in the church at 7.00pm
PTA News
And the votes for our school disco theme are in and it was closer than ever before!
With 55 votes, Carnival is our disco theme this year! Second runner up was 60s and 70s with 49 votes and Emojis was a close third with 43 votes.
Tickets and tokens will be available for purchase on MyKindo from Monday afternoon. So start planning your costumes and get ready for some fun!
PTA meeting
Our next PTA meeting is at 7pm on Monday 7 August in the staff room or via zoom (link below).
Everyone is welcome and we would love to see some new faces.
The 2nd hand uniform shop will open on Friday 18 August from 2:30 PM to 3:15 PM and will be running a PE SALE!
All PE t-shirts and shorts are $5.
Preferred payment methods are via myKindo or bank transfer to the PTA bank account 12-3075-0199134-00.
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 to keep raising funds for our children.
Uniform donations are always welcome and those can be dropped off by Genevieve at the school Reception. Looking forward to meeting you or seeing you again.
Pizza Fridays
Thank you to Room 4 for helping with Pizza this week. We really appreciate your help.
2023 Yummy Sticker Collection
We have until the end of term to collect as many yummy stickers as we can so the school can benefit from sports equipment to use at play times.
So, print your collection sheet or collect one from the school office (shelf besides the window) and help us.
Sheets can be put in the PTA box outside the Mrs McKeown's office – remember, they don’t need to be full!
Have a wonderful weekend! Gio and Sam
Community Notices
LCF Fun Languages
The FUN way to learn another language! Free Trial Lesson if you don’t join!
Heart of Connections (Psychology & Wellness Services)
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN TECHNIQUES TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD IN REDUCING THEIR ANXIETY?
Cool Little Kids is an early intervention program for the parents of children aged 3 to 6 years who show signs of excessive shyness or anxiety that may signal future development of an anxiety disorder.
Cool Kids is a program for children aged 7 to 12 years who are struggling with high levels of anxiety, and their parents.
