Kia ora, Ni hao, Dobar dan, Malo e leilei, Hola, Konnichiwa, Talofa, Namaste, Chão, Vannakkam, Kamusta, Hello!

Happy World Teachers Day!!!

Today around the world teachers are being celebrated, it is World Teachers Day. We ask for God’s blessings for all of our Marist teachers, teachers in our local community, in NZ and teachers around the world. A teacher’s job is ever changing and has had more than its fair share of challenges over the last few years. Yet we continue to fulfill our roles.

Here at Marist we are fortunate to have passionate, committed, experienced teachers who give their all to their complex roles. When you think about your primary schooling what do you remember? For me, I remember a very special teacher, Sister Annunciata at Monte Cecilia Primary School. Why do I still remember her after all these years? Sister Annunciata was firm, friendly and fair. She cared for each child in her care and wanted only the very best for them. In Form 2 ( Year 8) Sr Annunciata told me that I would make a fine teacher one day, she sowed that seed. She believed in me. Sister Julianna at Marist College and Linda McQuade also expressed their faith in me and pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’m blessed to have had strong, warm women as role models in my life. They have helped shape me. Is there a teacher you remember fondly? How did he or she make a difference in your life? Celebrate them!

Thank you Lord for teachers

Carolynn

Carolynn Phillips

Tumuaki/Principal

Marist School

World Mission Sunday - Sunday 23rd October

‘You shall be my witnesses’ – Acts 1:8

Last Sunday the worldwide Catholic community celebrated World Mission Sunday.

World Mission Sunday is celebrated in every Catholic community in the world. It is first and foremost the celebration that all baptised are missionaries. We participate in the Mission of God – to bring the Good News that God is here and wants to give life abundantly (Jn 10:10).

Mission Sunday is also a moment of grace to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in situations of poverty, violence and oppression. Every parish, school and community is invited to join this special event.

A letter from Pope Francis:

Dear brothers and sisters!

These words were spoken by the Risen Jesus to his disciples just before his Ascension into heaven, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (1:8). They are also the theme of the 2022 World Mission Day which, as always, reminds us that the Church is missionary by nature. This year World Mission Day offers us the opportunity to commemorate several important events in the Church’s life and mission: the fourth centenary of the founding of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide, now the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the second centenary of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. A hundred years ago, the latter, together with the Society of the Holy Childhood and the Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, was granted the title “Pontifical”.

Let us reflect on the three key phrases that synthesize the three foundations of the life and mission of every disciple: “You shall be my witnesses”, “to the ends of the earth” and “you shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit”.

1. “You shall be my witnesses” – The call of every Christian to bear witness to Christ

2. “To the ends of the earth” – The perennial relevance of a mission of universal evangelization

3. “You will receive power” from the Holy Spirit – Let us always be strengthened and guided by the Spirit.

Dear brothers and sisters, I continue to dream of a completely missionary Church, and a new era of missionary activity among Christian communities. I repeat Moses’ great desire for the people of God on their journey: “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets!” (Num 11:29). Indeed, would that all of us in the Church were what we already are by virtue of baptism: prophets, witnesses, missionaries of the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the ends of the earth! Mary, Queen of the Missions, pray for us!

FRANCIS

We are all called to be missionaries, what does this look like for you, your family, your immediate community???

Please keep the Hanrahan Family, and all those who have lost loved ones, in your thoughts and prayers at this time. We continue to pray for those in our community who are unwell or suffering at the moment.

THANK YOU for your warm welcome back as I returned to school after a month’s leave. I had an incredible time travelling around Croatia & Italy. A huge thank you to Christine Allen & Janet Lulich for their ongoing support and management of the school. Also a big thank you to all of our wonderful staff for their work at the end of Term 3 and beginning of Term 4. We look forward to an exciting and very successful Term 4 as we journey to the end of the 2022 school year.

PTFA…our amazing PTFA have put in an incredible amount of work in the planning of our hall fundraiser tomorrow night. Our Quiz & Fizz night is going to be an amazing evening where the community can gather, have fun and support the school. We look forward to seeing you there.

A special thank you must go to Melissa & Chris Bowden, Natasha Dmello, Albina McBeal, Petronella Musekiwa, Fiona Murray and their wider team; plus Denise & Beth in our office and to all whānau who have been so generous with prize donations. We are a fortunate community.

FOOD BANK DONATIONS...only 24 hours after a call out by St Mary's for support to stock up their very depleted food bank we had enough donations to fill more than 3 shopping trolleys! The generosity of our school whānau is very much appreciated by our wider community. Thank you!

You may have noticed that we have had to close half of the gate on Alberton Ave as adults have been driving into the staff car park and turning into the driveway while children are walking through.

This is a Health & Safety issue and ONCE AGAIN you are asked to please not turn into the driveways on either side of the school.

Please pass this message on to anyone who collects or drops off your child/ren. Our children are precious and can easily go unnoticed around our driveways.

PLEASE adhere to this request. It is getting so dangerous out there!

NEWSPAPER...do you have old newspapers sitting around? Hub 2 would love to take them off your hands! Donations can be taken directly to Hub 2 or dropped off at the school office.

Thank you from Hub 2!

KNITTING...our Wednesday knitting group is still going strong. It's a lovely way to spend a lunchtime and really enjoyed by our knitters and our wonderful helpers.

We have a large group now and are always on the lookout for more wool and knitting needles for our new knitters.

If you have any odds and ends of wool you don't need, or a spare pair of knitting needles we would be very grateful to have them.

Thank you so much.

Mrs Esther and the Knitting Team

At Marist School we use Spotlight to upload and share your child/rens ongoing progress and achievement throughout the year. The last couple of years have been so disruptive but it is really important that you download the APP in order to see your child’s learning progress.

If you have not set up your Spotlight App yet or have not been using it, please contact Beth in the office on b.lockie@marist.school.nz for your unique ID. Once you have your ID you will be able to follow the instructions below to set up the app.

Every year, some of our able Years 5 and 6 mathematicians take part in the Otago University Maths Problem- Solving Challenge. This challenge is designed as a challenge for able Years 7 and 8 mathematicians.

Congratulations to all students involved. They displayed resilience and an open-minded approach when faced with very difficult maths problems. All the students involved received a certificate today.

Special congratulations to the following students who were awarded Merit certificates at Years 7 and 8 level:

Chloe Hub 2 (Year 5)
Maddy Hub 2(Year 5)
Imogen Hub 2 (Year 5)
Zachary Hub 1 (Year 6)
Gabriel Hub 1 (Year 6)

We are very proud of all those who took part.

The Tiger!

The terrific tiger trots through the taiga trees.

The terrific Tiger’s terribly tacky teeth target the taunting tarantula.

The terrific tiger trots to the terrifying tarantula to tame the terrifying tarantula.

The terrific tiger talks to the taunting tarantula,the taunting tarantula tags the terrific tiger to teach the terrific tiger to tame turtles.

By Tasi

Snake!

A snake strikes prey speedly .

Slither slither staring eyes.

Don't stand on one, you'll pay the price.

Scary slimy slither then strike!

Saffron yellow sapphire blue

Be careful because a snake might strike you!

Spitting slimy scary stuff carefully, they're really tough!

By Alaina

On Tuesday 20th of September the Marist Primary Manaakitanga group had a meeting with schools all across New Zealand like, St Josephs in Queenstown, Sancta Maria Primary, and St Albany school. We told each school what we have been doing - we told them about our mural, the playground angels system, cans for Christmas, Daffodil Day, and the cultural mass. We enjoyed hearing about what each school did, everything they did was special and unique.

One of the great ideas was that the college girls could come from next door and share Christmas activities with us. Many great ideas filled everyone with excitement. Thank you to Caritas!

Our group chose an interesting idea about giving inspired by St. Joseph's School. St Joseph's explained that they are hiding little rocks, which they had written kind quotes on, among the community hoping people would find them and re-hide them. This returning and giving rocks was a great representation of gratitude.

Sincerely,

Manaakitanga Leadership group.

All our hubs have had a great time over the last 2 weeks learning all about bike safety, riding skills and bike maintenance. Thanks so much Bikes In Schools!

Caitlin represented our school at the National Schools Chess Championship after qualifying at the Auckland tournament.

Benjamin played for Canterbury Waterpolo Club and the team won gold at the Tauranga U12 Tournament.

Tasi took part in the Auckland Open & Schools Karate Championship winning a bronze medal for his kata and a silver for his kumite. He competed for the Shotokan Shitoryu Karate Association of New Zealand (SSKANZ) in the 8/9-year-old category.

In the school holidays we went to the Irish Dancing National competition in Hamilton. The competition takes place once a year. We could compete in a team or as a solo. I (Brylie), competed in the under 11yrs age group and danced well. I (Hana) competed in the under 10yrs and I was placed 3rd which would qualify me for the Worlds in Ireland next year. We performed three dances and did the best that we could.

In the teams event we competed in the same age group, 9-13yrs, we danced in a ‘Six Hand’ together (with 6 other dancers) and came 4th place out of 24 teams. We really enjoyed the experience and will come back next year to have another go.

By Hana and Brylie (Hub 1)

Congratulations to you all!

Today (Monday 17 of October 2022 ) we (the year 4s) learnt how to play CRICKET! Yes, we did! We learnt fun activities like how to catch a ball and to throw one too. We had fun doing all of the activities. The coach’s name was Will. It was amazing, he taught us lots of tips. He was nice too. On the first go our team won by twelve but on the second go we tied in second place. It was lots of fun. We enjoyed it.

You had to throw a ball and then you had to get your ball to hit the red wicket and that way you got 2 points but if you didn’t hit it you got 1 point. We had fun but it was hard hitting the wickets!

By Olivia and Ava. W

Spring has arrived and our school garden is producing plenty of produce.

We had a busy first week in the garden doing lots of jobs like harvesting greens for the kitchen, making sure our strawberries are protected with netting and getting ready for the seedling sale later this term.

In the kitchen we have made:

Greens and Cheese Fritters

Passionfruit Muffins

Kale Chips

Everything was delicious!

We are holding a seedling sale to raise money for our Garden to Table Programme!

When: Thursday 3rd November

Times: 8:30-9:00am and 2:30-3:00pm.

Where: School Hall

Fill your garden and help our kids grow.

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers, we really appreciate your support.Without you, we could not run our programme. If you can help please sign up using Sign up Genius. or send an email to s.white@marist.school.nz .

This year we are continuing with Marist Meals - a pastoral care initiative. These meals are provided to families in the school & parish community when a little extra support is needed (e.g. a new baby, sickness, bereavement). With the impact of covid and many of our school and parish families isolating or unwell, it would be great if we could fill up the freezer so we can help lighten the load for families during these challenging times.

If you would like to contribute, we welcome any homemade, brought meals or baking for our freezer. Meals can be dropped off to the school office.

Containers available at the school office.

St Mary's Parish Foodbank is feeding nearly 2000 a month. PLEASE remember them when you are shopping - they are in desperate need of donations! Anything you can contribute will be very much appreciated.

There is a box on the front porch of the presbytery.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support!

Follow these links to read the latest Marist College and St Peter's College newsletters:

Email: admin@marist.school.nz
Website: https://www.marist.school.nz/
Location: 14 Kitenui Avenue, Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: 09 846 7408