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

We’ve made it to the end of Term 1 2022- and what a term it has been. For what feels like the first time, after two years of cautionary measures, COVID moved amongst us, impacting students, families and staff here. It has been very hard for all of us, dealing with uncertainty, frustration, rescheduling, restrictions, possibly fear as well.

Thank you to those who have supported your children by keeping things as normal as possible for them, answering their questions, giving them extra time, space and love. They carry our anxieties, and I have been so impressed at the resilience and joy your children have shown each day at school, as we’ve done the very best we could to keep it a safe, happy, learning-focussed and normal environment for them.

Thank you for your patience as we have had to repeatedly change plans over the last two years to accommodate new guidelines, do without things like inter school sport, extra curricular activities and require masks in the school for Year 4 and over. None of us enjoy it, but we are bound to follow guidelines for the safety of all.

Thank you to those who have shown kindness to school staff in all of this, along with supermarket workers, health workers and others in public-facing roles. People usually choose to be in health or education out of a genuine desire to help others, and they can feel more vulnerable in a pandemic because they are at the ‘front line’ more than many, interacting with high numbers of people every day.

I am so proud of all the staff here - every day, they show their commitment to providing the very best learning opportunities for your children, even while being faced with uncertainty about their own families and personal safety. They are tired, as are the tamariki and these holidays are needed.

Enjoy some rest yourselves with your children over the next two weeks as well. We are all hoping that the peak of COVID will pass soon, and that we can get back to having social and other events for families again. We have missed face to face so much.

I wish you all the blessings of Easter as we come to the close of our Lenten season and begin Holy Week. We are reminded of our Lord’s passion and suffering on Good Friday and the promise of eternal life for all as we celebrate the joy of the resurrection on Sunday. I look forward to seeing many of you over the weekend at St Mary’s Church as we participate, reflect & pray together during this special time.

Me te mihi nui mo a koutou manaakitanga - in appreciation of your support.

Carolynn & the Marist Team

Holy Week - Wiki Tapu. We journeyed with Christ this week as He made His way to the cross and eventually to rise on Easter Sunday from the tomb.

It began with Palm Sunday and works its way through to the Washing of the Feet and Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the agony of the cross on Good Friday and the glory of The Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Enjoy viewing and sharing with Hubs 4 and 5 as they sing 'Hosanna Hosanna' and Welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. Hub 3 have shared "Our Lenten Journey - symbols, reflection and prayer" and Hub 1 have re-enacted the 'Washing of the feet' and the 'Last Supper. Also enjoy Hub 2's beautiful Stations of the Cross.

Today we farewell our lovely Mrs McKillop as Annie and her husband head off on some overseas traveling adventures. Annie has worked tirelessly with our tamariki individually, with small groups and within our Hubs. Annie is always positive, encouraging and so passionate about providing opportunities for our children to succeed.

Annie grows the whole child and has been a huge support for so many. We wish Annie all God’s blessings as she continues to make memories with her husband, she will be missed. Go well Annie, until we meet again, you are a treasure!

After over 2 years as our garden specialist, Frances is leaving us. We have loved working with Frances and our program has benefited from her extensive knowledge and expertise and also her vision for what our garden could be. She has worked passionately to create a productive garden which is thriving.

Frances started at our school running the eco-team. She set up recycling programmes, worked to encourage our school to have litterless lunches and installed a wonderful butterfly garden which is still thriving.

Just over 2 years ago, Frances became part of our Garden to Table journey. Our new garden space was a blank canvas. Despite numerous lockdowns and interruptions, Frances has worked continually to create the thriving garden we have today. Even though Garden to Table is only on Wednesdays Frances has been here on weekends, holidays and after school to make the garden a success.

Her vision, determination and passion has been instrumental to making Garden to Table a success at our school. She is always planning for the future. She collaborated with others to install our rainwater tank. She has worked hard to get funding and donations to make sure our garden has continued to grow and develop. She has used every space in our school to plant and create a ‘school wide’ garden. She has held a successful seedling sale and organised a productive working bee to develop the garden further.

Frances has also worked with our kitchen specialists and volunteers to create an engaging, diverse and fun programme for our tamariki. Even though Frances is leaving us, she leaves behind her mark and her contribution to the school will continue.

Thank you for the countless hours of hard work and dedication to Marist. We will miss you.

An old proverb is

He who plants a garden plants happiness.

Frances, we are so blessed that you have planted happiness in our school and we are grateful for everything you have done.

Please keep 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 so much Marist Community for your very generous giving to all our fundraisers this term. With our St Patrick's Day Caritas fundraising and our Blue and Yellow day for the Ukraine we have raised a whopping $2000.00 which will be equally split between the two causes! Thank you!

We are looking for a fun, passionate garden enthusiast to join our team in Term 2. We're a great team of 2 x kitchen specialists and 1 x garden assistant, very enthusiastic about our roles, and we love working in our fun and positive environment.

The programme runs Wednesdays for 5 hours approximately 9am to 2pm and is currently offered to Year 5s. We run two sessions at 9.30 and 11.30 for 1 1/2 hours per session. Please note - this is a paid position.

If you would like more information on the role, please contact s.white@marist.school.nz

Garden Specialist Job Description

The Marist PTFA is planning activities for 2022 and we look forward to your participation.

We're excited to reconnect the school community and welcome our new families, so look out for more comms from your hub and from the PTFA soon!

We are in the early stages of planning our major fundraiser to be held in Term 3 and need volunteers to assist or drive the planning.

Please contact ptfa@marist.school.nz if you are able to volunteer for the fundraiser. We need all kinds of skills, from event planning to sponsorship to creative and simply arms and legs.

2022 Term 1 Dates - important dates for your calendars!

• Term 1 ends: Thursday 14th April

Staff Only Days: As part of our collective agreement the Ministry allocated a number of 'Staff Only Professional Development' Days over 3 years. With the disruptions throughout 2020/21 we have two remaining days to use prior to mid June. Therefore the following dates are closed for children:

• Term 2: Monday 2nd May & Friday 3rd June

URGENT - if any of your contact details have changed (phone numbers, email, street addresses) please advise the office as soon as possible. It is always important, but particularly so in these Covid times, that we have the correct and up to date information for your child/ren. Thank you!

we made a Palm Sunday collage!

we have made sculptures of The Easter Tomb.

We’ve made Holy Week/ Easter stained glass artwork. Our design had to represent an event from Holy Week or Easter. We used black glue to give the effect of the lead in the stained glass window. We finished it with a special caption to signify what they represented.

Hub 1 have also been researching the history of our lovely old school hall!

We've been learning about forces in Hub1 too! We made parachutes to learn about friction and air resistance.

Talofa, my name is Lijay Pasina. I am Samoan/Fijian. My hobbies include maths, soccer, rugby and choir. My leadership qualities are being passionate, positive, focussed and patient. I enjoy leading prayers in my language, being part of Pacifica and helping the juniors at school.

The leader I admire a lot is my Grandad who recently passed away. He taught me how to dedicate my life to Jesus and to always help others and to listen.

As a cultural leader, I want to represent my culture with pride and role-model this to others.

Anneonghaseyo, my name is Sarang, I am from Korea. I enjoy tap dancing, tennis, reading, ballet, arts and crafts, choir and swimming. Responsibilities I have are caring for others, respecting my parents and doing my homework. My achievements so far include winning the Queen’s Essay competition in 2021. My leadership qualities are being creative, friendly, dedicated, smart, confident and understanding.

I look up to Helen Keller because she never gave up even though life is tough. I also admire my Mum because she always encourages me to be proud of my Korean heritage.

In my role I want to encourage diversity by role-modelling to other kids to be proud of their culture and their language.

Talofa, my name is Naila. I am Samoan, Maori and English. I am 10 years old and I am a cultural leader. I have responsibilities-being a good role model which means being nice to people especially juniors. Also saying prayers in my language at home and at school. My leadership qualities are being confident, fair, friendly, happy, brave, focussed and positive. My hobbies include netball swimming, reading and writing.

The leader I look up to is my Grandma. Her name is Naila too. She teaches me to speak Samoan and to be polite. So do my parents.

My leadership role means that I can express my culture by speaking my language and dancing my cultural dance. I think that I could improve my confidence by speaking in front of crowds more often and interacting with different kinds of people.

Chess Club-Lunchtimes

Our Marist Chess Club has begun at lunchtimes (Tuesdays and Thursdays). All hubs are welcome, just come along!

Chess Club-Afterschool

One of our lovely mother’s has volunteered to coach an after school chess club on Mondays after school in Hub 2.

This will run from 3-4pm starting Monday 2nd May (Week 1-First day of Term 2).

We are practising for the Chess Power Cluster tournament to be held at our school on Wednesday 11th May (Term 2 Week 2) and other tournaments. There is no cost for this tournament as we are hosting and the students can enter at school.

If your child is interested in coming along to the after school Chess Club please email a.politini@marist.school.nz.

INFORMATION MORNING – SUNDAY 8th MAY 2022, 9am (in the Church)

• Sacrament of First Reconciliation - Wednesday 1st June 2022, 7pm in the Church

Classes @ 8.45am; Sundays 15th, 22nd & 29th May 2022 (in Marist Primary’s new classrooms)

• Sacrament of Confirmation – Saturday 27th August 2022 at 2pm in the Church

- Classes @ 8.45am; Sundays 12th, 19th & 26th June, 31st July, 7th & 14th August 2022

- Parent/Child Session with worksheets (refresher) @ 8.45am – Sunday 21st August 2022

- Practice with Sponsors – Thursday 25th August 2022, 7pm in the church

• Sacrament of First Eucharist – Sunday, 28th August 2022 – 10 am in the Church

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