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

So proud of our Marist tamariki & our kaiako.

Our children and teachers are making a difference!

Last Tuesday I accompanied a group of the Hub 1 children with their teachers and whānau helpers to the Arataki Education Centre in the Waitakeres. The focus of study was on Biodiversity. I was blown away by the enthusiasm, passion and knowledge our tamariki have in environmental studies and their acceptance of being kaitiaki (guardians of the environment).They were fully engaged as they explored the impact that introduced species and humans to NZ have had and continue to have on our environment.

One of the park rangers approached me and said that they didn’t really have children like ours visiting very often. Marist School, she said, really stood out from other schools. Our children were ‘so invested & interested’ in this study and their responses to difficult questions were advanced as were their critical thinking questions.

I believe that the Garden to Table programme has and continues to have a positive impact on our children's learning in this area and so many others. Our passionate teachers have a huge impact and stir the children's interest in challenging ‘thinking outside the box’. Exciting curriculums keep children interested and engaged.

The introduction of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum, the Digital Technologies Curriculum and our newly formatted Inquiry Learning Framework (LIFT) encourages and supports higher order thinking and real life experiences.

These curriculums and our Inquiry Model are being used schoolwide. Talk to your child/ren to find out what they are learning in their Hub.

Hear how we explore the past (so we understand) and live in the present (so we gain knowledge) and we prepare our tamariki for the future —-so they do–act, make a difference, are other centred and change agents!

This generation are our eco-warriors, our innovators, our critical thinkers. We support them in the continual growth of wonder and curiosity, to solve problems, to view with a future lens and to develop a worldview.

Who knows what career paths this generation will take–some of them have not even been created yet. I hope our tamariki continue to ask the challenging questions, explore possible solutions and make a difference in our world for all living things. These are our Marist graduates, our planet's future! I am excited to be part of their teaching and learning journey here at Marist School.

Arohanui

Carolynn

Carolynn Phillips

Tūmuaki/Principal

Tomorrow we celebrate with our children who are receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist. This is a huge milestone in a young child’s Catholic faith journey as they are fully welcomed into the Catholic church and are able to actively participate in the celebration of the Eucharist at Mass.

We offer them all God’s blessings and pray for each of them as they participate in these celebrations.

First Confirmation is on Saturday at 2pm and First Eucharist is on Sunday at 10am. Let us gather as a Catholic Marist faith community to support these children. I look forward to seeing you at church over the weekend.

Please keep the Wolfgramm family, and all others 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.

Nominations for the Marist School Board of Trustees close at 4pm on Tuesday 20 August 2022.

If you don't have a nomination form and would like one, please contact the school office. Completed nominations can be dropped into the wooden box on the front desk.

Should you have any further questions please contact Amy Smith, our Board Chair directly on 021 764 747.

We are making a slight change to our use of the entry gates on Kitenui Avenue for your morning drop off.

The large double gates will remain closed before school in order to allow netball and football games to be played.

Children and/or accompanying adults can continue to gain entry to the school through the single gate beside the Church or through the gate from the Staff carpark.

End of day pickup from Kitenui Ave remains unchanged however we again ask you to consider the overall safety of all our tamariki and park further away in order to lessen congestion and minimize the risk to all whānau.

We have become aware that, once again, some parents and caregivers are risking the health and safety of our children at pick up and drop off times. PLEASE REMEMBER:

• NEVER pull in/park in the church driveways

• NEVER park/drop off/pick up on yellow lines

• NEVER use the school driveways OR STAFF CARPARK for pick up/drop off

• NEVER park on berms

We need to take responsibility to keep our children safe.

Saturday 27 August - Sacrament of Confirmation, 2pm at St Mary's

Sunday 28 August - First Eucharist, 10am at St Mary's

Thursday 1 September - Eden Albert Netball (Year's 5 & 6) at Windmill Rd

Friday 2 September - Hub 2 visit to MOTAT

Friday 2 September - PTFA Golf Day

Friday 2 September - Celebration Assembly, 2.30pm at St Mary's

Monday 5 September - I am Special, 2.15pm in Hub 1

Monday 12 to Friday - 16 September - Marist Cultural Week

Friday 16 September - Cultural Mass, 10am at St Mary's

Monday 19 September - I am Special, 2.15pm in Hub 1

Tuesday 20 September - Catholic Schools Cross Country, Year's 3 to 6, at Monte Cecilia

Friday 30 September - Celebration Assembly, 2.30pm at St Mary's

Friday 30 September - Term 3 Ends

CALL OUT FOR AUCTION ITEMS

The Marist PTFA is planning its major fundraiser and also its annual Golf Day in Term 3. You have heard about the exciting plans to upgrade our school hall, so we have a key fundraising target to meet. Donations of any items which could be used for auctions would be appreciated: vouchers to businesses, the use of a family bach for a weekend, even services which you could provide to the community. Any items can be left with the school office.

GOLF DAY

Friday 2nd of September 2022

Maungakiekie Golf Club

Tee off at 12.30pm

Format is Ambrose

For those who haven’t attended before, it is an awesome, fun, social day for men and ladies, from those who have never played, through to pros.

Tickets are $110 per player and the entry fee covers green fees, generous beers and snacks on the course, and supper afterwards.

If you are interested in participating as part of a team, as a player, sponsorship or both please contact Pete Wilkening - peter.wilkening@sprattfinancial.co.nz.

It’s a great day, for a very worthwhile cause!

A reminder that if your child is away from school for any reason you must let the office know. It is good to let your child's Hub teachers know too, but it is essential the office is included in the communication.

Letting us know is easy - just call 846 7408, email absent@marist.school.nz or, even easier, use the absentee function on the school app! If you have not set the app up yet just scroll to the end of the Newsflash for the links to the App Store and Google Play!

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.

Today the Year 5’s in Hub 1 went to Roy Clements Treeway. Matua Terry taught the Year 5’s about the kawakawa plant.

We did a karakia to Tane before picking the plant. Then we learned that the ones with holes were the best to pick. The leaves can be used for medicinal purposes.The leaves and roots can be boiled to make a tonic to treat a number of conditions from worms to chest and kidney ailments. The tiny fruit is edible when they are orange. Birds like kereru and tui love the berries. Kawakawa grows to about 6m. You can also treat toothache by putting a leaf on the tooth and holding it there. We are going to plant kawakawa at school.

Thank you Matua Terry for teaching us about rongoā.

By Dan

Some girls from years 3,4,5 and 6’s competed at the Central schools zones gymnastics competition at Tristar on August 18. The events were floor, beam and vault. We all thought it was nerve racking but fun, and we all tried our best!

The Year 5 team of Indie, Ava, Imogen and Chelsea came 1st out of all the schools! Indie was 1st overall and Ava 8th in the Year 5 individual competition and and Niamh W came 1st in the Year 3 individual event. What amazing results!

Thank you to the parents who helped out on the day.

India and Ava

On Thursday 11th of August the Eden Albert Rugby Tournament took place at May Road War Memorial Park. Marist School had 2 boys RUGBY teams and 2 girls rippa teams.

The Under 50kg team all had lots of fun despite some hard tackles by the winning team in our category. The Under 40kg team came extremely close to winning the tournament but let one try slip past us at the end of a game. They finished a very competitive second!

Rippa was a new sport to us and we discovered how much we loved it. There were two girls teams - the Marist Marvels and the Marist Saints. The Marist Marvels came 8th and the Marist Saints 9th.

The Marist Marvels lost the first two games as we were just learning how to play. By the third game we found our rhythm and we won by 1 try.

The Marist Saints won two games and lost three. We had loads of fun and that is what matters. The experience has made us want to play again and maybe even give tackle rugby a go!

We want to give a big thank you to all the parents and coaches that helped us to enjoy a successful day.

This Monday in the afternoon nearly everybody in Hub 2 ate Grasshoppers!

We ate them because William from our novel “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” ate salted, crispy grasshoppers. He caught them. William found them in the forest. When Hub 2 ate the grasshoppers it tasted like Dog Food covered in chocolate. They were a bit crunchy and had flakey layers.

It was a fun little challenge. We would eat them again….but only if we had to!

By Niko and Daniel

Our garden is looking very green and lush at the moment. Please take a few minutes to pop in and see it. We have been working hard to weed it and harvest delicious produce for the kitchen. We have also been busy planting new seedlings.

Last week was a very rainy day so our amazing garden specialists Naomi and Helena planned a fun quiz where we had to identify plants using their leaves. There were some tricky ones but we did really well!

In the kitchen we have made:

Herbed Cheese Scones

Carrot Cake Muffins.

Pasta with pesto and greens

Fruit Tarts

We are enjoying developing our skills in the kitchen, trying lots of different recipes and eating together.

Unfortunately, we have had some items go missing from the garden.

If you are able to donate any of the following items please let us know.

• Scissors

• Secateurs

• Outside broom

• Rake

• Loppers

We also need:

• Old paint buckets (10L)

• Wicker baskets with handles for harvesting

• Single seedling pots (to plant new seedlings)

Please drop off any donations to the office, we greatly appreciate your support!

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers, we really appreciate your support. If you can help please sign up using Sign up Genius. or send me an email s.white@marist.school.nz .

Year 5 GTT Team

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