Nei te mihi o Mahuru Māori, e rere atu ana ki a koutou katoa, (Māori language month greetings to you all)
Koinei te marama o Mahuru Māori, waihoki, ā te Mane, te tīmatataka o Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. (It’s Māori language month and on Monday, Māori language week)
Nā reira, (therefore)
Whakamahia te reo (use the language)
Akona te reo (learn it)
Kōrerotia te reo (speak it)
Waiatatia te reo (sing it)
Pānuitia te reo (read it)
Tuhituhia te reo (write it)
Tohatohatia te reo (share it)
Tīkina te reo (protect it)
Hei taoka mā tātou katoa (to be a treasure for us all)
Everyone (well lots) has English, but only us, as New Zealanders have Māori. Classes all have a challenge for Māori Language Week and a challenge for the month (well, two weeks of it due to the holidays).
Here they are:
Room 1 – Use te reo to describe the timetable each morning.
Room 2 – To say what we did at lunch time using as much reo Māori as we can.
Rūma 3- Record Māori songs and post them on Seesaw.
Rūma 4 – Learn and retell several Māori stories using Māori and create different art pieces connected to the story while increasing our reo Māori in everyday activities.
Fetū Ta’ita’i – Playing games like Charades, Pictionary, Go Fish and Guess who to ask questions / responses in Māori. Have prompts available for questions and responses in case we forget the sentence structure
Fetū Pupula – Learning about the connections, similarities and differences between te reo Māori and Gagana Samoa (with specific words) and representing our discoveries through art.
Rūma 7 – To use Māori games and enjoyable activities to motivate and engage with reo Māori.
Rūma 8 – To use Māori games and enjoyable activities to motivate and engage with reo Māori.
Mission Centre (Matua Daniel) – Produce watercolour artwork in the style of Gavin Bishop. Making ukutangi (the instrument) and learning proper technique.
We hope with these efforts, students have a stronger connection to the land we stand on, more confidence in cultural situations, stronger language ability, a wider world view and obtain the many other benefits that come with being bilingual or multilingual.
Speaking of bilingualism, the first of its kind bilingual conference was held last week and half of our school disappeared to upskill. We now have 19 schools with bilingual options (Māori/English) in the wider Christchurch and 3 with Samoan options (up from 17 and 1 from two years ago). We have five other schools looking at starting them also (mainly Māori but also Samoan and French). Here’s what happened below.
OFFICE / TARI
Our thoughts and prayers are with Shelley Nicholson who lost her brother last week (A representative in the New Zealand league team for a number of years-Google him to hear about his impact in the league world). She was away from the office due to this and adding to this, our back up office manager, Jude, has had a stroke, that’s why our office has been shut, off and on. Thoughts and prayers are also with Jude.
LEADERSHIP / ĀRAHITAKA
Congratulations to Jo Smart who has been offered the position of Deputy Principal of our school. This is much deserved as she has been leading the curriculum and the school strongly for years.
Josh Halkett has been offered the position of Assistant Principal and leader of the senior school. He also has spent many years in leadership through the Kāhui Ako as an Across School Leader and as DRS. Well done to him also.
Jo Smart – teaching Room 1
Josh Halkett – (left) wearing his signature bum bag.
TŪRANGA, TE PAE, EEL FEEDING AND MARGARET MAHY PLAYGROUND
Room 3 and 7’s big day out. Cool to learn all about Tūranga (Tāwhaki, designs etc), learn about Te Pae, and feed some eels.
Part of Asame’s writing from Room 3: After we did the book sorting, we had a challenge to do some claps and roar and moooo. Whoever does the best gets a colouring book as a prize. After that we did a challenge to remember pictures of birds and remember their order (from the walls at Tūranga). Before we went to Margaret Mahy, we went to feed eels some meat on spoons. The eels could sense meat with their nose since they can’t see well. After everyone had a turn we walked to Margaret Mahy to go and play. We had lots of fun!
By Asame Room 3
Room 1 – Elispeta for her use of second language. 
Room 2 -Irene for trying her best to use te reo māori throughout the day unprompted.
Rūma 3-Clark for his progress on memorising his part in the play “Ngā Poaka iti e toru” (the three little pigs) and his impromptu use of te reo Māori in the classroom.
Mission Centre-Eliana for extending her thanking and questioning in Māori.
Fetū Ta’ita’i -Elijah for always trying his best to use gagana Samoa when speaking and writing in class. He has made good progress with listening to instructions or phrases said in Samoan because he is understanding what is asked of him. Well done Elijah!
Rūma 7-Nathan for always being ready to step up, translate, speak, and give it a go.
Rūma 8 – Jarren for continued confidence and active use of two languages.
Fetū Pupula – Josiah for constant use of Samoan. 
Rūma 4 – Sebastian for having courage and confidently speaking. Big decisions!MATAVAI ARTICLE
Dallas Wichman, Principal of St Anne’s Catholic School in Christchurch grew up without a strong connection to his Cook Islands language and culture. It was not until an iwi immersion course prompted him to explore his whakapapa that he began looking more deeply into his own story.
He discovered that when his grandfather settled in New Zealand, Cook Islands Māori was not passed on to his father. Suddenly, the impact of language loss became deeply personal.
Caption: Dallas Wichman with Samoan bilingual teachers Mareta Togiaso-Pelenato (right) and Ateliana Tiatia (left), creating space for language, culture and identity to thrive at St Anne’s Catholic School.
COURSE NEXT TERM / AKORAKA A TĒRĀ WĀHAKA
We are looking at running a Neurodivergent Whānau Workshop during Term 4 and are now seeking expressions of interest. Fridays are the preferred day for this workshop. To run the programme, we require a minimum of 6 participants, with a maximum of 10 to ensure a supportive and interactive group environment.
This group is for parents, caregivers, and whānau who are caring for tamariki who have a neurodivergent diagnosis, or who are presenting with traits of neurodivergence and may be exploring assessment and/or support pathways.
The programme consists of six 2-hour sessions delivered over six consecutive weeks.
Programme Outline:
Session 1: Introduction to Neurodivergence
Session 2: Pathways to Diagnosis & Community Supports
Session 3: Self-Advocacy Skills
Session 4: Parenting & Regulation Strategies
Session 5: LEGO® Therapy & Theraplay at Home
Session 6: Reflections, Goal Setting & Questions
If you know of any whānau who may benefit from this programme, please encourage them to express/register their interest.
Please send expressions of interest to principal@stannes.co.nz or directly to Jasmine’s email jasminemk@psusi.org.nz
YOUTH GROUP / RŌPŪ Ā-TAITAMARIKI
A reminder this happens on a Friday and our students who go, love it. Please consider this for your child.
KĀ HERE / POLICIES
A reminder, if you are interested in our policies and/or would like to take part in our termly reviews, they can be found here. Please follow the link and then have a look around!
He mea maumahara tēnei, mēnā tō hiahia, tirohia kā here, mahia kā arotake hoki. Kai konei kā here. Whāia te honoka, kātahi, tirohia!
UPCOMING EVENTS / KĀ TAIOPEKA E HAERE MAI ANA
If you have any questions, please email or talk to the person whose email address follows the reminder. If there is no email address, it is just something to be aware of.
Mēnā he pātai āhau, īmēra atu te īmēra kua tuhia, kōrerotia ki te takata kua whakaikoatia. Mehemea kāhore he īmēra, he mea hai whakamōhio noa iho.
TERM 3 / WĀHAKA TORU (If an event is for your child and you have misplaced the notice, go the the calendar entry on the Skool Loop app for all the information you need for the day)
If you need assistance with downloading the Skool Loop app please see Shelley in the office.
TERM 3 / WĀHAKA TORU
WEEK 9 / WIKI IWA (MĀORI LANGUAGE WEEK)
Thursday 10 September – 2pm – Farewell for Mr Matt Broren (he has accepted a full time position at Te Mātaitihi School in Haswell-close to his home) principal@stannes.co.nz
Friday 18 September – Frost Buster @ Ferrymead palo@stannes.co.nz
Sunday 20 September – Parish Day – This is for all children of the school and replaces any other school weekend masses. 9.30am Mass, 10.45am performances (Rooms 1-3), 11.45am lunch. josh@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 10 / WIKI TEKAU
Tuesday 22 September – Thursday 24 September – Koru Games Years 7 and 8 palo@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 24 September – Matt Brorens actual last day.
TERM 4 / WĀHAKA WHĀ
WEEK 3 / WIKI TORU
Saturday 31 October – Te Rangaihi Kapahaka Competition mareta@stannes.co.nz
Te Atua te aro’a ‘ē kia manuia,
Dallas Wichman
Tumuaki / Principal / Pū ‘Āpi’i Ma’ata