Nei rā te mihi o Mahuru Māori, e rere atu ana ki a koutou katoa, (Māori language month greetings to you all)

We had a great Māori Language Week and Mahuru Māori continues. We have been doing Facebook posts in te reo first to celebrate Mahuru Māori. We realise we have more speakers of English, but it is a great time to promote our indigenous and official language. Thanks for scrolling a little further for the English if you can’t yet read Māori (it is nice our Māori speakers get it first for a time). Please note, our Māori explanations of events are often not exact translations and are in Kāi Tahu dialect so may be hard for some Māori speakers not from here, to understand. Our children learn Māori with a ‘general’ focus, i.e. language and words MOST commonly heard or used in New Zealand. We do teach the differences but don’t currently have any teachers who can hold the dialect.

GOOD LUCK MR B / NOHO ORA MAI MATUA MATIU
To end this term we would like to acknowledge Matt Brören, aka Mr B.  Matt has accepted a full time position at Te Mātaitihi School, a new school starting in Halswell. This school is close to his family home and has the opportunity for Matt to help in the development of its approach and curriculum. We farewelled him last week as we knew this week, many of the children would be away with Koru Games. Matt has been a regular part time teacher for a number of years now. He has a great personality and way with children and adults alike. Being a ‘favourite teacher’ of many, we know the children will be very sad not having him around anymore. He is one of those teachers who was fully invested, gave up lunchtimes to join sports or train sports teams, and would involve himself in weekend school masses and outside of school time activities. He has taught in all classes at some point. We hope to see him in our travels and hope his school will allow him to come to stop number 2 of ‘Blessed to be Bilingual’ (here). We have established a relationship with the management and some of the teachers at Te Mātaitihi already. Thursday was his last day at St Anne’s .

11th Volleyball girls (40 teams)
Congratulations to Elijah who received the new award for the player who showed the true values and tīkanga in kī-o-rahi. He was the Player of the Tournament. Congratulations also to Sienna who was nominated in the Tournament team.
PODCASTING WORKSHOP WITH DIGIKŌR / HE AKORAKA ĪPĀHO – DIGIKŌR
Thanks Will Fleming and the team from Digikōr for introducing our school to podcasting. Students learnt to ask good questions, practise and then interview for real. We are looking forward to making some bilingual podcasts of our own soon.
FROSTBUSTER / PATUA TE HUKAPAPA
The Frostbuster is an annual event based at Ferrymead under the gaze of Kā Kōhatu Whakarakaraka o Tamatea Pōkai Whenua (The Port Hills). There was a walk race, a running race, a bike race, a duathlon and an endurance team race. It started with a stretch with Mr Shanahan, the races, and then a treat before the walk back to school by the banks of the Ōpāwaho. Thanks parents and staff for setting up, packing down and helping. Thanks John Gamblin and Athletics Canterbury for the gear, much appreciated. Prizegiving was held today and everyone who completed it has a participation certificate.
PARISH FEAST DAY / TE RĀ HĀKARI O TE PARIHA
Well done to our students so active in their faith at the Feast Day of Stella Maris Parish. Altar Servers, readers (Prayers of the Faithful) and our juniors singing so many beautiful songs. It was a beautiful mass involving so many special groups in our community. Also good to see Mr Isherwood again!!!! Massive thanks to Janette Bradbrook for her efforts to coordinate all of our schools and the event, what an asset to this parish she is!
KUA OTI KĀ AKOMAKA MUTUKA E RUA / THE LAST TWO CLASSROOMS ARE FINISHED
So good! We are back to normal(ish). Rooms 3 and 4 are complete and students are back in. They have internal access to toilets and a flexible space between them. The classes can also open their sliders and work together! The colours match the sky colour theme throughout the school with blues and greys. One sliding door has the Mount of Olives on it and the other Mahaanui.
The Mount of Olives is part of a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem with three main peaks (each in the picture created for Room 3), each holding special stories in the Bible.
Mount of Olives (Central Peak): This is the most famous peak, where Jesus taught his disciples, wept over Jerusalem, and ascended into heaven(you might see Jesus if you look close enough at the door or picture below. At its base sits the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before his crucifixion.
Mount Scopus (Left): Known for its incredible views, this peak is traditionally linked to prophecies about armies coming to surround Jerusalem. In biblical times, it was a key lookout point for people approaching the city.
Mount of Corruption / Mount of Offence (Right side): This peak gets its dark name because King Solomon built altars there for foreign gods, turning away from his faith and causing a major scandal in Israel’s history.
Mahaanui (Mount Harper) is the famed waka of the well-known Māori navigator Māui. When Māui arrived at Te Waipounamu, he sailed around the island to ensure it was safe for people to live on. To show that the land was now habitable, a representation in rock of his celebrated waka was sent back to Aotearoa. The rock was placed behind Tarahaoa (Mount Peel). The mountain is also known by its longer name of Te Nohoaka-o-Mahaanui (“The Resting Place of Māui’s Waka”).

HATS / PŌTAE / WHAREAMA
The burn time is already 45 minutes. Shade sails are up, but, please protect our children by ensuring they have a plain navy bucket hat and have sunscreen on or in their bag every day next term, rain or shine. Teachers have spare sunscreen in classes but we can’t afford to do a whole class everyday, so it is there for those who forget. Teachers will try to avoid peak times for sport and do more on cloudy days to help. A dermatologist asked me how many times my skin has burned or become red in the past, I said, I can’t remember how many. She replied, well, your skin will remember. (two burns in childhood is enough to increase risk of skin cancer massively)

 WASTE FREE / KĀHORE HE RAPIHI

The school has a longstanding ‘rubbish free’ philosophy. We are noticing many students are bringing wrappers to school and dropping them everywhere. Reasons for waste free:
-Less rubbish in our school dedicated to God
-Things in small wrappers are usually the least beneficial for your child (nutritionally)

-The money we save on full rubbish tins/skips can be spent on learning

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
Jasmine (right), our SWIS worker working with a group through Lego Therapy.

KEEPING OURSELVES SAFE / KIA HAUMARU MAI
Next term we will be teaching the personal safety programme Keeping Ourselves Safe.
Keeping Ourselves Safe has been designed to give students the skills to cope in situations involving abuse.
It has three overall aims:
-To develop and strengthen children’s skills to keep themselves safe with other people, both online and face-to-face.
-To support and encourage abused children to get help from caring adults.
-To make teachers and parents and caregivers more aware of the need to keep children safe from abuse by adults or other children.
Keeping Ourselves Safe will be taught by your child’s teacher, with support from our local Police School Community Officer, Constable Meg Moynihan. Any child can be abused. While family homes may be a safe place, children will have contact with many people and enter a number of other homes. You can’t keep them safe all the time. If it doesn’t happen to your child, and we hope it doesn’t, it may happen to their friend. During the programme, students will be learning about the five types of abuse in the programme.
They are as follows:
Physical Abuse
Physical abuse is non-accidental injury. This can be caused by smacking, punching, kicking, shaking, biting, burning or throwing a child.

Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is the involvement of a child in sexual activities they do not fully understand and to which they are unable to give informed consent.

Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is when a child’s emotional and physical development is restricted because of the way the child is treated by adults.

Neglect
Neglect is when the basic survival needs of the child are not being met.

Family Harm
Family harm is adults hurting children or adults hurting other adults. This is of particular concern for children both as victims and as witnesses.

To be successful, Keeping Ourselves Safe needs your help and support. Your child may have home activities to work on with you. It is important that you participate as much as possible and talk to your child about what they have been learning in class. This will reinforce the messages the school is giving, and help your child to use their new skills with confidence. Please contact your child’s teacher if you would like any more information about the programme.
Constable Meg training Road Patrollers

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 4 / WĀHAKA WHĀ (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 4 / WĀHAKA WHĀ
WEEK 1 / WIKI TAHI
Friday 16 October – 9am to 11am – New family welcome and meeting principal@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 2 / WIKI RUA
Tuesday 20 October – Tamai Touch starts palo@stannes.co.nz
Thursday 22 October – Whānau Hui (families of students of Māori descent) – 5.30pm (please RSVP numbers) principal@stannes.co.nz
Friday 23 October – St Anne’s Sports Day josh@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 3 / WIKI TORU (TOKELAU LANGUAGE WEEK)
Monday 26 October – Labour Day – No school
Saturday 31 October – Te Rangaihi Kapahaka Competition mareta@stannes.co.nz
Sunday 1 November – Samoan Mass (this is for all students in our Samoan unit to attend-others welcome) ateliana@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 4 / WIKI WHĀ
Friday 6 November – Principals of bilingual schools visit St Annes
Friday 6 November – School Photos shelley@stannes.co.nz
WEEK 5 / WIKI RIMA
Friday 13 November – Show Day – No school
WEEK 6 / WIKI ONO (FILIPINO LANGUAGE AND CULTURE WEEK)
Wednesday 18 November – Blessed to be Bilingual PLD day at St Anne’s (lots of visitors)
Friday 20 November – Filipino Feast Day (Dance, food etc.)
WEEK 7 / WIKI WHITU (SOLOMON ISLANDS LANGUAGE WEEK)
Tuesday 24 November – Blake visit
WEEK 8 / WIKI WARU
WEEK 9 / WIKI IWA
This week – Leavers Dinner / Leavers Mass Dates and times TBC soon
Wednesday 9 December – at Catholic Cathedral College – Doors open 5pm, start 5.30pm sharp
Friday 11 December – Last Day – Finish 12pm

Te Atua te aro’a ‘ē kia manuia,
Dallas Wichman
Tumuaki / Principal / Pū ‘Āpi’i Ma’ata