aspirations to begin to make plans for 2019. Our

strategic goals will continue to focus on:

• Embed leaders of learning

• Quality teaching and learning

• Grow future focussed, resilient learners

It has been fabulous to stop and celebrate our

achievements this year. Highlights have been:

• Matua Wiremu leading kapa haka

• Excel, #represent, strength programmes

running in our school

• Fabulous achievement in reading, writing and

mathematics across the school

• Beautification projects with our rainbow seats,

and our new planter pots which will be

completed shortly

• Students who are goal setting and articulating

their learning throughout the school

• Manaiakalani partnerships with our students

integrating their learning throughout the day,

covering a variety of NZ curriculum “big

ideas”

• Science focus—this year with chemistry

• Sporting achievements in swimming, cross

country and athletics

• Staff attending professional development with

digital learning and religious education and

achieving outstanding success

What a year it has been! We are immensely proud

of our students. They are our focus at PCS. I am

immensely proud of our staff. The team we have

works hard to support each other, setting high

standards and reaching some great success. Thank

you for your encouragement, support and help

over the year with events we have taken part in.

We wish each and every whanau a wonderful, safe,

blessed festive season and summer.

We have many changes with some new team

members in 2019! We are excited with the future

of PCS and hope that you are too!

Many blessings

Kathryn Carey (Principal)

Greetings, Kia Ora, Talofa, Bula Vinaka,

Konnichi wa, Dobrodošli, Sawa dee, Failte

As I write the last newsletter for 2018 there is much

to be proud of at PCS. We are building up for our

end of year celebrations where our students

perform at the extravaganza, receive praise at our

end of year praisegiving and receive their reports.

Our year 8 students have many special celebrations

as they head off on their new journey at secondary

school.

I would like to take this opportunity to farewell

many of our families and whanau who have been

with us for a number of years. We treasure our

senior students and continue to watch them in their

secondary years. It is with great pride that many of

our students take on leadership roles at secondary

school and are part of the leadership team, all key

elements of our graduate profile. Thank you to the

whanau and families who are a continuous support

to our school. It is vital to have a positive

relationship nurturing our students together with

you. We encourage you to keep in touch and we

will treasure our links.

To our new student leaders for 2019, we look

forward to the next opportunities and journey with

PCS.

CHRISTMAS STARS EXTRAVAGANZA

Set aside Tuesday 11th December at 5.15pm for our

Christmas Extravaganza. See your child’s teacher

for any outfits or themes that are in your class. It

will be a fabulous fun evening full of energy,

laughter and cuteness overload!!

PLANNING

Our staff are currently sharing data, goals and

Special points of interest:

• Christmas Stars Extravaganza Tuesday 11th Dec

• Senior Praise Giving Thursday 13th Dec

• Junior Praise Giving Friday 14th Dec

• LAST DAY OF TERM 4 Friday 14th Dec

Friday 30th November 2018 Week 7 Term 4

PLEASE NOTE—Can all drivers enter and leave our carpark from Dominion Road, so that our walkers are safe down the hill on to Eden Terrace and in the carpark. We are aiming to keep our pedestrians safe.

This calendar gives you an idea of what is coming up during the term. Put the dates somewhere important to remember them. Dates can change at times, so please check this calendar each newsletter. If there are last minute changes we will notify you by text, and add comments onto our school Facebook page. Make

sure you contact Helen in the office to ensure you are part of our “phone tree”.

A reminder, for safety of our children,

please drive slowly in the carpark. No child

is to leave the gate area unsupervised.

Please do not park in the yellow lines.

Dec 2018

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

Wk8 3

Year 5-8 camp

4

Year 5-8 camp

5

Year 6-8 camp

6

Year 6-8 camp 7

Assembly

8 9

Wk9 10

YEAR 8 SOCIAL

Candle Lighting

Mass 9.15am

11

SCHOOL EXTRAV-

AGANZA

12

Kiwi sport

13

YR8 Sailing

SENIOR PRAISE

GIVING 5.15PM

14

JUNIOR PRAISE

GIVING 10.30

LAST DAY!

15 16

At the end of the term you will be receiving our new reports. They are based around the learning for

term 3 and 4 of 2018. They are simplified to portray the learning that has taken place. We have a big

focus on integrating learning across a range of curriculum areas—again it is impossible to write all of this

in the report. Please check blogs, Facebook posts, bookwork and teacher comments to gain more in-

sight. Discussions with the teacher in previous hui and discussions is important too.

Remember that reports are a mere “snippet” of the learn-

ing that goes on in the classroom. It is extremely difficult

to summarise all of the learning within a few sentences.

There are many celebrations to be proud of. It is im-

portant to acknowledge the entire learning—the Te Whare

Tapa Wha Model on the left is an example of what we are

trying to achieve as part of resilience for our students.

The learning is identified with charts and tick boxes. Some

students are working proficiently in these boxes, others are

advanced. It is important to acknowledge how long it

takes to get through curriculum levels as the children move

higher up through the school.

Encouragement and support is vital to the learning for your

child. Celebrate and enjoy reading the great learning!!

What a fabulous whanau hui we had last week! Our senior students Evan, Andrew and Tiana shared snippets

of their learning for those who had missed our hui in term 3. More fabulous examples of our students leading

their learning with you! The exciting opportunity was shared to invest in a chromebook through our Ma-

naiakalani partnership.

The devices offered through this partnership are top-of-the-line with an amazing 3 year warranty, including 2x

screen replacements. The devices are “white-gloved” which means they include ALL SOFTWARE required for

school, and are set up and ready to go. The device has been tested by a team of experts and chosen based on

its specifications. A sturdy case with a strap is also included. Payoff options are also available—pay in full, or

pay off in 1, 2 or 3 years through finance.

If you were unable to make it along, don’t hesitate to speak with any of our staff members. Roll out begins at

the beginning of term 1, 2019. Extremely exciting!!!

ATTENTION! EXCITING NEWS!

AUBERT HOUSE IS COMING IN 2019!

Hi everyone, we have a very important announcement to make.

In 2019 our NEW(ish) HOUSE GROUP will be called AUBERT.

Details shortly, but first some history. Our School is named for Bishop Pompallier,

the person tasked with leading the preaching of the good news of the Gospel to the

South Pacific peoples, and the establishment of the Catholic Church’s organisation

in Aotearoa New Zealand. Clearly we owe a great deal to his zeal and vision. His

efforts are a wonderful example to us.

Our house groups have been named for important models of faith whom we can all

learn from and aspire to as disciples of Jesus.

Inspirational St Marcelllin Champagnat founded the Marist order. He was an im-

portant mentor and friend to Bishop Pompallier. St Marcellin inspired many others to

go and do as Jesus would do.

Merciful Venerable Kathryn McAuley founded the Mercy sisters, the order of teach-

ing religious sisters who in turn founded our school. Venerable Catherine taught

others how to be merciful and kind in their dealings with others. Her sisters worked

closely with Bishop Pompallier in Aotearoa to spread God’s Love and Mercy in our

country.

Courageous St Peter Chanel was a patient, kind, loving and forgiving. St Peter

Chanel travelled with Bishop Pompallier and followed on from St John the Baptist to

prepare the way for Christ to grow in the hearts of the people in Futuna. He showed

us to be steadfast in our faith.

Compassionate Venerable Suzanne Aubert answered God’s call and travelled with

Bishop Pompallier to Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, she established a special order

of religious sisters to show God’s compassion and kindness to those who needed it

most.

St Mary (Maria) was the mother of God. Her immaculate example of discipleship is

a special guide for us all of how to follow her son Jesus.

As you will have noticed, four of these five special people were known to Bishop

Pompallier in his work, and the other is Mary, Jesus’ Mother.

To better celebrate the history of our church in New Zealand, after much prayer and

discussion, we have decided to retire the name Maria from use and gift the name

AUBERT to the red house in our school. This decision has not been taken lightly

and allows us to give honour to each of our house patrons while remembering the

special place the mother of God has in our faith.

God Bless, Phil

.

Congratulations to our PCS Athletics Champions for 2018!

We are so proud of all of our students and acknowledge that this was the best year we had for par-

ticipation!!

These students in particular have shown their talent in athletics. We also acknowledge our year 4-8

students who were the top 3 in each event who went on to compete in the Central Zones and then

those who were successful also entered the Far North Zones. All results are posted on our school

Facebook Page—Pompallier Catholic School, so be sure to check it out!

Thank you for your patience, as the weather made it tricky to get all the events recorded! The

winners are calculated over all elements including—sprints, long jump, high jump, discus, shot put. 3

points are gathered for a win, 2 points for 2nd and 1 point for 3rd. The total then decides who gets

the overall title of athletics champion.

Year 0: Karly Kopae and Oscar Tye

Year 1: Keita Smith and Reed Dickinson

Year 2: Te Whiti Waipouri and Tae Smith

Year 3: Kristina Harris-Davoren and Nathan Smith

Year 4: Caleb-Rose Waipouri and Arli Hokai

Year 5: Alyx Cutler and Raidon Reich and Roman Nasr

Year 6: Xanthe Hone-Moore and Blake Maskell

Year 7: Nevaeh Davis-Mahoney and Quentin Shanks

Year 8: Ashton Hodgson-Kimber and Riccardo Hone-Moore

“I was proud of how many times I stood up” Lily

“I felt great when I achieved my goal of standing up on the board” Liam

“I achieved standing up 3 times and I felt really really good ” Sharron

“Its amazing how many waves you can catch in one day! Holly

“I was proud of standing up on a surfboard because I didn’t know I could” Hiroshi

“I felt good because I was supported really well” Ryder

“I was really happy when I stood up” Lucy

“I was grateful the way that we were guided through the surfing process” Portia

“I was proud that I followed the steps for surfing correctly” Paumea

“I enjoyed the party—surfing together with two people” Ricardo

Surfing fun for our year 4-5 students last week. Another opportunity to gain

experiences of education outside the classroom. Check out the student voice

from the Kea class year 4 students.