ST JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC
SCHOOL
TAKAPUNA

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Welcome back whanau. Welcome to Term 4!

This term sees the sKids organisation taking over our after school care programme from Tess and Jeff, who have sadly decided to move on to other ventures. They have really enjoyed their time with our school community, whom they have been involved with since their son TJ attended St Joseph’s. We thank them for the wonderful way in which they supported all the children who attended morning and afternoon sKids and for their AWESOME support of our school community.

On Thursday, our Kapa Haka, guitar group and choir performed for the Parish ‘Over 60’s’ group. We were very proud of their performance and the ‘Over 60’s’ were very impressed with the skills and talents of the children. The children look forward to sharing their performances with you all at the ‘End of Year Celebration’ on Wednesday, 16 December, beginning at 11 am at the Rosmini Auditorium.

These are the key dates for Term 4:

  • Monday, 26 October – School Closed for the Labour Day Public Holiday
  • Wednesday, 2 December –  School Mass beginning 11 am
  • Monday, 14 December – Year 6 Mass beginning 6 pm
  • Wednesday, 16 December – End of Year Celebration at Rosmini Auditorium beginning at 11 am
  • Whanau picnic on the bottom field following the EOYC
  • Friday, 18 December – School closes for 2026 at 1 pm

This term The overarching themes for the term are:

Kia whiti ora te ngākau Māori
Let your Māori heart be a bright shining beacon
&
Whakairo mai te whare mā te kupu
Make the whare mā an ornament of your words

Throughout the day this term, and at morning prayers, the children will discuss and focus on these two themes.
All the best with your Christmas shopping

Ka manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman
Tumuaki

The Principal’s Message will cover the following topics:

  • Welcome
  • First PTFA Meeting for Term 4
  • Art on Sale
  • Carpark
  • Walking Hats
  • “Answer the Call” Art Competition
  • Enrolments
  • Change in 2027 – Bringing Your Own Device
  • Health Curriculum
  • Sports
  • Auckland FC
  • World Mission Sunday
  • Parish News
  • Community Notices

WELCOME

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new students who started Term 4 with us this week:

Adrianna, Aiden, Adrianna, Cora, Elden, Elvano, Madeleine, Misty, Nasi and Neorah

FIRST PTFA MEETING FOR TERM 4

Meeting – Tuesday, 20th October at 7pm

ART ON SALE

CARPARK

On Tuesday 13 October at afternoon pickup, a parent returned to their car to find it had been damaged by another car. If you have any information about this incident, please could you contact the office. Please be aware of both children and other cars at this time as both the morning drop off and afternoon pickup are peak time traffic for our school. Extra care is needed. Thank you.

WALKING HATS

This week we have nearly achieved the goal of 430 ‘walking hats’. Thank you to the parents who have ensured their child has a school hat – Hats (Terms 4 & 1) Navy blue sunhat (wide brimmed or bucket – no label). Please ensure the hat is named on the inside with their full name. 

Children are expected to wear their hat whenever they are outside including waiting at pick-up. ‘Hats on Heads, Hats in Bags’ ensures the children will always have their hats available to put on when they are outside.

“ANSWER THE CALL” ART COMPETITION WINNER 

Kia ora Mrs Young ,
Congratulations! I’m delighted to let you know that Matthew has been named as one of our 10 Winners in the Kaitiaki2Share 2026 competition! Please pass on the following to Matthew:
Your incredible ‘Answer the Call’ artwork and message stood out for their creativity, passion, and really captured this year’s theme, “Answer the Call – Be a Kaitiaki of Creation”, and the judges were incredibly impressed by your entry. Each winning idea demonstrated a deep understanding of our shared responsibility to care for God’s creation and inspired others to take meaningful action.
This year, Kaitiaki2Share received 133 entries from right across Aotearoa, with 242 students taking part, so you can be very proud of this achievement. We were particularly impressed by the imaginative and innovative way you brought the theme to life through your incredible ‘Answer the Call’ artwork. Your creative idea shows how individuals, schools, families, and communities can answer the call to protect and nurture the environment for future generations.
The judging panel had the difficult task of selecting winners from many outstanding entries, and your contribution truly shone through. Thank you for sharing your talents, ideas, and commitment to caring for creation.
What happens next
 
Within the next week, we’ll be updating the Caritas website to celebrate our 2026 winners, including your name, school details and an image of your winning creative idea.
Your prize
Your prize totals $100, made up of:
It’s entirely up to you how you’d like to use your prize money — whether that’s keeping it for yourself, dividing it up, giving a portion back to your school, putting it towards an initiative, or whatever feels right to you.
A tree will also be planted in your name to mark this achievement, and you’ll receive a digital certificate acknowledging this to keep and share with your whānau and school.
On top of this, as one of our winners you’ll also receive a physical certificate recognising your achievement, which will be posted to your school.
Congratulations once again Matthew and to St Joseph’s School – Takapuna on this well-deserved achievement. We hope you continue to inspire others to join in caring for our world.
Ngā mihi nui,

Joe Ready
Mission Advisor

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand

(you can view all the winners here)

ENROLMENTS

Is your pre-schooler enrolled? If not please could you complete an enrolment form and provide the necessary supporting paperwork. All the information about enrolments is on the school website

CHANGE IN 2027 – BRINGING YOUR OWN DEVICE

Over the last few years we have been moving away from children being given the option to bring their own devices (laptops/chromebooks) into school to support their learning. Teachers have moved to planning their programmes of learning that are ‘hands on’ and see children recording their learning in exercise books. This move also reflects the expectations of the new curriculum.

In 2027, children are not to bring their personal devices to school. The school has sets of devices that Home Groups can access when required by the class programme of learning.

HEALTH CURRICULUM

We are carrying out our biannual review of our Health curriculum. This is a Ministry of Education requirement.  Please could you review our Health curriculum programme and respond to the survey. This will assist us in determining how the programme will be developed over the 2027/8 in line with the new NZ Curriculum that comes into play in 2027. Thank you for your participation in this survey. 

The survey link was sent to you via your HERO app on Wednesday this week, 14 October.

SPORTS

Please return all sports uniforms that are no longer needed for the year, including PE shirts, Basketball singlets, and Netball uniforms. Kindly bring them to the office as soon as possible. Thank you!

AUCKLAND FC – DISCOUNTED TICKETS & POTENTIAL ON-FIELD EXPERIENCE!

On the Thursday of the last week/last term, we were fortunate to have  Auckland FC visit our school.

William, Year 6, wrote an email to the Club, asking if we could have their flag to add to our flag collection. They were delighted to be able to come and present it to William on behalf of the school in front of the Kakariki and Kakapo teams

We have since received the following email:

Thanks for having us at your school. Our events team said it was a great success!

As a thank you, we would love to offer your school discounted tickets to our Home Opener — Auckland FC vs. Melbourne City, Saturday 17 October, 5pm.

Families can book through Spinzo, so everyone you share the link with can grab their own ticket straight from your unique link here

If 35+ tickets are sold using your link, we’ll organise an on field group experience for the kids — a great chance for kids to get up close with the team.

Any questions, just let us know. It is going to be one of our best crowds of the season, and we’d love to have your community there!

We invite you to share your link far and wide.

Jacob Coyle
AFC
Account Executive Bookings & Membership

Let’s see if we can sell 35+ tickets and have our children receive this on-field experience. Get your families and friends involved!

WORLD MISSION SUNDAY

PARISH NEWS

Latest News from St Joseph’s Parish

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Please check out the latest community notices  which you can find on our school website.