Principal's Message

Tēnā koutou St Ignatius community,

This week it was a pleasure to see our kapa haka group perform at school assembly. Commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi is something we take very seriously as a college and this commitment is in fact one of our four strategic goals. 

We are in the process of developing the strategic plan for 2025 and would appreciate input from our community with both positive feedback about what we are doing well and constructive feedback about what we can do better. Please take the time to consider what you value about our community and how we can improve and follow this link to complete our survey. All feedback is welcome and valued.

Please take time to read your child's progress report, which you will have received today. We have been very impressed with student efforts and academic achievements this term and are looking forward to seeing parents and caregivers at our parent ākonga interviews next week to discuss progress with you and celebrate how we are growing into the fullness of who they have been created and called to be; growing to become the greater glory of God.

Ad majorem Dei gloriam,

Dean Wearmouth

College Life

Mathematics

Great Kiwi Maths Competition

This year over 19 000 students from over 450 schools around New Zealand participated in the Great Kiwi competitions which includes Kiwi Mathematics. The competitions are designed by The University of Canterbury for New Zealand school students and cover national curriculum areas of Number, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement and Statistics. 
64 of our students took part in the Great Kiwi Maths Competition which is run through the University of Canterbury.  Any student who got a result in the top 25% of all entries earned a Merit Certificate, which three of our students did. 

Evie Morrison
John Glynos
Annie Yu

Any student who got a result in the top 9.5% earned an Excellence Certificate. To get a result in the top 9.5% of students who chose to compete is an impressive result, and seven of our students managed this.  

Alex Al-Haddad
Ashleen Kaur
Andy Nguyen
Ben Smith
Samuel Speedy
Reagan Crooks
Haeun Park

Congratulations to these ākonga.

Year 9 Mathematics

Year 9 students are learning about Nets - which are flat shapes that can be folded to make 3D objects.   9D received a wero (challenge): create the net of a 7cm by 5cm by 3cm box.  Each precise net earned one point for their house.

Here are the results:

Fabric Technology

Today a group of Year 9 girls served their school and church by making stoles for our Baptism service on Saturday. They created these from scratch, including delicate detailing with gold fabric paints.

Ākonga Elective

Behind the Scenes

Ākonga in the 'Behind the Scenes' Elective had their final catwalk presentations this week. They worked together to design costumes based on alien creatures and could only use newspapers to bring their designs to life.
It was a fun and entertaining afternoon showcasing their final costumes.

Strength & Conditioning

For this semester in Strength & Conditioning, we have focused on learning fundamental movement patterns such as squatting, hinging, horizontal upper body pushing & vertical upper body pushing. We have learnt this through focusing on learning skills such as Wall Walks (building to handstand push ups) as well as Single Leg Squats (building to performing Pistol Squats). We have also focused on developing explosive leg power through a variety of horizontal and vertical jumps. In Term 4 as the weather improves, we will have a greater focus on increasing aerobic capacity through running. 

"Strength is never a weakness, Weakness is never a strength" 
"Ko te kaha ehara i te ngoikore, Ko te ngoikoretanga ehara i te kaha"
- Mark Bell

Nacho's News

This week's edition is out now. Follow the News link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Manutaki Certificates

This week the following ākonga/student were recognised by their Manutaki for having received an outstanding Weekly Excellence Review.  

Year 7 - Ben Smith
Year 8  - Nikita van Dam
Year 9 - Therese Wong

We celebrate these ākonga/students being more fully alive and reflecting the greater glory of God through their work and actions.

485 Award

We had many nominations again this week and it was a pleasure for senior leaders to read of students finding God in others through their nominations. Some of our top nominations this week are:

Evony Burford nominated Yasmin Giri for showing compassion and commitment by always helping others when they are sad, cheering others up and making them laugh

Ivy Killian nominated Charlie Bower for showing compassion by including her and others and always being kind

Euan Tamonte nominated Zachary Vargas for showing compassion when he dropped his lunchbox and Zachary picked it up for him

Skyler Fonseca nominated Paea Finau for showing compassion when they lent them stationary and were a good friend

Max Schulthesis nominated Jacob Hughes for showing compassion by helping others in need in Maths in a very clear and specific way

Carrie Howarth nominated Tamara Edwards for showing compassion by helping her find her art book


The winner of the 485 award goes to Yasmin Giri who was nominated by Evony Burford for showing compassion and commitment by always helping others when they are sad, cheering others up and making them laugh.

Well done Yasmin!

Cura Personalis

Summer Uniform Term 4

As the weather seems to be warming up we will transition to our summer uniform at the start of Term 4.

Summer uniform guidelines are as follows:

- All ākonga/students will wear St Ignatius short sleeved white shirts and
  school tie.
- All ākonga/students will wear school blazer.
- Female ākonga/students wear a skirt or trouser options and white ankle
  socks.
- Male ākonga/students wear shorts and knee high school socks.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

This week we celebrated Māori Language week. In assembly this week Whaea Melanie explained the significance of the theme and the week:

'Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is an annual celebration for all New Zealanders. It commemorates the presentation of the Māori Language Petition to parliament on the 14th of September 1972.  It is an opportunity to show commitment to embrace the Māori language as an official language of Aotearoa. This special week is a time for the celebration and promotion of te reo Māori, as a living, dynamic, and rich language. The theme for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2024 is ‘Ake ake ake – A Forever Language’. Today the phrase often ends karakia and speeches with unity and solidarity.'

Whaea Melanie gave the whole school a wero (challenge) for the week to begin each lesson with karakia in Te Reo Māori.

Our Kapa Haka group performed a Haka Pōwhiri at the start of assembly and Manaia Davies (Year 9) spoke about the importance of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori:

'Ko Taupiri te Maunga, ko Waikato te Awa, ko Tainui te Waka, ko Waikatote Iwi, tīhei, mauri ora.
Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is a significant celebration for Māori culture, honoring and promoting the use of the Māori language. It’s a time when Māori communities and people across Aotearoa come together to celebrate their heritage and work towards revitalising te reo Māori. The week serves as a reminder of the importance of language in maintaining cultural identity and heritage, and encourages all New Zealanders to engage with and learn more about te reo Māori. By participating in Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, people not only show their support for the Māori language but also contribute to its ongoing survival and growth.'

Ākonga/students also had the opportunity to take part in a game of Wharewhare, a bingo game in Te Reo Māori, during lunchtime. The event was a great success, fostering excitement and engagement with the language.  The leadership of Manaia Davies, Declan Anderson and Ignatious Noue  made the event enjoyable and educational for everyone involved!

Ākonga Diary 2025 Art Competition

All ākonga/students are invited to enter the Saint Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College Ākonga diary art competition.
The theme this year is: “Finding God in all things”. Ākonga/students can express this theme in any visual art media of their choice, including; painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, college, and digital art. 
The competition winner will have their work featured on the cover of our 2025 Ākonga diary.

All entries to Ms Hyde-Hills by Friday October 18.

Upcoming Events

Parent/ Ākonga Interviews - Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th September
Last Day of Term 3 - Thursday 26th September
Teacher Only Day - Friday 27th September
First Day of Term 4 - Monday 14th October
Year 7 Theatre Trip -  Wednesday 23rd October
St Ignatius Got Talent - Wednesday 6th November
Teacher Only Day -  Wednesday 20th November
Year 7 Camp - Wednesday 4th - Friday 6th December

PTA News

We are delighted to introduced our new treasurer of the PTA:

Hello, I’m Louise Pearce, the treasurer of our newly formed PTA at St Ignatius. I have one daughter currently at St Ignatius and another who will be starting next year. My family and I live in Karaka, and I run a small business from home. I previously helped re-establish Friends of Hingaia Peninsula School along with the support of many other families which was a really wonderful experience and I'm really excited to be part of the new St Ignatius PTA. We have lots of fun events on the calendar and we would love for everyone to get involved and support these activities. These events great opportunity to meet other families in our school community and to raise funds for our wonderful new school. Our first fundraising goal is for some shade for The Hungry Wolf. New faces are always welcome at our meetings, so please come along. 

Just a reminder about our events coming up- we'd love to see you at some of them! 29 November 2024, Year 7 and 8 Neon Fiesta 10 December 2024, Christmas picnic 21 February 2025, Year 7 and 8 social event/disco 28 February 2025, Pickleball night 09 May 2025, Quiz Night Any questions, please contact [email protected]

Catholic Character

Baptism with Water and the Holy Spirit

This Saturday, some ākonga will be baptised in the Companions of Jesus Chapel. Regardless of the age of the persons baptised, this baptism will be a joyous celebration for the students, their families, the school community and the whole Church. It marks the beginning of their faith journey as new members of the Catholic Church. In Mark’s Gospel, before Jesus began his ministry, he went to the Jordan River to get himself baptised by John.

The Catholic ritual of baptism was likely inspired by the Jewish traditions. There were ablution rites that Judaism already had before Jesus’ time. Also, there were stories in the Old Testament of events in which the Israelites encountered grave danger only to be rescued by God. As they were escaping slavery in Egypt, they had no option but to cross the Red Sea. Through Moses, God intervened by parting the waters to give them a safe passage (Exodus 14:21-29). And again, God dried the Jordan River to allow the Israelites to cross it and entered into a new life in the Promised Land (Joshua 3:14-17). Water can be a symbol of danger and death, but it can also cleanse and be a symbol of a new life. What the Israelite stories above tell us is the difference, that is God’s presence. 

John the Baptist proclaimed that he was only baptising people with water, but Jesus would baptise them with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8). This is what we can hope for the students who will get baptised at school. They will be baptised with water, as an outward sign of the Catholic ritual; and with the Holy Spirit in their spiritual reality. The water of baptism symbolises death, but also a cleansing and a new life. In baptism, the students will “die” to their old selves, be cleansed in their inner being so that they could enter into a new life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. With God’s constant presence in their life, they are invited to follow Christ and participate in God's plan for salvation of all humankind, with the promise of eternal life.

Community Notices

Auckland FC, New Zealand’s newest professional sports team, are preparing to kick off their inaugural A League season on October the 19th against Brisbane Roar.
With 13 games at GO Media Mt Smart Stadium, including the first ever home Kiwi Derby against the Wellington Phoenix, AFC is calling on Aucklander’s for their support from day one!
To celebrate their opening game, the club is offering a special deal for schools and their communities. Redeem one free child ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket using the link below. This is a fantastic chance to be part of history at their debut match and join them in kicking off a new era for football in New Zealand.
https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/event/240061154B651F85?did=school

News