Principal's Message
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Tēnā Koutou St Ignatius Community,
Over the course of this term it has been a pleasure to see our community further growing and forming with increasing parental involvement. In a Catholic Ignatian education, we educate not just the mind but the heart, the spirit, and the soul to find God. The partnership between school and home contributes significantly to this holistic development. Your involvement can be in many ways, such as; attending church together, supporting learning at home, attending school events, joining FOSI (Friends of St Ignatius).
Having actively involved parents and caregivers is so important to show our student body that learning and growing together matters to our community and that we can find God in our partnerships. St. Ignatius teaches that "Love ought to show itself in deeds more than in words." Your involvement shows love and allows our wider community to find God in our parent and caregiver body. Last week it was easy to find God in our FOSI parents, touching the heart and soul as they ably and passionately assisted with transition evening and welcoming new families to the college. What a great example of loving service they were.
Finding divine presence in every aspect of our lives is powerful and we should all take responsibility to help our young people find God; in one another, in our relationships, our work, and even in the small, everyday moments shared with others. When parents and caregivers model this awareness, showing gratitude and reverence for the world around you, you teach your child to recognise God’s presence and purpose in their own lives. This enables young people to grow in confidence, grow spiritually, and to live as compassionate leaders in the service of others; setting the world on fire with the love of God. Finding God in all things.
Inveniens Deum in omnibus,
Dean Wearmouth |
Novelty Sports House Competition
The final house competition of the year took place on Wednesday, featuring an exciting lineup of novelty sports. Ākonga from every house gave it their all, bringing energy and enthusiasm to each activity. Highlights included the hilarious moon-hopper race, the tricky three-legged race, and the teamwork on display during the tunnel ball challenge. It was a fantastic and fun-filled way to wrap up this year’s house events. We can’t wait to find out which house took the win at next Monday’s assembly!
  Year 7 Science Field Trip to the Stevenson Drury Quarry and Laboratories.
This week all Year 7 ākonga/students went on a field trip to the local Stevenson Drury Quarry as part of their current Earth Science topic. This trip was an enriching experience with a tour of the quarry laboratories and the quarry itself. We saw different parts of the quarry and its organisation around producing quality aggregate for roading, concrete and industry. The main rock types being an ancient sedimentary rock called greywacke and a volcanic basalt. Much thanks goes out to Nathan, Trevor and their teams at Stevenson Drury Quarry for making us welcome and sharing their knowledge with the students.
- Mr. Simon (I love rocks) Benge
 Sport
Athletics
This week we had four student's who represented our school at the Auckland Athletics Championship event at Go Media Stadium (Mt Smart). Each of these student's gave it their all, and had a wonderful day.
 Ākonga Elective
Enviro Club
The St Ignatius Environmental club would like to thank Matthew Almond 8D and Jacob Hughes 7M for fundraising and donating $80 to buy trees for the school garden project. This generous donation demonstrates conscience and compassion towards making St Ignatius a greener and more sustainable school. Great effort boys!
 Young Vinnies
At assembly on Monday, the Young Vinnies team was acknowledged by Young Vinnies Tamaki Makaurau for all their hard mahi this year. In Term 1, they did a food drive for Saint Patrick’s Pukekohe parish. In Term 2, they fundraised for Pro Love, a charity that provides new mums with products for their babies.In Term 3 they visited a local rest home to sing songs and gift art work. This term, they have done a cooking session, with the meals going to a local food bank, and made holiday cards for prisoners. They also have another visit out to the rest home this week. This couldn’t have been possible without the commitment of our Young Vinnies group to fulfill our mission to be the change the world needs through love, service, and commitment to Christ, community, and whānau.  Kapa Haka
St Ignatius was invited by Ngāti Tamaoho to attend a wananga at Papakura Marae Thursday, 28th November. The students in attendance spent the day learning kawa and tikanga practises surroudning both Karanga and Whaikōrero on the marae. We were welcomed on then broke off into group to explore the traditional roles of both males and females and understnad the importance of each. It was an affirming experience building whanaungatanga within our roopu and a deeper understanding of the important roles within te ao māori. The ākonga will continue to explore this and bring these practises into our kura for 2025.  Nacho's News
The next issue is out now! Please follow the link in the News section at the bottom of this Newsletter.  Ākonga Achievement
Ākonga Lennon Gabriel competed in the Northern Zones New Zealand Kyokushin Karate competition this weekend held at Waiuku College.
The competitors included teams from Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Waikato, Christchurch and Southland. Lennon Gabriel represented his dojo Papakura Karate and this was his first tournament. He won First Place in the Junior Kata 8th-5th Kyu competition.
Congratulations Lennon!  |
Manutaki Certificiates
This week the following ākonga/student were recognised by their Manutaki for having received an outstanding Weekly Excellence Review.
Year 7 - Jemimah Rwothomio
Year 8 - Jacob Ennor
Year 9 - Momoka Laga'aia
We celebrate these ākonga/students being more fully alive and reflecting the greater glory of God through their work and actions.  |
485 Award
Again, we had many nominations this week and it was a pleasure for senior leaders to read of students finding God in others through their nominations. Our top nominations this week are:
Rosaria Soo Choon nominated Kees Smith for demonstrating compassion by helping another student with their PE work
Samuel Chave nominated George Lieshout for showing compassion by having a constant smile all day
Erendiria Schuster nominated Frankie Frost for showing commitment by serving others during lunchtime games and being helpful and smiley
Ivy Killian nominated Michaela Arnet for showing compassion by always helping others in class and making people smile
Loisi Liava’a nominated Evie Morrison for showing compassion and conscience by supporting her when she was sad and giving her advice for the future
Killian Ainsley nominated Erendiria Schuster for showing competence and compassion for helping him when he fell over
Arjun Bal nominated Troy Al-Haddad for showing compassion and conscience by helping consistently both inside and outside the classroom.
This week's winner was Jennifer Merkofer, who was nominated by Aliana Pahulu for demonstrating commitment for helping Mrs Allen by folding towels in Food Tech. Congratulations Jennifer!
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Uniform Shop Hours
For more information please refer to the Uniform Shoppe Website
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First Holy Communion
Congratulations to all of the ākonga who received their First Holy Communion over the weekend at either St Patrick's Parish in Pukekohe or St Anne's Parish in Manurewa. We pray in thanksgiving to God for a wonderful weekend and look forward to the First Holy Communion Mass at St Mary's Parish in Papakura next Saturday evening.  |
Hi everyone, My Name is Rana Masad. My son Mario Nasa is in Year 7 at St Ignatius, my daughter Marina will hopefully join St Ignatius in 2026 and my little daughter Zara just started school this term.
My husband and I are from Bethlehem City in Palestine, my husband moved to New Zealand 31 years ago while I move here 13 years ago. I have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. I am currently working as a real estate agent with Ray White while also helping my husband in our business doing kitchen benchtops. I'm excited to be a part of our schools PTA and I'm looking forward to getting involved and helping
wherever I can!
A huge thank you to all our incredible sponsors and supporters out there who have come forward with items for our Christmas picnic Hampers. |
 | | And don’t forget to check out our upcoming events—we’d love to see you there!
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] |
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The People of Advent
By tomorrow, over 140 ākonga and staff who recently received the Sacraments of Confirmation would also have received their First Communion at the local parishes of St. Patrick’s (Pukekohe), St. Anne’s (Manurewa) and St. Mary’s (Papakura). They would be full members of the Roman Catholic Church, ready to welcome Christ in their hearts and proclaim the Gospel values with their lives. They have become Advent people, that is people of hope, love, joy and peace.
 This reality does not insulate the students from the ugliness of our world. How would we answer the question: “What is the worst year to be alive?” The recent pandemic killed millions and devastated the world. That felt really bad. But for those people living in 1918, there was the widespread flu that killed over 50 million people. Before then, there was the Black Death, the Bubonic plague, around 1349 that killed more than 75 million people. According to some others, the worst year would be the year 536, known to be the Dark Ages. Ashes from the Volcano eruptions created fog that plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness, day and night—for 18 months, initiating the coldest decade in over two millennia. Snow fell in summertime, crops failed; people starved, diseases set in, killing over 50 million people. These are not yet including the wars and violence that have happened in human history. It is not hard to imagine how “people will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world.” (Luke 21:26, from the First Sunday of Advent reading).
Each generation and every culture, every community and every individual have their own share of life disruptions, dangers and fears, simply because our world is rampant with them. Perhaps, the answer to the question: “What is the worst year to be alive?” is the year when everything goes wrong for us. It is contextual and even personal. Jesus himself experienced the worst time of his life and died on the cross. Yet, by the power of Love, he rises again to life. That is why we can always have hope, because Jesus Christ has gained us our eternal redemption, once and for all, through his death and resurrection.
The season of Advent is a time for us to reflect on this heavenly reality, a time for us to keep a lookout for Christ’s arrival. But this waiting is not a passive act, rather it is an active one. It is an act of discipleship. The school does that by accompanying our students in their journey of faith and life. We take part in preparing them to face the world that can feel apocalyptic at times, but more importantly to do so in the light of the Gospel. Living the Gospel in day-to-day life can heal us from the inside. It gives us hope. It lets us see the same troubled world but with the eyes of the heart, from different perspectives, both heavenly and worldly; both spiritually but also physically.
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Job Vacancy
The Catholic Diocese of Auckland is launching an exciting new Local Youth Ministers initiative in 2025. We’re looking for self-motivated leaders to become full-time Local Youth Ministers, working across a secondary school and parish. This is a unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people! Learn more and apply: www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/staff-vacancies/  |
Nacho's News Issue 24
Nacho's News Issue 24 is out now. Please enjoy our student Newspaper. | |  |
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