Term 3 Week 3 6 August 2026 Newsletter #7
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Tena Koutou Katoa Talofa Lava Kamusta Malo e lelei Mauri Malo ni Faka talofa atu Namaste Greetings to all
Friday’s school cross country event went well despite the intermittent rainy weather. It was good that all of the year levels were able to complete their course. Congratulations to all of our students for their amazing effort and determination. It is always heart-warming to see our older students support the younger ones to finish and the house pride was evident. Thank you to our parents who were helpers on the day. Your contribution makes a difference to the organisation and it was much appreciated by us all. It is always great to see our whaanau at school supporting these events.
I am aware that some children are arriving at school very early before 8:00 am. Please understand that they wait outside, unsupervised until their teachers arrive. Students cannot enter their classrooms until 8:30 am. In addition to that, all students should leave our school grounds by 3:00 pm in the afternoon unless their parents are on site or they are attending an afterschool programme at which they are supervised. Children who are being picked up late need to wait at the front entrance so we know who is here. The pedestrian gates are locked at 3:00 pm. Please contact the school office if you know you are running late to collect your child or, alternatively, book them into D’Saints After School Care in our school hall. Teachers are not available to supervise children after school.
I have noticed some of our boys are still wearing their summer cotton shorts. We have been having some very cold winter days and our winter uniform shorts are much warmer. I ask that you get your boy the correct winter shorts so that they are not cold. The second-hand uniform shop at school is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 – 3:00 pm, or you could send a note along to the school office and we can see if there is anything available.
I’m sure everyone is thrilled with our Commonwealth Games netball result! I am proud of our NZ medal tally, which secured us 6th place and is comparable to Australia’s performance when taking our smaller population size into account. Netball is in full swing at our school, with our girls and boys competing in the Franklin Schools competition over three days this week. We are very lucky that we can provide a variety of sporting opportunities for our students. Once again, this is not possible without dedicated teachers and parents who prepare the children for their events and help on the day with supervision and transport. Thank you all.
Some exciting news. The School Board has agreed to Mrs Robin Burns, our DP, and I to join the RNDM Mission Sisters Pilgrimage, “Following the Footsteps of Euphrasie Barbier”, to France and England during the September/October school break. As you will be aware, St Joseph’s School’s charism is Mission because of the RNDM Sisters who began our school in 1923. In fact Euphrasie Barbier, their foundress, came with the first Sisters to Pukekohe in 1885, and again in 1886, before she returned to France. It is important that St Joseph’s School keeps our charism alive and being part of this initial pilgrimage for school leaders in NZ Mission schools, including our neighbouring St Mary’s School, Papakura, will help to further consolidate that. While the majority of this pilgrimage will take place out of school time, we sincerely appreciate the Board’s support enabling us to be part of it. Mrs Fleur de Farias will also join us out of personal interest and finish her pilgrimage in Italy, while we return to school for the beginning of Term 4.
Wishing you all a warm and blessed August. May you stay safe and warm as we navigate the colder days together.
Nga manaakitanga ki a koe.
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Special Catholic Character
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Values Awards
Aroha & Arahi
Lachlan Farrell & Ezra Afoa-Talavou – For showing leadership and encouragement during Mrs Webster’s Monday sports sessions. Always helping clean up at the end and supporting the younger children to have a go.
The Reuben O’Neill Bursary
What is the Reuben O’Neill Bursary?
The Reuben O’Neill Bursary has been established by the Catholic Diocese of Auckland to assist in making Catholic education available to some families and their children who otherwise would be unable to receive a Catholic education.
The Reuben O’Neill Bursary has been established to honour Reuben O’Neill (1932-2025) who was an exceptional volunteer and supporter of Catholic education throughout his lifetime. Reuben O’Neill was a husband, parent and grandparent and was recognised by Pope John Paul II in 1989 receiving a papal knighthood for his services to the Catholic Church of New Zealand. Reuben was proud of his own Catholic education and worked faithfully to make Catholic education accessible to as many people as possible, through building the Common Fund Cooperative, developing new schools, and improving the standard of existing schools across the Diocese of Auckland.
Who can apply for the Reuben O’Neill Bursary?
Whānau/families can apply at primary or secondary levels. Eligibility criteria include a desire for Catholic education for your child, and financial benefit to your family. Students of any year level can apply for the scholarship for the following school year.
What does the bursary cover?
The bursary covers the cost of Attendance Dues.
- Primary (2026) $544.00 per annum GST incl
- Secondary (2026) $1,124 per annum GST incl
The bursary funds the cost of Attendance Dues for a child while they are enrolled at a Catholic primary or secondary school. A primary school student will be awarded the bursary through to the end of Year 6.
A secondary school bursary will be awarded through to the end of Year 13.
How do I apply for the bursary?
Forms are available from your Parish office/Parish Priest or School Principal.
Forms should be submitted by 11 September, 2026.
Forms can be sent by email to: scholarships@cda.org.nz or by post to:
Pompallier Diocesan Centre,
Private Bag 47904,
Ponsonby, Auckland 1144
Attention: Vicar for Education
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Term 3 Key Dates
Please note these dates are subject to change For further dates see calendars on the website at: www.stjosephs.co.nz or the eTAP app
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SCHOOL POLICIES
SchoolDocs T3 Review: This term we are reviewing the following policies: School Community Engagement Policy (board), Inclusive School Culture (board), Enrolment, Student Attendance (board), Student Uniform/Student Dress Expectations, Concerns and Complaints Policy (board). Review closes 25 September 2026
A link to our school policies can be found on our school website or through www.schooldocs.co.nz
- Go to www.schooldocs.co.nz/
- Click Search for your school
- Start typing the school’s name (St Joseph’s School Pukekohe) and then select it from the dropdown list.
- Enter the community username: stjosephspukekohe and password: mission.
If you would like to contact the Board directly at any time, please do so through our email address schoolboard@stjosephs.co.nz
Our next School Board Meeting is Wednesday 12th August at 7:00 pm
HEALTHY EATING
As we are a Health Promoting School, food & drink brought to school by children is to be healthy.
Please do not include large bags of potato chips, burger rings, twisties etc or large packets of biscuits, sweets, instant noodles, fizzy drinks, juice or flavoured drinks or chewing gum.
Fruit is a wonderful nourishing sweet choice and a marmite and cheese sandwich is a great savoury option.
It doesn’t have to be fancy to be filling and nutritional. Please try and limit sugary, processed packaged foods.
We like to acknowledge children’s birthdays at school but we ask that parents don’t send along birthday treats-cakes, lollies etc. to be shared with the class as this makes it difficult for children with allergies & may put pressure on other parents to do the same.
WINTER ILLNESS
We are currently seeing an increase in viral illnesses within our school community, including viral stomach bugs, head colds, flu-like illnesses, influenza A, sore throats and fevers.
To help reduce the spread of infection, we ask that you please:
Keep students at home if they are unwell or have a fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, or are feeling generally unwell.
Students with **vomiting or diarrhoea** should remain at home for at least 48 hours after their last episode before returning to school.
Students with **fever** should remain at home until they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication and are well enough to participate in normal school activities.
If your child has **sore throat**, particularly if it is severe, associated with a fever, swollen glands, difficulty swallowing, or there is no obvious cold or cough, please have them assessed by your GP.
SCABIES OUTBREAK
There are currently widespread outbreaks of scabies across the North Island of New Zealand. If you think you child might have scabies please take them to a GP, as it can lead to severe complications like rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Health authorities emphasise that successfully stopping the cycle of reinfection requires treating everyone in a household simultaneously and washing all bedding and clothing at high temperatures (60°C).
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At St Joseph’s, we know that regular school attendance is essential for every child’s learning and success.
Our goal is for 80% of our students to attend school at least 90% of the time.
While our attendance dropped a little this term due to winter bugs that are continuing to make the rounds, we still have reason to celebrate! Our regular attendance for Term 2 went up from 66% last year to 70% this year. Thank you for your support in getting your children to school regularly. We hope to see our termly attendance numbers continue to improve year after year!
If your child is going to be away, please remember to notify the office via the eTAP app, the website or phone message by 9:00 AM.
St Joseph’s School Pukekohe Attendance Management Plan
For any questions or concerns regarding attendance, your child’s teacher should be the first point of contact. Requests for holidays during term time or for extended periods of absence should be submitted to the principal – Principal@stjosephs.co.nz
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School Notices / Upcoming Events
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Term Dates 2026
Term 3 – Monday 20th July – Friday 25th September
Term 4 – Monday 12th October – Tuesday 15th December
Labour Day Holiday Monday 26th October
Please email the office if your children are taking a holiday during the school term. stjoesoffice@stjosephs.co.nz
Term 2 School Attendance Dues are now overdue and should be paid in full.
Term 3 School Attendance Dues are due by week 5!
Dues should be paid by Week 5 of every term into our
ASB account: St Joseph’s School (Pukekohe) Board 12-3023-0338374-01 ref: student’s name
These can also be paid at the school office by eftpos or cash.
Thank you to the families who have made the effort to get their dues paid.
The Catholic Character Contribution is a voluntary contribution forwarded to the Catholic Education Services Board. The St Joseph’s Development Trust Contribution is a voluntary contribution which the Trust is extremely grateful to receive. This is used in our school for improvements to our site and facilities. Both of these voluntary contributions are tax-deductible
School Hours & Playgrounds
A reminder of school times: Students should not be at school before 8:00 am and all students should have left the school grounds by 3:00 pm unless supervised by their parents.
If families are running late for pickup, parents need to notify the office and children should be collected from the front of the school. Staff are not available to supervise children after hours.
Children should not be playing on the junior or senior playground before or after school unless they are supervised by their parents/caregiver. This is a health and safety issue
Helping in the classroom
If you have the time and energy, we welcome parents or grandparents to volunteer to work alongside some of our youngest children for an hour a day. If you are interested, please contact Lesley Wallace – lesleyw@stjosephs.co.nz
Second-Hand Uniform Shop
The Second-hand uniform shop is open on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons 2:30 – 3:00 pm.
All students should be in their winter uniforms. Boys should be in darker winter weight shorts, there are still some boys wearing summer shorts.
New items can be purchased from The Uniform Shoppe on Glasgow Road, Pukekohe
TERM 3 Lunch Options
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Aroha
Aroha have made a great start to the term. We welcomed new students to our team – Riha Mah into Aroha ST/JM and a new cohort of 12 students into Aroha LW – Louis Prince, Alleia Dimaculangan, Aaliyah Sherrard, George Irving, Namatang Utara, Okusitino Elika, Joshua Hewitt, Riley Mabute, Taylor So’Oula, Astraea Alwin, Sophie Watson and Ethan Pedroza.
We practised Cross Country running every day that we could and took part in the school wide Cross Country last Friday. They have loved building their stamina to run further and further. We enjoy coming together as a team for Team Prayer on Friday, learning Te Reo and finishing with Jump Jam in the Hall.
In Maths we have been learning about repeating patterns and describing the unit of repeat. We have started learning about God in RE and continue applying our knowledge of sounds and spelling patterns in our Reading and Writing.
Ako
Ako had a very busy start to term 3. We had our Proclaim the Word Finals and Cross Country races last week. Well done to all our children who participated, they were all so well prepared and gave their best. Our PE sessions were lots of fun as we learnt two folk dances. It was so lovely to see the children giving this a go and surprising themselves by how much they actually enjoy it. For the next two weeks the children will be honing their hitting and hand eye coordination skills by participating in tennis lessons. Thank you to the Pukekohoe tennis club for this opportunity.
For Inquiry the year 2’s are learning about Cultures and Traditions from China, Ghana and Europe. In Maths we are focussing on place value and we made “Guess my number” place value robots to support our learning. The year 3’s are focussing on the geographical features of Oceania and the effects of volcanic eruptions and the forming of volcanic islands and atolls.
Arahi
All classes in Arahi have been super busy to start the term. First, Y5&6 had E-Pro8 in the first week, where the students were tasked with creating objects such as a Paint roller to paint a room, as well as a carousel and much more. From there, a team will be selected to represent our school in the E-Pro8 final later in the term.
Our Year 4 students have been learning about the Earth’s layers through hands-on Geography activities, creating colourful Play-Doh models to demonstrate their understanding.
In Week 2, students in Years 4–6 enjoyed interactive workshops with Watercare, learning about water conservation and the importance of looking after this valuable resource.
Take a look at some of the highlights below!
 
  
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PTA/Friends of St Joseph’s School Notices
Yummy Stickers
One of our wonderful PTA members has offered to collect YUMMY sticker forms on behalf of our school. This will help to earn our share of $200,000 worth of sports gear. All you need to do is either print a sticker sheet to keep at home or use the sheet in the classroom. Once a sticker sheet is fully completed drop it into the PTA box in the office.
You can use the small individual fruit stickers or the labels from the Yummy fruit bags.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Look Sharp is opening in Pukekohe on Thursday 6th August – here is the St Joseph’s QR code that grants a 10% discount to all students, parents, teachers and staff of St Joseph’s School Pukekohe . You will also get a 10% discount on our printing and party hire services with the same QR CODE.
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