"Beyond the Stars" 2018

Beyond the Stars was the whole school production for 2018. We are so lucky to have Mrs Jemma Van Eijk, who writes, directs and choreographs the whole show. The story is baout a planet called Abideon where everyone has to dress the same , act the same and be the same.




A group of "cadets" experiment with building a spaceship and find themselves shooting through the universe. They land at an E-Cluster Spectacular - a festival celebrating the differences of its various member planets; Pacifa, Americano, Laurasia and Eurotopia.



Each "planet showcases these cultural identities and unique qualities through dance and costume. The "cadets" finally return to Abideon keen to celebrate everyone's diversity and unique characteristics and to "Change the World".

Community Garden Rotation

With Spring now here, it is time to rotate the crops in our Community Garden. The seeds that we planted at the beginning of the term were now ready to transfer into the gardens.

Last week we cleared the carbon crop gardens and prepared the new compost heap. At 11am today, joined by Gordon from Transition Matamata and Tamara, everyone had specific jobs to do in order to prepare the new beds. Plots needed to be dug over and compost added from our compost heap; old plants removed or transferred to their new garden; new seedlings and potatoes planted and carbon crops sprinkled such as pumpkin seeds to add nutrients to the soil.

A good watering to finish things off and now we wait for the crops to grow. 

Kingswood

                                                                            Kingswood                                                                                                                                           

 On Tuesday 10^th April we went to Kingswood. We did not walk because it was raining very hard and the wind was too strong so we drove to Kingswood. When we got there we waited outside for them to let us in. We sang 10 songs to the people. They clapped with us. After we finished singing we got lollies and a drink. Then we drove back to school.

   

Leadership Day 2018

Leadership day 2018

On a cold morning the year 4-6 children walked to Pollen Park for Leadership Day. If you don’t know what Leadership Day is it’s when all the schools (year 5-6) join together and do team building activities. At the start we drew stuff that involves our school on the New Zealand Commonwealth Games mascot paws. After we had morning tea and we started the games. We did about 6-7 games and my favourite one was marsh manoevers. To play this our whole team had to get across the field, walking on pieces of wood, and we could not touch the grass. Over all it was very exciting with teamwork and memory games.

Young Vinnies 28th of March.

Young Vinnies is a fun group that the year 5s and 6s at St. Joseph's School gets to do. We have activities like plays and baking. This year the Young Vinnies sang “Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree”, “Hippity, Hoppity, Flippity, Floppity, Funny Bunny” and “Little Einstein” theme song (but we forgot to do that one).  Ryan was a bunny, Patrick was an evil brown bunny, Joe was a pink bird, Tyler was a blue bird and I was a red bird. We did it at Pohlen Hospital on 28^th March. After the songs we gave them Easter eggs and cards with jokes.

 I have a joke for you.

Jack; I found a duckway last night. ‘

Joe; what’s a duckway.

Jack; oh about two kilos.

St Joseph's Day 19th March

On Monday 19^th of March the whole school went to Te Aroha to celebrate St Joseph’s day with Morrinsville, Waihi, Paeroa and Te Aroha. At the start of the day everyone went to church for mass and Father JeLo showed us a picture of St Joseph sleeping. After that we did a bunch of activities like soccer, 4 square and an obstacle course. But before that we had lunch. Some people got to order lunch which they enjoyed. After that we went back to school – and everyone felt exhausted from all the fun activities that we did.

   

 

School Swimming Sports 15.3.18

                                        

                          School Swimming Sports 15/3/18

We walked across to the town pools and most of the parents were there so we started.  The little kids started and they went across the pool. Then the middle swimmers went 2^nd. Then the big swimmers went last. It was a big long day when everyone got out of the pool their arms were tied.

Interschool Swimming Sports 23/3/18

In the Interschool Swimming Sports, the first race was the 50 meter.  The tent we sat under was the Firth Primary’s. They were so generous to let us share. The food was so nice. There was home baking, burgers and sausages but the races were fast and fun. When the races got called we had to go to the white tent and wait for our races. I was so proud of my achievement.  

Friendship Circle 7th March

When we went to Friendship circle on 7 March we sang some songs to the old people. We sang “Don’t sit under the Apple Tree” and “Haere Mai Everything is Ka Pai” and “If I were a Butterfly”. Belinda asked us some jokes. They were really funny and we tried to guess them.  We showed them our little house that we had made and some people had paintings about World Peace Day.   They liked looking at our work and watching our songs. When we finished they gave us a biscuit and a drink.

by Kyla Howe

First Aid Course

This year on 14/2/18 at first aid course we were practicing with bandages if someone got hurt. We had slings on and we looked like mummies. We were in the library. It took us like 4 hours. We did some role-play and it was fun. In one of the role-plays we were in a bus crash and everyone was injured. We had booklets to help us. Why did we go? Because we learnt to help people. What did we do? We wrote stuff in our booklets. Who was there? 

The year 4, 5 and 6s had to think what we were. I was the injured knee and the other people didn’t know what I was. I showed them my card and it said “bleeding knee”. At the end we said goodbye and we all got a little certificate. 

School Camp 5 - 7 Dec 2017

   School Camp 5-7 Dec 2017

Last year’s camp we went to Otamarakau and slept in a tent/marae. The best thing, for me, about the camp was that it was right next to a beach and a train track.

 At the beach there were kayaks that some people paddled in. There was a really deep bit in the water where you could jump in. At night we roasted marshmallows and burnt our faces looking at the fire.

 We drove to Kiwifruit Country and met a dog called Tilly. We went in a giant kiwi fruit cart and looked around at all the kiwifruit trees. Our guide was telling us all about the trees.

On the last day of camp, we planted trees next to the river bank. We got a shovel and dug up holes. We said good bye to the camp and drove off. When I thought we were going home we went to a lake and did a treasure hunt for things.

Then we drove back to school and went home, exhausted but happy.

By Patrick and Lochie.

Visiting Kiwifruit Country.

                   Campfire and toasting marshmallows

Planting karaka trees along the riverbank

                           Camp Otamarakau 2018 - done!

Christmas Choir 30 November - 3 December

Christmas Choir 2017

From November 30 – 3 December 2017, St Joseph School choir performed at the Anglican Church Christmas choir show. We sang songs like “If I were a Butterfly”, “Fill Every Valley Up” and “This Little Boy” sung by Sophia Martelli and Esther James. These two performed a duet with the rest of the school singing the chorus of “This Little Boy. It was a lot of fun. We all practised for about a month and 5 weeks it took us 2-3 weeks to decide which songs we would sing. It took about 4-5 weeks for Sophia and Esther to practise their duet. After the last performance at the church, we had ice blocks and lollies.

World Milk Day

WORLD MILK DAY! Thanks Fonterra the kids love having their free milk in schools every day! #milkmoostache

Little Garden Seedlings

Planting our seeds from the New World little garden promotion. Thanks To New a World for the donation! 👍They'll be great for our community garden.

Keep NZ Beautiful

Collecting rubbish around the school, roadside and Centennial Drive for Clean up NZ week! 
This year we only collected 2/3 of a bag and most of that was from Centennial Drive. We must be doing a good job at keeping our school clean!

Inter-school Cross Country

A beautiful afternoon for the Cross country - and a good decision by Hinuera to postpone until today.


Ready, set, go!
Everyone that does well at their own cross country goes to the Inter-school one. All the students at our school went because we are a small school. The inter-school one was held at Hinuera and all the schools around the Matamata area took part.
Parents came to do transport and watch the races. When we got there we put our tent next to a tree. The cross country was on a farm so there was cow poop everywhere. Joe, me and some other people stepped in it. We were cheering on the little kids and running with them. Charlotte did well in her race and came 7th. I thought the cross country was great. The best part was having a sausage and then we got to go home early!
by Patrick

And they're off! The 5 year old girls race begins...

Tyler approaches the finish line

Kyla and Tessa - almost there!

Mass for Bishop Denis

Year 5 and 6 students attended the Mass at the Cathedral last Friday to celebrate the milestones achieved by Bishop Denis Browne. 80 years old this month, 55 years as a priest and 40 years as a Bishop. What remarkable service to God, the Diocese and particularly to our parish here in Matamata. May God continue to bless and guide you and all the best from us!!

The altar at the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary

With Bishop Denis Browne

Bishop Steve loans his Mitre to Ryan! 

Te Reo Singalong

Sharon & Alan from Te Reo Singalong came to to teach us Maori words for Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori! It wasn't just for the little kids but for all ages. To teach us Sharon and her husband Alan dressed up and di a play to help the Juniors understand and learn the words for colours and animals. At the start there was a book about colours and Mr M was in the show. He was the colour pink! Everyone laughed. After an hour it was over. It was really fun!        

by Talia

Mud slide heaven!

A wet drizzly morning tea meant that we were all stuck inside. Lunchtime came and the rain had lifted. What can we do? Wet playground, wet grass, puddles. Let's have a mud slide!!!
Great fun in fact "the best day ever" was how one student described it.
Apologies to our Mums and Dads - our PE uniforms will need quite a soaking tonight!

Wig Wednesday for Child Cancer

St Joseph's Catholic School held a Wig Wednesday today  to help raise funds for The Child Cancer Foundation. Everyone wore the craziest wigs they could find which made for a very colourful day indeed!
Thank you to Rexine from the Matamata Chronicle who came down and took these photos of us and our stunning hairdos. Don't we look wacky!