Principal’s Message

Tena koutou katoa,

All glory be to God! We made it!
Praise the Lord! We have all crossed the finish line standing tall.

Term four has been filled with numerous milestones and events. The final term; consisted of our successful Market Day which led on to the individual Christmas class parties and excursions. A well deserved treat for our children.

This was followed by a special visit from our local Mangere Fire fighters; as the conclusion of our inquiry learning – Get FireWise.

Next, was our stupendous Whanau days; that were riddled with fun and laughter! Fa’afetai lava to Mrs Godinet, Charlotte our RTLB team and our RUA BLC team for making this a successful event!

But wait … there’s more!

An abundance of Christmas presents gifted by our generous two stakeholders- Suncorp and Book a Bach. Our RUA hearts were teeming with appreciation and gratitude.

Finally, with the conclusion of our Whole school prizegiving. This event celebrated the mahi and industrious efforts and partnership with parents, teaching staff and akonga.

Last but not least; we take a moment to send our deepest condolences to Sita, Mary-Ellen and the whanau for the most recent loss of our forerunner of Rise Up Academy, Madam Chair Sally Ikinofo. Her leadership and wisdom will be dearly missed at Rise Up. We find comfort that her legacy and leadership will carry on for decades through our staff, tamariki and whanau past and present.

In closing, as we all take time to rest and celebrate this festive season with whanau; please remember to keep our tamariki safe at the beaches, roads and even shopping malls!

On behalf of Sita, Presiding member, the Board and your RUA Team; we wish you a very joyful Christmas and God-filled new year!

Blessings,
Rona Faga
Deputy Principal
Rise Up Academy School

The Calendar

Recent Events

Term 4: In the Classroom

Room 5

Term 4 has been a busy term with lots of activities for Room 5 students. We continued working on our normal learning timetable. Our class enjoyed Guided Reading session where they learned Structured Literacy; letter sounds, speed words, letter formation, letter writing, blending phonemes into words, decoding words and applying all skills into reading a book. By providing a structured approach to learning, children can build strong foundations in these critical areas. Structured literacy is especially helpful for all students to improve their reading skills.

We started term 4 with working on completing our products that we planned to sell on the Market Day. Through Inquiry discussions, students came up with the idea of reusing recycled plastic bottles as pots to grow plants. It is one way to learn how to save money especially in this time of high living cost. Everyone actively participated and contributed to creating plastic bottle pot plants and take responsibility of looking after it.

Market Day happened this term and is one of the biggest learning experiences for our class. Students learned to harvest what they sow in the garden. They learned about financial literacy, learning to make and sell products like pot plants, artwork, mugs and food; salad and strawberry smoothie using crops from our garden. It’s hoped to boost students’ self-confidence to work alongside others, make wise decisions and solve problems. We celebrated our students’ hard work with our end of year trip to Chipmunks Pakuranga. It was a fun day full of excitement. Everyone enjoyed playing games and eating lunch together.

We end our Term with sharing our class Christmas presents which symbolises kindness, gratitude and connections with our loved ones. Merry Christmas Room 5 and enjoy the School Holiday.

Faafetai, Mrs Partsch

Room 4

Merry Christmas whanau!

What a year!
Room four has had an eventful term four. Our Market Day show cased our students’ new knowledge, art, sales and marketing skills.

Thank you once again for your support; as this enabled akonga to enjoy their end of year party at Sylvia Park watching Moana with their food combos, Christmas photo with Santa, transportation and McDonalds sponsored by the Govenders. Chehouuu!

The season of giving and receiving was engraved into the sharp
Minds and good hearts of our Room four learners.
They practised their Letter writing skills, neat handwriting and using their princess and gentleman manners to continue the precious
partnership with Suncorp and Book a Bach who have provided gifts for our Rise UP students for the past three years.

The joy and endless smiles on their faces as they opened their gifts was priceless.

Thank you to our wonderful admin team for organising this momentous event with our stakeholders.

Our final event for 2024 was out Prize Giving which recognised our tamariki who achieved merits in the following areas.
I would like to congratulate our Room four award winners for:
Year 2 Literacy- Ionatana Muelu
Year 3 Literacy – Matthias Roache
Year 2 Numeracy – Billinda Farani
Year 3 Numeracy – Halo Sio
Perseverance – Sulieti Tava
Junior Arts – Sela-Rose Faleta

We are so proud of All our Room four learners who have made progress in various curriculum areas and key competencies such as Managing self, contributing and participating and growing their Good hearts with God’s word.

Finally on behalf of Mrs Govender and myself, I would like to wish our Year three graduates a prosperous year in 2025.

Our hearts are saddened that you will be Year 4’s next year; but we have been blessed with being a part of your learning journey.

We farewell our princess Sulieti Tava and Lavernia Purea-Tautu and their beautiful whanau; as they continue their learning journey at a new kura in 2025.

Nehemiah 8:10
“Let the joy of the Lord be your strength.”

Have a very Merry Christmas and God-filled new year Room four!

Blessings,

Mrs Rona Faga & Mrs Desi Govender

Room 3

Wow! Where do I start?

Assessments, school reports, our inquiry; market day, sports day, rock-climbing, bouncy castles, and bubble day, class outing to the park, pools and McDonalds. The training to sing in harmony and unison as a whole school, learning the haka (with passion) Christmas presents day and watching our students faces as they opened their gifts, and oh the amazing gifts. The list goes on.

There was much richness in our Inquiry this term as I prepared the students for the presentation – The Market. Mathematics was integrated with the handling of money. Rich spelling words, advertising, art and of course the excitement of watching the plants we had planted grow. We experimented on two flower plants around devotion. We all said something mean to one, and complimented the other one. Much to our surprise, the one we were mean to did not look as healthy as the other. The spoken word brings blessings or curses. God spoke life into creation and we have power to speak life into the promises of our lives and the people around us.

Our students are blessed with the wonderful opportunities that are given to them. But that is God pouring his blessings over us and the students and revealing His love for us all.

I wish you and your families a wonderful and fruitful Christmas as you relax into the next year with a well deserved holiday and precious time with your family.

Blessings

Ms Bella

Room 2

Kia Ora Akonga and Whanau of Ruma Rua!
Can we believe the year is coming to a close – with the last day of school upon us and only a week until Christmas. Term 4 has been hectic with testing and activities. The students have worked hard and had some fun times also.

The first four weeks of the term were all about preparing for market day which was held on Friday 8th November. Thanks to all the whanau and friends who came along and supported our class, and our school. The students completed lots of art and craft projects and baking to be sold alongside our produce that we grew in the school garden. Our lettuces were a good size and have grown back so feel free to take some home. Our carrots were a bit small, but the students were proud of what they had achieved and have learnt about growing vegetables which can help them in the future.

After market day had been completed, weeks 5-8 have been tests, tests and more tests. The students were tested in their reading levels, maths levels, narrative writing skills and spelling. I felt bad having to do so many spelling tests, but the students persevered, and we eventually got through them all. Congratulations to all students for improving their grades over the course of the year.

After all the tests had been completed, students deserved a bit of fun time, and the class had a lot of fun staying at school for our fun day. The water slide was the most fun and we all learnt we needed two blue tarpaulins! But fun was had despite all the bruises students had the next day. Our school wide activity days were also a lot of fun and it was great to have whanau and friends join us for some of these events. Students made it to the top of the rock climbing wall who struggled with it at first and a couple even worked as a team to complete it blindfolded (under the experts supervision at lunchtime), well done everybody for giving it a
try. Students got some lovely presents in the school Christmas day, even if some didn’t get what they asked for, we are grateful for what we have.

That brings us to the end. The school prizegiving and last day of school. Congratulations to our prize winners, it was very difficult to award the prizes with only a mark difference between potential prize-winners, so keep working hard next year. Farewell to some of our Year 6 students who are moving onto other schools for Year 7: Fisi-Anne, Kaliamata, Kioko, Knolan, Nissi, Riley and Tyler. We wish you all the best at your new schools (in Australia for Kioko), take every opportunity you can and show your Good Hearts, Strong Bodies and Sharp Minds that you have developed at Rise Up Academy.

Have a wonderful and safe Christmas and Summer Holiday!! I will see you in 2025 as Year 6 & 7 students. God Bless.
Ms Weightman

Room 1

What a term to remember.

As the school year comes to a close, we can’t help but reflect on the incredible achievements, memorable moments, and the growth that has taken place within Room 1. It has truly been a year full of excitement, hard work, and most importantly – joy!

Our students have continued to excel in their academic pursuits! From our market day focusing on the Law of the Harvest to our narrative writing projects, the enthusiasm and dedication displayed by all of our learners has been inspiring. Results have shown great student achievement and progress which is what we can all celebrate this term. Well done Norton Karaitiana and Onosa’i Titimanu on winning the Y8 literacy and numeracy awards respectively. To our Year 7 winners a huge congratulations Isabelle Macgregor and Kobe Winter-Satini on your efforts this year.

There have been too many highlights for me from whanau inclusive day to our rainbows end trip which our class fundraised for. It was a great way to wind down for the year and was only fitting for a class who put in a lot of effort to get there. We had the opportunity to also go on a Y8 camp which is something I know our Y8 students will remember for a lifetime.

While academic and extracurricular achievements are important, I have had the privilege of witnessing our class and their personal growth. Our students have taken on new challenges, developed leadership skills, and built lasting friendships. This year, our devotional themes inspired our students to practice kindness, respect, and perseverance in their daily lives.

A HUGE THANK YOU
We couldn’t have had such an incredible year without the continued support of our amazing families, dedicated staff, and hard-working students. Your contributions and commitment make our school a truly special place. Whether you volunteered at events, attended parent-partnership meetings, or simply cheered on our students at games, your involvement made all the difference.

As we close out this school year, I want to thank each of you for your support and for being part of this incredible journey. To our leaving students I pray God continues to bless and give you favour on your schooling journey. To our Y7 students I look forward to welcoming you back next year for another exciting chapter in 2025.

Wishing you all a joyful, restful, and well deserved Christmas break!

God Bless You

Mr ‘Ofanoa

END OF YEAR PRIZEGIVING

Congratulations to all our Award recipients. Thank you for working hard all year round in order to achieve such validation by your teachers, peers and other staff members. Thank you for using your Sharp Minds, Strong Bodies and Good Hearts. To our Year 8 Graduates and Leavers we pray you transition to your new schools well and that you will meet some amazing people in your corner who will identify your gifts and strengths and will love you as much as we do.  Go well!

LITERACY AWARDS – Top Students in their Year Levels

Year 1 – Bryson Chang

Year 2 – Ionatana Muelu

Year 3 – Matthias Roache

Year 4- Graceson Faga

Year 5 – Skye Suamasi

Year 6 – Nissi Letiu

Year 7 – Isabelle Macgregor

Year 8 – Norton Karaitiana

NUMERACY AWARDS – Top Students in their Year Levels

Year 1 – Rocky Popata

Year 2 – Billinda Farani

Year 3 – Halo Sio

Year 4 – Tau-Timothy Farani

Year 5 – Eli Macgregor

Year 6 – Tyler Henry

Year 7 – Kobe Winter-Satini

Year 8 – Onosa’i Titimanu

PERSEVERANCE AWARDS – Students who may not have been the top in their class but did their best in all areas

Year 1 – Isaac Tangimetua

Year 2 – Filipe Kaufusi

Year 3 – Sulieti Tava

Year 4 – Ina Partsch

Year 5 – Carla- June Saga

Year 6 – Fisi-Anne Sifaheone

Year 7 – Lynell Matamaki

Year 8 – Lazarys Sofele- Sinisa

AFS AWARDS

SUPA Best Choir Performer – Hadassah Peauafi

SUPA Junior Performer of the Year – Tau-Timothy Farani

SUPA Senior Performer of the Year – Hadassah Peauafi

AFS Culture & Heritage Junior Award -Sela Rose Faleta

AFS Culture & Heritage Senior Award – Lynell Matamaki

AFS Sports Award – Isabelle Macgregor

AFS Leadership Award – Renita Farani

2024 House Award – NGARO – BLUE HOUSE

100% ATTENDANCE AWARDS for 2024

Farani Aiga

Macgregor Whanau

SPECIAL AWARDS

Good Hearts Junior Award – Hannah Muelu

Good Hearts Senior Award – Renita Farani

Strong Body Junior Award – Hannah Muelu

Strong Body Senior Award – Tyrus Piutau

Sharp Mind Junior – Tau-Timothy Farani

Sharp Mind Senior Award – Isabelle Macgregor

The Performing Arts Award – Lynell Matamaki

Te Ipu o te Matauranga (Te Reo Maori) – Lisa-Marie Peato

Leadership Award – Isabelle Macgregor

Mainfreight Excellence Award – Onosa’i Titimanu

Rise UP Award (Student Choice) – Kobe Winter-Satini

Principal Award – Pedro Kikau Seniloli

2024 Student Councillors; Loimata Lilo Tua-Akatea, Uikelotu Loumoli, Isabelle Macgregor, Nissi Letiu, Renita Farani, Onosa’i Titimanu, Lazarys Sofele-Sinisa, Leikyn Winter-Satini, Bronze Talagi, Pedro Kikau Seniloli

2024 Year 8 Graduates; Loimata Lilo Tua-Akatea, Uikelotu Loumoli,Onosa’i Titimanu, Lazarys Sofele-Sinisa, Leikyn Winter-Satini, Pedro Kikau Seniloli, Hadassah Peauafi, Ema Langi, Leilani Langi, Norton Karaitiana & Arden Arama.

A big fa’afetai tele lava to our volunteers who are our ex RUA students; Soteria Raine, Michael & Gideon Fe’ao and Nevaeh Letiu and also to Maria Pokai our photographer this year and also to the Macgregor & Fe’ao Whanau who donated the gifts for the special awards.

RISE UP CHRISTMAS

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights…. James 1:17

Once again our school was blessed by our amazing, generous friends Deanne, Vanessa, Shannon and their team of people. In November our children write Santa Letters explaining what they need and what they would like. We use this as a great learning opportunity to teach them the difference between a want and need, being grateful and thankful and also use their writing skills that they have developed over the year.

This year we asked our students to come wearing a Christmas accessory, so we had santa hats, reindeer antlers, elf ears and even some sparkly headbands. As the children watched our guests bringing down the presents their faces lit up. We were also grateful to have Nainz from SUPA come and lead our singing as our students serenaded our guests with their beautiful voices.

With our two Santas prepped and ready, our gift giving began. Each student’s name was called out and had to come up and receive their gift from our own Santas – Mr Weightman and Shannon. Once all gifts had been given and all the formalities were completed, our students made their way back to their classrooms where the paper ripping began.

After all the high pitched screams, the shouts of joy and beaming faces, our Christmas day was finished off with games of soccer and touch with our special guests from the Blues Rugby team and also Candy Floss for everyone.

We are grateful for the doors that God opens and the blessings that he pours out over our students and school.

FIREWISE

Rise Up Akonga took part in the Get Firewise programme, a curriculum-based resource that gives children of primary age the knowledge and behaviour they need to stay fire safe and escape from a burning building.
Get Firewise is focused on ensuring students:
● understand that fire can be dangerous
● can show they know how to prevent fires starting
● can show they know how to get themselves out of a burning building quickly and safely to a safe meeting place.

The Mangere based Fire Brigade team visited Rise Up Academy. Our Akonga were given a tour of the fire truck and were able to wear and touch
the equipment used by our Firefighters. They were given important information about fires and how to escape from a room that has smoke in it.
Our kind firefighters released water from the truck onto the field. The temptation was too great to just watch this spectacle . So our Rise Up
kids danced underneath the discharged water and were then joined by Bader Intermediate children. Perfect for a scorching day!
Our tamariki farewelled and thanked Ben and the team with a haka led by our senior boys. This was felt and received warmly by our local
firefighters. On departure, they turned on the fire sirens for our akonga.
It was a wondrous experience for both staff and tamariki !
https://www.fireandemergency.nz/teachers-and-schools/get-firewise/

Whanau Programme & Notices

WHANAU INCLUSIVE DAYS

On behalf of the BLC team, I’d like to thank all our parents in our Awhi Group for your support and whanau engagement throughout this year. Thank you for supporting your children and the school in IEP meetings, Awhi meetings and mostly importantly your children’s wellbeing and learning throughout the year.

Our Whanau Inclusive Days was an initiative by our Awhi parents after visiting the CLM Play Day at Alan Brewster this year. It was such a blessing to bring our Senco excursion onsite, inclusive of all our Rise Up tamariki.

The purpose of these two fantastic days was for inclusive active play for all learners, whanau engagement and fun! It was lovely to see all our children take part in the various outdoor activities, as well as younger siblings joining us together with whanau.

The activity providers, sausage sizzle, new water bottles and amazing new sports equipment was an answered prayer for funding. Thank you CLM Community Sport for sponsoring our Whanau Inclusive Days and sports equipment. We are grateful and can’t wait to grow our strong bodies with the awesome new sports gear for lunch time play in 2025!

If you would like to connect with our Awhi Group who meet once a term for support of medical needs, neurodiverse needs and or support with home and school learning please get in touch with our parent leaders Rowena, Clifford and Edward or see any of our staff.

AFS TERM 4

We have been fortunate all these years to have SUPA engage and nurture our kids’ gifts and talents through dance, drama, vocals and guitar. It is such a blessing for our children to be involved with the SUPA After School Programme. This year we had Viliami as our Guitar tutor, Moana as our hip hop dance tutor and
Sisi & Rosa as our Siva Samoa tutors. It was evident that our children lack nothing when it comes to performing and this was seen at our SUPA showcase in term 3 under the guidance of our wonderful tutors, not forgetting our amazing choir, directed by the lovely SUPA directors Nainz & Becks. Thank you SUPA team for your efforts and support in continuing to grow our children’s gifts and talents!

Thank you parents for the support in attendance throughout term 4. It has been a pleasure to see our tamaiti grow in confidence and skill, whether it’s siva, guitar or singing. We have some exciting events planned for 2025 to showcase your children’s gifts and talents. Gentle reminder our After School Programme starts in Week 2 of Term 1 2025.

Mondays – SUPA modules – dance, siva samoa & guitar
Modules are available for students in rooms 1,2 & 3
Tuesdays – Culture & Heritage – language classes for all children 6yrs+

CELLPHONE POLICY

At Rise UP Academy, our approach to cellphones and other personal digital devices supports student engagement and achievement. Personal digital devices include cellphone’s, which we manage according to government regulations, and other devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartwatches. Devices that are part of a school-approved Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programme have separate conditions for use.

Rise UP Academy does not recommend that students bring personal digital devices to school.

Cellphone regulations

To comply with government regulations, we ensure students do not use cellphones during school hours, including break times. Parents/Caregivers can request an exemption from the school if required. We allow exemptions for students to use cellphones if they are required for:

  • a specific educational purpose approved by a teacher
  • health needs (e.g. to monitor insulin levels)
  • disability or learning support needs
  • a special circumstance approved by the principal.

If a parent or caregiver needs to contact their child during school hours, they should call the office. Students should not use smartwatches for communication during school hours.

Rules about cellphones and other personal digital devices made by the board are a school bylaw. The board consults with the school community when making or amending bylaws. We discuss school rules about personal digital devices at the beginning of the year, and throughout the year as needed.

Device requirements at school

The school promotes safe and responsible use of digital technology. Students are required to comply with our digital technology policies and procedures if devices are brought to school. See Digital Technology and Online Safety.

If students bring personal digital devices (including cellphones) to school, the following requirements apply:

  • Students are not allowed to take devices on EOTC events.
  • Students must turn their devices off and keep them out of sight during school hours.
  • If devices are used for a learning activity, this must be approved and supervised by teaching staff.

Inappropriate use

Inappropriate use of a personal digital device may include:

  • using a device when not allowed
  • any sort of bullying, including online bullying
  • sending or sharing inappropriate content
  • taking photos or videos of other people without their permission.

Inappropriate use of a personal digital device is managed according to the relevant school policy or procedure:

  • Behaviour Management
  • Responding to Digital Incidents
  • Surrender and Retention of Personal Digital Devices

If a student uses a personal digital device inappropriately (including using a cellphone when it is not allowed) the student must hand it to a staff member immediately when asked. If possible, the student should lock their device before handing it to staff. The device will be kept in the office and can be collected by the student at the end of the day.

***ENROLMENTS***

For our whanau who have children turning five next year please complete an enrolment form. We have spaces available for next year’s enrolment, so please let your whanau know. Please fill in an online form from our website https://www.riseupacademy.school.nz/

UNIFORM SALES

As of next week our office will be open for uniform sales 8.30-9.15am on Thursdays only.

CAR PARK SAFETY

A gentle reminder to our whanau that the Car park is for Sir Douglas Bader Intermediate and Rise UP Staff ONLY – there are 2 car parks at the end marked for mobility card users only (must be displayed). Please use the off street parking and if you need to supervise your child walking up to the school gate then please walk them as there have been a few near misses and also SDBI car parks taken by our whanau.

SMALL BUSINESSES WITHIN OUR SCHOOL

PROV-TECH Automotive  

If your car needs some work done or a service please check out http://provtechauto.com

275KAI 

Mary and her whanau make the heartiest burgers and delicious meals like; surf n turf, ribs etc found here too! 60 Vine Street Mangere. https://www.facebook.com/275KAI

MAMAS MEDALS

She and her team create the most stunning pieces and are available to order. You’ll be the talk of the town when you wear one of her numbers. https://www.facebook.com/mamasmedals

*Whanau if you own a small business that you would like us to post up on our newsletters please email [email protected] 

Devotions

Devotion topic: Godly Wisdom
Term Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take”.

Week 10 Memory Verse: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wise counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”.

Wise Leaders have been the theme of Term 4, our akonga have learnt from the life of King Solomon, Joshua, Moses, Stephen, Bezelal, 3 Wisemen and Jesus! The book of Proverbs has been our study focus for this term and akonga know what is right and wrong and using wisdom before and after we make the wrong choices.

Thank you parents and caregivers for continuing to pray for and with your children, for continuing to lay the foundations of the fruit of the spirit and Godly characteristics and for continuing to pray for our school. Not many of you know, but we are the only school in the state school system that can teach the Word of God! That is a miracle!

We encourage our children to continue to read their bibles and pray throughout the holiday season!

Have a safe and happy holiday.

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