Welcome to St Anthony's School

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the St Anthony’s School website. I hope that it offers you a window to our community and the many educational opportunities we can provide for your child.

St Anthony’s School is a small Year 1 to Year 8 co-educational Catholic Primary School in Seatoun, Wellington. Our school has an excellent reputation, not only for our strong curriculum but also for being recognised as a nurturing and family-friendly environment. The subjects we teach are based on the New Zealand Curriculum integrated with Christian values expressed through our Religious Education Programme. St Anthony’s also offers a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular activities such as Kapa Haka, Drama, Environmental activities, Visual Art and Music.

The school is supported by our outstanding staff members, who are dedicated professionals, committed to offering innovative teaching and learning opportunities. Teachers respect the individuality and achievement of all students and join with me in the school’s overarching objective to provide a high quality inclusive education in an atmosphere of Christian caring.

Please enjoy exploring our website. We warmly invite you to contact us to find out more, or arrange a visit to experience St Anthony’s School for yourself.

Denise Johnson, Principal

‘Small School; Strong Spirit’

Our Journey Of Understanding

Te Iwa O Matariki 

by Te Ākau

MATARIKI

Māori New Year

A cluster of 9 sparkling stars

Whānau and friends coming together 

Sharing stories and laughter

Matariki in Aotearoa

Te Ākau was inspired from poems, waiata and stories to make and represent the nine beautiful stars of Matarirki .

Matariki is the first star in the constellation and is known as the mother star. Pōhutukawa is the second star in the constellation and is connected to those who have passed on. A coffin is used to show this. The third star is Tupuānuku which is associated with food we get from the ground. This star is represented by the apple filled with the nine stars and the oranges. Tupuārangi is the fourth star and is connected to food from the sky. Waitī is the fifth star and an eel is used to show fresh water the star is connected to. Waitā- twin of Waitī, is the sixth star and a fish is used to show the ocean which the star represents. The seventh star is Waipuna-ā-rangi and this star is connected to the rain. A rain cloud is used to represent this star. Ururang is the eighth star and it is connected to the wind so we showed this with kites. Hiwa-i-te-rangi is the ninth and final star which is connected to  hopes and wishes. The bright yellow star is used to represent our hopes and wishes.

Māori Creation Story- Ranginui and Papatūānuku

by Te Awa

Te Awa’s mood board shows The Māori Creation Story. The hearts represent the connection that the sky father Ranginui and earth mother Papatūānuku shared before they were separated by Tāne Mahuta. The three lines represent the separation of Rangi and Papa with the line in the middle being Tāne. The storm cloud, lightning bolt and wind show the god of the weather, Tāwhirimātea. The red triangle represents the anger felt by Tāwhirimātea, Rangi and Papa after they were separated. The long triangles represent the hills and mountains with the green bumpy shape being the Earth. The blue wavy shape represents the bodies of water and the Sun is for the light. The tree and the kiwi represent the nature that could be found once the Earth had light.

Te Rua Taniwha o Te Whanganui-a-tara Pūahatanga

This is Te Moana’s screen printing of the Taniwha of Te Whanganui-a-tara. Our taniwha are big and bold so they stand out, they are the focus of our story. 

The rocks symbolise when Ngake launched himself across the lake and over the shore. Huge chunks of rock were shattered from the cliff. 

The hills represent Whāitaitai’s body as it turned to stone, earth and rock and is known as Haitaitai now. The one on the right is Matiu Island. The bird is Te Keo that took Whātaitai’s spirit. The waka was Kupe arriving to New Zealand and the Ngāi Tara people.  The water is the harbour, where the taniwha lived.

The retelling of the History of Oruaiti Reserve 

By Te Maunga

Oruaiti Pā

Te Maunga’s screen printed board tells the story of the first settlers to Oruaiti Reserve. Aata and his tribe had travelled from South East Asia by waka (waka) and discovered the beautiful land of Aotearoa (the green mountain). They came to Oruaiti and admired the views and abundant wildlife. The seas were plentiful with kaimoana (shown by the hook) and they decided it was a good place for his tribe to settle (shown by the marae and houses). Oruaiti is known as the place of the small pits, and the tribe stored food there.

After a while, another tribe came to Oruaiti and Aata wondered if it was big enough to support multiple tribes. He spoke to his chief Kupe about his concerns. Kupe agreed with him and it was decided that Aata would lead his tribe to a new location, Cape Palliser. Kupe would continue his voyage around New Zealand (the North and South island).

The place where they came together to say goodbye was called Te Tangihanga a Kupe, also known as Barrett’s Reef. ‘Tangi’ means to mourn or cry for their loss, a feeling evident amongst the tribes, as they feared they would never see Kupe again. Barrett’s Reef became the spot to farewell for many years to come. We showed this through the rock.

School Calendar