NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Families,

Welcome to our fourth newsletter of the year.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, the most important week in our Church Calendar. Please see our DRS section of this newsletter for more information about the celebrations both at school and in the parish that mark this important week. Please follow this link to this Sunday’s reading.

We have all been privileged to have had the Americas Cup racing on our doorstep and I am sure, like me, you were thrilled by the spectacle and the fact that Team New Zealand was victorious! I cannot help but think about the communication, collaboration, creative and critical thinking that has gone into the development of the technology and in pulling together an amazing team that can pull off such a success – particularly evident across all the races, but perhaps at it’s most evident in Race 8 when both boats came off their foils, with Team NZ recovering a 4-minute deficit, turning the race into a 4-minute win Click here to remind yourself of this race – it may be worth sharing this with your children, talking with them about how our Learner Profile dispositions of communication, collaboration, creative and critical thinking were on full display by both teams in this real-life example.

Senior Swimming Our last newsletter was published on the day of our senior school swimming sports. Congratulations to all who attended and gave their best in the competitive races held under Level 2 Covid restrictions.  See results under ‘News from Outside the Classroom’ in this newsletter.

Following on from our school swimming sports, the HPPA Interschool Swimming Competition was held last Friday. Our competitors put in their best effort and had their amazing sportsmanship on full display, supporting and cheering each other on.  See results under ‘News from Outside the Classroom’ in this newsletter. 

Cricket Over the past fortnight our senior cricket team has done a stellar job in their pool in the HPPA Cricket Field Days. So far they have competed in 7 games and won them all, coming first in their pool. Thanks to Mr Vernon for his hard work with our cricket team. Over the next couple of weeks, they have the semi-finals and (hopefully) the finals to compete in.  For a full report view  ‘News from Outside the Classroom’ in this newsletter.

GALA Our World-Famous-In-East-Auckland annual Gala will be on Saturday 30th October this year. We are currently forming our Core Gala Committee. If you are able to help in this core committee please email me at [email protected].

Safety in Cars Around Our School Recently we have had a report of a car driving around a car that had stopped to let a family cross the road on Stella Maris. This car swerved onto the wrong side of the road in order to go around the stationary car and nearly collided with the family who was crossing. You can imagine how shaken the family felt. It is good timing to remind all drivers that safety is essential when driving and parking around our school. Please remember to be extra vigilant with good road etiquette, especially as children can be unpredictable around cars. If you are in a hurry, your patience is much appreciated as well as sticking to the rules around driving and parking safely. Thank you for your support in this matter.

Clarification of Teacher Only Days in 2021 In our second newsletter this year, you will have read of the addition of three Teacher Only Days to our school calendar, after these were confirmed at the February Board meeting. These dates are in addition to the two Teacher Only Days that were already scheduled for this school year. The full list of Teacher Only Days are as follows: Wednesday 7th April (the day after Easter Tuesday), Tuesday 8th June (the day after Queens Birthday Monday), Friday 25th June, Friday 17th September and Friday 19th November. You can find these dates on our website under ‘school information’ ‘term dates’, on our website calendar, and in each newsletter.

Looking Back We have had two full weeks at school under Level 1, meaning we are very much back into business as usual. With a lifting of restrictions over gatherings and trips, we have been able to make the most of such events as the HPPA swimming and cricket as mentioned above. Our junior school enjoyed their Murphys Bush excursion yesterday our middle school completed their Exodus Walk, and we even managed a school assembly today. Our PTA iceblock morning tea today was a great success, thanks to Nicole and the team and to all families for their support of this initiative.

Looking Ahead As we enter the weekend, we have students participating in the Howick Fun Run on Sunday. We begin our celebration of Holy Week on Sunday with Palm Sunday and a liturgy on Monday morning to mark the start of Holy Week as a school. We celebrate Holy Thursday with our Passion Play on Thursday afternoon before we break up for Easter. Good Friday through to Easter Tuesday are usual no-school days with Easter celebrations at our Parish throughout the weekend. Remember, Wednesday 7th April is a Teacher Only Day, so this is also a day where the children do not come to school. Our staff will be engaging in professional development around our Religious Education Curriculum as an integral part of our local curriculum design.

Wishing you all of God’s blessings over the next fortnight.

Ngā mihi nui and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Many thanks for your generous support of our parish foodbank this lent. Your donations through the ‘We Can Bring a Can’ collections has helped many many families in need. The St Vincent de Paul group extend their gratitude to you all. The liturgy team has led the organisation for this and are to be commended for their leadership. Each week a group of children from the ‘winning’ class come with me to the foodbank to sort and stack the donations, then help to pack food parcels. It has been a wonderful opportunity of learning for each of them as they make connections between bringing a can of food to school and how this becomes a huge help to others. 

Congratulations to the group of students working through the parish Sacramental Programme who received their 1st Reconciliation last Friday night. They begun the journey of full initiation into the Church and we are very proud of them. These students were acknowledged this morning at Assembly. 

This time last year we were in lockdown. Life was very different for us all. Very unsettling. No one knew what was going to happen, much like the disciples in the lead up to Christ’s death, they didn’t have a clue what was going to come. Lockdown stopped us from gathering to celebrate the most Holy Week of the year in the Church’s calendar. Fortunately this is not the case this year. Holy Week is upon us. It is time to contemplate Jesus’ final journey before the Resurrection. The Religious Education focus in classrooms this week will be the Stations of the Cross and we will conclude the week with a Holy Week Liturgy on Thursday 1st April starting at 1:20pm. All are welcome to come and participate in this time of prayer and reflection.  

The Good Friday Outdoor Stations of the Cross Walk starts outside our parish church, Friday 2nd April 9am. As a community we gather and pray the Stations of the Cross from Mother Mary’s perspective. We look forward to you joining us there.    

At the Easter Vigil, Saturday 3 April 8pm,  the mass will begin in darkness reminding us of Christ’s death and the darkness of the tomb. We enter the church with only the light of the Easter Candle to lead the way. Jesus tells us, ‘I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ The entrance of the Easter candle into the church is a powerful reminder of this. The light of this one candle is then shared with all present and very soon the darkness of the church is overcome. The church is filled with light, light that is strong in faith and hope.  Catherine McAuley, one of our school House Patrons, reminds us ‘to be a shining lamp, giving light to all around’ and share this light of faith and hope with all those we meet. 

Below is the timetable for our parish celebrations. Everyone is welcome to attend and we look forward to celebrating with you as one big parish family.

Holy Week Timetable 2021:  

Holy Thursday – Mass of the Lord’s Supper     7:00 pm

Good Friday – Outdoor Stations of the Cross Walk     9:00 am

                        –  Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion    3:00 pm

Holy Saturday – Easter Saturday Vigil     8:00 pm

Easter Sunday – Mass    8:00 am & 9:30am

Wishing you all a very Holy and Blessed Easter

Ko te aroha o te Atua kua whiwhi whanau a tatou Katoa

The tender mercy of God has given us one another

Prayer Intention :      E te Ariki, we pray for all those who are being received into the Church this Easter season.

Detta Fairweather

Deputy Principal / Director of Religious Studies

NEWS FROM THE PTA

PTA FLYER REQUEST FORMS

  • A huge thank you to all those that have returned the PTA flyer Request forms. Your help and support is very much appreciated.

FUNDRAISERS :

  • The children all enjoyed our PTA ice block fundraiser today at morning tea. Thanks for your ongoing support of our fundraising efforts.

Entertainment Memberships are now 100% digital making it better than ever, here’s why:

Each year we run our very successful fundraising campaign by selling Entertainment Memberships.  This is a very worthwhile way of supporting our PTA fundraising efforts with 20% of your membership coming back to our school.   Entertainment Digital Memberships are convenient, easy to use and packed with full of valuable 2 for 1 and up to 50% off offers for you to use over 12 months from activation.

  • Offers are now valid from the date of purchase allowing you to fully maximise your membership.
  • Delivered instantly to your inbox (perfect for gifting!)
  • Something for everyone with thousands of savings across family activities, hospitality and retail.
  • The new app has a map so you can bring up all the deals that are near to you, or in the area, you want to go.
  • New offers and deals get added all the time.
  • Purchase through us and 20% of every Entertainment Membership goes directly toward supporting our school.
  • You will also receive a BONUS $10 or $20 eGift Card on memberships purchased before 11:59pm Thursday 15th April 2021

ENTERTAINMENT MEMBERSHIP  … IT’S EASY JUST CLICK THE LINK TO PURCHASE  https://nz.entdigital.net/orderbooks/990f07

UPCOMING PTA EVENTS …..

  • Sausage Sizzle – Thursday 15 April 2021
  • PTA AGM meeting 7.00 p.m. Monday 12 April – staffroom. All Welcome.

Nicole Kelly

PTA Chairperson

TAX DONATION RECEIPTS

Special Character and General Purpose donations are eligible for claiming some tax relief from Inland Revenue.  Tax receipts for the financial year 01 April 2020 – 31 March 2021 will be emailed out during the first two weeks of April.

A reminder that accounts for Term 1 are due by 30 March and all donations received by 31 March will be included in the Tax receipts mentioned above.

If you would like to discuss your account in confidence, please contact Sue Yandell.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Financial assistance is available to assist families who may need financial support with the payment of Attendance Dues for preference students attending Catholic schools in Auckland Diocese, both primary and secondary.

Families facing financial difficulties can contact their school office, their Parish Priest or the Revenue Manager on 09-360-3069 at the Catholic Diocese of Auckland for further information.

Application forms for this assistance are available from school and parish offices, or can be down-loaded from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland Website:

https://www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/acfl-attendance-dues-financial-assistance/

NEWS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Bike Safety

Last week, and the week before, the senior team had the opportunity to participate in the path safety bike days. Each class had a specific day where they got to ride bikes supplied by the after pathways bike company. We rode around the local area and learnt about road safety and pathway safety. When we rode our bike we took along our lunch boxes with us and rode around Elim School where we stopped for our lunch break beside a creek where we could see some small eels. It was such a fun day and we all learnt lots about bike safety. This was such a lovely opportunity and it was lots of fun.

by Micah McGrail (R22) & and Liam Martin (R19)

NEWS FROM OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

SENIOR TEAM MASS

On Sunday 21st March the senior team led the 5.30pm mass at Our Lady Star of the Sea parish. When I walked up to church I felt excited knowing that our senior team was leading this mass. Some students offered to participate in duties like greeting, taking up the gifts and doing the readings. We were all very proud to represent our school and celebrate mass with the parish community. We would like to thank Father Terry, Mrs Collins, Mrs Fairweather and all of the other teachers for supporting us and encouraging us to grow and share our love and faith. Ngā mihi nui.

Amelia Hunt, Liturgy Leader (Room 23)

INTER SCHOOL CRICKET

After winning the competition last year and with five of the team returning this year we had high hopes of maintaining our winning sequence. This proved to be the case with wins over Sunnyhills, Bucklands Beach, Macleans, Owairoa, Baverstock Oaks, Waakaranga and Mission Heights. Some games we set a target others we chased a target but always we seemed to be able to control the game. Fantastic opening batting from Toby and Cullen followed by Dimitri, Sebastian, Nyall and Liam always gave us a high score. The bowling of Sebastian, Dimitri and Nyall always pressurised the opposition for runs followed by the death bowling of Liam, Cullen and Toby.  Congratulations to Cooper Telfer, Toby Stewart, Dimitri Poisson-Pereira, Cullen Chaytor, Sebastian Brownrigg, Liam Martin, Jake Preisig, Nyall Serrao, Maneet Singh, Shiven Sureshkumar, Max Tay-Morrison. This team couldn’t have been such a success without the support of Mr Barry Vernon who has temporarily come out of retirement to coach the team – Mr Vernon, thank you for all you do for our Cricketers!  We look forward to the semi-finals and finals on April 7th 2021 at Lloyd Elsmore Park. Support from the school community always welcome at games.

STAR OF THE SEA SENIOR TEAM SWIMMING

On the 12th of March the senior team went down to Lloyd Elsmore Swimming Pool for senior team swimming. Due to alert levels in Auckland this looked a little different this year as we were only able to take our competitive swimmers. Based on these results we participated in the HPPA interschool swimming competition. We were lucky enough to take 29 students to this event to represent our school.

A special well done to the students who placed at interschool.

Senior Team swimming results. ….

Interschool Swimming Results

NEWS FROM THE INFORMATION CENTRE

Here’s a snippet of some class visits this week.

Every class visits the Information Centre for 30-40 minutes each week. 

Borrowing limits:

Juniors: 1 book for one week

Middle:  2 books for one week

Senior:   3 books for two weeks

Overdue reminder slips are sent out regularly.

Find out more about our wonderful resources by visiting our catalogue via our school website or click here

There is also the option to switch interfaces and view parts of our catalogue in Chinese or Te Reo Maori.

KEY DATES

TERM DATES

Term 1 Starts
Term 1 Finishes
Term 2 Starts
Term 2 Finishes
Term 3 Starts
Term 3 Finishes
Term 4 Starts
Term 4 Finishes

 

Please note : TEACHER ONLY DAYS

Wednesday 7 April 2021

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Friday 25 June 2021

Friday 17 September 2021

Friday 19 November 2021

COMMUNITY NOTICES

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION, CONFIRMATION OR MOTHERS DAY GIFTS

Need a small gift for First Holy Communion, Confirmation or Mothers Day?

I have a lovely range of affordably priced Angels, crucifix and crosses on necklaces, bracelets, small crucifixes & Rosary Beads.  All items priced $5 – $12.  For further info on my range please email Fran Carne at [email protected] or call 021 0264 2303.

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FREE BIKING SKILLS

Auckland Transport is offering a series of free Adult (18yrs +) Bike Skills sessions across Auckland, including some in your local area.

Sessions we offer include:

  • Bronze bike skills – for beginners and building bike skills confidence
  • Silver bike skills – on shared paths and quiet roads
  • Gold bike skills – on busy roads and complex intersections
  • Bike maintenance skills
  • E-bike experience – introducing electric bikes and a guided ride
  • E-bike Silver bike skills – on shared paths and quiet roads
  • E-bike maintenance skills

All sessions are free, and we provide bikes for people to use during the session if they are unable to bring their own.

All participants must register.

For further details on course content, a full list of dates, and to register, please visit https://at.govt.nz/cycling-walking/courses-events/adult-bike-skills/

To view and share our Facebook post, visit https://fb.watch/4h54_tWPLx/

Please note, exact location of sessions will be sent to participants following their registration.

Sessions have been in high demand, but we are adding new sessions regularly, which still have places available.  People who are interested should register as soon as possible to secure their spot.

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