Dear Families,

This newsletter reaches you at the end of the fourth week of our school year. We are so impressed with our young learners in the way they are showing the disposition of resilience while wearing masks at school. It is not easy on a hot day and many report finding them uncomfortable, however they are persevering and being responsible for the shared health and welfare of all members of our community – they should be applauded for their determination in these challenging times.

As we have felt the ‘touch’ of Omicron in our community this week I appreciate that families are supportive of the measures we are required to take. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your ongoing support.

Commissioning Mass

On Tuesday our Year 6 cohort attended our Annual Commissioning Mass while the rest of the school watched from school via zoom. Fr John blessed all of our Year 6 leaders as they embark on their final year with us as well as blessing the leadership badge holders for this year. Congratulations to Jevon Mascarenhas Liturgy Leader, Alicia Back, Aiden Vorster, Lilly Evans, Chloe Kendrick-Jones, Mai Mai Mvundra, Noah Hillerby, William Chen and Luke McLaughlin our House Leaders, Ahlizah-Jae Mu Road Patrol Team Leader, Maia Smith Wet Day Team Leader, Leah Mouhktar and Annelise Nugraha Sick Bay Team Leaders, Tyler Dreaver and Nathan Lo Information Centre Team Leaders, Logan Jablonski and Eric Fraser PE Team Leaders, Xian Omambac and Keeton Norton-Tomkies Loose Parts Leaders, Millie Berry and Charlotte Erihe Environmental Team Leaders, Harper Rose de Jonge Technology Team Leader, Daphne Lai and Selina Liu House Point Monitors, Max Zhang Hall Leader, Lorenzo Zanelato and Aidan Tee Flag Monitors, Kacey Chen, Joshua Quizon, Max Kelly and Lara Clifford as Bell Monitor Leaders.

Special congratulations to our Student Council Members: Jevon Mascarenhas, Alicia Back, Aiden Vorster, Lilly Evans, Chloe Kendrick-Jones, Mai Mai Mvundra, Noah Hillerby, William Chen, Luke McLaughlin, Millie Berry and Charlotte Erihe.

Meet the Teacher and Disposition Goal Setting Zooms

Thank you to all of our families who attended the Meet the Teacher and Disposition Goal-Setting zooms last week. Our teachers found these meetings very beneficial in order to broaden the knowledge of their students with parent input. They also valued the opportunity to develop a disposition goal to begin the year with each student. Family input into discussions to set a disposition goal using our Graduate or Learner Profile was much appreciated. A record of the goal set at this zoom meeting will be available on the parent portal on Thursday 3rd March and in hard copy for families on Friday 4th March.

For those new to our community, our Graduate and Learner Profiles draw together the dispositions that underpin strong academic outcomes and lifelong learning which were developed with community consultation and launched last year. The Graduate Profile typifies our desires for students as they leave our school ready for their next learning journey and the Learner Profile breaks this down into language more easily understood by our younger learners as they grow through our school. I include our Graduate Profile below.

Field of Dreams Swimming

We are very fortunate that we have been able to undertake our Year 3 to 6 swimming lessons under heavy Covid Red Level settings at Lloyd Elsmore pools. Our students are benefiting from learning about safety around water and building confidence in the water. We are grateful to Mrs Karen Noble Campbell, the Field of Dreams team and to Lloyd Elsmore for working with us to make this happen in such challenging times.

Teacher Only Day Today

Our staff spent the day today undergoing professional development in Literacy. Learning more about new developments in neuroscience, deepening our understanding of what the brain does when learning to read and how this impacts our pedagogical approach. In investing time in learning more about the structured literacy approach to the teaching of literacy we continue to work at the cutting edge of approaches to teaching and learning.

Looking Ahead

Next Tuesday after school our staff are attending the Auckland Diocese Dedication Mass via zoom. This annual event brings together Catholic educators from across Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary schools in the Diocese. Teachers who have undertaken Professional Development in Religious Education and Theology are acknowledged at this Mass also. We look forward to this celebration of those devoted to Catholic education.

On Wednesday we mark the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday starts the 40 day solemn, preparation journey to the joyous celebration of Easter. We look forward to sharing our Ash Wednesday liturgy via zoom with classrooms where students will receive the ashes on their foreheads, a symbol of this significant day in our Church calendar. The zoom liturgy will be recorded and shared with families later in the day.

Cola Update

Today the ‘skin’ on our Cola has been put up.  There is still some finishing work to be done but it looks great and we are looking forward to using this space during the year..

Be safe and God bless.

Ngā mihi nui and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

Mea ana te atawhai haere mai i runga i te aroha me te awhi

‘Mercy invites us to love and to care’

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season. It is a time for us to stop and reflect on where we are in our walk with God. It helps us to identify areas in our life which are in need of change. As the Ashes are placed on our forehead, in the sign of Christ’s cross, we are encouraged to turn away from sin and turn towards God. The Ashes are an external sign of our desire to do that. Each student will receive the Ashes in their classroom during an online liturgy. Our parish will be offering Mass with the distribution of Ashes at 6:00am, 9:15am and 7pm. We encourage you all to attend one of these celebrations.

Starting next week there will be two new opportunities in our parish during the weeks of Lent. Every week there will be a 6am Mass so that working people might have the opportunity to attend a weekday Mass during Lent. Also, every Friday night the parish will gather to reflect and pray the Stations of the Cross at 7pm followed by a Spiritual Talk by Fr John immediately afterwards.  

Food for Faith, an Aotearoa New Zealand based online faith mission is offering reflections during Lent. Sign up for daily reflections for Lent at www.foodforfaith.org.nz

Dedication Mass 

Steve Lowe, the newly appointed Bishop of Auckland, will be celebrating Eucharist, Tuesday 1 February at 4pm via zoom for all teachers involved in Catholic Education across the Auckland Diocese. All teachers in Catholic schools are expected to be involved in ongoing Religious Education Professional Development and during this mass teachers who have completed a qualification will be acknowledged. We congratulate Kendall Evans, Zahira Salejee, Ruth Holt and Louise Campbell  for their respective certificates.

Senior Team Retreats

On Thursday 10 March, our Year 5 and 6 students will be involved in an onsite retreat focussed on the words of Samuel – “Here I am Lord”. The students will spend time during the day working through different activities with their class group to explore and grow their relationship with God.

Prayer intention: That we extend the Mercy value of Hospitality to those who are new to our school, parish and wider community, in all we do, think and say.

Blessings

Ngā mihi

Detta Fairweather

Deputy Principal / Director of Religious Studies

Congratulations to the following students who will be our wonderful team of student librarians this year. We are looking forward to promoting books, information, reading, and authors through lots of fun activities.

Tyler Dreaver (Head librarian,) Nathan Lo (Head librarian), Charlize Lin, Lara Clifford, Selina Liu, Isaac Wong, Ryan Tam, Arthur Yung, Max Kelly, Amalie Pratley and Alicia Back.

Please note : TEACHER ONLY DAYS

Friday 25 February 2022

Tuesday 7 June 2022

One further Teacher Only Day to be confirmed by the BOT