Dear Families,

Welcome to our fourth newesletter of this year.

On Wednesday we heard from the Government that, although we remain at the Red Traffic Light level of our Covid response, there are several changes to the framework as we move forward in our nationwide response to the Covid Pandemic. There is no change to the current rules around wearing masks at school (indoors for Years 4 up and for all adults, with mask-wearing indoors encouraged for Year 1 to 3 students). Outdoor capacity limits have been removed with indoor capacity limits raised to 200. You will have heard the changes in regards to the removal of the use of the My Vaccine Pass as well as the removal of vaccination mandates from April 4th in several sectors including Education. Our Leadership Team is reviewing our current Health and Safety plan in light of this new information. We will share this with our community once this has been done. In the meantime, we are sticking with our current business as usual practices.  As always, the safety of our community is paramount in all we do.

Stations of the Cross Blessing

Last Tuesday Fr John blessed our new outdoor Stations of the Cross. This beautiful installation begins in our sabbath space, travels along the nature walk behind Rooms 12, 10/11 and 9, then continues behind the Information Centre and finishes outside our school Chapel. It is a wonderful prayer and contemplation resource for use by classes, but also available to families to use after hours and on weekends. We thank Detta Fairweather for spearheading and coordinating the project, and all of the supporters who worked in the background to make this possible; The PTA for their financial support of the project, Ray Anderson for support in the design process, Bob Yandell for collecting the timber and Ken Baird for his support in ensuring the stations are displayed beautifully. Thanks also to Fr John for his support in blessing the stations. The outdoor Stations of the Cross are a further Taonga in our school which will be used and valued for many years to come.

St Patricks Day Celebrations

On Wednesday last week, our community got into the St Patricks Day spirit with a ‘wear green’ mufti day.  It was great to see our children enjoying the opportunity to have fun whilst remembering the Irish roots of many students and our early settler forebears.

Senior Retreat

On Tuesday our Year 5 and 6 students participated in a retreat day, exploring our special school flavour, our Charism, based on our founders and house patrons. They reflected on what made our house patrons engage in a life of vocation devoted to Jesus Christ. They drew parallels to our lives today and how we are called into relationship with God. Fr Kevin Murphy, a Marist Priest and Sister Anne Sklenars from the Mission Sisters featured through video connection to bring to life the current work and ethos of our founding charisms. This wonderful spiritual encounter could not have been possible without the hard work of our Director of Religious Studies Detta Fairweather, supported by our guest speakers, Karen Noble Campbell, class teachers and Fr John who celebrated Mass with our learners in the afternoon under our (almost finished) covered outdoor learning area. See the DRS section of our newsletter for more details and images from the day.

Peaceful Colours Mufti Day Today

Today was a fitting day to wear peace in the form of light or pastel colours in support of the strife in the Ukraine. The Feast of the Annunciation of Mary, our Mother and Queen of Peace. Thank you for your support in raising money for Caritas for Peace.

Looking Ahead

Next week we have three nights of Parent, Student, Teacher Curriculum Goal-setting Conferences via zoom. Booking details have been shared. This is a valuable opportunity to connect with families around student learning goals and progress. Our teachers are very much looking forward to the opportunity to meet.  Our Year 3 and 4 team are heading to the Howick Historical Village under strict covid protocols over the next couple of weeks, a trip that ties in strongly with their connected curriculum journey this term and into Term 2.

Wishing you all a happy and safe fortnight ahead before we share school happenings in our next newsletter.

Be safe and God bless.

Ngā mihi nui and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

Our Lenten We Can Bring a Can challenge continues. To date we have fed 45 families. Our aim is to support 100 families by the end of Lent. God bless you all for your generosity and the way you are showing your children how the simple act of sharing a can of food each week is a way to show Mercy to others and walk in the footsteps of Christ.

Opportunities within our parish during Lent include the 6am Mass each week during Lent  so that working people might have the opportunity to attend a weekday Mass. Also, every Friday night the parish will gather to reflect and pray the Stations of the Cross.  

Today, March 25, is the Feast of the Annunciation. We acknowledge how Mary trusted God’s plan for her life, and how she said ‘YES’ to becoming the mother of God. We recognise Mary as our Mother, Queen of Peace, Star of the Sea.  This morning classes prayed a decade of the Rosary for PEACE, joining Pope Francis’ request for Catholics all around the world, praying for PEACE in the Ukraine. Students wearing white or pastel colours to school today in support of the Caritas fundraiser for PEACE raised $492.40  

God is good! After a shocking weather event on Monday, the sun shone brightly for the Year 5 and 6 Retreat. The retreat was supported, albeit remotely, by Father Kevin Murphy from the Marist Fathers and Sister Anne Sklenars from the Mission Sisters. Our young learners spent time reflecting on the works of Mercy, the Stations of the Cross and engaged in a contemplative ‘Spiritual Walk’ within the school grounds. There was much for them to explore and experience. Fr John joined us after lunch to celebrate Mass with the group – the first Mass under the COLA! 

Our school is one of the BETA trial schools for the new draft Religious Education Curriculum. This is a privileged role working alongside the curriculum developers. Next term the Religious Education focus will be on the God theme.  Our school focus will be to ‘Explore the connected systems of God’s world and share how we can use them to enhance the wellbeing of all living things.’  The Year 1 and 2 team will focus on God as Creator;  Year 3 and 4 team the Holy Trinity; Year 5 and 6 team the Communion of Saints. Planning for this will begin next week as teaching teams  work to unpack, create resources and design the teaching and learning programme. We thank the Board for funding this time. 

With the announcements by the Government this week around the changes in Covid 19 Restrictions, we look forward to gathering together again as a parish school community, in our parish Church for the celebration of the Mass. Mass times remain the same.

Weekday – Tuesday to Friday 9:15 a.m. 

Weekends – Saturday 6:30 p.m.    Sunday 8:00 a.m, 9:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m.

Detta Fairweather
Deputy Principal / Director of Religious Studies

We are so lucky to have amazing NZ authors writing and publishing high quality children’s books. Here are some newly released titles which we have purchased for our Information Centre. Sally Sutton and Des Hunt have visited us in the past and our students were inspired by their presentations.

Have You Seen This Weed?

After the huge success of the moth plant competition last year, we are once again on the hunt for this pesky plant.  It has been wonderful to have members of our school community already identifying and removing this weed after learning about the damage it can do to our native plants.  If you see this weed please safely remove it (gloves are advised) and bring the pods to school in a plastic bag.   If you notice a large crop in a public space and you are unable to remove it, please email Miss Marten ([email protected]) and the environmental team will try to clear it.   

Nespresso Pods 

Already this year we have rescued thousands of coffee pods from the landfill.  Thank you for your support of this initiative.  The Nespresso recycling box is outside the office at the front gate.   

Recycling/Rubbish at School

Just a reminder that all rubbish from lunch boxes needs to go home and be recycled.   It is wonderful that school lunch orders are back at Our Lady Star of the Sea.  All packing from the lunch orders also needs to go home.  The sushi boxes can be recycled by separating the plastic from the paper box.  If you give them both a quick rinse the box can go in your recycling bin and the plastic can be recycled with your soft plastics.  Countdown Highland park has a soft plastics recycling drop off box.   Thanks for your support to keep our school rubbish free.

Please note : TEACHER ONLY DAYS

Friday 25 February 2022

Tuesday 7 June 2022

One further Teacher Only Day to be confirmed by the BOT

SACRED HEART COLLEGE Applications for Year 7 and Year 9 for 2023 are now open

A Sacred Heart education provides a foundation of faith and aspiration to succeed at the highest level in personal and professional life. Places are available in Years 7 and 9 in 2023, with Boarding available from Year 9. Applications are prioritised in accordance with our Enrolment Scheme. Scholarships are available. Applications for close Wednesday 13 April 2022. Apply online here.
Visit www.sacredheart.school.nz for more information.

The YBNZ (Youth Basketball NZ) School Holiday Programmes are back up and running again for the April School Holiday break.

YBNZ School Holiday Programme! (ONLY 45 SPOTS PER CAMP)

Dates: April 19th – 22nd & April 26th – 29th

School Years: 3 – 8

Times: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (8:30 am drop off available)

Location: Glendowie College (21 Crossfield Road, Glendowie, Auckland 1071, New Zealand)

What to bring: Water bottle, own lunch + snacks (morning tea), appropriate basketball/running shoes, a mouth guard, and a good attitude!

Cost: $350 for one 4-day programme

SIBLING DISCOUNT! -$50 off each registration if you register more than 1 person from the same family

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/uwBU3im68BpFTAPWA

*Registrations close Friday April 8th!

Web: https://www.ybnz.org