Dear Families,

Welcome to our fortnightly newsletter where we share news and events with our community.

The Ascension of our Lord Ascension Day is traditionally marked on the sixth Thursday after Easter Sunday. It dates back more than a thousand years and marks the day the resurrected Jesus returns to heaven after 40 days back on Earth. In modern times, Ascension Day is celebrated with Mass on the closest Sunday, which is this Sunday, 29th May, this year. There is nothing better than sharing this important day in the Church calendar by celebrating Mass with family and parish friends on Sunday.

We have had a very busy fortnight since our last newsletter was published with lots of additional activities to build a rich curriculum offering in support of the robust classroom programmes in our school.

National Young Leaders Day Last week 24 of our young leaders attended the National Young Leaders Day which is an amazing opportunity for them to be further inspired in their leadership roles here at OLSOS through a day of inspirational speakers and leadership development. See later in our newsletter for photos and more details.

Pink Shirt Day On Friday of last week we stood in solidarity as a school against bullying with our annual Pink Shirt Mufti Day. The theme of the week was ‘Small ripples create big waves’, illustrating the power of small positive interactions and how, with a continued focus on positive relationships, our community can become even stronger and more connected.

Lockdown Practice The lockdown practice undertaken this week ran very smoothly. Families can be proud of the way your children conducted themselves through this process. We can be assured that, in case of an emergency, our students and staff are aware of the actions we need to take to remain safe.

Junior Trip Botanical Gardens Our Year 2 children were lucky to take a trip to the Botanical Gardens as part of their connected curriculum journey this term. Our Year 1 students have this experience to look forward to next week.

2022 GALA Save the Date! The Gala Team met this week to get the ball rolling on our annual Gala – after missing out on this amazing community event and fundraiser for the last two years due to Covid, we are anticipating this year’s Gala will go ahead on Saturday 29th October. Our Gala may take on a slightly different shape as we are acutely aware of the hardship that Covid has brought into our community and we do not wish to add the burden of weekly collections to families after such a tough couple of years.  Regardless of the altered shape, we are really looking forward to reinvigorating this much anticipated event on our school calendar.

The GALA team that we assembled for the 2021 Gala is still keen and rearing to go, however we have lost a couple of members of the crew due to their children exiting out of Year 6 at the end of last year. If you are able to lend a hand on the organising team we would love to hear from you – many hands make light work – please email our Gala Lead Anna Burgess if you are able to help out [email protected]

After School Tutor Classes We are fortunate that our after school tutor classes are resuming on site in a couple of weeks. Please see later in the newsletter what is on offer and detail regarding booking your child/ren in.

Looking Ahead Next Monday our Year 5 and 6 students benefit from the Orchard to Table crew working alongside them as they learn about earth systems and the biosphere. They will be exploring the food supply chain focusing on the time, energy and resources it takes to get food to the consumer through an environmental sustainability lens. Tuesday sees students representing our school at the HPPA Netball Field Day, wonderful to see these interschool opportunities back on board at Orange Covid Level. On Thursday the Clean Plate crew continue their work with our students as they learn about reducing litter in school lunches as part of our enviro initiatives. As mentioned earlier, our Year 1 children visit the Botanic Gardens on Friday of next week. The following week sees a short week with Queens Birthday Holiday on Monday 6th June and our School Teacher Only Day on Tuesday 7th June (school is closed for students on this day).

Wishing you all a safe and happy fortnight ahead.

Be safe and God bless.

Ngā mihi nui and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

The weekly Buddy class Masses continue. It is wonderful to see so many of you joining us in the Chapel to celebrate the Mass with our children. Many thanks for the donations to our parish foodbank each week. Our children are growing their understanding of ways to build their relationship with Christ through prayer, meditation and reading the Bible. Through buddy class Masses, they are coming to understand the importance of attending Mass and receiving Eucharist. We know it isn’t always easy to get to a weekend Mass but encourage your family to make time, be it weekly, fortnightly or monthly to bring your children to one of the parish Masses.  Each week children ask me when they can receive Communion. The Mass is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. It is their inherent right as Baptised Catholics to complete the Sacramental Programme when they are of age and receive Holy Communion regularly. A group of 50 students from our school are currently working through the Confirmation stage of the programme and will receive their 1st Holy Communion later this year. Please keep them in your prayers. 

Through the Sacramental programme at the parish and the Religious Education programme at school, our young learners are discovering more about their faith. One of the ways we adults can grow our relationship with Jesus is by participating in the Alpha programme run through  our parish. The programme will start June 5 and there is an option for both Mandarin speakers and English speakers. Contact the parish office for more information 09 534 8710

The Easter season is drawing to a close with the feast of Pentecost soon to be celebrated. Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Spirit. It is considered to be the birthday of the Church. Peter, the first Pope, preached for the first time and converted thousands of new believers. They were united by a common language, and a common purpose to go and preach the Gospel. Through the Religious Education programme, our young learners are challenged to put their faith into action through what they say and do, just as the early disciples were. The Year 1 & 2 students are finding out about God’s love and how it is shared with us through the Father, Son and Spirit.  The Year 3 & 4 students are starting to discover the Gifts the Holy Spirit brings us and how they help us. The Year 5 & 6 students are exploring how the Saints lived justly by putting their faith into action and what a model that is for us today.

One action we can do to model living justly is through joining in with the parish ‘Jammies in June’ appeal for Kidz First at Middlemore Hospital. Please drop donations of NEW PJs to the box in the school office. Many thanks for your support with this.

Prayer intention :   

May we be filled with your Spirit at Pentecost so that we create peace in our hearts, our lives, and in our world.

Detta Fairweather
Deputy Principal / Director of Religious Studies

National Young Leaders Day

On Thursday the 19th of May I was privileged to attend National Young Leaders Day along with Mrs.Holt and the Leaders from our school. It was held at Mt Eden and we were welcomed with neon lights and music. The hosts introduced themselves and told us what their favorite thing to do was and then they called up all the New Zealand Leaders. My favorite Leader was Willam Pike. He climbed a massive mountain and he found a little house at the top and he stayed in it for the night. Little did he know that in the middle of the night that mountain was a volcano and it erupted. He got trapped and couldn’t move so his friend ran all the way down the mountain for help and just in time the rescuers saved him. He went to the hospital and his injury was so bad that they had to cut his leg off. When he recovered he set himself new challenges to achieve, for example, becoming a teacher and climbing the same mountain again. He overcame his barriers and obstacles by showing the value of resilience. He had amazing courage and determination and I was inspired by him.

By Luke McLaughlin

NYLD

After going to NYLD, I feel like I can make a difference in life. My overall favourite speaker was Georgia Latu and Sam Johnson. They both taught me that no matter what my age, I can always make a difference for the community. Georgia Latu started her company around the age of 12-13. She sells eco-friendly poi because she had a dream to just walk into a store and buy poi. So, she made that dream come true. Around Matariki, you will be able to walk straight into Countdown and buy a poi, as Georgia has always wanted. She started hip-pop and poi classes, combined. Everyone always thought that hip-pop was one dance, and poi dancing was a totally different thing. Georgia thought, Why not combine them? She now runs a dance class with her best friend. All the workers were diverse disabled people, and the poi would die out within four years. Sam Johnson is a volunteer. During the Christchurch earthquake, he made a group of people that are all different and convinced them to help him shovel out the sediment grains from people’s backyards. They were thankful, and now Sam has made a group of volunteers with over 10,000 people. Now, he asks everyone he meets..” Are you a volunteer?”

By Annelise Nugraha

National Young Leaders Day

On the 19th of May 2022 some of the OLSOS badge holders, liturgy team and student council went to the National Young Leaders day in Mount Eden. We first went into seperate cars to get to Mount Eden, we then arrived at the Auckland Life Centre. It was extremely crowded ( also very noisy! ) but we finally got inside. We then entered the large theatre there was hundreds of kids sitting in chairs, and huge crowds. After five minutes, we got in our seats. On the seat in front of us, we had a notebook and a NYLD pen to take notes of our favourite quotes, and what inspired us. The speakers were William Pike, Dave Letele, Georgia Latu, Georgia Lines and Sam Johnson; they all had very inspirational stories and backgrounds. We learnt about the speaker’s life story, and the challenges they faced. They were all so inspirational, and all taught us a lesson. But we all thought William Pike and Georgia Latu were the most inspiring out of all!

William Pike was an interesting speaker telling us his life story and living with an amputated leg. He was a normal man with a passion for mountain climbing. One day he went to Mount Ruapehu with his best friend for a hike. They found a little hut, set up their sleeping bags and went to sleep. In the middle of the night William woke up to a rumbling sound, looked around and saw hot magma everywhere!!! Soon he felt a sharp burning pain on his leg, he looked down and saw that his leg was stuck in the hot magma, he woke up his friend and who ran down the mountain and found help. When William woke up he was in a hospital with one leg wrapped in bandages and the other one amputated. Even after the disaster at Mount Ruapehu, he kept on going and never gave up, he is now living a happy and healthy life.

Georgia Latu was also very inspiring to us. She told us about how she started her own business when she was 12 and built it up to be a famous poi company. She uses natural things to make poi.  She told us to follow your passion and that you don’t need to be a certain age to do something amazing. Even because of Covid she never gave up. She inspired all of us that we can be successful in our future dreams.

by Chloe, Alicia, Shannon, Charlotte, AJ, Maia, and Millie

At NYLD, the speaker that inspired me the most was Georgia Latu, she said so many inspiring things about resilience…some of the things she said were; ‘You can be any age to start a business, all you need to do is BELIEVE in yourself’.  To me this means I can be 5-50 to start a successful business but all I need is the resilience and courage to believe in myself. She also said; ‘Don’t feel bad for yourself, Get up and go do it!’ Which to me means, I shouldn’t feel bad for myself about not doing it, instead I should work hard and do it, and even when things get really tough and hard I should keep on going until I make it to the end. My dream is to work in my Mums clinic as a doctor and pass it on through generation after generation.

By Leah Mouktar

AFTERSCHOOL CLASSES

Tutor Classes Term 2

Here is our list of classes for the remainder of term 2. If you wish to sign up your child, please click the link below. Or you can email Ashley at  [email protected].  Classes will begin in Week 6 (starting Monday 6th of June) and finish at the end of the term.

Please note: due to the term calendar the Art Class will not be running on Friday 24th of June (Matariki) and Friday 8th of July (last day of the term).

To sign your child up to a lesson, please click here and fill in the form.

ALL CLASSES START WEEK SIX OF TERM 2. PAYMENT FOR CLASSES ARE DUE TO INDIVIDUAL TUTORS BEFORE TERM BEGINS.

Tutors will send bank account details to parents once your child is confirmed in their class.

Our Information Centre is a great space for sharing and appreciating children’s work from throughout the school.

Here is some wonderful poppy artwork from Room 8 and some of the many books which were read and shared during Anzac Day commemorations. 

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful support of the recent mothpod competition.  As a community we removed 2096 mothpods from local gardens!

The competition is now closed, but if you do find moth pods, remove them carefully by the root and tie them up in a plastic bag before disposing in the bin.  

Thanks   –    The Environmental team

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 DAY

Tuesday 7 June 2022