Kia Ora, Ni Hao Malo e lelei and Bula Vinaka Whānau,

Welcome to our fourth newsletter of Term 1. Our school has been open for instruction for 2 months already this year. I am sure, like me, you have noted a wee nip in the air as we transition into autumn.

Parish Connect
We ask for prayers for the children who will be making their Sacrament of First Reconciliation, tonight in our Parish Church. This is the second Sacrament of initiation they will receive (the first being Baptism). Your continued prayers as they begin their preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation and First Holy Communion which they will soon be making is much appreciated. Congratulations to Eden Adams, Orlando Bickerton, Kara Chaytor, Emily Crouch, Amelia Davies, Sebastian Dellabarca, Jenny Finau, Isla Frankle, Oliver Gao, Isaac Gomes, George Guan, Marceline Hooper, Layla Ieremia, Louis Liu, Reece Julia, Mia Kelly, Hyo Sung Lee, Angela Li, Holly Li, Austin Lu, Zeke Mascarenhas, Cara McGuire, Nastasia McLay, Daniel Ngere, Louis Orange, Noah Orange, Isla Robb, Lucas Sirilan, Sofie Smith, Amaara Surplis, Hannah Teixeira, Joseph Winata, Erica Yeh, Calvin Yeung, Sara Zapata for making their first Reconciliation tonight.

Please follow this link to view this Sunday’s readings.

HPPA Cultural Festival
On Wednesday of this week there were lots of proud OLSOS children, families and friends as our Pacific Cultural Group performed at the HPPA Cultural Festival. Jo Grant and Detta Fairweather did an incredible job of training our performers, starting in Term 4 of last year so that they really shone on the night. Thank you sincerely to Jo, Detta, all families involved and most importantly, to our students who performed with skill, huge enjoyment and pride. Cheehoo!

Parents Committee Colour Run
We are most excited for the upcoming Parents Committee Colour Run due to take place the evening of Friday 5th April.

Traffic Management Around Our School
Thank you to those families who are being considerate of our neighbours when parking in the surrounding streets to drop children off and pick them up each day. In the narrow streets by our school hall and out the front of our school, there have been ongoing reports of parents parking across driveways, attempting to make U turns inappropriately and pulling into the driveways of local homes as well as our school driveways. We had a very shaken parent on Wednesday when a young person was almost knocked over as another parent swung their car into our school driveway. Please, please, please continue to be mindful of children in and around school, adjust your speed, and follow safe practices when parking to drop off or pick up your children – our children’s lives depend on it.

Staffing Update 
We are just thrilled to announce that the lovely Mrs Maria Kelly, teacher in Year 4, Room 19 is expecting her second child. Maria will continue working through to the end of Term 2, all things going as planned. I know that you will join us in wishing her, her husband, and wee son Charlie huge congratulations on this happy news and add them to your ongoing prayers.

Looking Back: Congratulations to our senior boys who participated in the HPPA Cricket tournament over the course of a couple of weeks recently. They did us proud with their efforts and display of our values when competing. Huge thanks to Dave Grant and Karen Noble Campbell for their coaching, managing and support of the boys in preparation and on game days. Last Monday was a great opportunity for our girls to attend the HPPA Girls Cricket Smash Fun Day with thanks to the parent helpers and Mrs Karen Waters who supported on the day. Read more and see images about both of these experiences later in our newsletter. We were overwhelmed with your support of our Christian Outreach Initiative last Friday with a mufti day to support St Vincent De Paul’s Meal Outreach Service, supporting to the tune of around 150 meals – what a supportive community – thank you!
Huge congratulations to Georjia Pou-Edwards who competed in BMX over the weekend and obtained New Zealand’s Number 1 spot for her age group – we are so proud of you Georjia!

Looking Ahead: We are looking forward to our Pacific Fono Group gathering on Saturday afternoon for fellowship, sharing and support. This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, leading up to the celebration of Easter. We remember Christ’s death in our Passion Play on Thursday at 1.3opm which is in our hall . Families are welcome to join us for this solemn event. Friday of next week is Good Friday, the day we remember that Jesus died for us. School is closed that day as well as Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday. See below in our DRS section of this newsletter for Mass times over Easter.

Wishing you all a happy, safe and blessed fortnight ahead until we next communicate via our school newsletter.

Ngā mihi nui, Tōfa soifua, ‘Alu ā, cǐ zhì jìng lǐ and Vinaka vaka levu,

Louise Campbell
Principal

Christian Witness – Putting our Faith into Action. 

Our Flood the Foodbank with Aroha Lenten initiative continues. To date, we have fed 44 families. God bless you all for your generosity and the way you are teaching your children how to put their faith into action. 

Another huge thank you for your contribution to our mufti collection in support of Saint Vincent de Paul’s meal outreach programme. With your help, we were able to provide approximately 150 meals for people and families in need. The team at Vinnies Kitchen have let us know that this will make a lasting impact on those they serve. 

Tonight around 45 young people from our parish and school community will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. This is a milestone in their journey of faith. Please keep all of them in your prayers. 

On Wednesday 13th March the Senior children experienced a Retreat day. The students spent time during the day working through different activities to explore and grow their relationship with God. The theme of the Retreat was ‘Where am I?’ and supported the children in understanding that they are part of a school and parish which has a special history and charism. The children enjoyed meditative colouring, liturgical dance, designing prayer rocks, praying the stations of the cross, a spiritual walk, and learning about the works of Mercy. This day was concluded with a special talk given by Fr. John about the history of the school and parish.
A big thank you to the Senior Team for organising a day filled with opportunities for the children to grow their Faith. 

Holy Week will soon be upon us. The school will hold a Palm Sunday liturgy at 8:45 am on Monday 25th March in the school hall. During the week, classes will focus on the events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus. You and your family are always welcome to spend time at the outdoor Stations of the Cross. The stations start at the sabbath space, meander through the nature trail and follow along the boardwalk behind the information centre.  On Thursday 28th March at 1.30 pm in the school hall, we will join together to pray the stations of the cross in a special Holy Thursday liturgy. Following the Easter break, we will hold an Easter Liturgy at 8:45 am Wednesday 3rd April in the school hall to celebrate the risen Lord. We extend a warm welcome to you all and invite you to join us for these liturgies. 

Children’s Liturgy of the Word is offered at our Parish Church on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month in term time. It is open to primary school-aged children. Just before being seated for the scripture readings at Mass, the children will be invited by Father John or Father Terry to take the Children’s Lectionary and Candle with them to the Parish Centre. They will return to the Church and their families after the Homily and in time for the Preparation of the Offertory Gifts part of the Mass. This is a great opportunity for the children to hear the Gospel message appropriate to their age and consider how to practice it in their own lives.

Statement from the Catholic Bishops of Aotearoa New Zealand
Caritas Lent Appeal
Each year, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand runs the Bishops’ Lent Appeal to support their work to aid and empower the most poor and vulnerable in our society. The Caritas mission, as the Catholic agency for justice, peace, and development, is of vital importance to us all, especially the vulnerable communities they work with across the Pacific and beyond. The Bishops’ Lent Appeal is the most direct way of providing the resources Caritas depends on to continue this vital work. For our Catholic community, Caritas is the means by which we help our brothers and sisters in need – upholding their human dignity through partnerships grounded in Catholic social teaching.
Over the last couple of years there has been a drop in giving to Caritas, putting pressure on their ability to fund programmes that serve those most in need. We ask that during this time of preparation and almsgiving, you make a special gift to the Bishops’ Lent Appeal 2024 online at www.caritas.org.nz using the envelopes provided at Mass. This act represents the giving of alms and will mean so much to those that Caritas helps.
Yours in faith,
✠ Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Auckland
✠ Richard Laurenson, Bishop of Hamilton
✠ John Adams, Bishop of Palmerston North
✠ Paul Martin SM, Archbishop of Wellington
✠ Michael Gielen, Bishop of Christchurch
✠ Michael Dooley, Bishop of Dunedin

“We are a Christ centred community
fostering belonging (whanaungatanga)
and outreach
through selfless giving (manaakitanga)
in Mary’s Way”.

Thank you to those who have paid their Term 1 fees.   These are now past due.      If you wish to set up a payment plan, please contact Sue Yandell in confidence.

Any 2024 donations paid prior to 31 March will be included in the receipts for the financial year 01.04.2023 – 31.03.2024 which will be processed and emailed home in early April.

The Board has commenced another year by implementing an action plan for the year ahead. Interwoven within this action plan is an evangelisation goal, emphasising prayer diversity, and Māori cultural integration as guided by our external Catholic Special Character review completed last year.

Alina Hooper
Presiding Member, on behalf of Your Board

HPPA Cricket Day 2

On Thursday the 14th of March our cricket team of Zac, Tevin, Charlie, Carla, Mya, Callum, Jack and Samuel played in Day 2 of the HPPA cricket competition. The weather was not the greatest to start the day but the sun eventually chose to shine, making play that much easier. We were lucky enough to win 1 of our 3 games. Everyone gave their very best on the day despite some hard competition. It was great to see everyone supporting each other and encouraging each other to the best they could be. We took some amazing wickets and performed well both with the bat and in the field. A very special thanks to Dave Grant who has coached the team since Term 4 2023 and who gave up his personal time to support the team at all of our games. Unfortunately our results were not strong enough to get us to the semis and finals but we are very proud of every player and thank them for their contribution and service to our school.

Girls Cricket Day:

On Monday the 18th March four girls cricket teams participated in the Girls Smash Cricket Festival at Lloyd Elsmore Park. We began the day with a skills session run by Auckland Cricket and then got into our games. Most of the girls had never played cricket before but were keen to learn new skills and have a go. By the end of the day they were all very proud of themselves as all teams had wins and showed real improvement in understanding the game of cricket. A special thanks to the wonderful parents who were able to spend the day helping each team by scoring and organising the batters and bowlers and providing transport to and from the venue. We couldn’t participate in these sports events without your support.

Congratulations to Georjia Pou-Edwards, New Zealand’s Number 1 in BMX for her age group!

Over the weekend, the BMX Nationals were held in the Hawkes Bay. Georjia had a fantastic competition taking out the number 1 spot for her age group.

Hi! We are Tiffany Chen and Isabel Back. We are the 2024 Environmental Team Leaders. Our goal this year is to keep our school clean and be rubbish free. Last year we went rubbish free for one whole term, so we know we can do it! Please support us and our environment by choosing to be rubbish free.  We know it can be hard always being rubbish free so if you can’t be rubbish free, please leave the rubbish at home. 

This term we have restarted collecting fruit scraps from our lunchboxes for the school compost bins.  We have learnt that our worms do not like citrus fruit (orange peel, mandarin peel, lemon, lime and kiwi fruit). The compost is then used in our gardens so they will grow stronger and healthier.  

Did you know that you can also recycle Nespresso coffee pods at school?  We have a box outside the main office if you would like to drop your pods off.  The coffee is used in gardens and the aluminum is used to make roof tiles and fence posts.  So much better than going to the landfill.  

We have lots of ideas for how to keep our school beautiful and sustainable so watch this space for more updates.  

The environmental team has joined local schools to eradicate moth pods from our local gardens. Moth pods are a weed that grow and strangle native plants, the pods contain thousands of seeds that explode, in turn growing more plants. 

If you see these pods or vines please carefully remove the pods wearing gardening gloves and pull out the plant if you can.  Bring any moth pods that you collect into school for counting.  We may win a prize! Please keep an eye out for these pods while you are out on walks in the holidays.

We are excited about our next event! Star of the Sea’s first colour run! The colour run will be held on Friday 5th April at 5pm. It promises to be lots of colourful messy fun! Awesome prizes up for grabs. After the run sausage sizzle and ice blocks will be on sale.

Our next meeting will be on Monday 8th April, we would love to have you along.

We are once again looking forward to having a wonderful community Gala in early October this year.  There is much preparation to make a gala successful and we are looking for a small Core Team to start preparing the logistics.  If you would like to show service to the school, at the same time having fun, and would be able to become involved in this year’s gala organisation, please contact the office or email Louise.  Any questions you have before committing to the team, we would be pleased to chat to you.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sacred Heart College

Enrolment Applications for Year 7 and Year 9 for 2025 are now open

An education at Sacred Heart College 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 2025, with Boarding available from Year 9. Applications are prioritised in accordance with our Enrolment Scheme. Scholarships are available.
Applications for enrolment close Friday 5 April 2024. Apply online here. Visit www.sacredheart.school.nz for more information, or email [email protected].nz

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sacred Heart College Fair

We warmly invite friends and families to the upcoming SHC Fair. This fantastic day includes delicious food stalls of all varieties, new and preloved items, a silent auction, the best quick-fire raffle in town, cafes, cake stalls, games for the kids, and much more. A great day out for the family. All welcome.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bring the whole family along to Kids Arts Festival 2024 for a day of creativity and let the magic of Oceans and Origins take you on a journey of exploration and discovery together.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Howick Lions Club Water Safety Picnic at Cockle Bay Beach

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx