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

Welcome to our last newsletter of Term 1. Happy Easter – He is risen, Alleluia!
Since our last newsletter we have, as a school and Church community, celebrated the most important part of our annual Church Calendar – Easter.
We remembered the start of Holy Week last week with Palm Sunday, also celebrated with a beautiful liturgy at Monday morning whole school prayers, we then remembered the Washing of the Feet as Jesus did on Holy Thursday and the Passion of Our Lord as we prayed the Stations of the Cross before we broke up for our Easter holiday last Thursday. We celebrated as a parish on Good Friday with the Stations of the Cross prayed around Howick Village attended by a large number of parishioners and the poignant Solemn Liturgy of the Passion in the afternoon. The Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday evening was our first Mass of Easter, where the new Paschal Candle was blessed and lit for the first time. This candle will be used throughout the year in our Parish. Easter Sunday Mass, celebrating the Risen Lord was a busy and joy-filled celebration and such a delight to see many of our school families in attendance. On Wednesday, when we returned to school, we carried the joyful celebration into our whole school prayer liturgy which was an uplifting experience for all.
Our new DRS, Mrs Brooke Crowe, and our amazing teachers Mrs Tracey Elder, Miss Lee Marten, Mrs Detta Fairweather, Miss Laura Bentley, alongside students from Room 23, Room 4, Room 10 and Room 22, and our Leadership Team can be commended for helping our school remember the solemnity of Holy Week and the joy of the Risen Christ over this important time. Please enjoy these photos, taken at our Holy Thursday Liturgy.

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

Parents Committee Colour Run
As this newsletter reaches your in-box our first ever Parents Committee Colour Run will be well under way. I have been so impressed with how our fabulous Parents Committee have embraced this new idea for building community spirit and fund raising and how you, our families, have got in behind the initiative and supported with attendance and seeking sponsorship. I am sure the new learnings from tonights event will support the growth and development of this fun activity in the future. Lara Teixeira, Praveena Sundram, Terexa Chan Mow, Olivia Kelly, Karen Noble Campbell and the team of supporters from the Parents committee are to be congratulated and thanked for their amazing organisational efforts – photos and full details of the event and what was raised will be shared in our next newsletter. Thanks to all for your support of this Parents Committee initiative!

New ‘Phone Away for the Day’ Rules As you know, by the beginning of Term 2 Schools must have new rules in place around ‘Phones Away for the Day’. Please follow this link to read our draft rules. If you have any questions or comments please be in touch with me at [email protected] before the end of the term. The confirmed document will be available on our website at the start of Term 2.

Lateness at School
As we monitor absences rates and lateness on an ongoing basis, I would like to take this opportunity to remind our school families of the importance of arriving at school before the 8.45am bell, ideally around 8.30am, so as our students have enough time to hang up their bag and get ready for the day. Often we see children in the playground and classroom before school, chatting to their teachers and friends, sharing stories, establishing ideas for games at break times during the course of the day, and, naturally being settled and ready to begin the day on the bell. This is not the same start for a child who is late for school. When students arrive late invariably they are flustered, rushing and enter the calm morning prayer time in class, causing them embarrassment and disruption to the prayerful tone established in the class. When children arrive late in this way, it often takes them longer to settle into the routine of the day and, without the opportunity to connect with their teacher and class mates before school, they feel like they are playing catch-up throughout the day. With traffic at times being unpredictable it is understandable that there may be the odd time a student is late to school, however, habitual lateness is impactful to student wellbeing and impacts learning and socialising as a result. I am grateful to families for striving to have their children at school, settled and ready to start the day ahead of the 8.45am school bell as this helps our learners establish the best conditions for learning and thriving.

Staffing Update 
At the end of this term we are sad to bid farewell to our much loved Caretaker Mr Ken Baird who is retiring after 13 years of amazing service to our school. Ken is endlessly patient when working with students and will be missed for his can-do problem solving skills, hard work and warm personality. We will farewell Ken on the last day of this term with a special morning tea for invited guests. I am sure you will join me in offering huge thanks and a wonderful retirement filled with God’s blessings.

As we bid farewell to Mr Baird, we look to welcome a new member of staff to our administrative team. From the beginning of Term 2, we welcome Mr Paul Campbell as our new Caretaker.  We look forward to  introducing Paul in our first newsletter in Term 2.

Looking Ahead: Next Monday 8th April we have our next Parents Committee Meeting at 7pm – all welcome! Next week is the last week of our term. School will close for Term 1 at 2.45pm on Friday 12th April and reopen on Monday 29th April.
Change to Winter Uniform From Week 1 of Term 2, students may be in their winter uniform. The only change necessary is from sandals to covered-in plain black shoes and school socks. Students may continue to wear their short sleeve shirt or blouse but may change to the uniform long sleeve shirt or blouse. We have a two week transition period and all students must be in their winter uniform by Monday 13th May. Hats are no longer a requirement in Terms 2 and 3 but students may still wear them if desired. Uniform Shop Hours: Term time only on Thursdays 8.15 – 8.45am & 2.30 – 3.00pm

Wishing you all a happy, safe and blessed last week of term and two week term holiday break, after which our next school newsletter will circulate at the end of the second week of Term 2.

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

Louise Campbell
Principal

“Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, has been raised!” (Mk 16:6)

We are Easter people! The Easter season is fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost. The first eight days of the Easter season are called the Octave of Easter. Every day of the Octave continues the joy of Easter Sunday. 

During Easter, the Paschal Candle remains lit until Pentecost Sunday to remind us of the Risen Christ. The Easter Season is a joyful time that symbolises renewal and rebirth. It is a time for us to be Easter people. It means we live with Jesus alive in our hearts and minds, to love others as Christ loves us. 

Christian Witness
Our annual outreach programme for Lent has reached its conclusion. The team at the parish food bank extend a huge thank you for your contributions. We were overwhelmed by your generosity. The Flood the Foodbank with Aroha initiative has helped to support 64 families this year. 

The liturgy team joined other schools online, to work with the Caritas Team. They spent time unpacking the work of Caritas and the principles of Social Justice. The students learnt about the support Caritas is providing to the people of Papa New Guinea to allow these communities to have safe drinking water. It was an engaging and informative session for our students. We will follow this up with Caritas Challenge activities during the year.

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

Tax receipts for donations 01.04.2023 – 31.03.2024 have now been processed and emailed out.   Current statements will be emailed during next week and payment for Term 2 fees will be due by 10.06.2024.

Hi Everyone,

Your Board met on Tuesday the 26th of March.

At our meeting, your Board was updated on the delivery of the Mitey Programme so far this year. The Mitey Learning experiences provide the opportunities for children to talk about their learning with each other and their whānau. Talking about their strengths, identifying next steps, working towards goals with a ‘never give up’ attitude helps our children develop mental wellness.

Your Board has also received positive verbal feedback from the recent engagement with our Education Review Office (ERO) partner. It is pleasing to note that our ERO Evaluator understands the strengths of our school in the development of the whole child, partnerships, effective teaching and learning programmes, consistency of curriculum delivery and excellence and equality for all. This is fantastic to note and is a credit to the hard work put in by our Principal, Senior Leadership Team and the entire school staff. We await the initial summary report from the ERO team and will share this when we recieve it.

This year 35 children from our Year 4 and above are enrolled in the parish Sacramental Programme and received the Sacrament of Reconciliation on the 22nd of March.
Your Board would also like to thank the children and their whānau for the mufti day collection in support of SVDP’S Aroha Meal Outreach Programme. As a school, we raised a total of $810.20. This will allow 147 meals to be provided to individuals and families in need.

Your Board is committed to ensuring that everyone is kept safe in and around our school. We request you to please continue to be mindful of children when driving around school, adjust your speed and follow safe practices when parking to drop off and pick your children.

Anil D’Silva

On behalf of the Board

Moth pod update

Thank you to those families that have hunted down moth pod plants, removed them and brought them into school.  Keep looking over the holidays.  Children will receive 10 house points per pod and we may win a local competition run by the Howick Enviro Schools if we all work together. 

Our Lady Star of the Sea School 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.  

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.

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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.

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Heads up – Stringed and Piano Music Competition 2024

The Irish Lodge [ARA] in association with APPA are once again holding this prestigious music competition for primary-intermediate aged children in Australasia.

The competition timeline is below:

Saturday, 10 August 2024              Ara Music Prelims
Sunday, 11 August 2024                 Ara Music Prelims
Sunday, 18 August 2024                 Ara Music Finals

Young people who are eligible are:

• Living somewhere in the APPA region between Pukekohe and Wellsford.
• In year 5-8 classes.  Years 9 and over are not eligible.
• Have NZ citizenship or have Permanent Residency. Proof required.
• Have Grade 6 or higher in music exams. A copy of the certificate is essential.

The entry process will be made available at a later date.

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April Basketball Holiday Programme

Register your son/daughter by completing the form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScF2bfeD8lojSCoDTbme-JDLjJgSh-IBklK4Hy8weTfhD0K9A/viewform?usp=sf_link

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Accountant – Graduate Role

The Accountant role will assist the Diocesan Accounting Manager and CFO with operational leadership for the financial management of the Diocese and its related entities. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring all financial reporting requirements, imperatives are delivered accurately and add value to the organisation.  You will provide accurate, timely and relevant statutory and monthly management reporting information for entities which ensures the Diocese both fully meets its statutory requirements and to support the Diocese in the achievement of its strategic goals.  This role will suit a recent graduate of a Bachelor’s degree or relevant tertiary qualification (Accounting).

To view the full advert and the position description please go to our website www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz under Diocesan Services and Staff Vacancies.

Applications close 12 April 2024.