Weekly Communication: 19.11.2021 + End of Year Celebration plans

Dear Families

Our students who have returned this week have settled in to their new normal of learning at school. We thank our community for responding to our health & safety measures put in place for the remainder of this school year. We look forward to seeing these students back again next week.

Monday 22 November – Students in Maher/McAuley attend on site

Tuesday 23 November – Students in Maher/McAuley attend on site

Wednesday 24 November – Students in Garin/Barbier attend on site

Thursday 25 November – Students in Garin/Barbier attend on site

Friday 26 November – Students in Garin/Barbier attend on site

End of Year Prizegiving and Collection of student’s personal items

As we approach the end of our school year under very different operating conditions due to Covid-19, we have been forced to rethink our usual end-of-year celebrations.

We are not able to gather as community at our usual end-of-year Mass where our Year 6 graduates are blessed and farewelled with their OLSOS leavers candle and our new school leaders for the following year are announced. We are not able to attend our usual annual prizegiving and nativity reflection at Sancta Maria College. We are not able to host our Year 6 leavers evening picnic.

Instead, we are creating an end-of-year video celebration which will be posted on a private youtube link on Monday 13th December for all families at OLSOS to enjoy.

This video will include a liturgy and blessing of our Year 6 leavers candles, our prizegiving featuring class awards, overall awards and trophies, our Year 6 leavers will be acknowledged as well as those families who are leaving us after many years of association at the end of this year, as well as announcing our 2022 house captain school leaders.

NB: PRIVACY NOTIFICATION This video will be shared widely amongst our community. If you do not wish your child’s photo and name to appear in this video should they receive a prize or acknowledgement in this clip please email [email protected].nz immediately. We will use a school crest as an image in the video presentation instead.

In order for us to get certificates, leavers candles and classroom items to all students, whether they are attending school part time or still learning from home, the following will occur:

Year 6 graduates on-site will receive their pre-blessed leaver’s candles on either Friday 10th December or Tuesday 14th December according to the house attendance schedule.
Year 6 graduates who are continuing their learning from home will be invited to a ‘drive through’ graduation between 11am and 12.30 on Tuesday 14th December. As they drive through our bus bay, fellow Year 5 and 6’s in attendance that day, and our senior school teachers will cheer our graduates on as they are given their leavers candle and their classroom items to take home for the end of the year.
Those families in Years 1 to 5 who are continuing their learning from home will have the opportunity to ‘click and collect’ their children’s personal stationery and any school books we still here on-site on Friday 10th December. We will communicate time frames for families to collect items in time windows by surname closer to the time. Items will be bagged and labeled by surname ready to collect from outside the admin block.

Please put these important dates in your diary.

Thank you for your ongoing support and flexibility as we plan forward through unusual times restricted by health measures due to Covid 19.

School lunches available from Monday next week

Whāia te Tika

Please find this special edition of the Whāia te Tika November 2021 Newsletter which contains Bishop Pat’s support for ‘the profound conversion of heart that will enable us to care for the earth and for the poor’. Read the complete edition here: Akl J&P Nov 2021 Whāia te Tika Newsletter