Talofa lava Families,

Welcome to our third newsletter of Term 2 where we have celebrated Samoa Language Week this week. The theme for Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoa Language Week 2023 is ‘Mitamita i lau gagana, maua’a lou fa’asinomaga’ which means ‘Be proud of your language and grounded in your identity’.
It is safe to say we saw great pride in our young Samoan learners over the course of this week, with Samoa Language Week launched ably by Xavier and Tamia after our Pentecost Liturgy on Monday. Through fabulous videos recorded by our Pacific students, our children had the opportunity to learn Samoan words and phrases in class throughout the week. Our celebration of Samoa Language Week concluded today with our whole school wearing Samoan or Pacific clothing and attending a celebratory assembly, where we were quizzed on our word and phrase learning over the course of the week. I would like to sincerely thank Jo Grant and our Fono Parent Group parents for their support in making Samoa Language Week a fun and engaging week filled with learning which we will be able to continue to use as we interact with each other beyond the week. I would also like to express our thanks on behalf of the staff for the beautiful lunch of Samoan food put on by our Fono Parents – we are so grateful for their open sharing of culture and the chance to experience and celebrate the pride and grounding that our Samoan students have in their culture. Faafetai lava.

Parish Connect It was lovely to see many of our families come along to the Family Mass celebrated in our Parish Church two Sunday’s ago, in support of the student parishioners who fulfilled the ministries of hosting, music, reading, and altar serving. Having our young Parishioners engage in the ministry life of the Church helps them to learn and grow a sense of what it feels like to be an active member of our Church community. Further family Masses will take place every third Sunday at 5.30pm during term time with the next happening on Sunday 18th June.
Last Sunday it was great to hear three of our older youth speak about their upcoming attendance at World Youth Day which is taking place in August this year in Lisbon, Portugal. Your continued prayer for Anna George, Kelly Mascarenhas and Brigette Carne, as members of our parish and school community as they prepare to head off on this amazing experience intended to draw them, together with hundreds of thousands of like-minded young people from around the world, closer to God in prayer and celebration.

Please follow this link to this Sunday’s readings.

I would like to take this opportunity to point you in the direction of the ‘home’ page of our website where you will find a banner heading near the top entitled ‘Celebrating 175 years of Catholic Education‘ Here you will find a link to see the plan of all of the activities between Friday 11th August and Tuesday 15th August where our Parish and School will celebrate this historical milestone together. 

Pentecost Liturgy Following the celebration of Pentecost at our Parish on Sunday, our school celebrated this special day, 50 days since Easter, with a liturgy on Monday. Together we celebrated the birthday of the Church when we remember that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and the good news could be heard in people’s home languages. It was wonderful to see so many of our young learners dress in their national dress to celebrate this special day together.

Enviro News Last week, our Enviro team conducted our annual waste audit, helping us keep our focus on becoming a more sustainable school, as kaitiaki or custodians of God’s world. The great news is that our efforts to keep waste that goes to landfill at a minimum are being sustained. More details about this waste audit will be shared in our next newsletter

Covid cases are still bubbling through the school. If your child shows symptoms of Covid please test them and keep them home. We are still finding that it can take up to four days for Covid to register on a RAT test, so, rather than testing once and sending them to school, please continue to test if your child shows symptoms. There is still a 7 day isolation requirement. If your child does test positive for Covid, please continue to let us know.

Looking Ahead Next week is a short week with school closed for children on Kings Birthday Monday and Teacher Only Day on Tuesday. On Tuesday at our Teacher Only Day, our staff will be working alongside our Community of Learning (Kahui Ako) partner schools of Sancta Maria College, Sancta Maria Catholic Primary, St Marks Catholic School, Elim Christian College and KingsGate learning more about supporting resilience and wellbeing in our young learners. We are looking forward to seeing everyone as members of the Jarmy Army next Friday, 9th June wearing their pajamas to school, bringing a gold coin donation to help provide pajamas for children in need, one of our Christian Witness Outreach activities for this term. The following week sees our teams take trips around significant local sites that are important to our area and our school as part of their connected curriculum learning this term. See our website calendar for further details about these trips and other interschool and school activities.

Wishing you all a happy and safe fortnight ahead after which we will share more school news in our next fortnightly newsletter.

Ngā mihi nui, Tōfa soifua and cǐ zhì jìng lǐ,

Louise Campbell
Principal

In November 1918 all schools were closed due to the Spanish ‘Flu’, known as the Black Influenza. Teachers turned into nurses. The Mission Sisters went out into the community and nursed many people in their own homes. Not one of the Sisters contracted the disease.

We have entered the Church’s season of Ordinary time. At Mass, you will notice Fr John and Fr Terry wearing green and the tabernacle clothed in green. In the classrooms the green candle and altar cloths are being used. Green is a symbol of growth. Ordinary time is a time of growth. It is a time to notice things in creation and learn from them. For example, regardless of the ebb and flow of the oceans’ tides, the ocean is always there.  Similarly, God is always here with us, no matter what. Ordinary time is a great time to focus on growing our relationship with Jesus, the living God. Through prayer we can build a strong connection with God. This is something which can feel ordinary but in truth is an extra-ordinary thing to do. Our young learners are blessed with starting each day with prayer and having the opportunity to explore different ways of praying whether it be through traditional, contemplative, reflective, meditative or general personal prayer to form an encounter with Christ.
You are very welcome to join your child’s morning prayer time in class. Praying with your children and your wider family at home is a beautiful way to model the importance of prayer – talking to, listening to and being with God. Making time for yourself as adults to stop and pray is a commitment and a great way to ‘decompress.’  There are many different prayer opportunities out there for us to benefit from. The Mass is one amazing prayer from the beginning to the end as well as being the source and summit of our Catholic faith. 

The liturgy team is joining Dame Valerie Adams in the annual Jammies in June drive. Too many children are being admitted to Kidz First Hospital with respiratory illnesses because they live in cold damp houses. The Hospital and School Nurses are bracing for a tough, busy winter and knowing we can give a child in their care warm pyjamas will make such a difference. Donations of pyjamas can be dropped into the school office. Thank you for your support.

Reminders…. 

• • The Sacramental programme begins again for those children currently enrolled. 
  • Alpha starts Sunday 11 June and there is an option for both Mandarin and English speakers. More information is on the parish website. https://howickcatholic.org.nz/alpha-course/
  • Buddy class Masses continue on Wednesdays in the Chapel. All welcome.

Ko te aroha o te Atua kua whiwhi whanau a tatou Katoa
The tender mercy of God has given us one another

Prayer Intention: Spirit of God, help us to respond generously to the needs of others in our thoughts, words and deeds. 

Save the date for our next Disco!
Mark the 16 June in your diary… our school disco promises great music, pizza, glowsticks and lot’s of fun!   Held in the school hall 6-8pm.

Parents committee meeting – 12 June
It would be great to have your support at the parents committee meeting – we have some exciting things planned in the coming months and many hands make light work.  Meeting will be held in the staffroom from 7-8pm.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE DUES

Term 2 statements have been emailed out.  Due date for Term 2 payments is 10 June

If you would like to discuss a payment plan, please do contact Sue Yandell in strictest confidence:  [email protected]

PTA Mathathon

Thank you for helping your child practise their maths questions and collect sponsors for our Mathathon. Sponsorship forms should be returned to your child’s teacher no later than the 9th of June. Testing will happen during week 8 in class. Sponsorship forms will be sent back home with test results added once testing is complete. Please deposit all monies into the PTA bank account as shown on the sponsorship form or send back to school as cash by Wednesday 28th June.

All monies raised will go towards supporting the teaching and learning programmes for all students at school.

Thank you for your support – every little bit helps.

Netball Field Day

19 keen Year 5 and 6 students headed to the Howick Pakuranga Netball Courts on the 23rd of May to take part in a Netball Have a Go day. This day was about having fun while experiencing the game of 6v6 netball.

The students had a great day and learnt a lot of skills throughout the day.

Our grateful thanks goes to Mr Ross Ellwood who managed and acted as a referee throughout the day along with the other fabulous parents who offered transport to and from the event.

Book Week is coming in Week 10!
26 – 30th June

‘I’ve got a story to tell …’

Scholastic Book Fair will be open every day before and after school for purchases.
Every purchase goes into a LUCKY PRIZE DRAW!

Special guests
– two fantastic NZ authors: Anne Kayes and John Carr
– Sancta Maria College students retelling stories through dance & drama
– Playhouse Theatre

Story Walk (Hikoi Korero) using two amazing Scholastic picture books.
Children can wander along our wonderful boardwalk through the bush and read Colour the stars by Dawn MacMillan or play around our new playground and read Lion guards the cake by Ruth Paul.

Competitions, Kahoots, buddy reading – it’s going to be a fun week!

Book character costume parade
Friday 30th June 9am in the hall.
Friends and family are welcome to come along and watch.
Start thinking about costume ideas now and check out these websites for some  costume inspiration.

109 easy last minute Book Day costume ideas

75 simple book costume ideas