Kia Ora Families,

Welcome to our final newsletter for Term 2, and what a fortnight it has been since our last newsletter!

Parish Connect Those of you at any of the Masses at our Parish Church over last weekend would have received the official flyer of events as our Parish and School prepare for the celebrations of our 175 Jubilee in August. This flyer was emailed out to our school community on Tuesday for anyone who may have missed out.  You can also find it through the link on our website landing page  ‘Celebrating 175 years of Catholic Education‘.  The schedule of events was accompanied by a registration slip for the only ticketed and paid event of the weekend, the Jubilee Luncheon. This will take place on Saturday August 12th at 12.30pm with a lovely lunch and guest speakers. There are only 200 seats, so be in quick to register and secure your place.

Please follow this link to this Sunday’s readings.

External Catholic Character Evaluation Last week we were so proud to host the review team from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland’s Catholic Education Services and share with them all of the elements that make Our Lady Star of the Sea special. They gained insights into our processes for strategic planning, curriculum design and implementation and specifically the great outcomes for our learners in implementing the new Religious Education Curriculum as a trial school. They came to understand our assessment practices and the strength of our Professional Growth Cycle supporting staff in performing to the very best of their ability in order for our students to get the very best education possible. They participated in prayer, liturgy and observations of lessons across all of our classes, they interviewed students and parents, and evaluated our overall school environment as a place of excellence and strong Catholic practices. It is fair to say they were blown away by what they saw: their verbal feedback to both our Board of Trustees and our staff was outstanding. We eagerly await their written report which we will share with you when we receive it.

Dance Festival Last Thursday the OLSOS staff hosted the HPPA Dance Festival at Somerville Intermediate. We were most proud of our two dance squads who performed. I wish to sincerely thank our staff for their efforts, especially those outside in the pouring rain directing the traffic and car parking – what a team!

PTA Mathathon Congratulations to everyone in our school community for getting behind this fundraiser which also supports learning in our classrooms. Our school raised in excess of $6000 – thank you to all who participated and got sponsorship!

Book Week This week, we have celebrated the love of all things literature. We have had inspirational authors in as speakers to inspire our young writers as well as a story walk, competitions and, of course, our annual book character parade this morning. It was wonderful to see this event so well attended by our parents and wider whanau (maybe next year more of our parents will also get dressed up!!) Huge thanks to our Librarian Mrs Bronwyn Bell and her team of supporters including Mrs Karen Waters, Mrs Tracey Elder, Miss Laura Bentley and Mrs Rebecca Sentch.

Staffing News
Today we bid farewell to Mrs Ushanthi Leaver, class teacher of Room 16. We wish her all of God’s blessings as she spends more time with her young family.
Next term Mrs Karen Noble Campbell, our Deputy Principal in the senior school and curriculum lead will be stepping into Room 14, teaching Mondays to Wednesdays alongside Mrs Cindy Stewart who will continue teaching the class on Thursdays and Fridays. Mrs Detta Fairweather will be teaching in Room 10 on Mondays to Wednesdays alongside Mrs Lesley Benjamin as our New Entrant numbers grow between now and the end of the year. Miss Alice Shin will take the more experienced Room 10 students into Room 12 to continue their learning.
The necessity for Mrs Noble Campbell and Mrs Fairweather to step into the classroom part time has arisen as, like many Auckland schools at the moment, finding and appointing high calibre teachers is proving a challenge. We are committed to providing the very best programme delivery in our classes, which is why we have decided to redeploy our Deputy Principals at this time.

Looking Ahead Term 3 begins on Monday 17th July. In the second week of term, on Wednesday 26th July, we are having our first Grandparents Day. This coincides with the feast of Jesus’ Grandparents St Anne and St Joachim. Grandparents are invited along for a liturgy at 11am, followed by a chance to spend the middle block of learning in class with their grandchildren – mark the date in your diaries and invite your children’s Grandparents. Thursday 27th July Parent, Student, Teacher Conferences 1pm-8pm bookings will be available in the first week of next term.

Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday. We look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Monday 17th July.

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

Louise Campbell
Principal

The Sisters of Mercy led by their Mother Superior Cecilia Maher had come to New Zealand as a result of  Bishop Pomapllier’s visit to Europe in 1846 – 1850. The Sisters were involved in running orphanages. In 1925 Bishop Cleary purchased a large renovated property in Granger Road, Howick. A dormitory block was added. Sadly not all the orphans could be housed and families were divided between the orphanages in Howick and Northcote

Next term the  RE theme will  focus on the Good News theme. Our Year 1 & 2 learners are on a Mission to explore the Jesus stories telling us of God’s love. Our Year 3 & 4  learners are on a Mission to make sense of the Good News of Jesus which empower us to love. Our Year 5 & 6 learners are on a Mission to understand how the stories of the Old Testament are relevant and empower us today.

Our Christian Witness focus for Term 2 has been in support of the Middlemore Foundation. The Liturgy Team responded to the call of the Jarmy Army and $670 was raised through the PJ mufti day,  with many pairs of pyjamas donated as well. The knitting club has been a great testament to our outreach focus this term. It has been wonderful to see our young learners coming along each week with their needles and wool. For many it was a challenge, but they did this with great enthusiasm, knowing that if we all do a little bit to help, just as Jesus would want us to, it becomes a big ‘bit’ of help. Over the term we have created 10 peggy square blankets with more squares to be sewn up. Many thanks to the parents, grandparents, extended family members, parishioners and wider community who have supported this initiative by either coming to school at lunchtime on Wednesday; sending in knitted squares, blankets, booties and hats; taking squares home to sew into blankets; helping your child at home to continue their knitting; or just popping in and being present. It has been an enjoyable process, one which we will build on again in Term 2 2024. 

Reminders …
…… the Alpha programme has begun with options for both English and Mandarin speakers. More information is on the parish website  https://howickcatholic.org.nz/alpha-course/
….. Our parish is inviting our young learners to joining the parish children’s choir. Contact the parish office 534 8710 for more information.

Kia hari koa, ka uru tera wairua ki tena ki tena
Be cheerful and happy, generating life in those around you

Prayer Intention: For the courage to put our faith into action.

Hi Everyone,

We hope this finds you all having had a great final week of term.

Last week we had the Catholic Diocese External Review team visit for our Catholic Special Character review.  Your Board met with them on Tuesday afternoon, and ….the reviewers were blown away by their encounter with our school.  They were so impressed with our strategic plan that incorporated full community input – and the way that our strategic goals are evidenced.  Our children displayed a deep understanding of how they live their Catholic values as members of our community – and they were completely blown away by this.  High praise like this from the review office is so rare, so it’s an accomplishment that everyone can be so proud of.  We would like to extend a huge well done to Louise, Detta, Karen and their entire team who have worked so hard to ensure we have such an amazing environment for our children to learn, grow and thrive in.  Thank you too to all the parents that attended the parent session with the review team, you’re so appreciated!  We could say so much more about the incredible effort that everyone puts in – except it would make our newsletter too long.  I will say we are a board that is incredibly proud of our entire community and the way everyone comes together to give our children the very best.

As you will all be aware 2023 is the 175^th anniversary of Our Lady Star of the Sea parish and school, and the celebration weekend is not far away.  The committee has put in a lot of hard work to have many highlights across the celebration weekend from Friday 11^th of August through to Tuesday the 15^th of  August.  It will be lovely to see many of you there over this period.

Last, but certainly not least as a Board we would like to recognise the amazing work and efforts of the PTA – including the lasagne sales, mathathon, and recent disco.  There is a lot of work that goes into these, and we are so fortunate to have such a fantastic PTA team.  Without our PTA we wouldn’t have the fun events for our children such as discos etc so it’s another fantastic example of our “village”

Have a safe and happy holidays everyone, and we will look forward to seeing you all back again in term 3.

Alina Hooper

on behalf of your Board

On Tuesday 20th June, OLSOS took four Year ⅚ teams to the East Auckland Hockey Give it a Go Day at Lloyd Elsmore hockey stadium. This day is designed to allow students who may have never played hockey before to ‘give it a go’. Our teams represented our school beautifully, and some players loved the day so much that they have decided to sign up as club players.

Many thanks to our parents who helped with transporting our students to and from the grounds. A special thanks goes to Mr Durian Arthur and Ms Angella Dyczewski for managing teams on the day.

Term 3 Our Lady Star of the Sea School Year 3 – 6 Basketball Session Info:

Week 1 (18th Jul) – Week 10 (19th Sep);
Tuesday 7:30 am – 8:30 am;
Term Fee: $112.50 (10 sessions);
New Players Enrolment steps:

New Players: Please click the enrol link: https://forms.gle/c3jfuHq1LrYsZgxq9. Fill up the form, choose the school programme – Our Lady Star of the Sea School;
Each player will need to pay $112.50 to enrol in Term 3, Please transfer the money to our bank account: 02-0108-0531348-000 (Reference – “Child’s Full Name + OLS”, example James Smith OLS);
Once we receive your payment, you will receive a confirmation email.

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Sacred Heart College Hostel Tour – Sunday, 23 July at 2pm
We are pleased to advise that we are offering tours of our Sacred Heart College Hostel on Sunday 23 July, beginning at 2pm in the Hostel Dining Room. The best way to access the Hostel is via Gate 3, off West Tamaki Road.

We welcome everyone to attend the Hostel Tour, even those who have been to the Hostel before, or are a parent of a current SHC day student. Tours will be conducted by our Hostel Staff, allowing families to visit the dormitories and common areas.

Join us for our Hostel Tour on Sunday, 23 July 2023 at 2pm.
Register your attendance here.
Applications for enrolment to Sacred Heart College as a Boarder close on Thursday, 31 August 2023.

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This winter, between Monday 12 June and Saturday 30 September, participating community pharmacies in Auckland will provide a Minor Health Conditions Service for Māori and Pacific people, children aged under 14 years, and community service card holders.

The service allows pharmacists to have a clinical consultation and provide advice as well as medication if needed for a select set of minor health conditions no cost to the patient.

It also includes whānau members of a child with similar symptoms. For example, if the pharmacist determines your child needs treatment for scabies and they have older brothers or sisters, or you yourself also have symptoms, they may provide advice and medication for all of you.

The following health conditions are included in the Minor Health Conditions Service:

• Acute diarrhoea
• Dehydration
• Eye inflammation and infections
• Scabies
• Headlice
• Pain and fever
• Eczema/Dermatitis
• Minor skin infections

 If your condition needs further support, the pharmacist can tell you the best place to go to get further help.

 Let’s spread the word to our friends and whānau about this new service! It’s also important to remember that you can always speak to your local pharmacist for free health advice, even if you are not eligible for this service.  

 Participating pharmacies can be found by going to HealthPoint and searching “Minor Health Conditions”. You can also find a list here https://smex12-5-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=www.tewhatuora.govt.nz%2fgo%2dwell&umid=03f15db0-214a-489f-8314-00eb263ff8f0&auth=a274b9305a0a6774f29265a98f8f893dbafe8641-7336a07cf314fecd43e11828bcc2ef38514cf6e9.

Ngā mihi / la manuia