Tālofa, Kia Ora, Ni Hao, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Malo e lelei, Kia Orana, and Bula Vinaka Whānau,

Happy Samoan language week for next week. You will have noticed the Samoan flag flying this week to honour the week ahead. Who would have believed we are now halfway through the term – we are at the end of week 5 already. 

This Sunday is the 7th Sunday of Easter and the readings speak to the glory of Jesus that He passed onto people to become one with them so that they too will have eternal life with God in Heaven. As the Easter season comes to an end we await the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost also known as the birthday of the Church. Follow this link to this Sunday’s readings. We remember That the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity that helps us bring peace to our world. As disciples of Christ we are challenged to bring peace to all those we meet. We should forgive those who hurt us and share the gospel messages with others through our words and actions. All of these actions help us bring HOPE to our world.

Budget 2025. There were lots of messages in the budget announced last week. Some will benefit from the outcomes and sadly others will be harder hit. In education we were pleased to hear that there will be a focus on clarity, equity and delivery. We were very pleased to hear that there will be increases in support for students in their first 3 years of schooling as well as a provision for more Learning Assistants in classrooms to better support the teaching and learning programmes across the school. This is a battle we have been fighting for quite some time so are pleased to hear that our pleas are finally being heard.

National Young Leaders Day (NYLD) occurred on Tuesday 27th May. 25 of our student leaders attended along with Miss Marten. Students reported that it was a great day listening to inspirational speakers and gathering up seeds of knowledge to apply in their own life and individual leadership roles. We all know that strong, successful leaders lead from the heart and always keep those they are leading at the forefront of all that they do. We only need to look at the examples of Jesus to see this in action.

Catholic Schools Day was lots of fun for everyone concerned. On Wednesday 28th May we celebrated being part of a Catholic School along with all the other Catholic Schools in the country. The theme for 2025 was “Shine Like Stars in the World”. Many activities occurred during the day to both celebrate and promote to others the fortune to be at a Catholic school. Our Junior team spent time learning about special places in our school, exploring art that is faith based and learning about Holy places around the world – they even visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome! Our seniors explored the similarities and differences between Catholic Schools around New Zealand and the world and other schools called Star of the Sea. A group of Year 6 students attended Liturgy of the Word with Communion at our parish church and then spent time on the streets of Howick promoting our school. After morning tea all our Year 6 students went to Sancta Maria College for a liturgy and activity rotation while half of our Year 4 and 5’s went to Sancta Maria Catholic Primary school (SMCP) for a mix and mingle, liturgy and fun time together. The other half of our Year 4 and 5’s hosted students from SMCP school here at school and enjoyed being tangata whenua (hosts) showing off all the things that make our place faith based. All students that were onsite at OLSOS attended a liturgy in the hall ably led by both OLSOS and SMCP students. It was truly a day of celebrating who we are as Catholic people and the privilege it is to attend a Catholic school. Each student was gifted a bookmark as a memento of this special day that only occurs every three years. We thank the Parents Committee for covering the costs of this special taonga.

Staying healthy during the colder months: Now that the cooler weather is upon us the Ministry of Health have shared this link to give you informed information about when it is appropriate to keep your child at home and when it is okay to send them to school. As you know the Ministry of Education has high expectations for attendance but not at the expense of a child’s health. It is worth having a read of this information for your own knowledge so that you know when it is safe to send your child to school and when it is better to keep them at home. Our teachers are doing their best to keep rooms ventilated, especially during break times, to ensure bugs do not transfer from child to child. Teaching your child to sneeze or cough into the crook of their elbow is really helpful along with blowing their nose and sensibly disposing of the tissues used. Thank you for supporting us to keep everyone well.

Week 7 is Culture Week. We really need your help to make this week a memorable one for each student. It is a time to stand tall and be proud of your culture. Teachers have put out messages to class families to seek ways you can share your culture with others. Please, if you can help your child’s class out, by sharing aspects of your culture we will all get to experience the wide diversity that makes up this fabulous school and better appreciate what makes us all unique and special as members of God’s family. The action does not have to be big – it could be sharing a cultural story, images or actual artefacts that are prominent in your culture. There may be information about people that are important to your culture, traditions that are celebrated in your family, or dances that are performed in your culture. The more we have the more we will be able to celebrate. The week will finish with buddy sharing about all the things they have learned during the week.

Term Dates for 2026 have now been confirmed by your Board. They are as follows:

Term 1 – Tuesday 3 February to Thursday 2nd April

Term 2 – Monday 20th April to the Friday 3rd July

Term 3 – Monday 20th July to the Friday 25th September

Term 4 – 12th October to the Wednesday 16th December

Hopefully knowing these dates early will help you plan your holiday trips around school time to ensure student attendance remains high.

Teacher only day Tuesday 3rd June. This is a Kahui Ako led day where our staff will be involved in spiritual formation to develop us further as Pilgrims of Hope. Families are reminded that school is closed on this day. Bizzy Bodz is open should you need care for your children. Thank you for your support of our staff professional learning and development.

Looking ahead: Pentecost Liturgy will be held Monday 9th June. Children are encouraged to come to school in cultural dress that represents their culture. HPPA Chess tournament will be held on the 10th of June and day one of the Girls football competition will be held on the 11th of June. Rooms 18 and 10 will celebrate their Buddy Mass on the 11th of June in our school chapel – all are welcome. The Parents Committee Quiz night will be held on Friday 13th June at 6.30pm in the hall – Can you beat the teachers?!

Have a fantastic fortnight ahead. Bring the Peace of Christ and gifts of the Holy Spirit to all those you meet.

Arohanui, Tōfa soifua, ‘Ofa lahi atu, Zhù hǎo, Cordialement, Loloma levu, Fakaue lahi, 안부 인사를 전합니다 

Karen Noble-Campbell

Acting Tumuaki/Principal

                                                                          JUBILEE YEAR OF HOPE

Patience, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, sustains our hope and strengthens it as a virtue and a way of life. May we learn to pray frequently for the grace of patience, which is both the daughter of hope and at the same time its firm foundation     Pope Francis 

 Pentecost
The Easter season is drawing to a close with the feast of Pentecost soon to be celebrated. Pentecost marks the coming of the Spirit and is considered to be the birthday of the Church. Pentecost commemorates when the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to speak in various languages, allowing them to communicate the Gospel to people from diverse regions and cultures. Pentecost thus celebrates the idea that the Holy Spirit brings together people of all nations and backgrounds into the one body of the Church.

Our school community will gather in the hall, 8:45am Monday 9 June, to celebrate Pentecost with a liturgy. This will also mark the beginning of our schoolwide Culture Week. 

Term 2 Christian Witness / Community Outreach programmes
During June, our Christian Witness outreach initiative will be to support the Middlemore Foundations ‘Jammies for June’.  During this month we ask families to kindly donate pyjamas. These pyjamas will be collected and taken to the Middlemore Foundation to support those in need. 
Jammies will be given to children at Kidz First and the 76 primary schools the Foundation supports through the Mana Kidz School Health programme.  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.
Please place these donations into the yellow boxes inside the school foyer.

A group of year 3-6 students meet in the Chapel space between 12:15pm and 1pm each week, knitting peggy squares. These squares will be joined together to make blankets for Middlemore Hospital. Each week adults from the wider parish school community join together to support our young learners. It is wonderful to see their smiles, both adults and students alike, as they work together to support those most vulnerable in our community. You are welcome to drop off donations of wool, knitting needles or knitted squares to support this project. 

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

Statements have been emailed this week.

Attendance dues are compulsory. We understand that managing these payments can be a stretch, so payment plans can be arranged to help you out.

A huge thank you to everyone who has already paid their Term 1 fees! For those who haven’t yet started their payments, we’ll be contacting you shortly to discuss arrangements.

Please note that Term 2 payments are due by June 10th.

News from the Parents Committee

Thanks for the support for Hotdog Lunch – the kids absolutely loved it! There were smiles (and sauce) everywhere.

Quiz Night – 13th June
Time to round up your crew and book a table – or just grab a seat and we’ll match you with a team.
This one’s grown ups-only and guaranteed to be a good laugh. The prizes aren’t fancy, the table decor is nothing to write home about, but the fun is top-notch. Book now at www.olsos-pta.co.nz

Next PTA Meeting – 9th June, 7pm
Come join us in the staff room – all are welcome!

Thank you for being part of our awesome school community – we couldn’t do it without you!

ROOM 21 POEMS

Night Conquers the World!!

A loud mischievous laugh fills the earth,
It echoes through the roads.
Night showers all the streets with snow.
Blindly the stars join him to rule the world.

 As their emperor brings deafening commotion,
The lightning screeches,
Thunder roars,
Wind whistles through the sky.

Suddenly, something shines bright behind the gates.
It’s the Sun!
That’s brave and strong,He brings Night back to his home. 

By Emiko 

Oh Vicious Night

Oh vicious night, you rule the world.
Taking my happiness
In all different ways.
I loved the peace until you destroyed it.
I loved to play but you took my happiness in every way.

Oh vicious night I loved you very much,
But now you took everything I wanted.
You banished the sun to the
Other side of the world.
You took my favourite thing in the world,
Daytime.

Oh vicious night,
You took everything I had.
Meanwhile your army of stars are taking over the world.
Everyone is happy that they have their friends,
While I live in the lonely woods by myself…

By Cooper 

Congratulations, Georjia!

Over the weekend, Georjia raced in Rounds 3 and 4 of the Australian BMX National Series in Lake Macquarie, NSW, and won both races! She is now preparing for the BMX World Championships, which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in two months’ time.

Thank you for your support by collecting and photographing mothpods that were removed from gardens in our local community.  Altogether we collected over 500 pods!  The competition is now over, so there is no need to photograph them.  However, if you see any pods please remove them before they take over the native trees growing in that space.  

Every year we undertake a Waste Audit in which we collect, sort and weigh a whole day’s worth of rubbish. The enviro team then looks at our waste to see how we can reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill each day.  This year, it was pleasing to see that due to our compost bins and food bins for Bizzy Bods and the staffroom we are throwing out less food waste.  However, there was an increase in the number of small plastic packaging turning up in bins.  Our Lady Star of the Sea School has a zero waste in lunch boxes policy to avoid this rubbish ending up in our gardens.  Please help us out by removing any packaging before sending the lunchbox to school.  Next term we’ll be rewarding children who have a completely rubbish free lunch, watch this space! 

Book Week is in Term 3

This year our Book Week is in week 2 of Term 3. 

We will share more information towards the end of this term.

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