Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta
Dear Families
Thank you for the wonderful turn-out to the Mahi Tahi “Working Together” Conferences last night. It is great to be able to work alongside families as we support our students to progress and achieve in every aspect of their learning. We appreciate the whānau input and it is a credit to our children and our kaitiaki/teachers that learning is at the forefront of these Conference conversations … the learning communities resonated with children sharing their learning goals and everyone present, contributing to ways to support next learning steps at home and at school. Ka māu to wehi – that’s amazing!
Tūrangawaewae Evening
Despite the wet weather, it was fantastic to see so many families share in the Tūrangawaewae Evening held at school last Friday evening. We loved the sharing of cultures and in particular wish to express our thanks to Azaylah and Davina for their beautiful Samoan Siva dance, to Mrs Costello for her clever display work with Japanese Lunchbox Art, to Isaiah, Archie and Blessing for their powerful hakas, to Sophie L-S. and her friend who performed a beautiful dance from the Easter Islands and to Mr and Mrs Padilla-Morales and Mrs Sandoval (Kamilo and Sophie’s parents) and their dancing troupe for performing lively and entertaining Chilean Dances for us all. You were all spectacular and we appreciated the effort you made to share your cultural items. It was also wonderful to see families sharing their specialty foods and dishes – thank you for feeding us all! Thank you to our PTFA team for providing the sausage sizzle and thanks to Mrs Silva and Holy Trinity students who taught families our own unique school haka! It really was a fabulous night – let’s do it again some time soon!
DRS News
Lent/Caritas
Lent is a very special season of the Church’s Liturgical year. It begins with Ash Wednesday where Catholics around the world attend a special Liturgy where we are marked with ashes on our foreheads. It is a 40 day period where we make time for prayer, fasting and almsgiving (acts of giving). Lent is a time of reflection and preparing our hearts for the coming of Easter. The children will be learning about Lent in their Learning Communities over the next few weeks and have made special Lenten promises to follow during this season.
Each Learning Community will have a Caritas box placed on their prayer focus. Caritas Aotearoa is a charity that works to bring justice, peace and development to those who need it. Caritas is the latin word for love, it is love in action. Our students and staff will be donating a small koha throughout Lent to put in their Caritas box. This will go towards helping Caritas make a difference in the lives of people living with poverty and injustice.
St Patrick’s Day
On Monday 18 March our school will be celebrating St Patrick’s Day by having a GREEN MUFTI DAY. Children can wear green clothing and wear green accessories for this fun day. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation that will go towards Caritas Aotearoa. All proceeds will go towards helping those who are aided by Caritas. We thank you for your generosity!
School Fun Run
Our PTFA are busy organising a major fundraising event for our school – A SCHOOL FUN RUN to be held on Friday 5th April 2019 here at school, commencing at 4:30pm. They are working alongside a school fundraising company who are assisting with the organisation of on-line sponsorship to make it easier for everyone to be involved in this fantastic fundraising venture.
This week, the children will have come home with an information letter and also a pamphlet that outlines how to join up to be part of the Fun Run. We are asking families to seek on-line sponsorship from family, friends, co-workers etc to help make it a very successful project.
All proceeds will go towards the development of our school’s adventure playground and we will use our new school field as the “fun run track”!
Children will be able to choose their reward prize dependent on the total amount of money they fundraise. The pamphlet has a great list of reward prizes to choose from. Please refer to the letter and pamphlet that has come home for further information.
This is a big event for our PTFA and they would really love the help of other parents to support on the day. Please contact the school office ph: 09 296 9039 or email office@holytrinity.school.nz if you are able to help in any way – it would be very much appreciated!
Looking forward to a really fun community event AND THANK YOU for the support!
PTFA AGM – Annual General Meeting
Our PTFA are a fantastic group of parents and friends of the school, who are keen to work alongside the Board of Trustees and staff to provide various school events that helps to build community unity as well as the organisation of fundraising activities to support the needs of the school. The PTFA meet regularly on the third Thursday of each month. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held this coming Thursday 21st March 7:00pm in the school staffroom and we encourage our parents to attend.
The PTFA is a great team and we have been blessed as a school community to have these hard working parent volunteers giving of their time, talents and practical support to help our school achieve all that we desire for our children. “Many hands make light work” so it would be wonderful to see more parents volunteering to be part of our PTFA!
See you all this coming Thursday 21st March 7:00pm in the school staffroom for the PTFA AGM!
BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTIONS
This year all schools in New Zealand are scheduled to have Board of Trustees elections, which are being planned for 7 June. While Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School had Board of Trustee elections in 2017, that was because we were a new school and needed to elect the Foundation Board. This year, we join the 3 year cycle for the elections of Board members, like all other schools across N.Z.Community Consultation Gathering
As part of the development of our school’s strategic plan, a focus for this year is to gather community voice around your aspirations for our school and your children’s education as well as your thoughts and ideas as we move forward from our establishment phase.
Our first step is to invite you, our families, to a community consultation gathering to be held Monday 1st April at 7:00pm in Taamaua/School Hall. We will be sharing the our school’s vision, current strategic plan goals and asking parents for their input on our future direction as a vibrant catholic school community.
We will also discuss the upcoming Board of Trustees Elections in June.
Please do make time to attend this community consultation as every voice is valuable!
NZEI Paid Union Meetings
Next week, primary teachers and principals around the country who are NZEI Te Riu Roa members are heading to meetings to vote on whether to accept or reject the latest collective agreement offers from the government. They will also be voting on whether to take strike action should the offers be rejected.
Our staff will be attending 2 hour meetings on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st March.There will be no disruption to the teaching and learning timetable with school remaining open and staffed during this period.
These meetings are a crucial part of the ‘Kua Tae Te Wā – It’s Time’ campaign. They’re an opportunity for teachers and principals to come together to discuss the offer and decide next steps.
We want to ensure teaching is an attractive profession for people to join and stay in, and we have asked that the government provide for better staffing to reduce class sizes and give us more time to teach and time to lead.
We really appreciate your continued support. If these offers are rejected, it is the voices of parents and the wider public that will be key to forcing the government to listen as we continue our campaign to ensure every child gets the best possible education.
For more information, please go to http://campaigns.nzei.org.nz/time/ or talk with your child’s teacher.
Emergency Drills
We recently had a practice earthquake drill. Students were required to Drop, Cover and Hold for 5 minutes during the trial run. We even had a group of children outside who got to practise getting into the ‘turtle’ position – on knees, hand covering our heads.
In the next few weeks, we will having other emergency drills … a fire drill and a lockdown drill. During a fire drill, students quickly line up and head out the the school field. A lockdown event requires all staff and students to get out of sight of the windows and doors. During a lockdown the school doors will all be locked and a sign will be put up in the office – if you arrive at school and see this sign, please head back to your car until the drill is finished.
Library
Lately, we have noticed some of our library books coming back to school in very poor condition. Some are covered in coffee and hot chocolate, some are scribbled in or have pages ripped and torn. Students need to take their library books home in a book bag and look after them when they are at home. If a book comes back to school in a bad state, you may be charged a replacement cost.
Please have a discussion at home about taking care of our school library books.
Thank you!
Learning Community News
Learning Community Maunga
Students in Year 6-8 have been delving into their Tūrangawaewae learning, feet first – learning about where they come from, the meaning of their names and have begun looking into their family trees. It is great to see students talking to and learning from members of their family and then proudly sharing their culture at school. Attached below are our name tags that we created showing the meaning of our names and why we were named them.
Food and Nutrition
Recently, we have been focussing on healthy eating and cooking. Tina, from the Heart Foundation taught us how to read food labels to help us make healthy choices. We have since heard of some of our students who have gone home and cooked healthy dinners for their family – if you have done anything like this, feel free to send in some pictures/photos.
We each received a free lunchbox and the learning community got a gift card to plan and cook a healthy lunch. This is a great time to think about what our school lunch boxes look like. Half of the food in every meal should be fruit and vegetables.
ASB Polyfest
On Wednesday, members of Learning Community Maunga spent time at the ASb Polyfest School’s Day programme at the Manukau Sports Bowl. It was a great day spent learning about different Pacific Cultures through craft, music, dance and drama. We also had an opportunity to learn about community agencies such as the Fire Service, Police, the Local Council and Government plus we learnt about career and study pathways offered at AUT. Thank you to Mr Fidow who came along to support on the day.
Learning Community Moana
Students of Learning Community Moana have been busy researching and working with their whānau to create their family trees and whakapapa. They have enjoyed learning about their family history and where their families have originated from. They have also looked at Jesus’ family tree and have used this to help them recreate their own. You are welcome to come in and have a look at our Families’ Whakapapa on display in Moana’s learning community.
Learning Community Whenua
In Whenua LC we have been sharing our Tūrangawaewae by bringing items from home that reflect something about our culture and country of origin. These items are being displayed in Whenua. We have also made flags that represent the countries of children from Whenua and listened to music from different countries and cultures that we are connected to. We listened to the Happy Birthday song in different languages and it was great to find out that all cultures sing Happy birthday to the same tune. We had fun trying to match the country to the music! We listened to music in different languages and from different cultures and enjoyed ourselves dancing to all kinds of music. All these experiences are helping us understand each other, know who we are and where we come from.
Sports News
Year 5/6 Summer Sports Day
On Tuesday this week, we had two teams represent Holy Trinity at the local schools Year 5&6 Sports event at Bruce Pulman Park. Our cricket team had a lot of fun and achieved two wins, the touch team went through the event unbeaten – we are still waiting for results from the organisers, but are looking good for a first or second place finish! A big thank you to the parents that came along and supported our teams by coaching and walking with us to the park.
Year 7&8 Rippa Rugby Tournament
On Wednesday, we had 20 students participating in two teams at the local schools Rippa Tournament at Bruce Pulman Park. We had a great day, giving 100% effort on the field. The competition was tough, but we played hard all day. A big thank you to Simon Karena for coming along to coach one of the teams on the day.
Holy Trinity Whānau News
Congratulations to our school families who welcomed new little ones into their own families this week, with the birth of a sibling. It has been a great week for sharing the excitement of having new babies in our midst … all boys!! Our love and prayers go to Mr Brown (staff member) and his family, Shivika Narang’s family, Thomas and Demas Hunt and their family and Rosaleen and Lupea Kaloni and their family … we pray for God’s Blessings on these precious little ones and may they come to know God’s bountiful love through the love and care of their own families.
Reminder
Scholastic Book Club
Lost Property
If you feel your child is missing an item of school uniform, lunchbox or drink bottle it has more than likely arrived in the Lost property container stored in the Health Room. Please feel free to come in and have a look as we have quite a large collection. We ask that you check and make sure that all your child’s belonging are clearly named.
Lenten Prayer
E te Atua, God of the journey,
we pray that you teach us
to listen to the Spirit as Jesus listened.
May we discern your presence
in our daily life and be filled with the Spirit.
Amen
With God’s Blessings
Peta Lindstrom
Principal
Upcoming School Events
School Assembly and Prayer – Mrs Silva (DRS) and Special Character Committee to lead Monday 18th March 9:00am in Taamaua/Hall
St Patrick’s Mufti Day – children to wear green and bring a gold coin donation
Monday 18th March
Year 7/8 Summer Sports Day @Bruce Pulman Park
Tuesday 19th March
PTFA (Parent Teacher Friends Association) Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Thursday 21st March 7:00pm in the school staffroom
Mahi Tahi Conferences for Learning Community Moana students/ with Mr Brown
Wednesday 27th March from 1:00pm
Community Gathering – Consultation
Monday 1st April 7:00pm in Taamaua/School Hall
PTFA School Fun Run
Friday 5th April 4:30pm at school – on the field
Upcoming Community Events
St Mark’s Catholic School 40th Jubilee March 30-31 2019. Register @ St Mark’s School www.stmarks.school.nz. Registrations close 20th March 2019. The school will be open from 11am until 2:30 on the Saturday. There is an evening function including wine and supper at Sacred Heart College and a Mass on Sunday at 12 noon with the Bishop.
