School Newsletter 6th March 2020

Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta

Dear Families

We had a lovely evening last night, with our families that were able to gather for the School Picnic and meeting with the teachers/kaitiaki. Families also had time exploring in the Learning Communities, sharing the children’s learning goals and adding whānau voice to the children’s learning maps. It was a great way to share and enjoy learning that has been happening these first few weeks of the term, to make connections with home and to learn more about each of the Learning Communities expectations of daily and weekly organisation.

Lenten Journey

Lent is a time of repentance, fasting, praying and almsgiving. The theme for Lent 2020 is “Renewed by the Spirit” – taken from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Gaudete et Exsultate – Rejoice and Exult. This theme reminds us of the call to encounter God and allow him to guide us, giving us the strength to live out our journey of faith and invite others to join us on our way. Pope Francis challenges us all to be transformed and renewed by the Spirit so that we can follow the path of love. When we do this we become God’s ambassadors on Earth. (Caritas 2020)

During our Lenten Journey, let us all take time to be the “ambassadors” of God – reaching out to care for each other and for God’s creation.

Take Action Te Whakatinana

God of life, Te Atua o te ora,
Help us to see that your gifts are meant to be shared by all,
not just exploited by a few.
Lead us to take action to make a change not just for ourselves,
but for all creation.
We ask this through your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Catholic Special Character External Review

We will be participating in our first Catholic Special Character Review in mid March. Our reviewers are Mr Phil Mahoney and Mrs Christine Smith from Catholic Education Services. Phil is the Catholic Education Services Manager and Christine is here, in her role as Review and Development Officer. Mr Alister Bridgman, Principal of St Joseph’s School, Takapuna will also be joining the Review Team as “Visiting Principal”. They will be joining us on Wednesday 11th March to Thursday 12th March with a school welcome “Whakatau” on Wednesday morning at 9am in Taamaua. School Families are also welcome to attend this special time of greeting.

Together with Board members, staff, whānau and students, we can look forward to celebrating our journey of establishment as a new school community, with the Catholic Office Review Team!

DRS Report

Episcopal Ordination Mass

This Saturday 7 March at 11:00am, our Auckland Catholic community will gather together at Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau to witness and celebrate the Episcopal Ordination of Father Michael Gielen as Auxiliary Bishop of Auckland. Our school community will meet at 9:45am at the school so we can travel together. This will be a very special celebration.

Lent

The theme for Lent this year is Renewed by the Spirit. Pope Francis challenges us all to be transformed and renewed by the Spirit so that we can follow the path of love. When we do this we become God’s ambassadors on Earth. Our students are learning about Lent as a time of praying, fasting and giving alms to the needy. During this Lenten Season, we have an opportunity to draw closer to God and be renewed by the Holy Spirit. Let us reconcile and encounter the love of God in ourselves, in each other and in God’s creation.

CARITAS St Patrick’s Mufti Day

St Patrick’s Day is coming up fast on Tuesday 17 March where we have our annual St Patrick’s Mufti Day to dress up in green. Your child is asked to bring a gold coin donation that will go towards Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand (CANZ). CANZ is the New Zealand Catholic Bishops’ Agency for justice, peace and development. Working on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference for a world free of poverty, CANZ work hard to achieve this through community development, advocacy, education and emergency relief. All proceeds collected on the day will go to CANZ.

Whānau Time

Every Monday afternoon from 2:00pm, we have Whānau time where our students spend half an hour with their Whānau group and kaitiaki to develop tuakana teina relationships. Tuakana teina refers to the relationship between an older person (tuakana) and the younger person (teina) in a teaching and learning situation. Within our four whānau groups, our younger students are buddied up with a senior student and they have the opportunity to foster that relationship through a variety of activities that are led by the Whānau kaitiaki and the senior students Whānau leaders.

Our four Whānau Patrons are:
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop (red) – MacKillop Whānau
Bishop Patrick Dunn (gold) – Patrick Dunn Whānau
Venerable Suzanne Aubert (green) – Aubert Whānau
Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier (purple) – Pompallier Whānau

Christian Meditation

Straight after lunch every day, our whole school stops for Christian Meditation. All staff and students stop what they are doing and spend some time to be still in the presence of Christ. In the quiet, we refocus ourselves by focusing on the mantra ‘Maranatha’ which is an Aramaic word for ‘Come Lord Jesus’. It is a time of being still and letting go. It is a time where the busyness of the day falls away and we open ourselves to the presence of Christ.

Learning Community Moana School Retreat – Friday 6th March

The Learning Community experienced a day that was unlike any other school day, offsite and in the serene venue of the St Francis Retreat centre in Hillsborough. It was a time for students to spend on themselves, a time to spend with each other outside a normal class day, and a time to spend with God.

Marist Priest Father Pat Breeze, facilitated the day to the theme closely related to our main concept of Whakapuāwai – To flourish. He used the Gospel scripture associated with our Gospel value of Ngakau Pono, Integrity, to illustrate that without the key things that we consider our main foundations (such as God, family, friends, kaitiaki etc.) we can never build a sustainable life that will stand firm or the test of time.

The Special Character Committee concluded the day with a fitting liturgy in the local Chapel, followed by a Q and A session facilitated by Father Pat about key symbols and items found in the chapel. This was to summarise what was an eventful, peaceful, and prayerful day. What’s more is the idyllic venue that provided the ideal opportunity for students to engage themselves and to engage with God. Sincere thanks to Father Pat Breeze for leading what was an enjoyable and successful day.

Health and Safety

COVID-19 Virus

In January 2020, novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in Hubei province, China. It causes respiratory illness with flu-like symptoms including fever, coughing, and difficulty breathing. Although the virus has spread to a number of countries, the risk of an outbreak in New Zealand is low-moderate.

The Ministry of Health is closely monitoring the situation and following guidance from the World Health Organisation.
Our school is following the advice of the Ministry of Education including checking their website for the latest information and implementing heightened hygiene practices.

For more information see:

the Ministry of Health website for the current status and latest health advice.
the Ministry of Education website for:

These sites are reviewed and updated regularly.

It’s important to be alert but not alarmed, and take care of yourself and your whānau by:

✅ Practising good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene
✅ Staying home if you or your children are unwell
✅ Avoiding close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms

If you have concerns, you can free-call the Healthline team on 0800 358 5453

DRILLS! DRILLS! DRILLS!

To ensure our staff and students are prepared for any unplanned and unforeseen hazard or circumstance, we will have planned drills to ensure our students know what to do in an event of a fire, lock-down and earth quake. The drills are a necessary practice so that in an event that something does occur, students will know exactly what to do to maximise their own safety and the safety of others. If you have any queries please feel free to contact Andrew Malele amalele@holytrinity.school.nz.

Learning Community News

Learning Community Maunga

We were so lucky to have Father James Mulligan of St Mary’s Parish, Papakura visiting our Learning Community on Wednesday this week. He spoke about the Sunday Gospel reading on the Transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17:1-9. As one of the Trinity stories in the Bible, Father James spoke about how Jesus was transfigured on the mountain when his face shone like the sun and clothes became dazzling white. Through his transfiguration, Jesus gave his friends (us) a glimpse of the joy to come with his Resurrection in Easter. Jesus’ transfiguration was his promise of joy and love for us. Father James then linked it back to our preparation during this Season of Lent. An example of this is when we fast from having screen time (devices) and spend more time being with God. Through this fasting, we prepare ourselves for the joy of the Resurrection. The joy of our Risen Lord. The joy of being renewed by God’s love for us. What a wonderful message for us all!

Learning Community Moana

In the first couple weeks of school, we looked at our gospel values and asked two questions that we have pondered upon ever since. The first question that was asked was how well do we practice these gospel values here at school? The second is how easy is it to ‘walk the talk’ every day of our lives?

So to consolidate these ideas, we split ourselves into small groups and decided to write and perform catchy jingles that we would collaborate on. And the videos that we produced were amazing. This is the first step to many, but by expressing the gospel values in the way that we knew how, and in a way that we understood them, is a journey closer to providing solutions to questions that were asked earlier in the year.

Learning Community Awa

We have been using adjectives to describe our taonga. Some of us wrote about an important celebration, a precious gift, a family member or a close friend. Using adjectives has made our stories clearer and interesting for the reader to read, as well as adding more detail to help the reader build a picture in their mind. Next week we will be learning to compare and contrast our stories about taonga with others.

My Taonga

My pounamu is taonga. My pounamu is special to me because it makes me feel safe and happy. It’s green with stripes and it reminds me of the New Zealand culture. I love it so much because it is special to me and my sister has one too. It was gifted to me from my dad’s work mate. Bella Harman

My Dad

My dad is taonga because he is funny and nice but always friendly. My dad is a doctor. He is a fantastic doctor and he is also a nurse. My dad smells like flowers. My dad feels soft when he gives me a hug. Ebenezer Ofori-Anyinam

My Teddy Bear

My taonga is my teddy, it’s brown and soft and I always sleep with him. I take him with me everywhere and I give him cuddles. My teddy bear smells good and he always makes me happy. Mateo Tiongco

My Taonga

My taonga is special to me because I love lots of them. They love me. My first taonga is sports. My favourite sports to play is soccer. I want to be the best player. My other taonga is my family, my family is special to me because they love me. They are the best family in the world. My other taonga is God, the Holy Spirit. I’m nothing without God. God made us. James Santos

My Taonga

My taonga is my Samoan family and teachers. Soccer is my taonga. Langi Aiesi

My Friend

My best friend is Lexei because we have things in common like we have blonde hair. We both like cake and ice cream. I love her because she is always with me. She plays with me when I’m sad and when I have no one to play with. Her mum is my mum’s best friend and her name is Madga. Lexie and I have been friends since she was four and I was six years old. Her family speaks the same language just like my mum and dad. Her mum’s perfume smells so good and she lets us use it when we’re going out for dinner. When I visit her the first thing she does, is give me a big hug and she plays with me straight away and when I leave she always asks if I can stay a little longer. She is a very good friend. Evelyn Henderson

Sports News

Next Tuesday, selected Year 5 and 6 students will accompany Mr. Brown and a few parent volunteers to Bruce Pulman Park for a Summer Sports Tournament. The tournament includes opportunities for students to be involved in either cricket, touch or softball. Students for the day, must wear their full PE uniform and hat, comfortable footwear to run around in, and a packed lunch with a bottle of water to keep them hydrated.

The year 7 and 8 students will have their opportunity a few weeks later, Tuesday March the 17th.

Thank you again to those fantastic parents who have given up their time to assist Mr. Brown on the day. If you’re free next Tuesday the 10th of March, come along and support our Holy Trinity tamariki!

Policy and Procedures

It is always good practice at the beginning of each year to inform parents and community of the appropriate channel to share concerns or worries. Schools are required to have a Complaints Policy in place. The purpose is to provide clear guidelines for the school community in raising and resolving concerns and complaints.

These procedures enable us to:

maintain the best learning environment for our students
resolve matters of concern early, if possible
respond to feedback and concerns constructively
deal with complaints fairly, effectively, and promptly
take into account individual circumstances
maintain confidentiality
preserve school/community relationships and communication
monitor and record complaints and concerns about student safety.

Most complaints can be resolved informally by discussions with the people concerned.

Discuss the issue with the right person.
Work towards a resolution.

School policies and procedures are held online with SchoolDocs. We will advise you of the username and password through LINC-ED internal communication, to enable access to these. There will be an opportunity to participate in the review schedule each term as is relevant.

Please click on the link to access the Concerns and Complaints Procedures Flowchart

ConcernsComplaintsFlowchart (8) –

PTFA CAR BOOT FAIR

Our Car Boot Fair is drawing ever so close! Thank you to all our whānau who have answered our weekly requests to help support the PTFA raffle and lucky dip prizes. Your generosity is always and very much appreciated!

It is not too late to book a cark park space for the event. It’s $25 to book a space, and whatever you sell from the boot of your vehicle is your profit. Please enquiry with our lovely ladies at the office or email ptfa@holytrinity.school.nz

There will be rides, a game zone, raffles, drinks, ice blocks and food from all corners of the world! Ms Gaynor will be serenading us with family safe tunes whilst Mr Brown will ease the flow of the event with his smooth MC baritone voice.

We look forward to what will be an amazing day for all our whānau and local community.

PTFA Meeting

The next PTFA meeting will be held this coming Monday 9th March 7:00pm in the school staffroom. Please come along and support the PTFA Team especially as we prepare and organise for the CAR BOOT FAIR Fundraiser.

Playground Progress!

Our Junior Adventure Playground installation is progressing quickly and causing much excitement amongst the children. The footings have been prepared and we are now just waiting on concreting and adjusting the kerbing perimeter so we can add in the cushion fall. Park Supplies Contractors have been working tirelessly this week to have the playground ready for use as soon as possible. Great news for our little ones! Thanks to the PTFA, Board of Trustees and generous donors who have contributed to the fundraising and sponsoring of our playground.