School Newsletter 18th November 2022

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

Dear Families

As we head into the busiest time of our school year, I would like to acknowledge our school community for your care, patience and understanding as we work our way through the events and activities of Term 4 school life. With the continued wave of illnesses circulating throughout the community, we are finding it challenging to maintain a full staffing complement at school. I am extremely appreciative of our staff who has been supporting their colleagues by taking on extra roles and responsibilities, helping each other in the Learning Communities and ensuring that each day we continue to fully operate with our teaching and learning programmes – serving our children the best we can.

Thank you to our school whānau for displaying our school Gospel values of compassion/arohanui; respect/manaakitia; resilience/ngāwari; integrity/ngākau pono, excellence/hiranga and unity/kotahitanga.

We cannot do it without you so your ongoing support is invaluable and heart warming! Kia kaha koutou katoa, ma te Atua koutou e katoa manaaki – stay strong everyone and may God Bless you.

School Board News

Strategic Planning for HTCPS

Last Saturday, the new Board spent a number of hours with a facilitator, reviewing our school’s strategic plan, which gives us the direction for school development over the next three years. In undertaking this review, we considered both the statement of National Education and Learning Priorities, a government requirement, and the gathered voice of our school community.

During this year, we have had a variety of forms of consultation with you, our school community. This has included on-line surveys, gatherings of the different ethnic groups, feedback through the Mahi Tahi Conferences and informal conversations.

From the many ideas and thoughts you shared with us, our work in reviewing and revising our strategic plan, has been well informed. A big THANK YOU to everyone for your input. It has been much appreciated.

Our 2023 -2025 strategic plan has three big goals that sit under our vision of  Learn- Ka Ako,  Love- Ka Aroha,  Serve-Ka Manaaki, in the name of the FATHER, the Son and the HOLY SPIRIT.

Those three big goals are:

• Catholic Special Character:
  – implementation of the new Religious Education Curriculum
  – connecting to others through mission
• Excellence in Teaching and Learning:
  – all ākonga experience rich and responsive learning
• Community Hauora/Well Being:
  -unity/kotahitanga through inclusive community partnerships

Within these three big goals sit the government’s priorities:

• Learners at the centre
• Barrier free access
• Quality teaching and leadership
• Future of learning and work
• World class inclusive public education

AND our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, with our plans, policies and local curriculum reflect local tikanga Maori, matauranga Maori and te ao Maori

In reflecting on the feedback that have come from our community over this year, it is evident, that most ideas sit within our three big goals and the government priorities. You will see that over the next three years, our community’s ideas will be developed into specific initiatives and actions to support the achievement of our big goals in the strategic plan- this is the responsibility of the principal, school leadership team and staff.

We need to remember that this is a three year plan, so the focus on these goals and the initiatives developed by the school staff, will not all be achieved at once.

Again, the Board thanks everyone who has had input over this year in particular- the interest in and contribution to your children’s education is vital and much appreciated. We look forward to your on-going support.

Philip Cortesi
Presiding Member of the School Board

DRS Report

Christ the King Feast Day

This Sunday 20 November is also the last Sunday of the liturgical year in which we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. This special feast day is a reminder for us all of Jesus’ dominion over all aspects of our lives. Let us continue to ask Jesus to reign in our minds and hearts, especially as we journey near the end of the school year and prepare for the Season of Advent.

Season of Advent

This year, the important and happy season of Advent begins this coming Sunday 27 November. During these weeks we turn our thoughts to the coming of Jesus, who is the saviour of the world. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity who is very much present among his people. That is wonderful news! Advent is a time of waiting and watching. The word Advent literally means “coming”. We wait for God’s coming into our midst now, just as the world waited so many years ago. Advent is a time to prepare ourselves for the birth of Jesus through prayer, reflection, and action. During our Advent journey, we think about the many ways God comes to be with us. It is a time of preparation and we try to make ourselves more ready to receive God in our day-to-day lives. We remember the call of Jesus to his followers to make our world a peaceful and loving place so let us make special efforts this Advent to be signs that God is with us. This is what ‘Emmanuel’ means – God with us.

Parish Bulletins

Please click on the link to St Anne’s Manurewa, Parish Bulletin for this weekend. Bulletin #43 – Sunday 20 November 2022 (2)

Congratulations to Miss Connery!

We congratulate Samantha on completing a very successful two years of provisionally practicing teacher registration and now becoming a Fully Registered Teacher. Samantha is an exceptional practitioner and it has been a joy for us to see her go from strength to strength in her teaching role. Samantha is a committed and dedicated young teacher, always striving to do her very best for her students and colleagues in Learning Community Moana. Special thanks to Miss Gaynor who has mentored and guided Samantha these past two years, nurturing and supporting Samantha to be the fabulous teacher she is today! Ka mau te wehi Miss Connery – we are very proud of you!

End of Year Dates

The end of the year is fast approaching! Please note these important schools dates so that you don’t miss out on any of the activities and events leading up to the end of term. We will advise immediately if there are any changes.

Thursday 24th November
Orientation Morning for 2023 New Families and Students 9am @ school

Friday 2nd December
Praise-giving Awards Afternoon 1:00pm @ school
HERO End of Year Reports published online

Friday 9th December
End of Year Mass/Leavers acknowledgement 11:00am @ school
followed by School Leavers/Families lunch and ‘School Helpers’ Lunch

Tuesday 13th December
Family Picnic and Nativity Liturgy celebrations 5pm @ school

Thursday 15th December
School-wide Tabloids Sports Day @ school

Friday 16th December
Liturgy and Assembly for Other Leavers and Service Awards 12:00pm @ school

Friday 16th December   
School concludes for the year 1:00pm

Digital Online Reporting

We are looking forward to sharing our term’s learning with our families including individual students’ achievement levels in reading, writing and maths.  Teachers/Kaitiaki and students have completed assessments and recording evidence of their progress and achievement to share with families through the HERO online parent portal. Reporting information will be published for families to access online from Friday 2nd December. If you are unsure of how to access the HERO parent portal, please call in to the school office for support with accessing the link and setting up of a password.

We will not be holding Mahi Tahi Conferences this term. Teachers/kaitaki have been proactive in making contact with whānau of students who have been part of our target and accelerant learning groups so that we are able to report specifically on students’ individual goals progress and achievement over this term.

Enjoy reading through and sharing the HERO online reporting comments with your child/ren so that together you can celebrate learning successes and the positive personal growth and development that has occurred across the school year.

Learning Community News

Learning Community Whenua

During Maths over the past few weeks, our tamariki have been exploring and gaining confidence in learning about fractions, shapes, patterns and measurement.  They have enjoyed using materials to enhance their learning. It has been great to see how well our ākonga collaborate during these learning sessions.

Learning Community Moana

Moana learners have been trying their best to collaborate as a team to enrich kotahitanga in our Learning Community. In small groups, they all took part in an activity called ‘Satellite’. They had to work as a team to keep their balloons up while keeping their hands linked to each other. Learners found it challenging to communicate while being excited about keeping the balloon up, but they showed great unity and resilience!

Cyber Safety!

On Thursday, Constable Kelly (School Community Police Officer) spent time talking with students in Learning Communities Maunga and Ngahere. Constable Kelly presented information about many aspects of Cybersafety and the need for everyone to keep themselves safe when on digital devices and social media platforms. She talked about apps where people can chat to each other – social media as well as games and explained that some games like Roblox, are for children who are 13 year olds and up.

Constable Kelly shared about the side effects of too much device time – anxiety (changes way the brain develops), depression, mood swings. If you stop device time, then those effects disappear in time. 

30 mins online a day for social media/gaming (not counting homework/learning) is the recommendation from Constable Kelly. 

She also asked students to remember to …

THINK before you post … Is it true? Is it hurtful? Is it illegal? Is it necessary? Is it kind? 

Constable Kelly also encouraged students to talk to their parents, their teachers and/or Constable Kelly if they were struggling and needed help. Other people to go to for help to keep safe could be … Netsafe, the Police or a supportive adult. A key message was not to be afraid to speak up if they were feeling unsafe online.

It was great for our students to have Constable Kelly’s sharing Cybersafety factual information and positive online strategies for keeping themselves and others safe!

Keeping Safe at School

Students are NOT permitted to bring phone watches or phones to school unless there is a significant reason for this. We currently have a very small number of students who bring phones to school for “after school use”. These students always hand their phones into the office each morning where they are kept secure during the day and then they are collected from the office at the end of each day. Otherwise no student needs to have a phone or phone watch at school during the day. Thank you for your support with this request.

Fun Run Prizes!

A big THANK YOU to all the families who have ordered their Fun Run Prizes – there are still some outstanding so please order as soon as possible so you don’t miss out.

Book Club

Issue 8 is out now and your child has hopefully brought home a copy this week. This exciting issue of Book Club has all the best books to get festive for the holidays and to be ready for summer holiday reading!

It’s the last issue for the year, so make sure you have your orders in by 3pm on Thursday 24 November so you have books for Christmas gifting and school holiday reading.

You can either order online at https://scholastic.co.nz/parents/lucky-book-club/ or complete the form with your child’s full name and learning community, and pay at the school office by cash or EFTPOS.

Thank you very much for your continued support of the Book Club this year. We have had over $1000 in reward dollars to spend this year on library and learning community resources.

Ngā mihi,
Miss Gill
Book Club Coordinator

St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College Update!

Reminders!

School Summer Uniform

It’s great to see so many of our students proudly wearing their school uniform. A reminder that everyone should now be wearing the correct summer uniform.

This includes the short sleeved blouse or shirt, open toed black school sandals and the school sunhat. Please name all items of clothing so that they can be returned to the children immediately when found.

Our School uniform is only available for purchase from NZ Uniforms on 5/20 Lambie Drive, Manukau.

All students are required to wear the correct school uniform for summer as listed below. NZ Uniforms have school jerseys available to purchase for $50.00. Our preference is for students to wear their jerseys inside and school jackets outdoors.

Girls Uniform

Tartan skort
Blue short sleeved monogrammed blouse (summer)
Black open toed school sandals (summer)
Navy bucket sun-hat monogrammed
Navy woollen monogrammed school jumper OR school jacket

Boys Uniform

Navy shorts
Blue short sleeved monogrammed shirt (summer)
Black open toed school sandals (summer)
Navy bucket sun-hat monogrammed
Navy woollen monogrammed school jumper OR school jacket

School Term Dates 2023

Term One    10 weeks     Thursday 2^nd February – Thursday 6^th April
Term Two     10 weeks     Monday 24^th April  – Friday 30^th June
Term Three   10 weeks     Monday 17^th July – Friday 22^nd September
Term Four     10 weeks     Monday 9^th October – Monday 18^th December

Upcoming School Events and Dates!

PTFA Meeting
Tuesday 22nd November 7:00pm in the school staffroom

St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College 2024 Enrolment Interviews
Wednesday 23rd November 1:00pm – 4:00pm @ Holy Trinity

School Board  Monthly Meeting
Wednesday 23rd November 6:00pm in the school staffroom

2023 New Families Orientation Morning
Thursday 24th November9:00am – 12:00 in Taamaua/school hall 

Public Health Nurse Year 8 Vaccinations (Dose 2)
Thursday 24th November 

Gathering Liturgy and Assembly – led by Learning Community Whenua
Monday 28th November 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall

Advent Reconciliation for students who have received the sacraments
Tuesday 29th November  10:00am – 12:00 in Taamaua/school hall 

Counties Manukau Games – Multi Sports Event
Tuesday 29th November

Music Tuition Recital
Tuesday 29th November in Taamaua/school hall  from 6:30pm 

HERO Digital Reporting online – students’ end of year reporting
From Friday 2nd December 

2022 School Praise-giving
Friday 2nd December 1:00pm in Taamaua/school hall 

St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College 2024 Enrolment Interviews
Monday 5th December 8:00am -1:00pm @ Holy Trinity

School End of Year and Leavers Mass
Friday 9th December 11:00am in Taamaua/school hall 

Morning Tea for leavers/their families and school helpers
Friday 9th December in Taamaua/school hall after Mass

Term 4 2022 Concludes
Friday 16th December at 1:00pm

Discounted Swimming Lessons

Swimsation Papakura will be offering discounted swimming lessons to community service holders for the final 4 weeks of term (starting 21^st November) at Papakura Swimsation $20 ($5 per lesson).  Our lessons start from 3 months of age up to adults.

• With the help of Aktive Auckland Swimsation will be providing learn to swim lessons at a discounted rate of $20 for 4 lessons ($5 per lesson) for all community service card holders.
• Lessons available from Monday 21^st November
• Days & times available will depend on age and ability of swimmer
• Contact us today to book by email papakura@swimsation.com or phone 09-9482414, please quote our community service card special deal when calling or emailing
• Swimsation Papakura, 41E Elliot Street, Papakura

Upcoming Community Events

Counties Manukau Cricket Year 5-8 Soft-ball Cricket Competition

Counties Manukau Cricket are running a school year 5-8 cricket competition for both girls and boy! This is a chance to have a go at cricket in a short, fun, modified game environment. It is FREE to participate and you can register by emailing development@countiesmanukaucricket.co.nz.

• Modified 6-8 aside games
• No experience needed and all gear provided
• Girls – Thursdays at 5.30pm
• Boys – Saturdays at 9am
• Free to register

For more information please email development@countiesmanukaucricket.co.nz

Summer Fun Tag

Attached is a summer fun tag opportunity for our tamariki to be a part of to keep active leading into Christmas and continuing next year leading into Term 1. This is an awesome opportunity for kids to try something new and experience community activities.

Christmas Special Performing Arts Workshop

Basketball “GLOW FESTIVAL for Girls”

Basketball NZ and Counties Manukau Basketball are working hard to support our girls to enter and stay in the game, so we created an event that your girls won’t want to miss! On Saturday, 3 December we are hosting our very first GLOW FESTIVAL for girls school years 4-8. It’s all about having loads of fun playing social 3×3 with friends and school mates. Everyone entered will receive a FREE GLOW Girls Got Game shirt, basketball, drink bottle and bag! Parents can enter their girls as individual players.

The link to register is:
https://membership.mygameday.app/regoform.cgi?formID=105532&programID=62099

Carols in the Park – Papakura