Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta
Dear Families
It has been a very busy week here at school with All Saints Day Mass, All Souls Day Liturgy, the naming of our school Whanau/House Patrons, sports coaching and learning across the communities! Thank you to families who were able to join with us for each of the prayer times. It is very special to be able to come together as a community to celebrate these days of significance in the Church Year.
On Wednesday, we were reminded that saints are people who love Jesus and share His love with others and on Thursday, we remembered all our relatives, friends and loved ones who have died. Their memories and their stories remain with us and we remember them with love and in prayer.
This Saturday, Board of Trustees members and the Senior Leadership Team will be working at school reviewing the Strategic Plan and planning ahead for 2018-2019. We will be using information collated from the recent community evening and from parents feedback on comments sheets this week. This helps to set the direction of the school and ensures we are being responsive to our community’s aspirations for our children, staff and families. Our thanks to Ms Anna Soo Choon, from the Board, who has been encouraging parents at the end of each day, to take time to share their feedback with us – Tino pai Anna!
This coming week, we welcome to our school Mrs Christine Smith and Mrs Cynthia Manion from the Education Review Office (ERO). They will be spending time with us as part of the New School Assurance Review following on from our completed Readiness Review. The Assurance Review allows ERO to see the school in action and to verify the judgements made during the Readiness Review process. We will be welcoming the ERO Team with a Powhiri, 9am in Taamaua as part of our regular Monday Gathering Prayer and Assembly.
Students are now expected to be in the correct summer school uniform. This includes the short sleeved blouse or shirt, open toed black school sandals and the school sunhat. With summer months approaching, we are very keen to ensure we follow good sun-smart habits by wearing sunhats whilst outside. Please ensure your child/ren has the correct summer uniform and wears their school sunhat on a daily basis. Uniform items can be purchased from NZ Uniforms in Lambie Drive, Manukau. Thank you for supporting school in this endeavour.
End of Year School Events
Please note dates and times for our school end of year events. As this is our Foundation Year, we hope families will be able to join with us for the various activities and events so that together we can truly celebrate all we have accomplished during this establishment phase.
Orientation Morning for 2018 New Families
Wednesday 29th November
Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences
Thursday 30th November
Morning Tea “Thank You” to Community
Friday 8th December 10:30am – 11:00am
Celebration of Learning Evening and Family Picnic
Thursday 14th December 4:30pm
Family Picnic, sharing of Journey Concept learning and stories, Nativity Journey and Carols
End of Term School Mass and Praisegiving
Tuesday 19 December 1:00pm
Final Assembly
Wednesday 20 December
School concludes for 2017
Wednesday 20 December 1:00pm
Learning Community and Portrait Photos – 2017
Photographers arrive 8.30am for 9.00am start
Sibling/family photos taken first – families need to be here at 8.45am
Each Learning Community Photo to be taken then portrait photos to be taken
Families wanting to have other sibling’s photos taken with Holy Trinity students need to collect a form from the office. This needs to be completed and handed back to the office by Tuesday 7th November. The form needs to be completed even if all the children are at Holy Trinity.
Children will have brought home a flyer from PhotoLife today that outlines how to order online
Coming Events this next fortnight
School Powhiri for ERO Team, Assembly and Prayer
Monday 6th November 9:00am – Learning Community Moana to lead
School Photos (Photolife)
Wednesday 8th November
Counties Manukau Sports Coaching continues
Wednesdays for Term 4
Counties Manukau Sports Cricket Coaching
Thursday 9th November
School Assembly and Prayer
Monday 13th November 9:00am – Senior Leadership Team/Manutaki to lead
Kids for Kids Choir Performance – LC Moana students
Wednesday 15th November 7:00pm Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau
With God’s Blessings
Peta Lindstrom
Principal
DRS News
All Saints Mass
What a beautiful Mass we celebrated on the Feast of All Saints on Wednesday 1 November with Fr Mike Wooller. A reminder of our personal calling to be a saint and remembering the inspiring men and women who are with God in heaven.
This was an extra special Mass as Fr Mike unveiled our school Patron names for our Whanau Groupings: St Mary MacKillop, Venerable Suzanne Aubert, Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier and Bishop Patrick Dunn. These will be our new house names and our children will be learning about each of these inspiring people throughout this term.
St Mary MacKillop (Red House)
Mary was born in Australia in 1842 and grew to become a woman of great faith who taught many people about the compassionate heart of God. She co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph because she saw a need for education in isolated and rural country areas in Australia. Mary travelled to Aotearoa, New Zealand and established many schools here in our country where she continued to teach Christ’s love for all people. She taught us to ‘never see a need without doing something about it’. To this day, Mary MacKillop’s sisters still work with the people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Venerable Suzanne Aubert (Green House)
Originally from France, Suzanne set sail for Aotearoa New Zealand on 4 December 1860 after accepting Bishop Pompallier’s invitation to recruit new missionaries for his Auckland Diocese. She is New Zealand’s first saint in the making! She worked alongside the Maori people and communities and helped to establish a Catholic Mission in a little river village called Jerusalem, near Whanganui. She founded the Sisters of Compassion and together they worked to look after the poor, the sick and the underprivileged. Mother Suzanne Aubert’s Sisters still continue her work today. We pray for her, as all Catholic people in New Zealand are hoping that she will soon be our very own first saint!
Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier (Purple House)
Bishop Pompallier is very important to New Zealand’s Catholic story as he was the very first Catholic Bishop of Aotearoa, New Zealand. He travelled from France to New Zealand and brought many priests with him so that together, they could establish Catholic missions here. He taught the people about God and especially worked with the Maori people to develop their Catholic faith. Through the way he lived his life, many people came to believe in God and to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and live Christian lives. The Maori people were very special to Bishop Pompallier and he understood the need to recognise and protect the Maori way of life – tikanga and te reo. Today, our priests in Aotearoa, New Zealand continue Bishop Pompallier’s work and mission to teach people about God and to have faith in God’s love and mercy.
Bishop Patrick Dunn (Gold House)
Bishop Patrick Dunn is our only living Whanau Patron. He is very special to our Holy Trinity story as he was instrumental in naming our school and has been present at all of our special occasions – from our Waitangi Blessing to our Official Opening where he blessed our school and our Holy Trinity whanau. He is the Bishop of Auckland and is like a shepherd looking after his sheep as he leads all the Catholic people in the Auckland Diocese. He works alongside the priests and religious brothers who preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to us all. Bishop Dunn wears the crucifix of Bishop Pompallier each time he has visited us, as a reminder of the precious work they do to help people know and love God.
It is a privilege to have all of these amazing, inspirational people as our Whanau House patrons. The best way we can honour them is to learn about them and about their works and try to live our lives as they have, knowing that we too are following in the footsteps of Jesus.
All Souls Liturgy
On Thursday, we had a solemn Liturgy to commemorate the Feast of All Souls led by the kaitiaki/teachers. It was great to see the children and families bring the photos of their loved ones so that we could pray for their souls especially during this month. As we journey through the month of November, we honour and pray especially for the souls of our loved ones who have died. May they find peace in God’s Kingdom.
Learning Community News
It has been amazing for our children to see the results from their learning about plants last term. The flowers are blooming and the delicious strawberries that they grew from seed have added some colour to our school environment. Our children are enjoying the responsibility of caring for the plants everyday and it is wonderful to see groups of children gathering around the garden to admire and appreciate God’s beautiful creation.
Whenua
We have used the movie Moana to introduced the concept of journey to the children. The children are experts, as some have said that they had seen the movie ‘hundreds of times’. The children are able to use the movie Moana to try and answer the essential questions, ‘What is a journey?’ and ‘Why go on a journey’ to help unpack the big idea of Journey.
We are also able to connect the concept of Journey with Religious Education where we are learning about Mary in the Communion of Saints strand. We have started with how Mary’s journey began at the Feast of the Annunciation and soon after she visited her cousin Elizabeth who was also having a baby. We will continue to use the important events in Mary’s journey mentioned in the Bible to highlight that Mary’s Tapu and Mana was greatly increased when she was chosen by God to be the mother of God’s only Son Jesus.
Awa
Moana
Learning Chats
School Events
Swimming
You should have received an emailed notice regarding swimming lessons, that are happening in Week 6 of this term. The cost will be $20. We will be travelling, every day that week, by bus to and from Massey Park Pools in Papakura. Payment can be made at the office or online.
Cricket Coaching and Counties Manukau Sport
Counties Manukau Sport coaching is continuing to be run on Wednesday mornings. Students are learning to throw and catch through a variety of games and activities. Learning Community Moana is learning these skills through the game of Ki-o-rahi.
Weeks 3 and 4 will see Papakura Cricket coming in to run cricket skills sessions with all students on Thursday. So for these two weeks students will need their PE gear both Wednesday and Thursday.
Community Notices
‘NPH Latin American Market, Sunday 12th November, 4-8pm, Mt Eden War Memorial Hall. Great food, crafts and entertainment from Latin America. $5 donation entry supports NPH NZ, a Catholic charity helping vulnerable children in Latin America.’
