School Newsletter Week 3 Term 3

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

Dear Families

At our Gathering Prayer and Assembly this week, Learning Community Awa students led us in reflecting on the Gospel story of the Transfiguration which was celebrated in the Church Masses on Sunday. This story focuses on the Father’s words “This is my Son … Listen to Him,” reminding us that it is important that we listen to the teachings of Jesus. At times we can be like the disciples … Peter, James and John running around, busy in our daily lives, being flustered and forgetting to slow down and listen to Jesus – great advice from God for us all today. We need to remember what our Heavenly Father said to Peter up on the mountain of transfiguration when he was confused. He said to Peter, “This is my Son whom I have chosen, Listen to Him!” Listening to God’s Son Jesus is so very important and we can do this by reading about the life of Jesus in the Bible and through prayer.

We pray … Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding Peter to listen to your son Jesus. Help us to listen to Jesus as well.  Through your Holy Spirit help us to hear and know your son Jesus more and more each day. Amen!

Staffing

A reminder that Mrs Cheryl Iosefo completes her work with us at the end of Week 4 with Mrs Lynn Rhodé, taking up the teaching position in Learning Community Awa until the end of the year.

Mrs Viv Smith is the relieving Office Administrator for the next month whilst Mrs Quarterman is travelling overseas.

We will be farewelling Cheryl at School Assembly and Prayer this coming Monday and you are most welcome to join with us. Thank you too, for the warmth of welcome you have extended to both Lynn and Viv this past week as they join our Holy Trinity whanau.

Health and Safety

Kuaka Drive School Entrance

The school pathway to Kuaka Drive entrance/exit will be open from the beginning of next week. This is a great alternative for families who live near Bruce Pulman Park or who want the safety of parking in a quieter traffic zone. The inner fence gate will be open from 8:15am each morning and closed again from 3:15pm each afternoon.  The black fence gate near the Kuaka Drive entrance is on a latch that just needs to be lifted to open or shut – the gate will not be locked at this stage. Please walk with your child/children on the pathway ONLY as the school fields are still under development and are not suitable for use.

Our thanks to Mr Brad Rudsits (BoT member) who spent last weekend fencing off the last 50 metres of the walkway to ensure all is safe for our families! Well Done Brad!

Emergency Drills

A very successful Lockdown Drill was held at school this week. Children responded positively and followed directions and procedures that allowed them to practice what to do in the event of an incident happening at school. It is important that we teach the skills of managing ourselves safely in different situations so we were very pleased with the quick and correct response of the children. Further emergency drills for fire and earthquake will occur over the term.

DRS News

Feast of the Assumption

The Feast of the Assumption falls on Wednesday 15th August which is a Holy Day of Obligation.  Unfortunately, it is also the same day that the school will close for teacher’s strike action. Therefore, our school will celebrate the Feast of the Assumption on Tuesday 14 August in the school hall at 2pm.   We gather to remember and reflect on Mary our Mother being assumed both body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life. We also reflect on Mary’s wonderful virtues of faithfulness and humility as we listen to the story of her resurrection.

Beginner’s Bible/Family Whanau Book

We have available in the school office, two great resources that you can purchase to support the Religious Education programme.  We have a hard cover Beginner’s Bible selling at $25 and the Family Whanau book that you can purchase for $12.50. The Family Whanau book provides you with the overview of what your child will be learning in the different year levels in Religious Education.  It’s a great book to have as it gives you some family activities that you can do at home that aligns with what the children are learning about at school.

Reminders

School Bell Times

School commences at 8:50am each day. Please endeavour to have your child/ren here on time for the start of their school day. If the children have time to organise themselves and have preparation and play/social time before the bell rings, they are more positive and comfortable about settling down for daily prayer/karakia and being ready for a day of learning and action!

Attendance

If your child/children are going to be absent from school, please advise us of their of non attendance by either phoning school on 09 296 9039 or emailing the office office@holytrinity.school.nz. As a matter of safety we must check absences each morning and afternoon  and if we are unaware of why student/s are absent then we will make contact with you by phone or email. The attendance system marks unknown absences as “truant” after 24 hours – with this information going to the Ministry of Education so please do remember to contact us

Office Hours – OPEN

Please note that our Reception Area has Office personnel … Jennifer, Viv and Carolyn there to assist you from 8:30am – 4:00pm Mon/Tues/Wed and 8:30am – 3:00pm on Thurs/Fri. Thank you for you patience and understanding as we are only a little staff and are not always able to be of assistance outside those hours.

Attendance Dues Receipts

Receipts for Term 2 Attendance Dues payments are now available  for collection from the school office.

Oral Language Celebration

In week 6, on Tuesday 28th of August, we will be holding an Oral Language celebration in the Taamaua. This is a way for us to celebrate those in our Learning Communities who have a talent in public speaking and presenting. It will begin at 11am and probably run through until lunchtime.

Learning Communities will hold their own smaller celebration, where a few students will be chosen to present at the whole school event. The senior students will be using this as a way to select Y5-8 students for Inter-school Speech Competitions coming up later this term.

More information to follow via Linc-Ed.

Cross Country

Our School Cross Country event will be running on Friday 17th August over at Bruce Pulman Park. We will gather as a school after morning tea, walk over together and begin races at 11:30am. As mentioned in the notice, we will be running each race one after another, so please arrive early to avoid missing any races!

Students need to be wearing their PE gear and must have running shoes. They will also need a jumper and jacket to stay warm when not running!

All are welcome to come along and cheer on the racers!

Interschool Events

After our school cross country event we have two more events for our Year 5&6 runners. Our Local Inter-school Cross Country run at a farm near Te Hihi Primary and a Catholic Schools Cross Country run in Hillsborough by Monte Cecilia Primary. Hopefully we can enter some runners into these events to represent Holy Trinity in the community. More information for these following our school event.