School Newsletter 18th March 2022

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

Dear Families

From the School Board …

Greetings and warm wishes to you all, as together we continue to navigate this rough road called COVID.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all our families, especially those who have had to manage with the Coronavirus, isolated in your homes. It appears that COVID is going to be in our communities for some time to come. Please let us know if you need any support. We are here to help.

As a school we continue to have plans and processes in place to manage the on-going challenges of this virus that face us. THANK YOU to all our families for your co-operation and support in following our school processes and protocols to keep everyone safe and well as best we can. PLEASE KEEP IT UP!

The School’s Strategic Plan

The school Board, continues to work in partnership with our Principal to ensure that we fulfil all its responsibilities within its governance role. To keep us focused and on track, we have our three year strategic plan, with four key goals for 2022-2024:

Catholic Special Character: to nurture a living Catholic faith community where each person encounters the living God, grows in the knowledge of Christ and His teachings and responds to the call to give christian witness
Curriculum: to design and implement a connected and localised curriculum
Community: to build kotahitanga/unity through inclusive partnerships with community groups
Personnel: to grow collaborative and leadership capabilities of all

The principal, senior leadership team and indeed all the staff, develop an annual plan which outlines initiatives which link to these four goals. Progress on the implementation of the annual plan is reported to the Board at our regular monthly meetings.

HTCPS Strategic Plan 2022-2024

During the year, as mentioned in previous newsletters, the Board will be consulting with you, our school families, focusing on the school’s direction and plans. AS always, we look forward to your valuable contribution as we continue to look ahead at the direction our school is taking.

A Lenten Prayer …

From the Board, you might like to share at your family prayer time.

Loving God
During this season of LENT, may you guide us and help us to:

• thank you for the new life you gave to our world
• find your presence around us, in the sparkle of the sunshine, in a word of encouragement, in a kind deed and in a passing smile
• open our hearts and listening ears as we respond to your call
• serve one another with loving kindness and compassion
• reach out to those in need
• have the courage to ask for help as we travel our journey and know when we have gone off the path
• remember what LENT is all about and to turn our lives towards you.

AMEN

Nga  mihi mahana ka manaakitia koutou te Atua

Philip Cortesi
Presider of the Board

DRS Report

Awhinatia – Pastoral Care

We have a small group of volunteers amongst our staff and St Mary’s Papakura parishioners that make up the school’s Awhinatia Team. Our focus is on the pastoral care of all our families in our school community that are either celebrating something special at home, like a newborn baby, or going through bereavement for the loss of a loved one or needing support, help, a kind hand in some way. We work to approach each situation in a kind and caring way and to assure our families that we are here to support. If you would like to be a part of this special group or you are in need of assistance please get in touch with us through our office: office@holytrinity.school.nz

St Patrick’s Day

This week on Thursday 17 March, we celebrated St Patrick’s Day with our colours of green and learned about St Patrick in our classes. As one of the most popular saints, St Patrick turned to God while he was in captivity. Escaping at the age of 20, he began his studies for priesthood and worked to preach God’s Word throughout Ireland and converting many to Christianity for many long years of his ministry. We continue to ask St Patrick to intercede on our behalf.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

RE Books Coming Home

Next week, some of our senior students in Learning Communities Maunga and Ngahere will be bringing home their Religious Education (RE) book to share their learning at school, with you. Please take some time to go through your child’s book and share a family comment to celebrate and affirm your child’s RE learning.

Parish Newsletters

Please click on the links for the current parish newsletters St Anne’s Parish, Manurewa Bulletin #8 – Sunday 20th March

St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College, Drury

St Ignatius of Loyola College, a co-educational Year 7- 13 school, in the Jesuit tradition, will open in Term 1 2024 with Year 7, 8 and 9 students.  Members of an Establishment Board of Trustees (EBOT), have been appointed. They have appropriate governance skills and include local people from the Papakura and Franklin Districts.

The EBOT is actively working to ensure that the College will provide a high quality Catholic education for its students. The EBOT is working with the three local Catholic primary schools (Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School, St Mary’s School, Papakura and St Joseph’s School, Pukekohe). It is hoped that students from these schools will apply for enrolment at the College.

A website and other communication platforms will be established during the next few months. Details of the process for enrolments, uniforms and other relevant information will be published later this year.

Staffing

We have been very fortunate to have Mrs Sahlee Cortez working alongside the teachers in Learning Community Moana this past month. Sahlee is completing her teaching practicum programme and has been working as a teacher, responsible for the planning, delivery and assessment of the curriculum programme in LC Moana. We have loved having Sahlee working with us in this role and wish her every success as she advances her teaching career in New Zealand. Thank you Sahlee!

We have also had a wonderful Learning Assistant, Mrs Ruth Leonidas working with the children and kaitiaki/teachers in Learning Community Awa for these past few weeks. Ruth as been a very welcome addition to LC Awa, sharing her expertise and knowledge working alongside students who require additional support. Ruth’s gentle, patient and compassionate manner has been truly appreciated by all. Thank you Ruth for making invaluable contributions to our young students daily learning!

School Attendance Dues – Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is available to assist families who may need financial support with the payment of Attendance Dues for preference students attending both primary and secondary Catholic schools in Auckland Diocese.

Families facing financial difficulties can contact their school office, their Parish Priest, or Auckland Common Fund Ltd at the Catholic Diocese of Auckland on 09-360-3069 for further information.

Application forms for this assistance are available from school and parish offices, or can be downloaded from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland Website:

https://www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/catholic-schools-2/ 

Attendance Dues 2022 statements have been sent electronically to all families earlier this term. These payments are now due.

Please note that there are 3 options for payment of the Attendance Dues and Catholic Special Character Contribution

1. Full amount paid by Internet Banking to ASB school account – details for payment are on the statement.
2. Automatic Payment to be set up via internet banking to ASB school account
3. Payment can be made at the school office – cash or Eftpos

For those families paying by Automatic Payment (AP), please note that 2022 payments must all be completed by 1st December 2022.

Please see Carmel Stewart (Office Administrator) or Peta Lindstrom (Principal) in the strictest confidence if you have any concerns or questions regarding the payment of Attendance Dues.

Phase 3 Covid Protection Framework Information

Thank you for continuing to keep the children at home when they or others in the household are unwell. And thank you for informing school of absences due to positive cases or household contact association.

Children and adults who test positive for Covid, are required to self isolate for 7 days and return to school/work on Day 8 if they are no longer showing any symptoms. If children or adults are household contacts of someone who has tested positive, then they must stay home too and test on Day 3 and Day 7. They can return to school/work on Day 8 if they test negative and are well with no symptoms.

We continue to have good systems in place to keep any spread of the virus here at school to a minimum – this keeps everyone as safe as possible.

As a whānau please continue to keep a really close watch on your children for any signs of symptoms:
– a sore or upset tummy
– runny nose
– scratchy throat
– headache
– a fever

If unwell, please stay at home and get advice about getting a COVID-19 test.

The health sector has developed some excellent resources for parents on the KidsHealth website which you may like to check out.  Please click on the links below –

https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/covid-19-caring-child-covid-19

https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/covid-19-why-wearing-masks-creating-airflow-helps

New content is being added regularly to COVID-19 | KidsHealth NZ 

KidsHealth also covers a huge range of general child health topics that may be of interest to parents and help to reduce anxiety in our community.

Home Learning

HTCPS Home Learning Google Site

For those of you isolating and learning from home, our HTCPS Home Learning Google Site is available to use and work from. Although our kaitiaki are currently in their Learning Communities, please feel free to email them any queries or questions. They will endeavour to respond as soon as they can.

To access the HTCPS Home Learning Google Site, please click on the link HERE. The site will be updated in Week 8 and again in Week 10.

HERO Learning Wall

If you wish to share some home learning with your child’s kaitiaki here at school, you can do so with the HERO App. The senior students have access to HERO and are already using their Learning Pages, but for our younger students and those new to the school, you can post on behalf of your child(ren). For details on how you can post and share your child’s learning at home, you can click on the link HERE. This page is connected to the Home Learning Google Site. Your sharing would be greatly appreciated and well received by your child’s kaitiaki.

Learning Community News

Learning Community Maunga

Next week, the students of Maunga will have the opportunity to engage via online with an expert around fungi. The workshop will examine “what fungi really are”.

They will briefly look at examples of different fungi here in Aotearoa and discuss what roles fungi play within our food system; from a food item themselves through to the production of breads and cheeses and finishing with the fungal-plant symbiosis known as mycorrhizae.

Activities will include observing fresh fungi of different types, interactive question/answer sessions and finishing with a Scientific Drawing session.

Eye on Nature is a programme designed to deliver hands-on environmental education. Eye on Nature believe that ākonga learn better through experience and interactive activities. We look forward to the experience and to sharing what we learned and did during the workshop.

Curriculum News

Our Whenua learners have been sharing their tūrangawaewae stories in different ways.

Definition: Tūrangawaewae are places and the people who are in our lives that we are connected to. My tūrangawaewae encourages me to stand tall, feel proud and know I belong. Our students from Moana have been using the definition of Tūrangawaewae to help them write their stories about tūrangawaewae and why it is important to them.

Community News

The team at the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple in Flat Bush has been incredibly generous to our school with provisions of face masks, sanitiser and RAT tests for our school’s use. We extend our grateful thanks to them for this incredible gesture of outreach and service to our school community. Last year, our whole school spent a morning at the Temple sharing our faiths and learning from each other. Once again, we are touched by the practical kindnesses shared with us. THANK YOU to the people of Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple.

Policy and Procedures

It is always good practice 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:
1. Discuss the issue with the right person
2. Work towards a resolution.

If you are concerned about your child:
1. Meet with the Learning Community teacher/kaitiaki
2. If no resolution, meet with the Senior Leader/manutaki
3. If still unresolved, request a meeting with the Principal
4. If the concern remains unresolved, a formal complaint can be made

Our school policies and procedures are held online with SchoolDocs.

Concerns & Complaints Flowchart FINAL

Health & Safety Reminders

Duty Teachers

We are always blessed when we can welcome new students to our community. It is timely to remind all our students of some of our usual routines and expectations and to share with our new students these same expectations.

If you can remind your child that during morning tea and lunch, should anything happen to them or to their friends, or they notice something that is wrong or dangerous, to go and see the teacher with a duty jacket on. It is always ok to approach any of the teachers wearing a duty jacket as they will always help. With your voice added with ours, we hope to capture incidents as they happen during the  children’s morning and afternoon breaks so we can help to resolve them straight away.

 Parking

Sincere thanks to those wonderful parents who park along Amokura Ave and then walk down to the school to pick up your child(ren). In doing so, you’ve eased congestion and created safer opportunities during after school pick up time.

We know that the speed limit of our road does not help our situation (a problem we are constantly working on to address with the appropriate authority) but if you could slow down before you enter our school, and also maintain that slow speed (20-30 kph) when driving through the school carpark, that would be greatly appreciated.

During drop off and pick up time, please don’t be afraid to drive right down to the end of the driving bay. When one car stops in the middle of our drop off/ pick up bay, it creates a back log of traffic, one we can avoid if we can all move forward so that we’re always behind another vehicle. Your continued support and help in this, would be very much appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

sKids Holiday Programme

sKids Holiday Programme: “sKids Holy Trinity is open for the April School Holidays! Visit: «SiteURL» to book now!”

Upcoming School Events

School Liturgy and Assembly – led by Learning Community Moana
Monday 21st March – online from 10am via the HTCPS Home Learning google site link

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

Footsteps Dance programme – for all classes
Thursday 24th March 9:00am -11:45am 

Eye on Nature Workshop for Learning Community Maunga 
Thursday 24th March 

TEACHER ONLY DAY – School closed for students
Friday 25th MARCH   

School Liturgy and Assembly – led by Senior Leader, Mrs Champion 
Monday 28th March – online from 10am via the HTCPS Home Learning google site link

Parish Priest, Fr James Mulligan visiting Learning Communities 
Wednesday 30th March – at school 10:00am-11:30am

Footsteps Dance programme – for all classes
Friday 1st April  9:00am -11:45am 

Holy Week
Monday 11th – Thursday 14th April

Term 1 Concludes
Thursday 14th April

Catholic Church Aotearoa Feedback Form

Haere mai, Talofa lava, Maligayang pagdating, Malo e leilei, Hwan yeong, Bienvenido, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Bienvenue, and Welcome!

Pope Francis has asked the question of ‘how we journey together’. The purpose is to ‘listen to the questions, concerns and hopes of every church, people and nation’.

We’d like to hear from you! People of all backgrounds are invited to contribute.

Completing this feedback form takes about five minutes and your input will feed into a diocesan/regional paper on how we as a Church and as Catholics ‘journey together’, which then informs a paper to the Vatican.    https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZCBCSynod

Vacancy

Chief Executive wanted: Te Kupenga-Catholic Leadership Institute

Te Kupenga-Catholic Leadership Institute combines academic, leadership, faith formation and bio-ethical research and advocacy responsibilities for the Catholic church in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Board is looking for a Chief Executive with relevant leadership experience, possibly gained in a faith-based, non-profit or secondary/tertiary education setting. The role will probably be based in Auckland.

Full details and how to apply, go here: https://www.tekupenga.ac.nz/uncategorized/seeking-for-tumuaki-chief-executive/

Applications close on Monday 28 March.

College Enrolments

St Mary’s College – 2022 Virtual flyer