Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta
Dear Families
This Sunday 14th August we celebrate The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day celebrates the mystery, that the Virgin Mary was taken into heaven body and soul. Mary’s assumption into heaven is also the patronal feast of the Catholic people in New Zealand. In other words, she is the Patron saint of New Zealand and this week is her feast day!
We look forward to celebrating Mass with St Mary’s School at St Mary’s Parish this Sunday 14th August at 10:30am Mass. United in kotahitanga, we come together to honour and celebrate this most special saint – as we look to Mary’s example of compassion, kindness, faithfulness and service.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and guide us in our efforts to love and serve one another.
School Board News
Congratulations and THANK YOU to our new Board members who were elected through a ‘no voting election’ process as we had the 5 required nominees for the 5 Board placements.
Welcome to Lenis Martin, Jason Farley, Patricia Martin, Vineetha Uthamaputhiran and Maila Altamirano. Thank you for putting your names forward and the commitment you have been prepared to make to serve our school community.
An Opportunity to Meet our New Board
Mark TUESDAY 16 AUGUST 7.00 -8.00pm on your calendar!
- Come and meet our new Board members in person
- Come and hear the summary of feedback from the Board’s 2022 Community Consultation with you
There are some great ideas that the new Board will be looking at, in moving forward with the school’s Strategic Plan.
Light refreshments will be served and we look forward to seeing you all there!
DRS Report
Altar Servers
Last week on Sunday 6 August, some of our students were commissioned to be new altar servers for St Mary’s Parish in Papakura. We also had students who are current altar servers, recommissioned to serve the Parish. We celebrate with these students as they continue their ministry to support our Parish and our Parish priest.
Feast of the Assumption Mass
This Sunday 14 August, we are having a combined Ministry Mass at St Mary’s Church in Papakura at 10:30am with students of St Mary’s School. It is a special Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary which is the feast day of our Parish. We invite all our parents and whānau to come along and celebrate with us and we encourage all our students attending Mass to wear their school uniform. This is a wonderful way of coming together in unity as a wider Catholic family to celebrate this Holy Day of Obligation.
School Exchange Day
As part of the celebration for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, our middle school students will be participating in a school exchange with St Mary’s School, Papakura this coming Monday 15th August. Our Year 3 students will be traveling with their kaitiaki to spend some fun time building relationships at St Mary’s school. At the same time, we will be hosting Year 4 students from St Mary’s school with fun games and activities prepared by kaitiaki of Learning Community Moana and senior student leaders. It will be an awesome day of celebration and kotahitanga!
RE Books Coming Home
Next week, all our students will be bringing their Religious Education books home to share with you what they have been learning about in Religious Education. Please take some time to go through their learning and write a whānau comment to encourage and affirm their work and effort.
Sacramental Programme
St Mary’s Parish, Papakura is starting their Sacramental Programme again this year. There will be an Open Day on Sunday 21 August at 12:00pm at the Parish where registrations will take place. All parents must attend the Open Day if you want to enrol your child and please bring along your child’s baptismal certificates.
Any queries please email the Sacramental Team at: sacprog@stmaryspapakura.co.nz
New Staff
We are pleased to warmly welcome new staff members to the Holy Trinity school community this term …
Mrs Bronwyn Sewell and Mrs Theodora Ah Wong. Bronwyn is a Learning Assistant that is working in Learning Community Moana and Theodora is a Learning Assistant working in Learning Community Whenua. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with these fabulous people who have much knowledge, skill and experience to share with us and our children. Thank you to you both, for joining our awesome team!
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- Mrs Bronwyn Sewell
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- Mrs Theodora Ah Wong
Mahi Tahi Conferences Thank You
Thank you to the many families/whānau who were able to meet, chat and share with our kaitiaki last week in relation to your child’s progress and achievement in learning and in self development. It was great to be able to meet with so many of our families and to share in these rich learning conversations. If you were not able to attend or have not had a chance to chat with kaitiaki, please do contact school so that we can make this happen in a way that best suits your needs.
Community Hui and Fono Evening
Thank you to our māori whānau and pacific peoples aiga who were able to attend the community ‘learning at home’ gathering last night! It was great fun, sharing maths and phonics, technology and science and literacy learning with our mums and dads. The kaitiaki were fantastic at sharing some successful ways for learning at home and everyone was able to have a go with the activities – the language of learning and the ‘doing of learning’ was very evident throughout the evening. Thank you to our teachers/kaitiaki and to our Board members who contributed to this fun learning session with our families.
New Zealand Marist Colts Rugby Visit
Last week on Thursday 4 August, our school had the pleasure of hosting a special visit from 26 players and the management staff of NZ Marist Colt Rugby. They shared with our tamariki how our very own vision statement of ‘Learn, Love and Serve’ is applied in the game of rugby as well as their own everyday lives. Our students enjoyed watching and listening to them as they showcased their talents through waiata/song, haka performance and even airlifting some of our students and staff for a line-out demonstration. The players also spent time with our senior students from Learning Community Ngahere, running rugby drills and building teamwork and collaboration, as well as learning about each player and their own journey from different parts of New Zealand. It was awesome to hear about their journey, their occupation and their shared love of the game of rugby. We thank NZ Marist Colts Rugby for their time and their enthusiasm. Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School wishes them the very best for their upcoming games.
PTFA News Highlights
- Further drawings from the Sacred Space/Prayer Garden designers are underway!
- The Wave Rave is booked for the 30th September at Massey Park Pools
- A Pizza School Lunch is scheduled for Friday 26th August
- A date was booked for the Fun Run…Mark your calendars for 11th November
- Treasurer Position – we are still in need of a new Treasurer, as the wonderful Fiona will be leaving us at the end of 2022. If you are interested in this position, please do let us know – we will be advertising to the wider school community as well.
KEY DATES: our next meeting is Tuesday 23rd August 2022 7:00pm in the school staffroom.
Learning Community News
Learning Community Whenua
MoveWell
Whenua learners have been participating in the ‘MoveWell’ programme. MoveWell is a resource that Whenua teachers are using to support and extend our learners’ learning and confidence in physical education. Through MoveWell, Whenua learners are learning to develop collaboration skills, build relationships and problem solve. The children have enjoyed playing many different games like inch worm, satellite and hot potato.
Firewise Programme
The ākonga in Whenua have completed the ‘Firewise Programme’. They know to get down, get low and get out fast if there is a fire! They have enjoyed singing the song Get out! Stay out! Here is the link if you want to practice at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YjEVuumLaQ. The children also learnt a poem about playing with lighters or matches. They have identified that playing with matches and lighters is dangerous and these are not toys to play with. Whenua children also learnt about firefighters and how they can help us.
Learning Community Moana
Moana Learners have been enjoying their time playing cooperative games. They have been learning about how to work as a team and the skills they would need in order to successfully play the game. They did a wonderful job at enriching Kotahitanga by working collaboratively and working to achieve their common goal. They were also supportive and encouraging of each other, showing great sportsmanship.
Learners have also been extremely engaged in learning sign language. They have shown the Gospel value of excellence/hiranga as they have been trying their best to use the signs they have learnt so far. Moana learners can now sign for water, rubbish and sea.
Learning Community Maunga
The Sina Religious Education group in LC Maunga has been learning about spiritual journeys. They know that our spiritual journey is a personal and unique journey with God. They explored their own personal journeys and then interviewed some of the kaitiaki to find out about their personal spiritual journeys. The kaitiaki were kept on their toes with some very tricky questions! It was a wonderful opportunity for the learners to understand how everyone’s spiritual journey is different and is to be respected.
Learning Community Ngahere
In Learning Community Ngahere, students have been learning about scientific thinking skills in the past and present. They have learnt about what scientific thinking looks like. They have demonstrated their understanding by using the example of science and technology as used in the past. They have compared the development journey of science and technology, that people use. As museum curators, our tamariki are excited to showcase their learning to Holy Trinity whānau- our parents.
In maths, students have been learning about measurement. A measurement is a tool and a valuable skill in everyday life. Students are developing their ability to use different measuring units and tools to quantify the world around them. Students will be able to talk about how tall we are, how hot we are, how much we drink, how heavy we are, how big the room is and how far it is from here to there!
Street Racket
Students have been learning racket skills. They attend the street racket sessions every Tuesday and this helps to promote a healthy and active lifestyle for our tamariki. Our students enjoy and love this session.
MoveWell
Our tamariki are learning about cooperative games in Health and Physical Education. We are using the MoveWell site, which has a collection of skill-based games which can support and extend the student’s learning, confidence, ability, and enjoyment in participating in the movement.
MoveWell approach is based on five principles-
- Play games – enjoyable, semi-structured, interactive
- Design game contexts – authentic, game-like, problem-posing
- Use sound teaching pedagogy – simplify, shape, focus, enhance
- Foster personal, social, and cultural identity – appreciating difference, enhancing self
- Develop game playing ability – game skills, tactical knowledge, teamwork
Kaitiaki teach these skills during physical education lessons using a game-centred approach, encouraging all students to participate. Introducing this activity as a part of our learning is a purpose. So, MoveWell is not just a game; it is a skill.
Curriculum
We are coming to the end of our concept learning around “Journey” through the lens of Science and Technology.
By the end of Journey, we want our learners to apply what they have learned, to make connections to past and present journeys, and use our ccientific thinking to take action to enrich kotahitanga in our world.
Learning Community Whenua Yr 0-1 started by looking at the Journey of the Creation story and exploring ways to think and behave like a scientist. Awa (Yr 2) are investigating different methods of preserving food naturally and free from contamination, and Moana (Yr 3/4) are busy investigating a scientific issue that affects our journey.
We would love it if you could please take some time to talk with your child at home about their learning around Science and Technology.
Whānau Points
Our whānau points system has had an upgrade! We have purchased brand new tokens in our whānau colours – red, green, purple and gold. Holy Trinity learners will be awarded tokens when they show our school Gospel values in action and our wonderful leaders will be announcing the whānau winners each week. We can’t wait to start handing out our whānau tokens next week!
Planting at St Ignatius Catholic College, Drury
Reminders!
School Enrolments
It is really important that we know of all younger brothers and sisters that are commencing schooling with us in 2023. If you have little ones at home, please contact the school office to make a time to meet with Miss Lindstrom so they can be assured of a placement at Holy Trinity School for when they are ready to start in 2023.
School enrolments for 2023 CLOSE by 31st August 2022 and
placements for 2023 will be confirmed by 30th September 2022.
Teacher Only Day – Friday 2nd September 2022
School will be closed for students on Friday 2nd September. Teachers and Support Staff will be involved in a workshop day with our South Auckland Catholic Schools Kāhui Ako.
Please make alternative arrangements for your child/ren for this day – Friday 2nd September.
AND please note students will be able to go home early from school at 1:00pm on Tuesday 23rd August so that all Holy Trinity staff can attend a seminar on Te Tiriti o Waitangi in preparation for the implementation of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum in 2023.
School Dates 2022
Term Three 10 weeks Monday 25th July – Friday 30th September
Term Four 9 weeks Monday 17th October – Friday 16th December
Holiday Times
TERM THREE Saturday 1st October – Sunday 16th October
TERM FOUR From Saturday 17th December
School Term Dates 2023
Term One 10 weeks Thursday 2nd February – Thursday 6th April
Term Two 10 weeks Monday 24th April – Friday 30th June
Term Three 10 weeks Monday 17th July – Friday 22nd September
Term Four 9 weeks Monday 9th October – Monday 18th December
sKids – Before/After School Programmes Term 3
“Term 3 Out of School Care is now available to book, visit www.sKids.co.nz/holy_
Upcoming School Events and Dates!
COMBINED Schools/ Parish Mass – Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sunday 14th August 10:30am Mass at St Mary’s Parish, Papakura
Schools Exchange: St Mary’s Papakura and Holy Trinity (Year 3 and Year 4)
Monday 15th August 10am – 1pm
Religious Education Books go home – to share with whānau
Monday 15th August – Friday 19th August
Street Racket Physical Education Learning – all Learning Communities
Tuesday 16th August 9:00am – 1:00pm
School Board Community Evening
Tuesday 16th August 7:00pm – 8:00pm in Taamaua/school hall
Year 5/6 Inter-school Cross Country
Wednesday 17th August
Year 7/8 North Counties Representatives Cross Country
Friday 19th August
School Gathering Liturgy and Assembly – led by Learning Community Ngahere
Monday 22nd August 9:15am in Taamaua/school hall
Street Racket Physical Education Learning – all Learning Communities
Tuesday 23rd August 9:00am – 1:00pm
School Closing EARLY – students may go home from 1:00pm
Tuesday 23rd August
PTFA Monthly Meeting
Tuesday 23rd August 7:00pm in the school staffroom
Rehu Tai – Inter-school Speech Competition Years 5-8
Wednesday 24th August @ Te Hihi Primary School
Fr James visiting Learning Communities
Wednesday 24th August 10:00am – 12:oopm
School Board Monthly Meeting
Wednesday 24th August 6:00pm in the school staffroom
Duffy Books in Homes ‘Role Model’ Assembly
Friday 26th August
PTFA PIZZA Lunch Day!
Friday 26th August
Kāhui Ako Student Leadership Day
Friday 26th August @ St Anne’s School, Manurewa
Teacher Only Day – school closed for students
Friday 2nd September
Term 3 Concludes
Friday 30th September
Term 4 Commences
Monday 17th October
Upcoming Community Events
