Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta, Namaskārām,
Sat Shri Akaal, Vanakkam and Ayubowan
Dear Families
Term 3 has certainly been a busy term for Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School! As you read through the newsletter, you will be able to note all the various activities and events students have been involved in both at school and within our wider school community. It’s also been great to see such wonderful engagement with our whānau at the different events – and even better that it is our whānau and students leading these times of unity and community!
Our school Gospel value of hiranga/excellence is a very apt way to describe our busy school term, celebrating the many ways we have demonstrated excellence across all aspects of school life.
Hiranga/Excellence
Hiranga/excellence is an understanding that we never go anywhere alone as we are always supported by whānau, guiding and leading us towards excellence, in a community that is acknowledging of this excellence!
Inspired by the parable of the three talents (Matthew 25: 14 – 30), we are reminded that we must constantly work with and improve on the gifts God has given us. The servant with five talents increased his by 100%, as did the servant with two talents. In each case, their original assets were doubled. If the servant with one talent had worked, his reward would have been the same.
Not only have we been given natural abilities but also spiritual gifts received at Baptism. We are required to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and work on our relationship with God. We must be learning, growing and carrying out our responsibilities and developing the resources God entrusts to us. Excellence is a reflection of God’s blessings
Thank you to our School Board, our PTFA, our priests, our staff (teaching and support staff) and to our whānau, who together guide and lead us to achieving excellence! We hope to be like the servants in the parable and use our ‘talents’ to improve on the many blessings that God has given us!
Celebration Sunday!
Celebration Sunday, 1 October 2023, is celebrated in parishes and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand this weekend. It is a day to remember the life, spirituality and good works of Venerable Meri Hohepa Suzanne Aubert. While we wait and pray for Meri Hohepa Suzanne Aubert to be beatified, we continue to unite to promote her message of compassion and love throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.
This year too we are guided by Venerable Suzanne’s own words:
“Let us have nothing so much as to work for the good of all”
Kia haere rawa kore ana tātou, koia, ka manaakihia te katoa
Meri Hohepa Suzanne Aubert had a great love and care of Maori and all people, especially the most vulnerable and those on the peripheries of society. Meri Hohepa Suzanne Aubert gathered people into her arms and homes and loved them. She loved them back to health and into life, she accompanied them and saw Christ in each one. On Celebration Sunday, let us be encouraged by her example as we pray for courage to act as she did.
Teacher Only Day Monday 13th November 2023
School will be closed for students on Monday 13th November 2023.
Teachers and Support Staff will be involved in a professional development and learning day about the newly released New Zealand Curriculum Refresh. The Ministry of Education has granted this time/day to schools to allow teachers to work with the new document – to understand why changes have been made and to plan for the implication for our current Holy Trinity localised curriculum teaching and learning programme.
Please make alternative arrangements for your child/ren for this day – Monday 13th November 2023.
DRS Report
THANK YOU WHĀNAU!
A “shout out” to all our families for your generous support of our ‘Can Drive for Christmas’ last week. We collected 580 cans which has been our greatest number yet! Your support means that we are able to help out some families in the Auckland region this coming Christmas as well as standing together with other Catholic Schools in Auckland to mission together for our sisters and brothers in the wider Auckland community. Thank you!
Another huge thank you to all of our tamariki and whānau who attended our School & Parish Sunday Mass at St Mary’s Church in Papakura. It was wonderful to see all of you there and we give thanks for the gift of Father Adriannus for celebrating our Mass for us. Special thanks to all our whānau who ministered at the Mass, who helped in the kitchen, who provided morning tea and for just being present at our Mass with us all, we always appreciate the time you give to pray together.
Sacramental Programme
If you want to register your child to attend St Mary’s Parish Sacramental Programme, you need to do this as soon as possible. Registration closes on Sunday 8 October 2023! If you need more information please look on the St Mary’s Parish Papakura website.
Pizza Day!
What an exciting day it was on Friday 8 September. With some of our tamariki dressed in red and white whilst others wore their traditional Tongan attire, and to top it all off with a Pizza Day! We made a total of $689 and we thank the PTFA for donating $100 to Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand to help the people of Fiji whom some of our LC Maunga students fundraised for in their Caritas Justice Challenge. Again, thank you whānau for your generosity – we are blessed to have your support!
Term 3 Reporting to Parents
Term 3 digital reporting will be available to families from Monday 18th September on HERO through each student’s individual learning pages. You will be able to read about the progress and achievement your child/ren are making with their learning goals – found on ‘My Learning Wall’ page and to share learning from their Religious Education and Technology studies – found on their 2023 ‘Learning Community’ page.
Congratulations Mrs Griffiths!
Congratulations to Michaela Griffiths, our hardworking kaitiaki in Learning Community Whenua who has just completed two years of her Provisionally Certificated Teacher programme. Michaela now becomes a Fully Registered Teacher – a richly deserved achievement after her years of teacher education study and then two years of provisional training. Michaela joined the Holy Trinity teaching team in October 2021 when Auckland was still grappling with the Covid pandemic lockdown situation – schooling was off site and on line – a huge change for the education sector! We are incredibly proud of Michaela for her resilience, determination, dedication and courage shown at this time of challenge for all. Michaela has grown in her teaching prowess, has a wonderful work ethic, is dedicated to her young students and continues to flourish in this special vocation of teaching. Our thanks too, to Mrs Susan Champion as Michaela’s mentor teacher who has guided and nurtured Michaela into being the strong practitioner of teaching and learning she is today! Well Done Michaela – you are a STAR!
Water Safety Skills Lessons – Term 4 Monday 16th October- Friday 27th October
From Monday 16th to Friday 27th October, all students will be participating in the Water Safety Skills programme at Massey Park Swimming Pools in Papakura. The programme is designed to give our tamariki the best skills to help them keep safe in, on and around water for lifelong enjoyment. These water safety skills lessons are delivered by qualified and certified instructors.
A reminder that these lessons are not about teaching your child how to swim – but more about what they can do to keep themselves and others safe around water.
Next term, a notice with more information around what your child will need to bring to the pools will be shared, but if you have any queries or questions, please don’t hesitate to make contact with Maria Speechlay.
Teaching and Learning News
Kāhui Ako Speech Competition
Gabriel Benliro of the Year 7/8 cohort and Liliana Chang of the Year 5/6 cohort won the HTCPS speech competition and went through to represent our school at the Kāhui Ako Speech Competition held at De La Salle College. We are proud of both our tamariki who represented our school well and performed and spoke courageously in front of teachers and students from different Catholic schools. We proudly congratulate Liliana Chang who won the Year 5/6 competition overall!
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- All our finalists
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- The two winners
Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori
In celebration of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, a group of Kaitiaki/teachers organised various activities at school to enhance our understanding of Te reo and Tikanga Māori. We also met with our whānau to discuss our Kapa Haka group and invited them to our practices every Friday from 9.30-10.30am here at school. The students are excited to perform next term.
During this meeting, we also conducted a Wai Ako lesson, providing our whānau with the opportunity to see how we are learning basic te reo words and phrases at school. It was impressive to see our whānau engage in learning a game called “whano whano,” traditionally used by Māori to build leg strength.
Thank you whānau for taking the time to gather and korero with one another. Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori!
Tongan Language Week
Mālō ‘etau lava,
We celebrated Tongan Language Week from September 4th to September 8th. As part of our celebration, we came together with our Tongan families to discuss ways to strengthen our relationships. We aim to ensure that our school remains a place where our Tongan learners can freely express their identity by sharing their Tongan language and culture.
We are fortunate at Holy Trinity to have a diverse, distinctive, and gifted community that values and rejoices in our diversity!
Learning Community News
Learning Community Whenua
The children in Whenua have been working on creating an effective system for the operation of our ‘Pataka kai’. This week they presented their ideas to the whole school during Assembly and handed a copy of the ‘rules’ to each learning community. They did not forget the office staff and hand delivered a copy to them as well. Well done Whenua on using the ‘design thinking’ process to create a poster to inform everyone of how the Pataka kai works.
Learning Community Awa
Recently, the Holy Trinity children had the opportunity to view the theatre production ‘Treasure Island’. This has sparked a strong interest in drama, which the Awa Learners have enjoyed displaying during oral language and reading lessons. We are also having a great time celebrating Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Tamariki have been singing waiata, playing māori games, and learning common māori phrases. Ka pai, Awa!
Learning Community Moana
We have had a wonderful week celebrating Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. We have worked hard at putting our māori sentences and phrases that we have learnt into practice. We have learnt how to greet each other, identify the weeks and months, and share our pepeha. We have also had great fun participating in P.E. by playing māori games and doing tai chi and yoga by following instructions in te reo.
Learning Community Maunga
We are super proud of these Year 6 students who took part in the 2023 Year 6-8 Papakura Principals’ Association Mathex Competition last week. Well done to Lucien Chang, Andrea Vergara, Padre Luma and Kiean Platon on placing joint 4th out of 11 teams. The team worked together, solving Maths problems under time pressure. Thank you to the families for supporting them, being their biggest and loudest supporters. We look forward to next year!!
We are also super proud of another Year 5 Maunga student, Liliana Chang. On Tuesday, Liliana went off to De La Salle College to compete in the South Auckland Catholic Schools Community of Learning Formal Speech Competition and placed first overall in the Year 5/6 section. Her speech was about the Whio, a native duck that is close to extinction, and how we can increase its population by looking after our waterways. Well done, Liliana!
During Te wiki o Te Reo Māori, Maunga students learned the song “E rere taku poi” and performed actions to it using poi. They now know the words for some of the actions. The students enjoyed learning and performing the song. Ka pai!
Congratulations News!
Congratulations to the following students for their achievements at the recent School of Music Exams …Sports News
Hākinakina Wahine Day
Hākinakina Wahine Day was a special day of empowering our young women to give different sports ‘a go’ at Manukau Tennis Centre. Our Year 7/8 girls attended and enjoyed Hākinakina Wahine Day on Thursday 14 September with a variety of sports available, each with a specialist coach who ran the sport and offered professional advice on techniques and knowledge of the game. They were able to participate in netball, badminton, basketball, weightlifting, tennis, rugby league and many more! It was indeed an exciting opportunity enjoyed by all!
Sports Camp
“Sports Camp the John Walker Find your Field of Dreams Trust ” has created an exciting opportunity for some our Year 7 and 8 students this year. This opportunity is offered to schools in the Papakura area and will be held at Camp Adair (Hunua) from Monday 18th to Friday 22nd September 2023. It promises to be a high energy, sports activities based week that we believe many of our senior students will thoroughly enjoy. We will be combining with senior students from St Mary’s School, Papakura to create a team of 40 students. This is a great opportunity to create connections with senior students from St Mary’s School, as well as encouraging our students to engage in a range of different sports within a competitive framework.
Holy Trinity Netball Prize-giving
It was lovely to celebrate the end of a successful netball season with our 3 young teams – Mana Atua, Tapuwae and Wairua Tapu, along with their whānau at a recent evening together. Congratulations to all of our Holy Trinity netballers – you are all STARS!
Most Valuable Players: Kat Balbona, Sierra-Maria Watkins and Edith Aita
Most Improved Players: Aiva Vaasili, Zia Sarath and Christen Altamirano
We extend a BIG thank you to Leah-Jane (LJ) Walker, Korah’s mum for stepping up and taking on the leadership and responsibility role of managing and coaching the 3 teams for this season. LJ’s dedication and commitment to our young players was wonderful. Her ready happy smile and cheery comments of support had such a positive impact on the teams. ‘Ka mau te wehi LJ’ – you are amazing! We look forward to seeing everyone again for the 2024 Netball season!
Hauora/WellBeing News
Te Whare Tapa Whā: Whānau Kōrero
Discuss with your whānau about how you are looking after your …
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Taha tinana – physical health
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Taha whānau – social health
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Taha wairua – spiritual health ef. Our beliefs, traditions, practices that support self awareness & identity
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Taha hinengaro – mental & emotional health
Which pillar of wellbeing do you need to work on the most? What can you do as a whānau to support each other to work on this?
Te Whare Tapa Whā: Whānau Challenge
Complete and activity as a whānau according to which aspect of wellbeing you need to work on.
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Taha tinana – Go outside for a family walk or gather everyone to play an outdoor sport.
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Taha whānau – Participate in a board game night with your whānau.
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Taha wairua – plan a time for prayer with your whānau
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Taha hinengaro – practice breathing techniques to relax your mind
Peer Mediation
In the last newsletter, we talked about how our learners have been unpacking the term conflict and the different ways people deal with conflict. Our learners have also been looking at what mediation is, and what qualities make a good mediator.
Mediation is a structured process using neutral people (mediators) to help people in conflict (the disputants) come up with their own solutions for a win/win outcome. Mediators are not problem solvers – they simply guide the problem-solving process for their peers.
Mediation is a good, positive choice for disputants because it builds conflict resolution skills and confidence, and the disputants have choices for how to solve the issue (rather than adults telling them what to do!).
Some qualities of a good mediator according to learners in LC Maunga include being patient, having excellent listening skills, not taking sides (remaining neutral), showing the Gospel values, being reliable, respecting confidentiality, and being friendly!!
As we continue learning about Peer Mediation here at HTCPS, we are learning that both the mediators and the learners needing meditation have rules to follow. Following the rules ensures that the process is successful and everyone feels heard and respected.
The mediators must follow these rules:
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We will not tell you what to do
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We will not take sides
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We won’t tell anyone else about it except if you share with us something that is against the school rules or could be harmful to you or someone else
The learners needing mediation must agree to follow these rules:
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Listen to each other; you’ll each get a turn
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One person speaks at a time
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Be respectful
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Be honest and tell the truth
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Agree to try and solve the problem together.
Have a chat with your child about these rules. You could ask them why they think having rules for peer mediation is necessary, and what are the consequences when these rules are or are not followed.
PTFA Wave Rave!
Term 4 School Uniforms
School Summer Uniform
Students are expected to be in the correct school uniform from Week 3 of Term 4, Tuesday 24th October (after Labour Day weekend). 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 20/5 Lambie Drive, Manukau.
All students are required to wear the correct school uniform for summer as listed below.
Girls Uniform
Tartan skort
Blue short sleeved monogrammed blouse (summer)
Black open toed school sandals (summer)
Navy bucket sun-hat monogrammed
Navy monogrammed school polar fleece 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 monogrammed school polar fleece OR school jacket
Reminders!
2023 School Leavers
If you are leaving our school at the end of this year due to a change of circumstances (other than our Year 6/7/8 students), please email the school office as soon as possible – office@holytrinity.school.nz. We are currently managing our school roll numbers and this much needed information will help us to make decisions in regards to enrolments for 2024 placements. Thank you.
School Term Dates for 2024
Term One 11 weeks Thursday 1st February – Friday 12th April
Term Two 10 weeks Monday 29th April – Friday 5th July
Term Three 10 weeks Monday 22nd July – Friday 25th September
Term Four 9 weeks Monday 14th October – Tuesday 17th December
PUBLIC HOLIDAYS 2024 :
Term 1 – Week 2 Tuesday 6th February Waitangi Day
Term 1 – Week 9/Week 10 Friday 29th March to Tuesday 2nd April EASTER
Term 2 – Week 6 Monday 3rd June King’s Birthday
Term 2 – Week 9 Friday 28th June Matariki
Term 4 – Week 3 Monday 28th October Labour Day
Upcoming School Events
Mental Health Awareness Week
Monday 18th – Friday 22nd September
Year 7&8 SPORTS Camp (nominated 20 students)
Monday 18th – Friday 22nd September @ Camp Adair, Hunua
HERO Digital Reporting to Families
From Monday 18th September on HERO
Monthly School Board Meeting
Wednesday 20th September 2023 @ 7pm in the school staffroom
Term 3 Concludes at 2:50pm
Friday 22nd September
Term 4 Commences at 8:50am
Monday 9th October
School Whakatau/Welcome and Liturgy/Assembly – led by the Senior Leadership Team
Monday 9th October @ 9:15am in Taamaua/school hall
Fiji Language Week
Monday 9th – Friday 13th October
Counties Manukau Sports Cricket Sessions for Year 5/6 students
Friday 13th October on site
NZ General Elections – Polling /Voting Venue @ Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School
Saturday 14th October in Taamaua/school hall
Niue Language Week
Monday 16th – Friday 20th October
Water Safety Skills Lessons for all students
Monday 16th – Friday 20th October and Monday 23rd – Friday 27th October @ Massey Park Pools, Papakura
Monthly School Board Meeting
Wednesday 25th October 2023 @ 7pm in the school staffroom
PTFA Wave Rave @ Massey Park Pools, Papakura
Friday 27th October 2023 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Upcoming Community Events
Brookby School AG Day
