Thursday 23 July 2015

1. Principal's News - Week 1 Term 3


Welcome back to an exciting new term of learning and fun. The highlight of a very special first week back was the beautiful baptism of Molly Whittaker. Molly joined Year 6 at the start of the year and made the decision to be baptised herself with the support of her parents, Michelle and Paul. Molly asked Miss Huls to be her god parent. Molly was baptised by Fr Wayne during our school parish mass this morning. Congratulations to Molly on this very special day.


Ski fun
The first ever St Joseph's ski programme got off to a wonderful start on Monday. The programme goes over 8 weeks and enables the children to learn to ski or snowboard and develop their abilities at Ohau ski field. A huge thanks to Mr Paul Cartlidge who coordinated a similar programme at Holy Family School in Wanaka. Thanks to Keri Robinson for helping to get this programme off the ground and promote skiing as another St Joseph's sport to add to our existing sporting codes. We aim to ensure that our children are exposed to a variety of ways to become as active as possible. You can view more photos on our blog.

Teachers as Lifelong Learners and Teacher Only Day next Wednesday
Our school vision talks about lifelong learners. During the holidays, many of our teachers were busy attending courses and studying. You can read more about this by clicking on this link.
Our teachers will be joining many teachers from across North Otago schools at a special spelling workshop day on Wednesday 29th July. The school will be closed on Wednesday for this teacher only day.

Chris Cant presentation
Chris Cant was presented with his prize at school on Monday. Chris has been coaching rugby here for the last seven years and was nominated by Seth Sinclair for a Sport Otago volunteer award. Chris was presented with $500 worth of sporting gear for himself and a $500 voucher for sporting gear for the school. Mrs Souness has already ordered extra balls and equipment for the children to use at lunchtime.
Starship Mobile Phone Appeal
Thanks to all of you who have donated your old mobile phones to the Starship appeal. We have a box in the office for the phones. Mrs Rzepecky has been sending the phones away and we have been accumulating points. We were able to order a $200 bag of sports gear including balls, cones and pumps. Please keep the phone donations coming in for this very worthwhile appeal.

Mufti Mania 2015
Before the holidays we held two Highlanders Mufti Mania days and raised $481.70 for this annual Caritas appeal. This year the funds go towards resources including book, bibles, stationery and sports equipment for two Catholic primary schools in the Solomon Islands. Not only we were successful in raising money for the schools but the Highlander were very successful too!!

Junior School Kapahaka Workshop
This morning our Junior school participated in a special Kapahaka workshop from the Manuaute Production Company. The children thoroughly enjoyed this excellent workshop and will be able to incorporate some of their new skills into their upcoming kapahaka performance. Check out the junior hub blogs for some videos of the children in action.


SNUP work
Some of you may have noticed that there have been workmen around the school. Our school is presently being snupped !! School Network Upgrade Programme (SNUP) means that in a few weeks time we will have access to ultra fast broadband throughout the school. This is part of a national government initiative for all schools in New Zealand. The workers are coming in after school and working through the night. We look forward to access to ultra fast broadband to support our existing teaching and learning programmes throughout the school as we continue to Reach for the Stars as Lifelong Learners in the Catholic faith.







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