Welcome back and a big thank you to our parents who have prepared your children so well for a return to school. They are back to business as usual and they are calm and happy. We have decided to spend the first two weeks keeping things quiet and settling back into routines and I am happy to tell you this is working well.
Catholic Education in Oamaru
Do you realise that you will have a say in what happens to St Joseph's? Please diary 3 June at 6.30pm for a gathering to investigate further.
In the meantime, over the next few weeks, I intend to share some snippets of our education history. This is our whakapapa - our genealogy. Whether or not we come from Oamaru, this is the tradition we have come into and the one behind our turangawaewae - the place where we stand here in Oamaru.
The very first Catholic institution in Oamaru was St Patrick's school which was built on our present site in Usk Street in 1872. This was run by lay (people not in a religious order) Catholic staff. This was replaced at Usk Street by the first church and combined school which was arranged by Bishop Moran and Mother Gabriel of the Dominican order. This church/school was called St Joseph's and was on the present St Joseph's land.
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| St Joseph's church and school at Usk Street, looking West roughly from where the hall is now |
Wheels Day
We are having wheels days this Friday and next Friday. Children can bring non-motorised wheels of any description as long as they have a helmet.
Upcoming Events
We have had to have a rethink of some of our cherished traditions in the light of Covid 19.
We are very lucky that Oamaru racetrack has been saved and will eventually be open to the public again - what a great relief for our Oamaru community! That means the Home and School will be eventually able to resume your running of the Hungry Horse cafe which is a major fundraiser for our school.
We have very reluctantly decided that this year we will not run our International Food Fair. Our community may not have much extra cash this year and so we have decided to miss this fund-raiser this year.
Normally in term 2 in even years our senior school would be preparing our biannual production. We may not be able to invite the public in for a performance. So we have decided that we will make a movie instead of a live performance. This will tie in with our learning in literacy, digital technology and visual language and we would hope to have it complete and ready to share in term 4.
Singing Cup is still planned for term 3.
Aroha and God Bless,
Lorraine Frances-Rees
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