School Newsletter - Term 1, Week 2 2024

Friday 9th February 2024

TERM 1 WEEK 2

Kia ora whānau,

What a busy time we have had, it has been lovely to see all our tamariki at school and happy to be back. I was lucky enough to be in Pukeko room the other day (our Y0-Y1) and watched them welcome a new student who was here for school visits. I was moved by the way they embraced this student and showed her the classroom and included her in their learning.

Our Year 8 students have been amazing at leading school prayers on a Monday and our whole school mass last Thursday. They ran the mass along with Mrs Misilioi and stepped up into their leadership roles with ease and comfort.

Tino pai Takahe

Pukeko and Kererū class attended the parish mass in the Dean O’Reilly lounge this week, we got to share the mass with the parishioners and the students were in awe of being up close and personal to the mass and sitting with our community who are helping to grow our students in their faith. We will keep joining the parish every Thursday and each class will have an opportunity to attend with our parish community. I thank them for their support, and enthusiasm with welcoming us.

Our teachers have been working hard to get to know all their students and we are now into the swing of testing and setting up routines for learning. We are looking forward to getting to know our community more over the next few weeks. Please come along to our family picnic on the 16th February 5pm - 7pm where we will be sharing kai (food) and taking this opportunity to have a community consultation about vision and focus for the future of St Joseph’s. All you need to do is bring eating utensils (plate, knife, & fork). If it is raining we will still go ahead with this and eat inside.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Whole school Mass - Wednesday - Ash Wednesday

Class mass- 9:15 (in the Dean O’Rilley lounge) Kiwi

School swimming will be in the morning session on Monday & Friday

Family Picnic - We will be having a family picnic on 16th February 5pm - 7pm, please join us for a sausage sizzle and a special treat for tamariki. You are welcome to bring your own food. This will be a great opportunity to get to know each other and share some information about the vision and focus of our school. A note will come home soon with your child.

School swimming is well underway and a special thanks to Mrs Spillane for making sure that all our tamariki are in the correct lessons.  Senior school swimming sports will be held on 28th February 9:30-12:30, this is for students year 4 - year 8. Students wear their PE uniform but also need to bring spare set of clothes to wear at the pool, this clothing can represent their house and their colour. This gives students a chance to compete for their house and earn house points. Students who swim in the small pool will not be competing but come along to support their house. Students need to make sure they are at school before 9am and we will be walking to the pool at 9am sharp. Please make sure they bring togs, towel, goggles, drink bottle and lots of healthy food to eat.

If you can help please let the office know.

FEW REMINDERS

Please remind your child that when packing their lunch we do not bring lollies to school, as we have noticed a few students bringing these to school. We understand that it is hard to entice your child to eat lunch but please remind them no lollies.

Reminder to ensure your child has the correct school sun hat, for Term 1 & Term 4. We require all students to wear sun hats to stay sun smart.

You can order subway on Friday for your child’s lunch, this needs to be at the office before 9am. We will be starting a sausage sizzle soon which will be $2 per sausage. More news on this soon.

There are still many outstanding administration forms, if you have lost yours please contact the office to get another one.

Teams will be notified soon regarding touch rugby and futsal. We desperately need 1 - 2 more players in our year 3 - year 4 futsal team, please let the office know if your child can play. This needs to be done by Monday.

Uniform shop will be open 2:30 - 3:00 pm every Friday afternoon until further notice

Piano lessons - Monday afternoon available during school time this is with Peter McMullan, please phone 027 4211 216 for tuition fee pricing. (this is an extra service and fee will apply)

WAIHO I TE TOIPOTO, KAUA I TE TOIROA

LET US KEEP CLOSE TOGETHER, NOT WIDE APART

STUDENT NEWS

We warmly welcome our new students to St Joseph’s; Micou B, James A, Tinofara M, Louis H, Ziabelle D, Nicole V, Rhyen B.  

Student Leaders

Here are our wonderful year 8 leaders

Head boy - Liam

Head girl - Millie

Head boy special character - Tendayi & Tevita

Head girl special character - Sephrin & Amanda

Guzman house captains - Jayda, Analiese, Malachi

Siena house captains - Eizabel, Hiera, Tinofara

Lima house captains - Amanda & Mele

Technology leaders - Malachi, Mele, Levi

Librarian - Molly

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS

SPECIAL CHARACTER TERM 1 WEEK 2 2024

Welcome and Malo e Lelei,

Last Thursday we had our School Beginning of the Year Mass and also the blessing of our Senior Leaders at the Basilica. Thank you to our parishioners and parents for attending and supporting our school mass.

This week we had our first class Mass with the parishioners. Ruma Pukeko and Ruma Kereru lead parts of mass with the first reading and couple of Intercessory prayers. It was a beautiful Mass, a way of connecting and building strong relationships with our parish family, led by Fr Eli.Thank you Fr Eli.

Ash Wednesday

We are celebrating Ash Wednesday Mass together with the parish at the Basilica at 9.15am Mass. We welcome you all to join us. Our tamariki will lead part of the Mass with singing and reading.

Prayer

We give thanks to God for the gifts that our students bring to our school community and may they be disciples of your love, treasuring the gift of faith as they continue to grow in friendship with Jesus. We ask this through Christ Jesus your Son.

AMEN

Faith Facts

Waitangi Day

Bishop J. B. F. Pompallier arrived in New Zealand in 1838, and established many Catholic missions.

Pompallier was sympathetic to Māori concerns, and for his time, he had an enlightened view towards Māori culture. He was at Waitangi when the Treaty was signed on 6 February 1840, and asked Lieutenant- Governor Hobson for his promise to protect the Catholic faith. This pledge is sometimes referred to as the unwritten “fourth article” of the Treaty, and is said to protect and recognise not only major western religions, but also Māori custom.

Abridged from, The Treaty of Waitangi Information Programme State Services Commission 2005 Image: https://hokiangapompallier.org.nz/pompallier- history/

Ofa atu mo e hifaki. Blessings

Tua Misiloi DRS