Thursday 14 December 2017

2. Special Character Week 9, Term 4 2017

This Saturday Mass December 16 @ 5pm we pray for and congratulate Tracy Plieger,  and Chris Jones 
Hogan in being received into the Church. 

Faith Fact
Did you know that the Church has decreed that Christmas and Easter are the pre-eminent holy days because they highlight the dramatic realities of the birth and resurrection of Jesus? How are your spiritual preparations going for the coming Christmas season?

O blessed Jesus,
give me stillness of soul in You.
Let Your mighty calmness reign in me.
Rule me, O King of Gentleness,
King of Peace.
                              St John of the Cross
God Bless 
Nicola Winders


1. Principal's News Week 9 - Term 4 2017

Thank you
A big thank you to all the parents and supporters who have helped St Joseph's this year.  Thank you to Leanne Tuffley for doing the Subway orders,  Cat Campbell for the Scholastic  Bookclub, Adele Whiston for the uniform shop and the parents and parishioners who have transported our Early Childhood Buddies and Young Vinnies.  Thank you to the many parents who have given their time and energy to coach and manage sports teams and to all parents who have supported their children, our teachers and the wider school community in so many ways in 2017.  Thank you to the parish prayer partners who have provided spiritual support for our children on the sacramental program in 2017.  A big shout out to the Home and School who work tirelessly for the good of our school community.  This year they have provided Bibles for the New Entrants, leadership badges, the hall heaters, trophies and engraving, certificates, Junior Discos, playground equipment, and the wonderful year 7 & 8 social.

Thank you also to our teachers, teacher aides and support staff who are so professional and always go well beyond the call of duty in their care of the children and support for the school.


Year 8 Meal courtesy of the Home and School


Year 8s at their social






Some of the year 7s, guests at the year 8 social
Our year 5s have excelled themselves over the last couple
of weeks.  Here are the year 5 girls doing their very
successful Caritas fundraising


Community Thanksgiving Celebration

We look forward to all children and families joining us this evening at 6.00 pm in the Basilica for our End of Year Celebration Mass incorporating the junior pageant, prize-giving and marking the occasion of the year 8 graduation.  Children need to meet in full uniform in the senior playground by 5.45 pm.  The juniors have separate instructions regarding costumes.









Our juniors preparing for tonights' Nativity Pageant

Reports
You will have received reports now (except juniors who have already had anniversary reports).  I said last year that I don't like them and I still don't.  We've had other priorities to address this year which we're very pleased about but reports are on the agenda for improvement.  We developed a lovely report over time at St Joseph's with lots of feedback from parents to help us shape what you want.  It was a holistic report which really showed the full picture for your child and looked good too.  When we changed to MUSAC Edge as our student management system in mid 2015 we were stuck with the limited report design options available in Edge.  That means the printout is small and hard to read and we're limited on what we can say.  So I'm very sorry about that and I hope we will have some new and better ways of reporting on progress and achievement next year.

Lost Property
We have HEAPS of lost property.  LOTS of jackets which cost roughly $50 each.  Please come and have a look through the lost property and claim your children's gear because it will be gone at the end of term.

End of 2017
Presentations to our leaving staff will be at assembly at 2pm
tomorrow (Friday)
We will have a Leavers' Assembly at 2.00 pm this Friday 15th December.  The Head Boy and Girl will give their speeches and the year 8's will receive their leaving certificates.  We will also farewell the staff who are moving on.  This is the last day for the year 7 & 8's as they did a day's technology while the school was closed for a teacher only day in September.

The rest of the school will officially finish at 12.30 pm on Monday 18th December.  Those children who come on Monday may wear Christmas-themed mufti.  Thank you to Phoebe Wickham for the idea.





Well done to our Pasifika group who performed
at assembly and the Public Library this week
2018


School starts at 9.00 am on Tuesday 30th January 2018.


I wish you a safe and happy Christmas.  Let us remember to take time to remember Jesus is the reason and be welcoming Christ into our lives.  I hope you enjoy this time with your families and have a chance to unwind and recharge.  Its been an amazing year and I'm looking forward to reaching even further for the stars in 2018.

God Bless and Aroha
Lorraine Frances-Rees

3. School Notices - Week 9, Term 4 2017

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

Altar Servers
Saturday 16th December - Elenoa Asi, Joshua Criddle and Bronson Bartlett
Sunday 17th December - Anika Winders and Seth Bartley

Saturday 23rd December - Samuel Plieger, Mariah Cunningham and Indya Cunningham
Sunday 24th December - 9.30 am- Hana Davies, Morgan Baillie, Annalise Kilgour and Henry Robinson

Saturday 30th December - Sebastian and Paddy Spillane and Nye Jones-Hogan
Sunday 31st December - Daniel & Jonathan Jorgensen and Michael Misiloi

Saturday 6th January - Joshua Criddle, Molly Whittaker, Mariah Cunningham and Indya Cunningham
Sunday 7th January - Molly-May Mestrom, Hana Davies, Morgan Baillie and Kristiana Whiston

Saturday 13th January - Samuel Plieger, Nye Jones-Hogan, Max Fatafehi and Sam Asi
Sunday 14th January - Annalise Kilgour

Saturday 20th January - Elenoa Asi, Joshua Criddle and Madison Jones
Sunday 21st January - Daniel & Jonathan Jorgensen, Morgan Baillie and Henry Robinson

Saturday 27th January - Paddy & Sebastian Spillane and Samuel Plieger
Sunday 28th January - Hana Davies

Saturday 3rd February - Mariah Cunningham, Indya Cunningham, Annalise Kilgour and Kristiana Whiston
Sunday 4th February - Molly-May Mestrom, Anika Winders, Madison Jones and Henry Robinson


Birthday Greetings for the next 2 months
Sam Asi, Lachlan Criddle, Georgia Moore, Mia Cant, Daniel Jorgensen, Chelsea Koay, Lucas Kofoed, Evie Phillips, Madison Jones, Lily Wickham, Sunny Tian, Aaliyah Meikle, Willow Bartlett, Ivy-Belle Mestrom, Olly Wickham, Blake Meek, Rajbir Singh, Hila'atu Leo, Emily McEvoy, Theo Mestrom, Maximo Catalan-Gomez and Anashae Meikle

Christmas Mass Timetable

St Patrick's Basilica - Oamaru
Christmas Vigil - Sunday 24th December - Pageant 4.30 pm and Mass at 5.00 pm
Christmas Day - Monday 25th December - Carols at 9.15 am and Mass at 9.30 am

Sacred Heart Church - Kurow
Christmas Vigil - Sunday 24th December - Carols at 7.00 pm and Mass at 7.30 pm
Mass of the Holy Family - Wednesday 27th December at 12.00 noon
Normal Mass times - 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month

Our Lady Star of the Sea Church - Hampden

No Christmas Mass
Normal Mass times - 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month

Congratulations
Well done to our St Joseph's Rockets touch rugby team who won the year 4/5/6 red division on Tuesday night.  Thanks to all of our coaches who have helped with coaching/managing duties this year.
Cricket Draw - Saturday 16th December
There will be a prize giving on the field at the end of the St Kevin's game and we ask that all teams meet there at the completion of their games.  All games need to be completed by 11.30 am please and the prize giving will start shortly after that.  There will be a free sausage and drink for all the players at the prize giving.
There are three prizes for each team.  Best batter, best bowler and most improved player.  There are certificates for these and the coaches can collect these from Leanne McLaughlan at the BBQ on Saturday.  Coaches are asked to fill in the names of each of the certificates and these will be awarded to the recipients during the prize giving.

Intermediate A - St Joseph's/Union v Valley Black at SKC1
Intermediate B - St Joseph's v Valley White at SKC Artificial 1
Primary - St Joseph's v Valley at SKC Outfield
Super Star Grade - St Joseph's Sparks v Valley at SKC Astro Turf or outfield - tbc on the day

Farewell
On Friday we farewell the following Yr 8 families who will leave St Joseph's.  We thank them for their contribution to our school and wish them all the best.
- Bridges, Brown, Cavinta, Daunheimer, Fox, Huang, Katoa, McFarlane, McMullan, Owen-O'Connell, Vidallon and Whittaker families.

Home and School
A big thank you to all of our school community for all your help and support throughout the year and a very big thank you to our hard working committee for all their work they do to help our school.  Have a lovely and restful holiday and we look forward to next year where our first big event is the Whitestone Wipeout in April.  Thank you Rebecca Heffernan - Chairperson

LJ Hooker
Thank you very much to Debbie Jansen from LJ Hooker for her continued donations and support to our school.  Debbie donated $200 to our school this week as a result of recommendations and sales of houses

Mufti Day - Monday
Our school is officially open on Monday 18th December until 12.30 pm.  For those who come to school this day, you may wear Christmas themed mufti and there is no gold coins required.

North Otago Athletics
Congratulations to the children who competed at the North Otago Athletics recently.  Yesterday the children received their certificates at Kotuitui.  Special thanks to Miss Tangey, Mrs Asi, Mrs Whiston and Sebastian Whiston who helped at the discus event and to the other parents who helped with the team on the day.  The recipients are:

8 years   - Mya Robinson - 2nd - sprints
9 years   - Michael Woodhouse - 1st in long jump and 3rd in shot put and sprints
10 years - Levi Heffernan - 1st in high jump, discus and 3rd in shotput
11 years  - Indya Cunningham - 2nd in sprints
                - Kristiana Whiston - 2nd in long jump
                - Jacob Robinson - 1st in sprints, long jump and discus
                - Max Fatafehi - 2nd in long jump and 3rd in sprints
12 years  - Eleni Hausia - 2nd in sprints
13 years  - Georgia Fox - 2nd in discus
                - Kaliopeta Katoa - 3rd in shot put
                - Lester Cavinta - 2nd in shot put and 3rd in discus

School Uniform
The Warehouse stocks most of our school uniform and they will give our school 10% of sales when you nominate our school on Schooltex purchases at the checkout.

Uniform Shop

Our uniform shop will be open on the following dates:
Friday 26th January from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm
Monday 29th January from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm
Tuesday 30th January from 8.30 am to 9.00 am

Yr 7 & 8 Social
Last Friday our Yr 7 & 8's celebrated their social in red carpet style and what a transformation from school students to young adults.  Thank you very much to the Home and School for their help during the evening and Mrs Asi for teaching them how to dance formally.



  Community Notices
  • Oamaru Farmers Market - Don't forget the Spud in a Bag competition and the Twilight Christmas market.










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