Thursday 31 October 2019

1. Principal's News Term 4 Week 3

When this goes out I will hopefully be up the hill at Mt Somers.  As I'm not around school this week I won't have too much news but should have some good camp photos to show next week.

Staffing for 2020
Danique McRae will be leaving us at the end of the year and teaching at Papakaio School in 2020.

Congratulations to Jennifer Herbst who is the new Across School Teacher for Whitestone Kahui Ako, our community of learning.

We are employing two new teachers:


Sarah Mae Sollano - Sarah was born in the Philippines and has grown up in New Zealand.  She is bilingual.  She has just finished her teaching degree through the University of Canterbury based in Nelson.  She is a committed Catholic and has had a big part in her local community, volunteering and organising cultural events.  She will teach the year 3/4 class.


Leigh Thomas - Leigh is South African, is married to an airline pilot and has two children aged 15 and 17.  She is teaching at an International School in Hong Kong and has also taught in South Africa and the United Kingdom.  Her family have spent a lot of time in New Zealand and have already bought a house in Oamaru. She is very strong in creative digital technology, inquiry learning and environmental education and will be a very good addition to our team in light of the digital curriculum developments.  Leigh will be class-sharing in the year 7 class while Jennifer attends to her community of learning responsibilities.  Leigh will also work in other parts of the school.

So our staffing for next year looks like this (at the moment)

Junior Hub 1 - New Entrant to year 3 - exact configuration still to be finalised - Mrs Tua Misiloi and Mrs Leanne Brookes
Year 3/4 - Miss Sarah Sollano
Year 4/5 - Mrs Nicola Winders
Year 5/6 - Mrs Jen Streat
Year 7 - Mrs Jennifer Herbst / Mrs Leigh Thomas (also reading recovery release and some other release)
Year 8 - Mrs Sara Jones-Hogan

Part time release teacher - Ann Dooley

Please note that although there are more than one year group in some of our classes, the age range is only about 14 months.  If we chose straight year groups, at some point in the school we would have a class of well over 30 children.  Although I know people like straight year groups, we have the choice of that or smaller classes.  I think smaller classes sizes is a trade-off that most of us would think is for the best.

Communion of Saints
The children are learning about the Communion of Saints at the moment and there is information for parents on our Communion of Saints page.

God Bless and Aroha
Lorraine Frances-Rees

2 Special Character Week 3 Term 4 2019

Malo e Lelei and Welcome
Special Dates
28th St Simon and St Jude Apostles
1st November All Saints Day

2nd November All Souls Day 
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/files/styles/fullsize/public/images/dunedin-labour-day.jpg?itok=-FwfzJC6
Labour day recognises the fight and success of an 8-hour working day. We pray for all those forced to work more that an 8-hour day. 
From the beginning Labour Day parades were often used to draw attention to other political or economic issues – in this case urging the government to complete a controversial regional transport project. Work on the Otago Central Railway had begun in 1879, but progress was slow. The line would not reach Cromwell until 1921.
All Saints and All Souls
This week we celebrate two significant days in the Church’s Liturgical Year. The Feast of All Saints is celebrated on 1st November to honour all the saints known and unknown.  This is followed on the 2nd November by the Feast of All Souls.  On this special day in the Liturgical Year we pray for those who have died, that they ‘may rest in peace’.  Perhaps you might like to visit your Parish church with your family members, light a candle and spend some time in prayer.   Or take time out at home and have a special prayer time to remember those in your family who have died.
Lautado Si
CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME 

 (George Monbiot - The Guardian): “We have been encouraged, by advertising, marketing (etc) …. to seek ever more for ourselves … The reality is that one person’s luxury is another person’s deprivation: the rich, … intrude into the physical and ecological space needed by others … However, there is enough physical and ecological space for everyone to enjoy public luxury: magnificent public parks and swimming pools, rich cultural life that fills the void consumerism seeks, and fails, to fill.  We can have a great quality of life and remain with ecological limits, but we have to give up the notion that we will achieve it on our own, through private accumulation.   We can achieve it together, through the pooling of wealth;  (we can) boil this philosophy down to one phrase: “Private Sufficiency, Public Luxury”. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/ 
Te noho tahi me te aroha – Living our lives with love.
Spiritual Reading
'We set forth our petitions before God, not in order to make known to Him our needs and desires, but rather so that we ourselves may realize that in these things it is necessary to turn to God for help.'

Thank you
God Bless
Tua Misiloi Co DRS

3. School Notices - Week 3, Term 4 2019

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
Altar Servers
Saturday 2nd November - Cooper & Madison Jones, Paddy & Joseph Spillane
Sunday 3rd November - Lilly Kelcher, Ivy-Belle & Molly-May Mestrom

Birthday Greetings to
Elias Fraser, Paolo Mordeno and King Melecio

Book Fair
We still have one more day left of the Book Fair and to celebrate Book Fair Week, we would like you to dress up as your favourite Book Character tomorrow.  A great big thank you to our volunteers who helped out this week. Proceeds from the Book Fair come back to our school.

Congratulations 
During Labour Weekend we had a few school families travel up to Blenheim to compete in the South Island Tae Kwon Do tournament. The children competed in their age, belt and gender groups and had 2 events.  Congratulations to the following children who received place getter medals:
-  Melecio King - silver and gold in the 9/10 year age group in the green belt, blue tip grade
-  Warren Pardede - silver and gold in the 9/10 year age group in the red belt grade
-  William Pardede - silver and gold in the 11/12 year age group in the red belt, black tip grade
-  Paolo Mordeno - silver in the 12/13 year age group in the red belt.  Paolo was absent for the photo.

Measles Update

English Worried about measles? Stay at home and call your doctor or Healthline (0800 611 116) for advice. Healthline has interpreters – when your call is answered, say you’d like an interpreter and the language you’d like to speak in.

 Māori Kei te āwangawanga koe ki te mītera? Noho ki te kāinga me te waea atu ki tō tākuta ki Healthline (0800 611 116) rānei mō ngā tohutohu. He kaiwhakamāori ā-waha ā Healthline – hei te wā ka whakautua tō waeatanga atu, kōrerotia tō pīrangi ki tētahi kaiwhakamāori ā-waha me te reo e pīrangi ana koe ki te kōrero.

Samoan Popolega i le misela? Nofo i le fale ma vili lau foma’i po’o le Healthline (0800 611 116) mo se fautuaga. E i ai fa’amatala’upu a le Healthline – Afai e tali mai i lau vili atu, ona fa’ailoa lea i ai e te mana’omia se fa’amatala’upu ma ta’u iai le gagana e te mana’o e te fia talanoa ai.

Tongan Hoha’a fekau’aki moe mahaki misele? Kapau koia. Nofo ma’u ‘i ‘api pea ke fetu’utaki ki ho’o toketā pe koe Healthline (0800 611 116) ke ‘oatu ha fale’i. ‘Oku ‘i ai ‘a e kau fakatonulea ‘i he Healthline – talaange ki he tokotaha tali telefoni ‘oku ke fiema’u tokotaha fakatonulea faka-Tonga keke lea ki ai.

Moeraki Marae Visit
Our junior school will be visiting Moeraki Marae next Thursday 7th November.  We will depart from school by bus at 9.45 am and return approximately 1.30 pm.  Children are to wear PE gear with good closed in footwear/sneakers as we are going walking.  Please wear/bring your school polar fleece and school jacket, lunchbox and a drink bottle.

For further information, please ask your child's teacher.  An email will be sent to all parents next week.

Plastic Free Fridays
The Envirogroup students want to introduce Plastic Free Fridays to St Joseph’s. We will start this initiative tomorrow. This is a day when you don't use single use plastic in your lunchbox.(e.g muesli bar wrappers, chip packets, glad wrap and yoghurt containers)


Here are some handy tips on how you can make your lunch a plastic free one:
1.Instead of buying little chip packets, buy a big bag of chips and put what you need into a container. 
2.Use extra fruit - it’s good for you.
3.Use hummus/crackers/carrots as a plastic free option
4.Use beeswax wrappers.
5.Use a lunch box with compartments in it (without any wrappers!)


Our Young Vinnies have made beeswax wrappers as part of their volunteer work and will be for sale in a couple of weeks time. Prices to be notified. Please let the office know if you are interested in buying any.

Please help us by trying to reduce our plastic waste at school.
Thank you!

School Athletics Day for Seniors and Juniors

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Our whole school athletics will be combined with Oamaru North School and is held on Tuesday 12th November at Whitestone Contracting Stadium/Centennial Park (same venue as last year).
All children are to meet at Centennial Park at 8.45 am at the latest in the grandstand in their classes so the rolls can be taken and information about the day will be explained.  Junior school children will be given a colour mark on their hand so they know which group they are in.

Junior children aged 5-7 years will finish about 1.30 to 1.45 pm and can go home with parents at that time, otherwise they will be supervised till 3.00 pm.  Please notify your child’s teacher beforehand if you intend to take your child early or if they are staying till 3.00 pm.  Children will not be allowed to leave the grounds at any stage until it is time for them to go. Senior children finish at 3.00 pm. 

Bus children –in the morning, all bus children will be dropped off at St Joseph’s and they will catch a shuttle bus out to the grounds provided by Ritchies.  This bus will leave at 8.40 am on Usk Street and a teacher will ensure your child catches this bus.  In the afternoon, there will be two buses collecting the children at 3.10 pm outside the main entrance to Centennial Park.  Darryl the town bus driver will collect the town bus children and the Kakanui shuttle bus will collect the country children and take them to Waitaki Boys High School via St Kevin’s so they can catch their respective buses.  Please let me know if your child is catching either the morning or afternoon bus or both so we can have a list of bus children on that day.  An email has been sent to all families.  There will be no before school care on that morning.

Helpers - can we please have some more helpers for both seniors and juniors. We need parents/caregivers/grandparents/older siblings who can assist with groups and lead them from one rotation to another. Thank you very much to the parents who have already offered to help as I have allocated rotations for you but I am at least a dozen helpers short. Helpers will receive information next week on what rotation they are on.

Children are to wear their school PE gear including sport shoes and bring the following items:
·         SUN HAT – very important
·         Track pants, school jacket, school polar fleece, thermal, warm clothes (if cold) and school bag
·         Sunscreen
·         Water bottles x 2 in plastic containers
·         Enough food and snacks to last the whole day

Please do not bring any glassware, energy or fizzy drinks.

The day will start sharp at 9.00 am with a prayer, roll call and the children notified of what is expected during the day.  We expect all children to be at the grounds by 8.45 am in order for our first rotation to start at 9.20 am.  The rotations should be finished by 2.45 pm followed by tidying up the grounds and a final thank you.  Children will be ready to leave by 3.00 pm.

The day will consist of the junior and senior children running their events simultaneously apart from the sprints and distance which will be run at the same time.  A bell will indicate the change of events and to move on to the next rotation.  The relays will be run separately and this year it will just straight baton change to the next person.  There will be a 400 m relay at the end with the fastest boys and girls in each age group from 8-13 years competing against one another.

Children will run in their age groups from 8 years old as of 1st October 2019 and the juniors from 5-7 years will run in their made up colour groups e.g. red, blue, black, green.

If it is raining, our postponement day is Thursday 14th November and you will be notified by 7.30 am if it is postponed by Facebook and email and it will be school as usual.

Students that qualify for North Otago Athletics on Monday 25tht November will receive information about this. Anyone wishing to attend Otago Primary Schools athletics on the 19th November, please let me know.

The programme of events and times will be given to you next week once we have confirmation of helpers from both schools.

Any questions about this day, please contact me. Thanks

Paula Brien, Email: sport@stjoseph.school.nz

School Mass & Assembly
There is no school mass next Thursday however there is a mass on Friday afternoon at 1.45 pm to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the church. This is a combined mass with St Kevin's College. There will be no celebration assembly on that Friday.

Subway
Please note there is NO subway lunches tomorrow because of International Sandwich Day and Subway cannot supply school lunches on this day because they are too busy.  Subway will resume again on Friday 8th November as per usual.

Terrific Thursdays
Today was the last Terrific Thursday for the year and it will start up again in term 1.

Community Notices
  • Oranga Tamariki - can you provide a stable and loving environment for tamariki until it's safe for them to return home?  All children need a place where they can feel at home with their wider whanau or caregivers.  Those who can give them aroha, a place of belonging and connection with family, whakapapa and culture.  Caregiving can be hard at times but the rewards are amazing.  Your aroha can make all the difference.  For more information about becoming an Oranga Tamariki caregiver, please get in touch on 0508 CARERS (0508 227 377) or www.orangatamariki.govt.nz

  • Oamaru Multisport Club - presents Fun Walk-Run/Duathlon Series.  Fun walk/run 2.5 km (1 lap), 5 km (2 laps), 10 km (4 laps).  Duathlon - Off the Couch - 2 km walk-run/ 4 km (1 lap) bike / 0.5 km walk-run.  Weekend Warriors - 2 km run/ 12 km (3 laps) bike/ 2.5 km run .  Held on Wednesdays from 13, 20, 27 November at the Oamaru Harbour Playground at Friendly Bay.  Registration is 5.30 pm, briefing at 5.45 pm, start 6.00 pm.  Entry fee is adults $10.00 per event or $20.00 for series; students $5.00 per event or $10.00 for series.  Contact Adair Craik on 021 309 439 / Diane Talanoa on 021 815 0688 or www.sporty.co.nz/oamarumultisportclub on the day.  Entry forms available at the school office

4. Diary Dates -Week 3, Term 4 2019


NOVEMBER
Friday 1                         -  Yr 8 camp
                                      -  Book Character Dress Up Day
                                      -  Celebration assembly at 2.30 pm
                                      -  Cricket starts today at 4.00 pm
Monday 4                      -  Technology for Yr 7 & 8
Tuesday 5                      -  Board of Trustee meeting at 6.00 pm
Thursday 7                    -  Junior School Marae visit  
Friday 8                         -  St Patrick’s Church 125 year celebrations
Saturday 9                     -  St Patrick’s Church 125 year celebrations
Monday 11                    -  Technology for Yr 7 & 8
Tuesday 12                    -  School athletics for whole school
Wednesday 13               -  Induction Evening at 6.00 pm
Thursday 14                  -  School athletics postponement date
Sunday 17                     -  Welcome Mass at 9.30 am – note new date
Monday 18                    -  Technology for Yr 7 & 8
Wednesday 20               -  EOTC for Yr 6
Thursday 21                  -  EOTC for Yr 6
Friday 22                       -  EOTC for Yr 6
Monday 25                    -  North Otago Athletics
                                      -  Technology for Yr 7 & 8
Thursday 28                  -  St Kevin’s College Orientation Day for Yr 8 students
Friday 29                       -  Multicultural Day
Saturday 30                   -  Home & School Racecourse Fundraiser

DECEMBER
Monday 2                      -  Technology for Yr 7 & 8
Friday 6                         -  Pet Day
                                      -   Junior school disco
Monday 9                      -  Technology for Yr 7 & 8
Tuesday 10                    -  Board of Trustee meeting at 6.00 pm
                                      -  Touch Rugby finishes today
Friday 13                       -  Yr 7 & 8 formal
                                      -  Cricket finishes today
Wednesday 18               - End of Year Mass at 6.00 pm
Thursday 19                  -  End of Year assembly at 12.00 pm
                                      -  School finishes for the year at 12.30 pm

FEBRUARY 2020
Monday 3                      -  Unconfirmed start date for term 1



Thursday 24 October 2019

1. Principal's News Week 2 Term 4 2019

St Joseph's International Food Fair
What a great day we had on Sunday.  Thank you to our Home and School and the many families who helped out to make the day run smoothly.




Thank you also to the children who followed their parents' example and also helped out.  Paddy, Lachlan and Mariah were amazing - all day working on the Cake Wheel drumming up support and selling tickets for us.


Science Achievement
We would like to share that our year 4 to 8 students recently sat nationally normed tests in Science.  86% of our students were at or above the New Zealand norm for science.  32% are above.  Well done to our students and teachers.

God Bless and Aroha
Lorraine Frances-Rees

2. Special Character Week 2 Term 4 2019

Welcome and Malo e Lelei

This week special dates:
22nd St John Paul II
23rd St John Capistrano


In Religious Education we are learning about Communion of Saints. This week is only the 5th year that we have celebrated the feast day of St John Paul the second. 


Here are some of his inspirational quotes from the great man.
The future starts today, not tomorrow.
Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. A person’s rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use. The worst prison would be a closed heart. As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live. Do not be afraid to take a chance on peace, to teach peace, to live peace…Peace will be the last word of history.
Pope John Paul II wearing a Maori feather cloak during his visit to the Auckland Domain.
CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME
Household Cleaners: Use sparingly: Dishwasher powder,  shower and toilet cleaner, bleaches, aerosol, fly/insect sprays etc.  Do we really need that ‘toilet duck’, air freshener etc. We are highly dependent on pre-prepared products, but often forget the hidden dangers of daily use.   Air fresheners (containing synthetic chemicals, many classified as toxic to the immune system), are extremely common, so using them should be helpful, not harmful.
DIY general purpose cleaner: White vinegar, Baking Soda, Water, in a spray container. 
DIY air freshener: spray bottle, one cup of water – add approx. 10.-12 drops of your favourite essential oil (not synthetic oil) – shake the mixture and use. More tips here: www.thehealthyhousehold.com/toxic-chemicals-air-fresheners/ 
Living our lives with love – together we make the difference.
In his encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis urges us to: Live Simply  “There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions.”—Laudato Si’ 211

Spiritual Reading

'Many cry to God, but not with the voice of the soul, but with the voice of the body; only the cry of the heart, of the soul, reaches God.'
Thank you. God Bless
Tua Misiloi Co DRS

3. School Notices - Week 2, Term 4 2019

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK


Altar Servers

Saturday 26th October - Lachlan Criddle, Serah Staju, Mariah Cunningham and Jayla Strong
Sunday 27th October - Indeg & Nye Jones-Hogan and Henry Robinson

Birthday Greetings

Milly Campbell and Michael McLaren

Absences

A reminder to let the office know if your child will not be at school for any reason.  Please contact us by email on office@stjoseph.school.nz or phone 434 8856 and leave a message or text 027 434 8860.  Please let us know the reason why your child is absent.


Book Fair
Our Book Fair starts next Tuesday 29th October to Friday 1st November and is held in the school hall.  It will be open from 8.40 to 9.10 in the morning and 2.45 t0 3.15 pm in the afternoon.  If you are able to help with the Book Fair, please let the office or Mrs McRae know on dmcrae@stjoseph.school.nz  Eftpos is available.
We will finish the Book FAir celebration with a Book Character Dress Up day on the Friday.

Campers

Good luck to our Yr 7 & 8 students, teachers and parents who are off to Raincliff camp and Mt Somers next week. Lets pray the weather is a bit more settled!!

Congratulations

Molly-May Mestrom entered the North Otago A&P association Have a go Equestrian day on Sunday 20th October and she had a very successful day winning Overall Champion in her class and also 4-1st places 2-2nd places and 1-3rd place. Well done Molly on a very successful day.






Touch Rugby - Congratulations to Ben Gillies and Michael Woodhouse who got selected for the Otago U12 touch rugby team.  They have 3 tournaments coming up before Christmas and will practice twice a week in Dunedin.  Congratulations also to Lee Woodhouse who was selected as an Otago touch rugby coach for the U12 team.


Cricket Players
We urgently need a couple more girls from Yr 5-8 to play in our girls only team on Friday nights from 4.00 to 6.00 pm starting next Friday.  Please let Mrs Brien know if you are interested.

Home and School
Hungry Horse Cafe - Christmas at the Races meeting
We are looking for volunteers to help with this big race day and help out with the cafe.  A letter was posted to all families last term asking you to donate 2-3 hours once a year to help with this major fundraiser for our school. If everyone volunteered their time, each family would only have to do it once a year.
If you are able to help on this day Saturday 30th November for a couple of hours, please let Rebecca Heffernan know on heffholdings@xtra.co.nz or contact the office.  At this particular race meeting, there will be lots of activities to keep the children entertained.


Food Fair
The Home and School wish to thank all the families who helped make the Food Fair a successful day whether you baked a cake, manned a stall, donated equipment, helped set up or packed away gear.  A special thank you to the dads who started very early in the morning and/or  worked on the Saturday in preparation for the day.


Basketballs
A very big thank you to our Home and School who donated 15 basketballs for the classrooms to use during class PE time.  This means the teachers can now teach ball drills and games to all the students in the class.

Induction/Welcome Mass

Every new student who has started school this year has received a letter inviting them to an Induction Evening on Wednesday 13th November at 6.00 pm and to the Welcome Mass on Sunday 17th November at 9.30 am. Please let Mrs Brien know if you can or cannot make these events.  Thank you.

North Otago Pastoral Services

It's just got easier to support our school.  In the last two years North Otago Pastoral Services and yourself have helped our school receive $900.00 worth of valuable sponsorship.  All thanks to North Otago Pastoral Services Poncho Seed Promotion who are once again running their Poncho Seed Promotion to help the region's local schools.  For every hectare of seed you purchase from North Otago Pastoral and treat with Poncho, they will donate $5.00/ha.  
For further information visit www.nops.co.nz or talk to Matthew Paton, your local field rep on 027 443 4701.

Plastic Free Fridays

The Envirogroup students want to introduce Plastic Free Fridays to St Joseph’s. We will start this initiative next Friday. This is a day when you don't use single use plastic in your lunchbox.(e.g muesli bar wrappers, chip packets, glad wrap and yoghurt containers)


Here are some handy tips on how you can make your lunch a plastic free one:
1.Instead of buying little chip packets, buy a big bag of chips and put what you need into a container. 
2.Use extra fruit - it’s good for you.
3.Use hummus/crackers/carrots as a plastic free option
4.Use beeswax wrappers.
5.Use a lunch box with compartments in it (without any wrappers!)


Our Young Vinnies have made beeswax wrappers as part of their volunteer work and will be for sale in a couple of weeks time. Prices to be notified. Please let the office know if you are interested in buying any.

Please help us by trying to reduce our plastic waste at school.
Thank you!

School Athletics
Our whole school athletics is on Tuesday 12th November and we need some more parents/carers to help us on the day for both the junior and senior rotations. If you can only do half a day, that will be fine.  Thank you to the 6 parents who have offered to help already. Further information will come out next week.