Principal’s comment. 

Our final newsletter for Term 3 2023 is a photo extravaganza of all the work that has gone into learning based on our production- Tō Tātou Haerenga. What an incredible success this has been in community, creativity and showing our Holy Cross Value of ‘Yes’- courage and perseverance both for our tamariki and our staff. Each item was a reflection of the ideas and creativity of each class, kaiako and tamariki- a true homegrown feast. 

A huge thankyou to Frankie Leota who inspired us with her energy, vision and ability to bring the best out of us all. Frankie was well supported by Matua Tala who managed much of the logistics, scheduling rehearsals, putting the right people in the right place and keeping his finger on the pulse. Lucy Wooles also played a big part in administration-  especially setting up the ticketing and ensuring people got seats. Other key people who supported in different ways included Moana and Brett for supporting Room 6 and their item and Moana for her work on the music and projection. Rich Tucker from NW Group was in charge of lighting. 

Teachers took on the challenge of preparing items, costumes and props and supporting their tamariki in practices. Teaching and Learning assistants also took those opportunities to use their creative skills and provide support around  backstage aspects as well. Parents we also appreciate your support in helping with costumes, providing baking and items to sell as part of the canteen helping in behind the scene roles on the performance nights and also at the working bee we held. 

And finally the stars of the show- your wonderful tamariki. The photos below tell their story. More photos will be available next term.  A big thankyou to you all. 

Strategic planning process for 2024-2025

Just a reminder for people to fill in the google form shared last week via email with key questions that will help the Board of Trustees set the direction for the school over the next two years. The link to the form is here. If you prefer to talk about your ideas, we have a whānau picnic planned Thursday the 12th October from 5pm in the school grounds and in the hall.

Catholic Character Evaluation Part 2. 

We continue with our 5 part feedback on our recent Catholic Character Evaluation. This week we look at the Growth in Knowledge dimension. 

Senior Syndicate

Kia ora whānau, 

Hāhi Whakapono - Religious Education:
This term our students explored the Catholic faith more deeply. Central to our exploration was the Feast of the Assumption, which signifies the Virgin Mary's ascent to Heaven. This event resonated with our students, teaching them about the divine promise of eternal life and Mary's unique role in our faith.

Tika Pāpori - Social Justice:
Students undertook a  journey into 'social justice' which, for Rm 2 students took them to a school in Timor Leste, highlighting the pressing need for proper sanitation in learning environments. Drawing inspiration from Jesus' teachings, they felt a commitment to serve the community, brainstorming ways to support The Soup Kitchen, notably through collecting food tins.

Te Ao Māori, Te Reo Māori & Mātauranga Māori Maths:
Our connection with Te Ao Māori grew stronger as students enjoyed crafting 'ukutangi' with Ricky Prebble from the Ministry of Culture and Heritge. Mason reflected, "It's cool to play an important Māori instrument that I made myself."

In Matauranga Māori maths, we researched traditional methods of making taiaha and poi. We also found out how poi and taiaha taught skills of patience, dexterity, strength and knowledge.

Delving into Māori measurement, a question arose, "He aha te roa o te taiaha?" ("How long is the taiaha?"). The response shed light on cultural significance, "Te taiaha, ko tēnei te roa o tētahi me te hawhe pakahiwi." ("The taiaha is one and a half 'pakahiwi' long.").

Hauora - Health, PE & Miramar Rangers Sessions:
This term, winter sports played a pivotal role in fostering  teamwork amongst students. Another inspiring highlight was the FIFA Women's World Cup. This global event not only amplified our students' passion for football but also shed light on the strength and prowess of female sports professionalism. Mirroring this inspiration, our sessions with the Miramar Rangers Coaches were transformative. The structured training enhanced students' football skills and deepened their appreciation for the sport. Lily remarked, "Playing games was my favourite," and Ting echoed the sentiment of competition.

Pānui, Tuhituhi, and Rangahau - Reading, Writing, and Inquiry Learning:
Rm 1 & Rm 2 delved deep into their inquiry research projects this term. They focused on Wellington's history, the tales of Kupe and Te Wheke, and utilised their paraphrasing skills to extract essential information from diverse sources. Rm 1's enthusiastic playwrights narrated captivating stories about Wellington's early settlers.

Whakakapi - In Conclusion:
Term 3 for Rm 1 & Rm 2 has been a blend of deep religious insights, community service initiatives, athletic pursuits, and academic explorations. We look forward to continuing the journey in Term 4!

Term 3 has been action-packed! Our ākonga have explored a wide variety of learning activities both inside and outside of the classroom.

Early in the term, we visited Te Papa, enriching our learning of migration journeys to Aotearoa. 

Room 8 thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the Kotuitui Football in Schools initiative, testing and growing their skills with the excellent coaches of Curtis and Stu.

Our school wide theme of Journey was woven through our Garden to Table programme through the sharing of whānau recipes brought to Aotearoa through migration. Thank you to those whānau who generously shared their recipes and specialist ingredients. Room 3 extended this idea, through a fortnightly exploration of whānau culture in the classroom, where food was shared as part of the rich learning. 

It was wonderful to open our doors to the wider Holy Cross community through the Feast of the Assumption Mass. In addition to participation in the mass, the opportunity for tamariki to chat and serve our community was a blessing to all. 

Threaded throughout the term has been the rich learning experience of Tō Tātou Haerenga - Our Journey. Under the guidance of Frankie Leota, each class has developed its part in the story of Aotearoa through dance and drama, layering visual design to soundscapes.

All of these rich learning experiences sat alongside our core teaching and learning activities in the classroom.

Congratulations to all our tamariki for your effort in learning during term 3. 

You have done a wonderful job, especially with the production.

As part of “Tō Tātou Haererenga - Our Production” this term, we have been learning about “Journeys, Exploration and Navigation” and Aotearoa NZ Histories. 

Room 12 have been learning about the first letter of their name and that New Zealand was a land of birds before humans arrived. These are some of our bird habitats in a box.

Room 11 have been exploring the sea creatures of New Zealand for their production focus. At the beginning of the term we explored colours for Matariki Art. We have also been learning about measurement and skip counting in 2s in English and Te Reo Maori.

Room 7 have been learning about migration from Samoa to NZ in the 80s for their part in the school production. We made costumes and posters to invite everyone to our show. We explored our personal life journey and how early arrivals to NZ would have been navigating using the stars. We also remembered “Mary’s Assumption” on 15th August and learned the Maori legend of the taniwha Ngake and Whataitai.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2023

Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori – Making the language stronger!

What Māori Language Week Means To Me!

Kia ora koutou. My name is Marlon, and today I am going to talk about what Māori language week means to me. As a Māori person, it is important to learn about my culture. It is especially important, though, when I get to see other people from other countries and cultures learn about my language. The idea of Māori language week first came along in the 1970s when a lot of people became worried about the fact that not many people spoke te reo Māori. A huge petition was signed, and as a result, Māori Language week was created. Now, as a lot of people still don’t speak te reo Māori, the need for a week like this continues. Because of this, I don’t think we will ever have a year where there is not a Māori language week. And I feel very happy about this.

Marlon Ngāti Tūwharetoa

Year 6, Rm 2.

HOLY CROSS SCHOOL TERM DATES 2024

26 students from Rm 1 & Rm 2 went to the Wellington Road Patrol Parade to represent our school's patrollers. They highlighted the key role patrollers have in keeping classmates safe on roads.

Taking on this role aligns with the community service values of Catholic education.

Our school banner celebrating the patrollers also won third place!

Big thanks to our 2023 Road Patrollers for serving our school.

"In the kitchen we made Kawakawa tea and Kawakawa biscuits and a roast vegetable salad. We used broccoflower, cauliflower and carrots. The broccoflower and the cauliflower were harvested from our garden." Emily

"I loved eating the kawakawa biscuits"  Thinbeth

"The biscuits were so good!" Rory

"It was so good, I would rate the cookies 1000/10!" Nyakua

"It was delicious - the kawakawa tea and the kawakawa cookies, they melted in my mouth - mouth watering" Hosanna 

"The tea smelt familiar" - Emily

"I liked the tea because it felt like there was smoke in my mouth!" George

"There was water vapour coming off the kawakawa tea." Hosanna

"I liked the roast vegetables because they were sweet and salty" Ruby

"The roast vegetables were delicious and the carrot was very sweet" Cleo

"Me and Ruby peeled off the leaves from the cauliflower and the broccoflower. We cut the leaves and put them in the compost." Hendrix

"Me, Emily and Nitya peeled the carrots. I also squeezed the orange and cut the kawakawa leaves." Hosanna.

"Me and Nitya mixed the butter with the icing sugar for the biscuits." George

"I cut the baking paper to cover the tray." Thinbeth.

"Me and Olivia creamed the butter and we added the flour and George and Nitya mixed it." Aarav.

"In the garden we mostly focused on planting sunflower seeds. We planted them in little six-pack containers." Rory

"I carried the community compost and it was so heavy!" Nyakua.

"We planted some sunflower seeds and then we put some water in to help them grow" "I cut some grass around the lavender plant to help it grow. The grass was taking over." Cleo

"We ate in the garden." Emily

"It was a sunny day." Thinbeth. "Kei te paki" Hendrix.

Chef of the Day

Today in the kitchen we made roast vegetable salad. Lauren, Terissa and I chopped red juicy yams! While the rest were cutting greens, potatoes, carrots, and a different type of broccoli and also Jerusalem artichoke. They cut the vegetables they needed and put them under tin foil and roasted them. While they were cutting even more vegetables, Terissa and I went back to the garden  and got MORE green vegetables for the salad. After five minutes, they were cutting EVEN MOREEEE vegetables to make the ROAST VEGETABLE SALAD- YUMMY! Anna and Moana came to the kitchen for about three minutes because they had to give us even more vegetables from  the Garden. Cahal cut lots of fennel and put it in the fridge to have a yummy vegetable roast. We all packed up,and some people started dishing up the salad. I'll keep you updated and I will tell you if it's good…

I tried the food and it was pretty good. If I could add anything I would add chicken and take out the celery. I rate the dish 7.8 out of ten.

By Eva.

Archdiocese of Wellington are getting a new data base which will be going live by the end of the year.
This will include a Parent Portal at some stage, which will mean parents can log in and see their account balance and manage their account details. This secure self-service platform will also allow you to make payments. Watch this space! All communication by us are now via email so please check that emails from dues@wn.catholic.org.nz do not go to your Spam/Junk Inbox so that you receive all communications from ourselves.
If you are paying by regular instalments your account should be paid by the end of November, or by payment plan as agreed by us. It is preferable to have a
regular instalment that keeps your account in hand. Financial assistance is available to families experiencing financial hardship (loss of income/redundancy, family reasons, etc.). It is a condition of the assistance application that the family has an affordable regular payment in place. You apply for this assistance with the school.
If you have any questions, please so not hesitate to contact us:

Phone: 0800 462 725       Email: dues@wn.catholic.org.nz

via this QR code by computer here or pen & paper survey forms available at the back of the church. The survey is available in a variety of languages, so if you would like the paper copy in Māori, Cebuano,    Chinese, Fijian, Korean, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil or Tongan please contact the parish office 388 6953 or holytrinity.wgtn@xtra.co.nz

Please note: the paper forms need to be handed back by the 25^th September

Birthday celebrations all around to the following students:

Isabella, Sarkis, Ledayna, Lily, Cian, Bawi, Sophie & Maia. 

Enjoy your special day everyone. 

School Holiday Programme 

Trying to think of something fun the kids can get along to these holidays? How about our School Holiday Programme? 

Each day we offer unique experiences for your kids so they can get inspired about animals and conservation. 

If you have a budding Zoo Keeper at home, a conservation superstar or a nature lover, the Zoo Holiday Programme will give your kids an unforgettable school holiday experience.

Book your little monkeys in now!

Meet the Candidates for the Rongotai Electorate

                Venue:                 Gateway Baptist Church hall

                Address:              33 Park Road, Miramar

                Date:                     Wednesday 27^th September 2023

                Time:                     7.30pm start.

This meeting is being co-hosted by the Miramar/Maupuia Progressive Association, Seatoun & Bays Progressive Association,

and Strathmore Park Residents’ Association.