Welcome back to Term 2, I hope, where it was possible, that tamariki got out and enjoyed our beautiful autumn weather. Looking ahead, term 2 is going to be a busy one- please read what is on in each of the syndicates to keep up to date with what is happening. 

As many of you know, Tala and Lucy are now proud parents of Atarangi Frances Kahukura Wooles Moemai and she is beautiful! Lucy and Atarangi are now home and doing well. Tala will be on leave initially for the first two weeks of term until Friday 10th so he can support his whānau. During this time I am stepping into the role of acting Principal and will take some days out of the classroom to cover duties.  With great support from Ben, Virginia and the rest of our staff our kura/school is smoothly underway for term 2. 

Please keep Lucy, Tala and Atarangi in your thoughts and prayers as life establishes a new normal for them. 

We usually have a Powhiri to welcome new people to our kura in week three of each term. This term we have a smaller group of tamariki to welcome and with circumstances being a little different, we are having a mihi whakatau instead in Room 11. Mihi whakatau is still a welcoming ceremony but is less formal and can take place in other places.  This will involve Room 11 students, the siblings of our new new entrants and Room 1 and 2 as our leaders. Invites will go out to the whānau of our new students who will be welcomed. If you would like to be a part of this you are still welcome to attend. Our mihi whakatau will start in Room 11 at 9.00am on Friday 17th May. 

Ngā mihi nui

Lyn

(Acting Principal)

Isn't she beautiful!

Jesus Goes Back to Heaven

Luke 24: 36 – 53

Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter, marks the day on which Jesus went to the Mount of olives with his disciples and ascended to heaven before their eyes. Christ’s ascension means that in heaven there is one who, knowing first-hand the experience of suffering and temptation, prays for us and perfects our prayers. The ascension is a witness and guarantee of our own bodily resurrection, as well as an invitation for us to set our hearts and minds “on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God” (Col.3:1-2) to rule over all things in heaven and throughout the universe. The ascension of Jesus serves as the prelude to Pentecost, when the power of the risen Christ came upon all believers through the Holy Spirit.  

Invitation to our Holy Cross School whānau

Ascension liturgy

Friday 10th May

@ 9am at HCS hall

A warm welcome to all our parents, caregivers, extended family and friends to come and join us in our Ascension liturgy.

In Term 2, Rooms 7, 8 and 11 will be continuing with the “Think, Talk, Create Topics’ (IOL)  that we started in Term 1. Room 7 will be completing The Keeping Ourselves Safe topic and our Matariki topic of storytelling. Room 8 will be completing Matariki - storytelling and Miramar, Past and Present and Room 11 will be completing Miramar Past and Present and Keeping Ourselves Safe. As part of the Miramar Past and Present topic, Rooms 11 and 8 will be completing a walk around Miramar looking at different sites from the past and the present. Teachers will contact you and confirm which dates they will happen, and ask for parent help for the walks.

In Religious Education, Term 2 has some important dates: May being the month of Mary, The Ascension (Thursday 9th May), Pentecost (Sunday 19th May) and Laudato Si Week (26 May).

In Maths, we will continue with number, and in the first part of the term we will be covering ‘time’ under the measurement unit. This will link in with our learning on Miramar, Past and Present. Later in the term we will cover Geometry - looking at different shapes and linking it to our Matariki topic, looking at different Māori patterns. 

Our Kura Ahurea focus stories this term are Rangi me Papa (Room 11) and Te Ika a Maui / Ngake and Whataitai (Rooms 7 and 8).

As you know, our syndicate will be completing swimming lessons at the Kilbirnie Aquatic Centre on Fridays this term.

We are looking forward to a busy, fun-filled term.

Having made a great start on our Kaitiaki theme in term one, Room 3 and 5 are continuing  an exciting,  locally based learning focus this term around our Garden to Table program. Our focus is on our community- Motu Kairangi. We are planning a visit to our Community Garden in Maupuia where Kate will share the history of this community garden and also show our tamariki how the garden operates. Tamariki will also have the opportunity to consider how our school garden can contribute to the wider community especially as we prepare for our Matariki Hangi at the end of the term. 

In reading our focus will be to develop a love of reading and encourage tamariki to read for pleasure and experience the benefits this brings to our lives. We will also explore how authors use description and persuasion to influence and entertain their readers. This will support our writing program which will involve tamariki working towards writing a story for a junior class that is fun to read and entertaining. Tamariki will also have opportunities to write persuasive letters and texts. 

Maths will see our two classes exploring Space and Geometry; especially mapping and exploring three dimensional shapes. Our other maths topic we will focus on is fractions and how we use these in food preparation.  

With swimming and cross country a focus for PE this term, our fitness levels will get a boost. We are also carrying on the important work of developing our understanding of how our emotions are expressed and ways to self regulate our emotions especially in our relationships with others. Our RE learning will connect with this as we explore ways we can activate courage, kindness and compassion- positive active emotions that God has gifted to us especially when life doesn’t always seem fair. 

Remember to keep an eye on google classroom parents to get a closer look at what our tamariki are experiencing. 

Gardener of the Day - Isaiah

In the garden we had different groups doing different jobs. One group was taking some of the compost dirt to the Peace Garden, another was cutting up some dead plants for the compost. Kaku and I  weighed the compost bucket, it was 1kg. Then we put the old food scraps in the bucket then we weighed that too. It was 7kg all together but we had to take 1kg off because the bucket was 1kg and we only wanted the food scraps so it was 6kgs.

Kaku and I made a poster that said how many food scraps do we get a week? We wrote the date then wrote the weight of the food scraps and hung it on the wall so we can record how much compost we make each week. 

Chef of the Day - Alex

In the kitchen we made silverbeet and cheese muffins. I chopped some spring onion and diced it into really small pieces .

I liked chopping the silverbeet into tiny bits. It was really really  satisfying every time I chopped a piece of silverbeet it made a nice sound.

We need to be careful not to wipe the knife we are using on the sharp side with our fingers , because we might get a bad cut or just get hurt

I think we could add some sweet corn to change the texture and the taste.

My favourite activity was having the satisfaction of cutting the spring onion. This is definitely a recipe I want to make at home.

School Cross Country - Thursday 9th May

We are planning to hold our School Cross Country Event next Thursday 9th May from 1.00pm to 3pm. The Cross Country will take place at school. Our postponement day is Monday 13th May.

Students will need to bring:

- P.E gear

- Appropriate shoes for running

- A towel to wipe themselves with at the end

We encourage families to come to the event and cheer on their child.

We require parent helpers to be marshals on the course to show the students where to run. We plan to brief and place marshals around the course from 12.30pm to 12.50pm.

We would be very grateful for as many helpers as possible for either part or all of this time. Please fill in the letter that was sent home on Thursday 2 May and return it to school if you are able to help or email Ben (ben.gittos@hcm.school.nz)

Reminder every Friday in term 2 - Room 7 , 8 and 11 go to the Kilbirnie Aquatic Centre by bus at 12.00pm - swimming lessons start at 12.30-1.30pm then returning to school by bus.

Room 3 and 5 leave school at 1.10pm by bus -swimming lessons start at 1.30-2.30pm then returning to school by bus.

Please make sure that your child brings their togs, towel and goggles if needed in a separate bag. Please make sure all uniform has a name on it.

Children will eat lunch before they depart for the pool - they may be extra hungry so please pack enough in their lunchboxes.

Helpers needed                 2024 Matariki Hāngī

Come along to our planning meeting this Monday 6pm in the staffroom to find out more. 

We have 2 possible dates, as the hāngī is weather dependent.

Week 9 - Tuesday 25th June, Thursday 27th June

Parents’ Group 

Kia ora and welcome back to all our school whānau. We hope you had a restful break and are ready for term 2. 

Playground Update 

We have started this term excited to have completed another play space upgrade.  Our under the Pohutukawa tree area is now open and ready to be enjoyed by our community.  We will be adding more planting to this area over the next few terms but for now we are delighted to see our students use this beautiful natural space.  We would like to thank everyone that has been involved with this project, especially Kris Hermann who helped with the concept design, Jake for his ground work expertise and all of our wonderful parent volunteers.  We could not have done it without you! Look out for our next play space upgrade coming soon. 

SAVE THE DATES - Book Fair 13th - 17th May.  

Get ready to catch the reading bug with this year’s Holy Cross Book Week.  Holy Cross and the Parents’ Group are excited to bring you this year's Scholastic book fair!  Not only will we be celebrating all things books, our school community will have  the opportunity to buy beautiful books at discounted prices. Last year, thanks to you all, our book fair was a huge success and Sophie our librarian, was able to fill our library with beautiful new books for our readers.  This year, we will be raising money for some much needed library furniture.  So please save the dates and spread the word to your family and friends! See you soon with more information. 

Parents Group Meeting 

We warmly invite our parent community to our Parents’ Group meeting on Monday 6th May at 7.00pm in the staffroom.  We would love to see you!

Celebrations to the following students: Daniel, Asher, Hendrix, Cahal, David, Nasir, Anaya, Shaan and Cailin. Enjoy your special day. 

Our public health nurses are coming to our school on Tuesday 28th May to provide immunisation for Y7 tamariki.