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Kia ora e te whānau,
It is my pleasure to congratulate Simone Meech on winning the Permanent position of DRS at Holy Cross School. This year she has been working as an acting DRS and has already led the school in Masses, liturgies and PD (personal development) in the new Religious education curriculum. In addition, she has done multiple Religious education courses and is meeting with me regularly to discuss the Catholic character of our school. Tau kē Simone!
We would also like to acknowledge Clare James who has been covering the year 5 & 6 teaching part of this position (previously held by Nik) whilst we have been looking for a replacement. Clare has brought a settled aura to the classroom and we will continue to have Clare be the classroom teacher in Rm 5 until the end of the year where we will advertise this as a normal teaching position. Thank you Clare for agreeing to stay on, it has been a pleasure having you back.
We also congratulate Room 1 teacher Christina Petris for winning a teaching position at St Patrick’s Primary School in Kilbirnie in terms 3 & 4. She has been leading our seniors alongside Ben and Eleanor in the absence of Ethel. Christina has made huge strides in her teaching and although we will be sad to say goodbye we wish her well at St Pats. Ethel will return to Room 1 from the start of term 3 after being away on study leave working on her doctorate studies.
Strategic Plan - What have we been working on?
Goal 1: Kotahitanga/Community
Deepen our relationship and connection with Holy Trinity Parish:
This week, we have organised a meeting with myself, Simone our DRS, Father Bill and members of the ADW (Archdiocese of Wellington) and Holy Trinity Parish. The purpose of this meeting is to build Families of Faith for our school. We want to see what the needs of our community, school and Parish are and address this by working together. I will keep you updated on how the meeting goes and actions we are putting in place.
Grow and develop agency for our Māori whānau rōpū:
This morning I attended the Te Ora Hou hāngī preparation at the Miramar community centre with members of our Māori whānau rōpū. Our intention was to help out and learn about the tikanga and process they use for cooking hāngī with the kai cooker. It was an amazing experience and I learnt lots of trade secrets including the special stuffing recipe! I would like to personally thank Tania C, Cilla, Briar and Sheryl for representing our kura and Te Ora Hou for being accommodating and passing on the knowledge. Ehara koe i a ia!
Goal 2 Ako/Learning:
Priortise ākonga wellbeing to strengthen social skills and learning outcomes:
As part of an inquiry for our Kāhui Ako, our teachers have been working on helping our students identify emotions. Specifically, they are looking to answer the questions:
- “How do we coach our ākonga to identify and acknowledge their feelings?”
- “Are we able to self-regulate and self-manage our emotions?
Teachers started this inquiry in the middle of term 1 and will be checking in with each other and their classes to see how this is going over the next couple of weeks.
Goal 3 Whakaako/Teaching:
Kaiako continue to develop their knowledge in te reo, te ao and tikanga Māori from our local iwi perspective (Te Āti Awa whānui).
The lovely Sonya from Room 3 has started up a “Tekau mā rima miniti reo Māori” (15 min te reo Māori) session for our teachers every Tuesday before our staff meetings. The purpose of this is to find more consistent times to practise and use te reo Māori as a group of kaiako (teachers) so we can transfer this to our classes and everyday settings. kei runga noa atu Sonya!
Rest in Loving Peace John Woods and Whaea Kath
Lastly, it is with a sad heart that I acknowledge the passing of John Woods and Kathryn Taylor or Whāea Kath.
John had been a parishioner for many years and actively involved with St Patrick’s Church community in Kilbirnie and in latter years Holy Trinity Parish. John’s involvement with St Vincent de Paul and outreach to many in the community was done quietly but with compassion and understanding. John’s recent connection to Holy Cross was with his grandson Rory Woods who attended school here. His sons Peter and Michael were also teachers at St Patrick’s College Town and Silverstream.
Whāea Kath has been a long standing part of our community living in Worser Bay but also relieving often at our kura and Miramar North School. Kath had been fighting lung cancer and lost this battle just this morning. Last year, she would take my leadership release and would often go above and beyond helping at school events, graduations and our school hāngī. She was a Wāhine Toa that led those around her to be strong. We will miss her dearly. Moe mai rā Whāea.
Our prayers and sympathy are extended to the Woods and Taylor families.
Ngā mihi nui,
Tala
Matthew 5:14
Following the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers that people who receive these blessings matter:
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
“You are the light of the world.” The job description of a Christian is not only to maintain personal holiness, but also to touch the lives of everyone around us. Jesus said our light is not necessarily in the witness of our words, but in the witness of our deeds—our “good works.” The beatitudes have spelled out some of those good works. In humility and submission to God, we work for right relations, for merciful actions, and for peace. When we live as people of blessing, we are salt and light—in the workplace, in our homes, and in our nation.
Our Lord himself will state: I am the light of the world (Jn 8:12). With the light of faith, life finds its true meaning. But “in the absence of light everything becomes confused; it is impossible to tell good from evil, or the road to our destination from other roads which take us in endless circles, going nowhere.”
Pope Francis said: “ Help one another with love, and feel the consoling presence of God."
(Vatican City, Feb 9, 2014)
The team had a top win on Monday winning 24-14 in a hard fought game versus Sacred Heart!
Very proud of the girls ! Well done - showing the Holy Cross values.
Today in the garden we learnt that from last week's group you can grow a stick out of a plant and so Olivia did some pruning to the stick. After that Reef Mila and I cut up some of those sticks (carbon) while Declan was cutting up some leaves (nitrogen) to add to the compost. After I finished cutting, Declan and I and Olivia went to the shed and tried to find the 3 things that we needed to find but we only found 2 of them. We found the nails and the saw but we didn’t find the hammer to join two bits of wood so we had to improvise. We used the metal part of the rake and just banged it down until it went down and that was all we did today.
By Asher
Chef of the Day - Braxton
Today in the kitchen I was chef of the day and I started with a cutting board and a knife. I carefully cut the spinach then grated cheese with Luke. He held the grater and I grated the cheese. It was easier because we did it together then I cleaned my cutting board and knife carefully. You need to be careful with the knife because it can be dangerous if your holding the knife wrong while cleaning it. We need to be careful while cleaning because sometimes you can cut yourself when the bubbles are in the water which can make it hard to see what your doing which if you put your hand in you might cut yourself by accident. My favorite part about today was cutting the spinach and putting out the chairs.
By Braxton
This week in the Garden...
We wish the following students a very happy and fun-filled day on their Birthday: Haven, Kendrick, Roman, Cung and Ting.
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