Message from the Principal - Week 5, Term 3.

Kia ora e te whānau,

The last few weeks have seen some fantastic celebrations including Pōwhiri, the Assumption of Mary and our Grandparent’s Day Mass. It has been amazing to see our students and teachers working together to grow their capacity in leadership, learning and helping each other. These are all important things that we spend time on as it is a part of the fabric of who we are.

My Principal Mentor, Ed Hodgkinson and I often talk about the vision for our school and he often refers to the quote,

‘What the principal spends time attending to is the single most important strategic resource in any school’.  As I reflect on this, and what I do on a daily basis, I think about this follow up question;

“What is most important to all of us and what matters the most?”

Naturally, I can answer that question based on my own life experience. However, do I know how the staff, students and community would answer this question? I imagine we would have lots of things in common, but are we on the same page about these things? Probably not as much as I would like.

Things that spring to mind for me are; Culture (and cultural identity), Faith, Tautua (service), Humility and Work Ethic. These things have led me to be the person I am today. I was grounded in these values at home and also as a student at Holy Cross and St Patrick’s college. As the leader of our kura, I hope to instill similar values in our staff and students. I feel that understanding what is important to us helps us to understand what our “anchor” is which helps us to stay on course in our journey of life.

Simply put, our anchor quickly tells us our “why” and if we are drifting away from our course. I like to use the metaphor of a waka / vaka (boat) to explain this as it is culturally appropriate to a New Zealand context. We are in the waka together and I am navigating us into the future. In addition, “He waka eke noa” which means “We’re all in this together” infers that we are moving as one towards a new destination.

So what am I getting at? Simply this, I want to know what is important to you. What anchors you and your whānau when you are drifting away from where you want to be? I want to understand our community, students and staff more by coming up with a way that we can articulate this as a school.

In the upcoming weeks, I will be asking you “What is most important to you and what matters the most?” From here, I will look at the data and come up with a model that best fits our community and share this back. I have had lots of interest in our school with enrolments and if I can articulate this area then people will know why they want to come to and stay at Holy Cross School.

Ngā mihi nui,

Tala Moemai

This term, the Middle syndicate made up of Room 3 and 5 have had a busy time in their learning. 

Our akonga (learners) in Room 3 have written short paragraphs about our learning experiences. 

Music

On Wednesday a lady named Emily came to Room 3 to teach us ukulele. When Emily came, she bought her ukulele. Emily practiced it and she worked hard to do it. She taught us how to play “Twinkle, twinkle” and ‘You are my Sunshine’. Ruby (Room 3) 

Room 5 also has Wednesday lessons and are sing tunefully to accompany the ukelele. 

Grandparents Mass

Today we had Grandparents day Mass. We (Room 3) did a lot of hard work for the day. It started off with Avery and I getting very nervous because we were reading a prayer IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!! The the moment came, I stepped on the stage and took a deeeeep breath (aaaah) and I spoke ‘Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise the Lord all you His angels etc’ and I did it! I hugged my nana at the end. Charlotte (Room 3) 

Room 3 also worked hard baking kawa kawa and orange cookies which were shared on the day. 

Tree Planting Centennial Reserve. 

We planted some baby trees in the dirt. We dug a hole. There was some hard rock under the dirt. We put the baby trees in the dirt. We squashed the dirt into the baby tree. Niki (Room 3) 

Also Gabby was so strong that she dug with a shovel. Thinbeth (Room 3) 

Touch Rugby Skills

On Wednesday the touch rugby coach came to Holy Cross School to teach us to play touch rugby. The first drill we did was partner passing. Then we tapped the ball, picked it up, ran and scored a try. Something that I learned is that tapping in touch is different to tapping in real rugby. Rory (Room 3) 

Mary and Velvet’s visit. 

Today a woman called Mary, she has a dog called Velvet. Velvet is a working dog. Her job is guiding Mary because she is blind. Mary has 5 paralympic medals! We saw her in Room 5. I learned what paralympics is. Paralympics is like the olympics but paralympics is an olympics for disabled people. Emily (Room 3) 

Amanda from Zealandia

One Friday Amanda from Zealandia, played a game with us. The game was about protecting the kiwis. Amanda works at Zealandia to keep the animals safe. Amanda is the zookeeper ranger. Michael (Room 3) 

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Hikoi with Miramar Central School and Miramar Kindergarten

Join us on Monday, 16th September 2024, at 9:10 am our school hall.

More details to follow! All community members and whānau are warmly invited.

Eastern Zone swimming

Thank you to all our parent helpers who transported students and helped at the Eastern zone swimming competition in Kilbirnie on Wednesday. 

The students all did really well at the EZone swimming competition. As always their behaviour was exemplary, they all gave their absolute best and certainly held their own throughout their races. They all cheered and shouted each other on, made sure each other were aware of when their races were, what lanes they were in, where they needed to report to and stand etc...

The event was well run and went really smoothly. It certainly presented a good opportunity for our tamariki to compete and experience competition swimming across the various schools in the area.

Year 6 relay team

Basketball 

Magic game by Holy Cross Green on Monday night! We won 30-26 against a very competitive Strathmore team.

Best game by far from our team to date, worked very hard for each other and came off when feeling tired without being asked!

Well done team Green!

Showing the Holy Cross WAY!

Netball

The girls had a really good game this past weekend! The management team had quite a hard task choosing this weeks Player of the Day, stating that it could have easily gone to any one of the girls as they all played exceptionally!

Final score was 22-6 to Thunder, with our girls winning against Island Bay School.

As it was, they couldn't narrow it down to a single player so chose both Mila and Reef Perez for the Player of the Day award.

Reef awarded for her awesome passing and excellent intercepts!
Mila awarded for scoring the majority of the goals through the match and for some exceptional catching!

Player of the day for this week was Nerine, for excellent all around play. She scored some awesome goals as Goal Attack, along with showcasing some great passing and catches during the game.

The team played St Ann's School, it was a very close game that had some quite high pressure points. But the girls remained focused and kept playing their best, despite having no subs for the whole game.

The final score was draw at 8-8.

Staff will be wearing purple on Thursday 29th August in support of this day. 

What I love about my Grandmother

I love the taste of her fresh apple muffins baked with love,

the feel of her rug when I first step in to her house,

speeding around town in her white Hyundai,

walking around the city, just being with her.

I miss being a baby and having her watch over me with love,

just hearing her voice and knowing that she is there for me,

streets as smooth as the surface of a lake,

and hills as tall as the sky.

I loved picnics down at the beach with her and the rest of my family,

secretly stealing mint from her herb garden when she wasn’t looking,

going out and looking at the latest museum exhibit and spending hours wandering around,

and helping her make ice cream.

She helps to make me feel safe and secure,

and is my strongest advocate.

She is always on my side,

and caring for me when I am upset.

She is wise, loving, caring, smart, and amazing.

She is my grandmother.

And I love her.

By Marlon  Year 7

My Grandparents are the bomb!

They’re the kindest and most considerate grandparents I could ask for in the world!

Every time im feeling down, they always looked after me and wiped the tears off my face,

everytime I'm in sorrow, they were the ones keeping me afloat in my floods of tears and emotions,

and everytime something good happened to me, they would be the first to celebrate and congratulate me,

They supported me through thick and thin.

But they weren't born in New Zealand like I was,

My Grandmother was born in India and traveled to New Zealand by boat,

It took them many days and nights but that's why I live in New Zealand with them.

By Kayla Year 8

Grandma and Grandpa’s house

My Grandma and Grandpa are quite strong,

although the house rules seem quite wrong!

A closet full of fish downstairs,

a Grandpa who just really cares!

They have just two big christmas trees,

Luckily they have no allergies!

Grandpa’s finger has been sawed off,

By the lawn mower in the frost.

Grandpa’s garden is very big,

Where rabbits like to have their dig!

The big broad beans are very lean,

Although most of them await unseen.

They are quite just very ancient,

The landline runs right through the basement!

In the backroom there are comfy chairs,

Grandma quite enjoys it there.

Grandma and Grandpa, Margaret and Tony,

Their sticky fingers are quite bony.

Grandma’s arms are very nice to give the best of hugs,

And that's why I like going

To Grandma and Grandpa’s House!

By  Austin Year 7

Our Grandparents,

Grandparents are so special and show their kindness in so many different ways.

Their love for us is so deep we all keep kind memories in our minds. 

I have so many fond memories of my nana that have built our bond so strong. 

She makes us feel so loved and that our bond will last so long. 

She tells stories of her life that teach lessons to all her grandchildren, sons, daughters, uncles, aunties, cousins and her siblings.

Grandparents are held in a special place in our heart every part of them is special. 

This poem is for my nana Mary.

By Serena Year 8

Gardener of the day - Reef

Today in the garden Millie and I went to Jimmy's shed and got a piece of wood for creating a wheelbarrow course.

Angelia and Braxton were cleaning dirty tools like a shovel hand fork and a spade.

Nerine was planting two bok choy that she grew from seeds from her home.

Declan and Luke were creating their own wheelbarrow course with dirt and getting their license at the same time.

By Reef  

Chef of the day - Lehi

Today in the kitchen we made flat bread with hummus. I started to cut this type of broccoli called Romanesco. After that Mila, Zoe and I started to make the dough. Mrs Stefanidis helped us along the way.

Something we need to be careful about is the bread. If you just leave it on the pan and not watch it, it could burn and the bread might taste a bit weird.

In my opinion I think they should leave the recipe as it is because when I tasted it, it  tasted so good.

My favorite activity today was rolling the bread and making.

By Lehi

You can view our Policies and Procedures, please click on the following link.  

https://www.schooldocs.co.nz/Home/SchoolLogin.aspx

Our username is :hcm and password : schooldocs

Current review

Celebrations all around for the following students: Emmanuel, Moana, Nyakua, Mason, Katie, Lehi, Jessica, Hana-Lucia, Dhrumil, Isaac, Luke, Ezira, Carter & Hemi.