Kia ora e te whānau,

Today is a special day for the future of Holy Cross. It is my privilege to officially welcome our new students: Wolfgang, Niamh, Finn, Simon, Noah, Sahaan, Tamehana, Danijela, Rome, Calix, Malakhi, Vallina Alina, Aeva, Savannah, Michael, Giana, and Anna, along with your families, to Holy Cross School.

We also extend a warm welcome to our new kaiako (teachers): Mia, Evelyn, Catherine, Angela, and Penny.

Holy Cross is a school steeped in rich traditions, with a strong history, and as your principal, I can attest to that. This kura holds a special place in my heart—as a former pupil, teacher, and now principal.

Over 30 years ago, I arrived at Holy Cross with my twin brother and two older sisters. During my time as a student, I learned three valuable lessons: Work hard for what you want; Be kind and include others; Don’t be afraid to be different.

Lesson 1: Work Hard for What You Want

One of the most exciting things at Holy Cross was competing in the Eastern Zone Athletics. We had some of the best athletes, especially in the relays. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them and was often left behind at school. However, our athletics coach encouraged me to train every day. So I did. The following year, I became the 5th fastest in my year group and made the relay team. As I progressed through college, I applied the same work ethic, and the results showed in more than just sports.

Lesson 2: Be Kind and Inclusive

At Holy Cross, I realized that kindness and inclusion aren’t just nice things to do; they are essential in building strong relationships. While training for the relay, I was often excluded because I wasn’t seen as an athlete. Thankfully, my twin brother always made an effort to include me. That experience shaped me—I never wanted others to feel left out. Since then, I have always made a conscious effort to include others.

Lesson 3: Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different

For a few years at Holy Cross, singing wasn’t considered cool. This was tough for me because I wanted to be a professional singer. At home, I sang constantly, even falling asleep to the radio. Luckily, a few other boys shared my passion. One day, we took a risk—we practiced during wet lunchtimes and built up the courage to perform at a school assembly. The response was incredible!

By the time we left, singing and performing had become part of our school culture. Later, at St. Patrick’s College, a few of us carried that same courage into choir and barbershop singing, eventually winning national gold medals. We became champions because we weren’t afraid to be different.

The Holy Cross WAY!

Why do I share these stories? Because when I returned to Holy Cross in 2018, I saw that these lessons were still being taught through The Holy Cross WAY:

✅ Whānau – Be inclusive.
✅ Aroha – Be kind.
✅ YES! – Be brave and take risks.

Our motto is "Ka whiti mai te rā – Let your light shine." In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus reminds us:

"You are the light of the world... Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." These are not just words—they are a checklist for how we live out our Catholic character. I often ask students these three simple questions:

Are we including others?
Are we being kind?
Are we being brave by taking risks?

If your answer is YES, you’re on the right path. If NO, it’s time to reflect on your actions.

To our new students, I encourage you to think about these questions as you settle into life at our school.
To our new kaiako, thank you for choosing to join our kura and community—we are lucky to have you.
To our new and current whānau, thank you for entrusting us with your greatest treasure—your children.

In Māori custom, when you visit a new iwi, you bring a koha (gift). Today, you give us something priceless—your tamariki. We promise to nurture, guide, and uplift them as a united community of students, teachers, and families. As we embark on this journey together, let us support one another, celebrate our successes, and grow stronger as a whānau. May this year be filled with learning, kindness, and courage.

I leave you with this fa‘autaga loloto (proverb): "E le o se toa fa’aletasi lo’u malosi, ae o le malosi fa’atasi ma isi." My strength is not that of an individual warrior, but the strength of many together.

Ngā manaakitanga,

blessings to you all.

Welcome back to Holy Cross School for the Year 2025!

Our overarching theme for this year is Kaitiakitanga - with a deeper focus on Catholic Social Actions.

Laudate Deum, Oct 2023
Pope Francis has published an Apostolic Exhortation building on his 2015 encyclical. We’re not reacting enough, he says, we’re close to breaking point. He describes how care for our common home flows from the Christian faith.

At Holy Cross School we will be looking at actions to care for our environment and people, starting at school and home with a focus on reducing plastic, recycling and more sustainable ways of living. We will then widen our horizon to include social actions and outreach to our wider community, with beach clean ups, food can donations to the Soup Kitchen etc. Watch this space!

A special day welcoming our new students & staff to Holy Cross School. Some lovely photos to embrace this wonderful occasion.

We are planning to offer the Sacrament of Baptism at Holy Cross School during term 1, 2025. The DRS, Simone Meech, will be teaching the catechumens 4 x 30 minute lessons at lunch times during March. We are in consultation with Fr Bill about possible dates at the moment. If you are interested in having your child(-ren) baptised at HCS please email your expression of interest to simone.meech@hcm.school.nz

If your child has been baptised and you would like them to receive the other sacraments- Reconciliation, Confirmation and Holy Communion, please complete the enrolment form below - late entries will be considered due to short notice.

Sacramental_Programme_2025_FINAL.pdf

Sacramental_Programme_2025_FINAL _pdf 60.79 KB

Sacraments_Enrolment_Form_2025_FINAL.pdf

Sacraments_Enrolment_Form_2025_FINAL _pdf 211.86 KB

Kia ora Rūma Tahi and Rūma Rua Whānau,

We are proud of how our senior students have settled into their classes and learning. Here is an overview of our educational foci for Term 1, 2025.

Kaitiaki of Our Actions—A Schoolwide Approach—We are all kaitiaki, guardians of our environment. This inquiry empowers the Rūma Tahi and Rua Senior syndicate to take real action to reduce waste and care for Papatūānuku. Inspired by Laudato Dieum, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Māori concept of kaitiakitanga, we explore how small changes can have an impact. Through the NZ Curriculum for Catholic schools, we will explore learning in Te Rongopai-Good News (sacred scriptures, the Bible) and Kia Noko Hāhi-Being Church (Catholic Worldview).

Inquiry Learning – Kaitiakitanga in Action - Kaitiakitanga Inquiry Goal - Reduce plastic waste at school through environmental learning, teaching and taking action.

Core Subjects: Reading, Writing, Oral Language, Mathematics - Structured Literacy (Phases 2 & 3) – Aligned with NZ Curriculum (2025) - Oral Language Skills: Focus on listening and speaking. Writing: Developing descriptive and engaging writing through planning, drafting, and publishing. Reading: Critical analysis - Making connections and interpretations. Mathematics – Number Structure & Statistics (NZC 2025) - Guided by Phases 2 and 3 of NZC, we will investigate whole numbers, number operations and rational numbers. Statistics & Measurement: Mapping, measuring, and analysing litter collected, as well as tracking where rubbish is found in our playground.

Kura Ahurea – Te Ao Māori - Ranginui & Papatūānuku: Creation pūrākāu and Te Ataiawa Whānui knowledge. Whakapapa & whanaungatanga: Understanding our connection to the past. Te reo - the language of location. Health & PE - Skipping: Fitness and coordination challenges. Bike Riding: Maintaining and improving biking skills.

Student Leadership – Service Leadership: Supporting the Parent Group, patrols, and manaaki tangata (welcoming visitors). Tuakana-Teina: Year 8 students working with juniors, Rm 7, focusing on ako (reflective learning). Kaitiaki/Enviro Leaders: Leading waste reduction. Cultural Leadership: Cultural group leaders.

Please check your child's Google Classroom page to stay updated on weekly timetables, current learning focuses, and assignments. He mihi nui. Ngā kaiako, Ethel Renata & Mrs Stefanidis (Room 1), and Miss Wilson (Room 2).

Term_1_Room_8_2025.pdf

Term_1_Room_8_2025 _pdf 3.56 MB

The start of the year has been busy, but we feel the children are settling in well to their new classrooms, learning new routines and getting to know different children and teachers.

This term we are continuing with our structured literacy through the BSLA programme and undertaking structured writing and maths through the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum.

During term 1, we will be completing 3 topics - looking at healthy eating through our Healthy Lunchboxes unit, The Rocky Shore and towards the end of term, Holy Week in preparation for Easter. In our religious Education lessons, we will be focussing on The Good News. Children will be able to explain how we can pray blessings and prayers of thanks, and we want them to grow in understanding that The Bible is the way God communicates the Good News with us, and is a holy text that helps us to get to know God. In PE, the children will be undertaking learning through cooperative games - learning about taking turns, supporting others, and physical activities.

We are all looking forward to a great term of learning, sharing, growing and understanding.

Healthy Eating Rocky Shore Holy Week

Virginia and Patsy (R12), Mia and Brenda (R11), Simone and Lyn (R7)

We strive to communicate in a timely manner and have set in place a number of ways for this to happen. Currently we share information in the following ways:

Electronically:

Newsletter: sent electronically each fortnight to your email

Website www.hcm.school.nz

School App: Download the Holy Cross School App Passcode :5500

Facebook : Holy Cross School Miramar - Home

eTAP alerts ( eTAP is our Student Management System)

School Docs - Provides information about policies and procedures at Holy Cross School :SchoolDocs - Policies and Procedures Made Easy

Username : hcm Password: schooldocs

Paper notices and permissions:

We continue to work on reducing our paper use but do at times require signed permissions.

Questions, Ideas, Concerns

At Holy Cross we enjoy positive support and engagement from our community. We are committed to honest, open, respectful relationships- valuing ideas, as well as addressing questions or concerns promptly. We respect the privacy of all members of our community.

General Reminder: For day to day matters we ask that you speak with your child’s teacher in the first instance.

If you have a concern relating to another child please do not speak with that child directly but address your concerns to school staff.

We will continue to provide information about, and seek your input on, practices in place at Holy Cross School; see also the link to Schooldocs which provides further, more detailed information relating to these areas.

Reminders

School starts at 8.45am, if your child is running late they need to get a late stamp from the office before going to their class.

If your child is sick please use the SZapp absentee notification or call the school on 04 388 7189 or email administration@hcm.school.nz to let the office know your child is absent.

Please help us to keep the children looking smart by ensuring the correct school uniform is worn everyday. School hats are compulsorty in Term 1 and 4. Please apply sunscreen in the morning before school, if your child needs to reapply sunscreen the classrooms have sunscreen avaialble.

Vietnameezy and Subway lunch options each Wednesday and Friday. Orders taken in the office from 8.30am-8.45am. You can get spare envelopes from the office.

The Inspire Photography Team are excited to be coming to Holy Cross School again this year! They will be photographing your children and their classes on Friday 21st March 2025. Ordering details will follow when available.

Please return the consent form for the Healthy Active Learning survey

Just a wee reminder - PLEASE do NOT park over people's drive ways when dropping off and picking up your children from school. It can be very frustrating for the people that own the property when they cannot get access to their property due to a parked vehicle blocking their drive way.

Garden to Table Week 3 Room 5

Gardener of the day : Alex

In the garden we harvested potatoes, parsley, mint and rosemary for the kitchen to use when cooking.

I was the gardener of the day! We had to find what we already have in the garden. I found some flavoursome rosemary, juicy tomatoes and chunky apples. We even got to taste the apples.

The apple types were:

Dark red (soft and crunchy, sweet, juicy and watery)
Green (dry, sour, sweet, crunchy)
Gala apple (crispy, thick, surgery, a bit tangy)

We found out that the skin is the most nutritious part of the apple and that one apple tree has been grafted (or joined) to another tree so one half is green apples and the other half is red apples!

Chef of the Day : Aarav

Today in the kitchen we all put on our aprons. After we got some potatoes and cut them into little chunks. After that we smelled salt and sugar and olive oil to see what the difference was. Some people liked the smells and some did not.

Amaan and Jess went to the garden to get some herbs which we cut up into small pieces. We used the bridge method. We washed our knives and boards. We were challenged to write what we did for 10 minutes without speaking which we did. We roasted some potatoes with rosemary and boiled some others which we put some butter on.

We consistently check and review our emergency plans and procedures at school for fire, earthquake/tsunami and lockdown situations and update our policies where necessary advising you of important information.

Please ensure you keep us up to date with your personal details such as address, mobile numbers and email so our records are accurate and we can be in contact with you when we need to.

Our communication methods as previously advised will be by text message, email, schoolapp and social media.

Throughout the term we will carry out practice drills at school. Please read our emergency management document (Click the link).

Emergency management information for parents

This provides a great opportunity to discuss and review your home procedures at the same time and we recommend you do this.

The following website provides useful information to help you with your review.

https://getready.govt.nz/

Calling all young food explorers!

Book Now!

Join us for Flavour Detectives and discover the secrets of your favorite cuisines!

Feb 19 – Italian
Feb 26 – Indian
March 5 – Mexican

Your little chef will chop, mix, and taste their way through delicious recipes while learning essential cooking skills.

Limited spots available - Book Now!

#FlavourDetectives #KidsCooking #FoodAdventure #LittleChefs #sKids

We had our first Flavour Detectives this week and the Tamariki absolutely loved the mini Pizza we made.

Parents Group meeting on Wednesday 26th February at 7pm in the staffroom. All Welcome to join us at the first meeting of the year.

Kia Ora and a warm welcome back to all our Holy Cross family! The Holy Cross Parents’ Group is excited to share our commitments and plans for 2025!

Who are the Holy Cross Parents’ Group?

The Holy Cross Parents’ Group is made up of every single person in our school community! We know how busy life can be for our families, which is why our Parents Group has a core group of wonderful volunteers who help to organise and lead events. This means that our community can help out in different ways that work for them and their whanau. We are committed to making a difference for our children and school in a positive, inclusive way that is guided by our Catholic values.

What do the Holy Cross Parents’ Group do and why?

Our school works incredibly hard to provide every opportunity possible for our children to thrive. However, schools around New Zealand are typically underfunded, meaning that they need to self-raise additional funds to be able to provide amazing opportunities and experiences for our children. This is where we come in! The Parents’ Group works alongside the school to help fundraise money, while also looking for opportunities to bring our community together and have fun!

Here are some of the initiatives that the Parents’ Group organised last year, with the help of our school and community:

Book Week: Raised $700 for library furniture and organized a visit from award-winning author Vasanti Unka, donating $130 worth of prizes.
Easter Raffle: Raised a record amount, contributing $3000 towards 2025 stationery, reducing costs for families.
Leadership Grant: Supported the Year 7 and 8 Mountain to Sea programme.
Professional Development: Contributed $100 towards a guest speaker for our Catholic school professional development day.
Play Space Upgrade: Enhanced the play area under the pohutukawa tree.
Bike Repairs: Contributed $2000 towards repairing our bike fleet.
Garden to Table Programme: Donated $200 for new equipment.
Community Food Fair: Celebrated our community and raised $16,000, enabling the purchase of 20 new iPads and 15 new Chromebooks.
Pastoral care for our community.

How can you help us?

We need your help to promote, assist, and participate in our events. Notices will be sent out with ways you can contribute. Every little bit helps, and the more we raise, the more opportunities we can provide for our children. We’re always looking for new friends to join our core team. If you’re interested or have fundraising ideas, come to a meeting or email us on psg@hcm.school.nz. Meeting times and dates will be updated in our school newsletter or app.