Kia ora e te whānau,

As we wrap up the term, I want to take a moment to thank our amazing community, dedicated staff, and wonderful students for all the hard work and learning that has taken place across our kura. A highlight this term was last week’s Celebration of Learning Afternoon, where it was heartening to see families, children, and teachers engaging in rich conversations about the progress and learning that’s taken place.

Just like our students, our teachers have been learning too! Tomorrow, during our Teacher Only Day, staff will engage in professional development focused on the new Maths Curriculum. Our Year 4–8 teachers have just completed their third day of Structured Literacy training, and they’re excited to begin applying their new knowledge in the classroom next term.

The Refreshed Curriculum: Te Mātaiaho

As part of our professional learning journey, I’d like to share some important updates about the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum — Te Mātaiaho. This new curriculum includes refreshed English and Mathematics content, and all schools are expected to be using it by the beginning of 2026. At Holy Cross, we’ve chosen to embrace the shift early. You’ll notice some changes in how we report your child’s progress. We are now tracking learning using the phases of Te Mātaiaho, and this will be reflected in your child’s mid-year and end-of-year reports.

What is Te Mātaiaho and What Are the Learning Phases?

Te Mātaiaho, meaning “the strands of learning” in Te Reo Māori, weaves together knowledge, skills, values, and key competencies to create a holistic, learner-centred education system. Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it fosters inclusive, equitable, and culturally responsive learning for all ākonga (learners). Instead of curriculum levels, Te Mātaiaho uses phases of learning — designed to ensure clear, connected progression through a student’s education.

What Are the 3 Phases of Learning?

The refreshed New Zealand Curriculum breaks down student learning into 3 clear phases to help teachers and families understand what children are learning and how they are progressing.

Each phase represents a stage of development — just like steps on a learning journey.

Old NZ Curriculum vs. New Curriculum Phases (Years 1–8)

Key Similarities

• Still covers the same key learning areas: reading, writing, maths
• Students are supported to progress at their own pace
• Teachers use clear learning goals to guide planning and teaching
• Reporting and assessment still help track progress and next steps

What’s Better in the New Phases?

• Uses language that’s easier for families to understand
• More focus on what students can do, not just where they “sit” by level
• Promotes real-life application, especially in upper years

Allows for more flexible pathways across year levels (students can be in different phases for different subjects)

How Will I Know If My Child’s Learning Is on Track?

We’ve created a simple guide to help you understand what stage your child might be working at:

What Does This Mean For Reporting?

We are no longer using the language of “Above, At, or Below” in student reports. Instead, we will indicate which phase your child is in, and whether they are working at the beginning, middle, or end of that phase. This change allows us to focus more on progress, strengths, and next steps, and less on comparisons. It gives us a more meaningful way to talk about your child’s learning journey.

Final Words

To our tamariki, we’re so proud of your courage, kindness, and commitment to learning. To our staff, thank you for your dedication, energy, and deep aroha for our learners. And to our wider community, thank you for being on this journey with us as we embrace change and grow stronger together.

As we head into the holidays, may this be a time of rest, renewal, and reconnection with whānau and with God. Travel safely, and we look forward to welcoming you all back in Term 2 with refreshed energy and continued purpose.

Let us finish in prayer:

Loving God,

We thank you for the blessings of this term, for the learning, the laughter, the growth, and the grace.

Watch over our children, families, and staff these holidays. Keep us safe, bring us rest, and help us return renewed in mind, body, and spirit.
Through Christ our Lord,
Amen.

Noho ora mai, 

Tala

Last Friday we celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism for our 4 students. Fr Bill and Deacon Kinh presided over a wonderful, interactive service. Parents and Godparents read prayers, blessings and marked the sign of the cross on the children. Some year 8 students led the liturgy and the classes of the 4 students being baptised were present to share in the celebrations. Thank you Fr Bill and Kinh! We wish the 4 students all the best on their spiritual journey - Hikoi Wairua.                    

By Simone Meech (DRS)

Wishing you and your family a Happy Easter! Hope to see you all at some of the Easter Services in the parish! 

For Term 2 the winter uniform is to be worn - no summer dresses, please see the winter uniform list below:

WINTER UNIFORM:

Years 1 - 6

● Shorts - navy elastic waist
● Skort - navy 4 pleat
● Holy Cross polo shirt - blue,white and maroon
● Skivvy - long sleeve navy (optional)
● Tracksuit pants - long navy (optional)
● Socks - navy cotton 3⁄4 length
● Cotton navy tights (optional)
● Holy Cross jersey maroon with logo
● Holy Cross polar fleece - maroon with logo (optional)
● Holy Cross jacket - blue
● Shoes (all black)

Years 7 - 8

● Shorts - navy elastic waist
● Skort - navy 4 pleat
● Holy Cross polo shirt - blue,white and maroon
● Skivvy - long sleeve navy (optional)
● Tracksuit pants - long navy (optional)
● Skirt - tartan box pleat (optional)
● Blouse - Holy Cross white short sleeve split hem with school logo (optional)
● Shirt - Holy Cross long sleeve sky blue (optional)
● Socks - navy cotton 3⁄4 length
● Holy Cross jersey - maroon with logo
● Holy Cross polar fleece - maroon (optional)
● Holy Cross jacket - blue
● Shoes (all black)

Kia Ora  

A big thank you to New World for allowing us space at the supermarket to sell the raffle tickets.

A huge thank you and congratulations to our top selling students! 

Amalia, Asher and Ali sold 35 sheets

Reef, Mila and Amato sold 26 sheets

Anira sold 15 sheets

Amari-Jo sold 10 sheets 

Rohan sold 10 sheets

Aria sold 7 sheets 

We explored kaitiakitanga through science and investigated how rubbish found outside our classroom breaks down. In maths, we solved real-world problems, and in reading, we explored science texts, asked questions, and made links to kaitiakitanga. We wrote creative poems and shared our thoughts. Through te reo Māori, we practised simple introductions and used kupu related to our learning. Our tuakana-teina storytelling brought Ranginui and Papatūānuku to life. In Religious Education, we researched the history of the Bible and created Lenten prayers and promises. We also started our science experiments on decomposition by testing snack packets, recyclable cups, fruit, and Cubeez cardboard. Look out for the results in Term Two! Which do you think decomposed the slowest?  

Kia ora e te whānau,

It’s been a busy and exciting start to the term in Ruma Rua! Here’s a little snapshot of what we’ve been exploring so far:

In Literacy, ākonga have been working hard on spelling consolidation and their cursive handwriting – starting with lowercase letters and now moving into uppercase. We’ve also been reading and writing poetry, learning about different poetic devices and language. We have also delved into the Rangi and Papa creation story which will pave way to our Term 2 focus - the separation. 

In R.E., we’ve explored the theme of ‘Good News’, diving into parables and scriptures. We’ve also reflected on Lent, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, and Easter.

Our Numeracy focus has included number structure, discovering the angles of a circle and straight line in geometry, and learning to read, interpret, and create data in statistics.

A big focus across all of our learning has been Kaitiakitanga – looking after our environment, each other, and ourselves. This ties beautifully into our Environmental Education, Zones of Regulation, and our Te Reo Māori learning, where ākonga are practising how to ask and answer “He aha tēnei rā?” (What day is this?).

As before mentioned, we’ve started introducing the Zones of Regulation – helping ākonga to recognise their emotions and use tools to support their self-regulation.

In P.E., we’ve been working with skipping, biking, and playground obstacle courses, all helping us build our movement and coordination skills.

Our Art project, Let Your Light Shine, has encouraged ākonga to think about how they can be a light for others, using their creativity to reflect that.

We’ve also had the privilege of hosting whole-school prayers, where our ākonga have shown such mana and confidence in leading and supporting our kura.

Ngā mihi nui for your ongoing support – we’re so proud of the learning happening in our space!

We created our portraits done in the style of Nate Williams, here are our Te Reo introductions and illustrations. Lastly our retelling of bible stories as cartoons! We hope you enjoy them!

It was lovely to see so many parents for the “Sharing of Learning Celebration”. The kids were so proud to show their work.

Room 7 loves their weekly visits to the library. Sophie Wooles reads us a book and then the students are encouraged to pick a fiction, a non-fiction and a 3rd book of their own interest. The boys love graphic novels and the girls choose fairy books or books from the Babysitters Club series.

Every Wednesday afternoon room 7 goes bike riding. We have been learning how to check if a bike is safe. We all learned how to pull the brakes with 2 hands until we stopped the bike. Most of us can now go on the pump track and ride around the path safely.

In Maths we have been making clocks and learned how to read the time to full hour (o’clock), half hour and quarter past. We have also been learning about repeating patterns with at least 3 elements. We extended our learning to “growing patterns”. We practiced some geometric shapes as well.  Our Samoan students taught us a dance. It was great fun! 

We have been exploring a variety of prayer spaces in nature. We like to make crosses with sticks. God’s creation is all around us and we can say prayers of thanks and appreciation for nature. We have also learned grounding techniques to calm our bodies by seeing 5 things, hearing 4 things, smelling 3 things, feeling 2 things and tasting 1 thing. Another way to calm our bodies is box breathing. This helps us to calm our bodies after lunch.

Room 8 has had a full term, stepping up to the demands of middle syndicate learning.

We have had so much fun in Room 11 this term! We have been learning about healthy lunches, rocky shores, and Holy Week. The tamariki in Room 11 are becoming independent readers and writers and can share their ideas with others. We have been exploring teen numbers and repeating patterns in maths, and have been loving Tuakana-Teina time with Room 5. Keep up the awesome mahi Room 11!

Term 1 has whizzed by, and the children in Room 12 have been working hard. We have been learning about healthy foods, the rocky shore and we thought of ways that we can show how we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We have now started learning about Holy Week, in preparation for Easter. 

We have also written sentences about Greedy Cat and we made crabs, when learning about the rocky shore.

This week we have also spent a day working together with Room 11. We did some shared writing, Numicon for maths and loved working together in pairs.

Please enjoy our photos! 

Gardener of the day -Jarvis

On Tuesday all of us grabbed leaves from the ground. The leaves were on the ground because they fell down. It is autumn. It rains a lot. That's what makes the leaves fall down. 

Chef of the day - Lian Lian

First we went into the kitchen. We put our aprons on. We were given rhubarb which we cut into small pieces. We were given apples and we cut them up too with the plums. Some people were scooping out the inside of the feijoas. We mixed the dry ingredients all together. We put the fruit in a pot with sugar and water to boil. All the fruit went into a large tray with the buttery ingredients, which went into the oven. It tasted delicious. 

Gardener of the Day - Gabby

Today in The Garden I was cleaning the whiteboard  with Isabella and Alina and Alex. I went to the garden and Anaya and Hosanna were cutting seeds.  Niki found a bug and Tyler and  Nyakua and Thinbeth and Larkham were weeding tomatoes. In the Garden Alex and Alina and  Isabella were weeding. Olivia  was planting broccoli and Rory was making a bird nest.

By Gabby

Chef of the day - Emily

Today in the kitchen I was the chef of the day. We made a new recipe called oodles of noodles and zoodles. But all I heard was the blabbering of everyone else gosh it was noisy! 

But Aleksandra showed us this new metal thing that made noodles. It looked like a  really big pencil sharpener when I tried the food. It was amazing!   

These are all of the ingredients in it that I can remember: garlic,carrots,noodles (the normal sort),zucchini,ginger,water,soy sauce,sugar,corn flour,vegetable oil,oyster sauce and Chinese wine.I did like it ! But i would prefer pizza because i love pizza and i am sure other people would like it BUT and that a big BUT  the oodles of noodles and zoodles were amazing ?  and just to make sure i DID like it!!! ,(._.).

OH but if i had to change the recipe i would add some peas and broccoli.

By Emily

Bookings are now open for Bigair Gym’s popular Holiday Programme, with both full and half-day sessions available. Spaces are limited, so book online today to secure a spot. It’s the perfect opportunity for children to stay active and have fun during the holiday break.

Hurry – Book Now For Term 2! Don’t miss out on the chance to help your child grow, learn, and have fun at Bigair Gym!

Booking online for Term 2 & the Holiday Programme is quick and easy at www.bigairgym.co.nz

Colouring-in competition & annual free easter fun day

Event Details:

 Location: Miramar Community Centre, 27 Chelsea Street, Miramar
 Date: Saturday, April 19th, 2025
 Time: 11 AM – 1 PM

We provide free face painting, balloon animals, a colouring competition, Easter eggs for each child, and a free coffee for every adult.  Plus, Miramar New World has once again kindly donated all the food for a free sausage sizzle & little bread loaf has donated some special treats

School holidays are almost here and we are sure you are counting down the days! Tomorrow night we have our Light the Night game against the Crusaders, at 7:05PM at SKY Stadium. This is more than just a rugby game, with an epic halftime show full of lights, fireworks and more.

We've got exclusive giveaways and fan experiences, as well as an epic Bluebridge family zone and 20% off food discount from 5:30PM - 6PM. For more information about what is on offer, visit our website.

With kids tickets only $10, we would appreciate your help in promoting this game and our halftime show to your databases and through your channels, as it is a great way to finish term one!

Thank you for your help!