Talofa Lava, 

This week we celebrate Samoa language week. The theme for the week is 'Tapena sou ōso mo lau malaga' which in English means 'Prepare yourself a gift for your travels'. This theme highlights the need to honour, respect and share the gifts of your life's journey.

When Pacific Peoples prepare for travel, they take their traditions with them, allowing them to share their ōso (gifts) with everyone they meet along the way. And with these gifts they build, nurture and strengthen their language, culture and identity.

We are blessed to have three members of staff and thirty-five students of Samoan heritage.  We value the gifts our staff, students and aiga bring to our Holy Cross Community- keep an eye on our website as the week goes on and you may get to develop your knowedge and understanding of the Samoan language and culture. 

Talofa Lava, 

O le vaiaso lenei tatou te faʻamanatuina le Samoa gagana vaiaso. O le autu mo le vaiaso o le 'Tapena sou ōso mo lau malaga' o lona uiga i le Igilisi 'Saunia oe lava se meaalofa mo au malaga'. O lenei autu e faʻamamafa mai ai le manaʻoga e faʻaaloalo, faʻaaloalo ma fefaʻasoaaʻi meaalofa o lou olaga.

A sauni tagata o le Pasefika mo faigamalaga, latou te ave a latou tu ma aga ma latou, faʻataga latou e faasoa a latou ōso (meaalofa) ma tagata uma latou te feiloaʻi i le ala. Ma faatasi ai ma nei meaalofa latou te fausiaina, faʻafailele ma faʻamalosia la latou gagana, aganuu ma lo latou faasinomaga.

Ua faamanuiaina i matou i le toʻatolu o le au faigaluega ma le tolusefulu-lima tamaiti aʻoga o measina a Samoa. Matou te faʻatauaina meaalofa na aumai e le matou aufaigaluega, tamaiti aʻoga ma le aiga i le Holy Cross Community - mataʻitu la matou upega tafaʻilagi a o faagasolo pea le vaiaso ma e ono maua ai e atiaʻe lou iloa ma malamalama i le gagana ma aganuu a Samoa. 

Faafetai to Damien Heinrich and Hamish Johnson for the beautiful photos. 

We invite all our students to come along in Samoan/Pasifika cultural clothing, or lovely bright clothing to celebrate the Samoa language week.

This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. We will hear in John’s gospel (John 20:19-23) how Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with the disciples, to help them be brave enough to share God’s message with others. This provides a wonderful invitation to us to think about the Holy Spirit in our lives today.

The disciples were alone and afraid, because their friend Jesus, who they knew was the Son of God, had been put to death. Suddenly Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you”.The disciples were filled with joy. Jesus repeated the words “Peace be with you.”

Jesus shared the gift of the Holy Spirit. He told the disciples he was sending them out to spread his word. The disciples were filled with joy, hope and courage to go out and spread the word of God. God’s special message of love, peace and kindness for all people.

The Holy Spirit gave the disciples the courage to see that they could do what Jesus asked of them.  This is a good chance for us to consider- What does Jesus ask us to do? How does Jesus want us to behave and to treat other people?

Jesus asks us to do the same as the disciples – to spread his message of love, peace and kindness to all people, through what we do.

 The Holy Spirit gives us the courage to answer Jesus’ call, to say ‘YES”, to do what God asks of us even when it is difficult. We each answer that call in a different way, but the Holy Spirit helps and guides us along the way.

This week let’s try to notice the Holy Spirit in our lives, helping us to act with courage, to say YES and helping us to spread Jesus’ message of love, peace and kindness in our world.

What will you do this week to try and spread love, peace and kindness in our world?

A reminder that this weeked is Queens birthday weekend and Monday 1st June is a public holiday (no school). School opens Tuesday 2nd June.   

The teacher only day scheduled this Friday 29th May has been cancelled to minimise disruption for families.

Thank you for your support, we really appreciate your efforts to keep our students and our community safe.

Our students are showing a great understanding of safe practices including hand washing, bringing water bottles from home, safe distancing etc.

We will continue next week with the same wellness timetable-  drop off pick up arrangements will remain the same.  Please continue to drive with great care near driveways and turning points.

There will be NO SUBWAY next week; we hope to start again from 12 June but will confirm this in next week's newsletter. 

We share some special writing, written by Asher in Room 7

" I am Samoan. We are Samoan. We don't understand Samoan so that's why Mum and Dad are teaching me Samoan.

My Garndparents are Samoan, so I am Samoan. I was born in NZ but I do kind of know Samoan.

I am finishing off my sentences, so I said "I am Samoan, right?"

Well you know, somethings never change!   

A message from Moana

We have been most fortunate to opt-in to receive the donation scheme from the Government in 2020.

This has meant families have not been asked to make any donations towards swimming or other school activities the children participate in this year.

It is anticipated we will opt in again to the donation scheme for 2021 and we wish to inform you of this intention. If you have any queries please contact the Principal Celeste Hastings to discuss.  

We wish to inform you that we are required to send our student attendance data each week to the Ministry, from 29 May. The purpose is to:

• report to the National Crisis Monitoring Centre and government on levels of attendance during the COVID-19 period
• inform and support Ministry planning for students and schools returning to normal operation, and
• evaluate and report on the effectiveness of initiatives implemented by the Ministry to respond and manage its response to COVID-19.

We have been advised by the Ministry of Education to track all visitors onto the School grounds. We will be doing this using our School App which has a new function in the side menu called "COVID-19 Check-In"

Please ensure you have the School App downloaded on your phone by searching SchoolAppsNZ in the app store or Google Play Store.

There will be an app update so please ensure you have the latest version by checking the app store for an update.

If you need to enter the school grounds please use the SchoolApp NZ COVID-19 check in to record your entry to school.

St Catherine's College will still be having an 'Open Night' for Year 8 female students.  The date will be Thursday, 25th June @ 6.00pm.  Due to Covid-19 we will be doing things a little differently for visiting students and parents. 

You will need to go to www.schoolinterviews.school.nz - put in code tqnwc and make an appointment for a tour. 

The tours will commence from 6pm and will be taken by a SCC parent, senior student and junior student.  They will walk around our college, visiting 7 curriculum areas and meet our wonderful staff.  We will have staff to answer any questions and enrolments packs will be there for collection if you wish.