What a beautiful day to end the school week.  It has caused me to pause and reflect upon the importance of appreciating and giving thanks for the world around us.  As I walked from our school hall back to my office this morning I noticed our amazing vegetable garden, our pou Māori, cultural and faith pou. These all represent something of the wonderful journey we have taken and continue to take to provide our students with authentic learning experiences.

Pope Francis has declared Sunday 17 November 2019 to be the third World Day of the Poor. On World Day of the Poor we are called to open our arms with love for people living in poverty and to recognise Christ in our sisters and brothers throughout the world.

In his message for the third World Day of the Poor,  Pope Francis reminds us that “the poor are not numbers, but people”, to be assisted, accompanied, protected, defended and saved. He recalled that this is not possible without the humility of listening, the charism of the whole, the courage of renunciation. He reminded us that to “follow the way of charity, of humility and of listening means lending an ear to the little ones”, because God reveals himself through them.  And he asked us not to look down on anyone from above. “You can only look down at a person from above,” he insisted, “in order to help them get up”.

During his audience with delegates of the Caritas Internationalis General Assembly on 27 May 2019, the Pope called for serious action in this regard. He urged us to live our mission with a style of poverty, gratuitousness and humility. He insisted that we cannot live charity without having interpersonal relationships with the poor: living with and for the poor. He invited us to cultivate a personal encounter with Christ, in order to meet him in the poor - see Matt. 25.   (Message downloaded from Caritas website)

Generous God, we thank you:
For the gifts you have given us, the abundance of your Creation, and the beauty that surrounds us.

For the people whose lives have touched ours, for the love they show,
the burdens they lift,
the hopes we share.

Compassionate God, we ask you:
to fill us with your love,
to place in our hearts a spirit of courage, to move us to reach out to others in need.

And lead us to play our part,
so that now and in generations to come all your children may share
in our hope for a better world.

We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen. 

Term 1

Monday 3rd February-Thursday 9th April 2020

NB Learning conferences all day on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th February.

Classes start Wednesday 5th February.

School closed Waitangi Day Thursday 6th February (Public holiday)

Easter holidays and ANZAC day all fall during the April holidays in 2020

Term 2

Tuesday 28th  April - Friday 3rd  July 2020

School closed Queens Birthday Mon 1st June (Public holiday)

Staff only days  – Friday 29th May(connected to Queens birthday) and 3rd July (All Wellington Catholic Kahui Ako Schools)

Term 3

Monday 20th  July - Friday 25th  September 2020

Term 4

Monday 12th  October - Tuesday 15th December 2020

School closed: Labour Day Mon 26th October (Public holiday)

Staff only day- Friday 23 October (connected to Labour Weekend)

Please note: There are three Staff Only Days planned for 2020.
The Ministry of Education has approved eight such days to be taken over three years, 2020-2022

Happy Birthday to Nafira, Valencia, Ella, Amelia and Nosi.

We wish you all a very happy day!

On Friday 8th November we attended a performance of Hansel  and Gretel ballet at the Wellington Opera House. My favourite part of the ballet was when the witch made a potion to cook Hansel in. The potion had some very interesting ingredients! I loved the part where Hansel ate so much food he actually got fat….. I wonder how they did that?     

Did you know this is the first RNZB where all the music was written by a female? I think it matched the dance so perfectly you barely noticed it. I was particularly impressed with the choreography when Hansel was in the cage because Gretel's dance looked sad but you could tell she was trying to free her brother. Something that really set the scene was when they used red lights and smoke in the oven. I think the gingerbread people had the best costumes because they were detailed and suited the storyline.

Overall this was a unique and creative performance that I would give 4/5 stars.  

We are so grateful to Andrew Sargent, science teacher from St Patrick's College who gave his time on Tuesday afternoon to share his knowledge and love of science  with our Year 6 students.

Andrew bought in a range of hands on investigations for the students to explore the science of sound using singing rods, singing tubes, musical straws and slinkies.

Students also explored sound waves using the the Kundt's Tube and were blown away with the acoustic levitator!

Many thanks to our colleagues at St Patrick's College for facilitating this wonderful afternoon of learning and to Andrew for sharing his expertise.

Annette Scullion from the catholic newspaper Welcom visited today to see the Garden To Table in action. Keep an eye out in the next edition for an article on the great programme that is run at school.

It is great to see students using their new cooking skills at home. Aleece challenged the students to cook at home and send in their photos.

Zoe followed the Garden To Table recipe and made a delicious meal of garden fresh summer rolls. Well done Zoe !

Thank you to Olivia Boyd and Mr Carson who took Mounga, Albert, Hemish and Tilomai to The Garden to Table Dig for Victory in the grounds of Parliament on Thursday morning.  

Congratulations to all the Holy Cross students who attended the Eastern Zone athletics last week. Over 60 Holy Cross students competed in various events at Newtown Park. We shared some photos last week and here are a few more.

Well done to

Max 1st place in 1500m and long sprint  

George 1st place in discus, long jump and shot put

Haare 1st place in short sprint

Lupe 1st place in short sprint

Sio 1st place in shot put 

Micah 1st place in vortex

and the Year 7 girls and Year 8 boys and girls relay teams who will go through to compete at the Wellington Zones at the end of November. We look forward to seeing how you get on there.

This morning we celebrated and thanked those in the community that have helped Holy Cross School throughout the year. We congratulate the year 8 leaders who spoke on our behalf with great confidence. We appreciate the effort they went to, representing us so well.Thanks and congratulations to Nik Solia, Matua Tala and the cultural group who performed beautifully, well done all.

Keep Cups

Looking for a Christmas stocking filler or festive thank you gift? Check out our cute new Keep Cups. Ideal for the summer holidays. 

Only $10 each or 5 for $45.

This is a PSG fundraiser, and the school benefits from each sale so share the link far and wide. 

Order yours here https://bit.ly/31Dz24Z.