Welcome back to term 3, a term I know will continue to provide powerful learning opportunities for our learners and ourselves.

I would like to begin by reminding us of the challenge I put at the end of term 2- may these words truly guide our actions.

I invite us all to begin each day with the following prayer:  

“May I live this day

Compassionate of heart

Clear in word

Gracious in awareness

Courageous in thought

Generous in love.”

Let's then at the end of each day reflect upon the success of our actions. A way to do this is further explores in the next section of this newsletter. 

Looking ahead: This is a ten week term with many learning opportunities planned. Over the course of the term you will recognise clear links to Our Story- as we find out more about the history of our school, our local area, our environment- the plants and creatures that coexist and, ways to work successfully together. We will build our understanding of some of our Māori pūrākau and continue to support students and staff to strengthen their use and understanding of te reo.

Please take the time to look at key events coming up and 'Save the Date' on your calendars. 

The following prayer is one that our children often pray at the start of the day..

Good morning dear Jesus, this day is for you,

I ask you to bless all I think, say and do,

I love you Father in heaven, you are as good as can be,

I know that you love me, I know you give me everything.

God is in front of me, God is behind me,

God at my right side, God at my left side,

God is all around me, 

In the silence of my heart, I speak to God and listen to Him. 

A message we reinforce with our students is, 'Good people are God people' meaning we can help others come to know God through our actions and the support we offer; knowing that the Grace of God will help us to do this. 

A further reflection for the adults...

Often we don't recognise God's help when it comes. Prayer is not God doing things for us, but God helping us to do things for ourselves and one another. We may wait in vain for a heavenly angel - but God sends us human angels. All of us have experienced the ministry of such angels. And we also get opportunities to be such an angel to someone in need; this may mean offering a word of encouragement or kindness; making a meal for someone in need... At times it may mean just being there beside someone, providing a comforting presence.... 

What a powerful opportunity we have to support our children's faith journey if we live this way.  I also believe that it is important to talk about such actions with our children - not for our own gratification but to raise their awareness of such actions, saying for example, " We're going to drop a meal off for... because they have a new baby in their family and this is a way we can show our care for them". 

Rest in Peace:  Many of you will have known, Justine Samson. Justine was an active member of our parish who supported many of our children preparing for the various sacramental programmes. Justine's two children, Alison and Fraser, attended Holy Cross School and she was a great supporter of  the school. Justine passed away during the holidays. Please remember Justine and the Samson family in your prayers. 

We want to share with you our staff prayers that Virginia shared with us on Monday 26th July titled Empathy.

School reports will be sent home at the end of next week.

Parents will complete the last part of the report with your child's teacher and child at the Learning Conferences on 10th or 12th August 2021.

You can now book a time via the school interviews website www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the event code npx2u.  

If you have any problems booking a time please contact the office.

We have recently changed our school app to SZapp which is connected to our e-newsletters.

Thank you for your help with selling raffle tickets to help the Year 7-8 students get to their camp.

Please return your SOLD raffle tickets and money. If you cannot sell your tickets please return them so they can be redistributed to other families.

We really appreciate your support in helping our students.

A big thank you to ReBicycle Wellington for the use of the portable pump track last term which our children greatly enjoyed using. 

Unfortunately 1 of the scooters they loaned us has gone missing - can you please check at home if this scooter may have been taken home by mistake.

The scooter is black and it will say RAMP on the side. it will also have a Rebicycle sticker on the handle, see the 2 pictures below.

A message from the Attendance Dues team at Archdiocese of Wellington

Thank you to all our regular payers and to those who have made full payment on your Attendance Dues account. We would like to remind you that the Attendance Dues are a compulsory charge for enrolment at a Catholic school.

Please note the Term 3 invoice will be posted to all families shortly. Please check that your invoice looks how you expect it to - are all your children listed, are your payments showing correctly? We value your feedback.

To avoid receiving overdue reminders, please ensure your regular payments are continuing. If it is affordable, please also consider increasing the amount of each payment if the balance is not yet tracking to full repayment by the end of the year.

Payment options are:

1.       Full amount or automatic payment via Internet banking to Archdiocese of Wellington Attendance Dues, Westpac bank account 03 0518 0000400 00, payment references should be your dues account number and your name. 

2.       Pay online using your Visa Debit or Credit card at www.wn.catholic.org.nz/attendance-dues with your dues account number and your name as references.

Financial assistance is available to families experiencing financial hardship (loss of income/redundancy, family reasons, etc.). It is a condition of the assistance application that the family has an affordable regular payment in place.

If you have any questions, please contact us:

Phone: 0800 462 725             Email: dues@wn.catholic.org.nz         Text: 021 08907902

A couple of events that have been recomended by the MOE for staff and  whānau in our community.

Neuroscience of Device Zombies- Kathryn Berkett

Wednesday 18^th August at Rewa Rewa School only $20,  6-7:30 pm

Neuroscience Of Device Zombies Tickets, Wed 18/08/2021 at 6:00 pm | Eventbrite

The Developing Brain- Nathan Wallis

Thursday 5 August at Berhampore School only $35, 7:30pm – 9:00pm

The Developing Brain - Wellington - Wellington - Eventfinda

Exam assistants needed

Would you like to give back to your school community? We are looking for volunteers who would be able to read and/or write for senior students during the examination periods.  If this is something you would be interested in doing or learning more about, please contact sac@stmw.school.nz or contact Belinda Gibson or Erica Leahy directly.