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- Wishing you and your families a happy and Holy Christmas
- Principal's End of Year Message
- Christmas Eve Mass in the Holy Cross school hall
- Strategic Plan 2020
- Room 1 -what a busy year!
- Room 2 in Action !
- Room 3 - letting our light shine
- Working hard and having fun in Room 5
- Room 6 - Celebrating term 4
- Room 7- Ready,Set,Go
- Room 8 love collaborating!
- Room 11 have been busy!
- Learning Conferences 2020
- Office News
- Summer Reading progamme
- PSG Thank you
- Eat My Lunch
- Arohanui Strings
- Christmas Liturgy
- Hurricanes visit
- Community Notices
In this season of Advent, as we draw nearer to Christmas, I would like to take the opportunity to reflect a little on our school year 2019 and consider ways we might live our Catholic faith and values during this time.
In my speech at our Christmas Liturgy last week I reiterated the fact that I feel truly blessed to be the principal of Holy Cross School; I love the work I do; our school community and the direction we are taking. I include in this newsletter a two page strategic plan document for you to view and consider. This document outlines key areas of emphasis upon which we will focus. A strategic plan is a ‘Living Document’ so we look forward to your input, involvement and feedback in relation to this.
Thanks
I would like to acknowledge our school staff- who work so incredibly hard for our children. I say thank you to them for their support and dedication, their commitment to our team and the learning of the students in our care.
This year we farewell from our community, Micheala Jensen; Michaela is a wonderful teacher: bright, enthusiastic and dedicated; we thank her for her contribution to Holy Cross and wish her all the best as she continues her teaching career.
We farewell Ethel Renata who will continue with her PhD in 2020. Ethel has been a teacher at Holy Cross since 2012 and has contributed much to support the learning of many students as well as our school’s practices relating to tikanga and te reo Māori.
We thank Aleece Hunter our kitchen coordinator for Garden to Table who has done a superb job working with our students, developing their knowledge and skills in this area.
My sincere thanks to Brendon Baker and our hard-working, dedicated Board Of Trustees, we sincerely thank you for your commitment to Holy Cross School.
Thank you Marija Vidovich and the Parent Support Group for the work they have done to support the school in so many areas.
To all parents and whānau we thank you for your support -the importance of everyone working together is hugely significant- we value this greatly.
We thank Father Ephrem and the Holy Trinity Parish for their interest and support of our school. We look forward to being involved in the strengthening and reimagining of our Parish.
I would like to acknowledge our truly amazing students, our taonga who give us so much joy- it is you who ‘make our hearts sing’. Thank you.
At the liturgy last week I shared a short message with a wero or challenge for us all. We looked at the beautiful cross that has been designed for, and gifted to, the school by our Year 8 leavers – the symbols on the cross tell our story- they reflect what we call the Holy Cross WAY – Whānau- Aroha and Yes- the core values that guide our actions- beautifully represented by our Year 8’s.
At the base of the cross the students have painted a candle with our school motto, Let Your Light Shine. My challenge to us all is this: when we wake each morning I invite us to pause for a moment, think about the day ahead and decide on ONE thing we can do to Let our Light Shine, to make a difference for others and the world around us. When we go to bed at night I want us to reflect on the day and think of ways we have indeed let our lights shine to make a difference. Let’s also think about those we have been with and ways they have let their lights shine and give thanks for these.
What a wonderful way to start and end each day –planning for and giving thanks for the goodness, kindness and blessings we have in our lives. This provides a simple but powerful way to be mindful of these. I look forward to hearing about your special family times and ways you have let your light shine when we meet again in 2020.
At our liturgy many of our students processed around the Hall wearing clothes that celebrate their cultures, as the rest of the school sang the following Christmas song:
Christmas is a season of love
A time for being with the people you really love
So open your heart and let the giving begin
For then you may know the true meaning of Christmas
Let’s join hands around the world
And sing together in peace and harmony,
We’ll open our hearts and let the giving begin
For then we may know the true meaning of Christmas
We include some photos of students at our liturgy; these reflect and celebrate some of the many cultures here at Holy Cross School. We say thank you to one of our wonderful parents, Hamish Johnson, for gifting his day and his talents to take these photographs.
To conclude, I would like to wish each and every family a happy and holy Christmas and a New Year filled with many blessings. May God bless and keep you all.
We warmly invite you to attend the Holy Trinity Parish 6.00 pm childrens liturgy mass on Christmas Eve in the school hall.
If you would like your child to be part of the Nativity Tableau, please contact the school office as there will be one or two practices prior to the mass.
This "plan on a page" outlines key areas of focus we will be working to develop over the next 3 years. The areas we have identified are those we believe will make the biggest difference for our students, staff and community. We are delighted to share this document with you and look forward to "unpacking" this more in 2020 and beyond.
We had an amazing time at the Ultimate Care Resthome in Maupuia. We sang songs, created some art and were able to talk to some lovely members of our community.
Thank you to Olivia and Adrian for coming in and teaching us about bees and honey! Remember bees love blue and love cluster plants like lavender and rosemary. We need to look after our bees so plant blue flowers in your garden at home.
Through the Move M Improve programme we were able to enhance our locomotion skills, stability and balance. We had a lot of fun learning these activities!
We have had such a great time in Room 7 this term. We have had gymnastics, ready, set, go athletics and cricket skills (as well as lots of learning!).
In Term 4 Room 8 has been Collaborating! We have been learning to work together in and outside the classroom. We have been taking turns, listening to each other, asking clever questions and working on tasks together. We have learnt a lot about the special skills we can share with our friends and had lots of fun along the way! Room 8 is an AMAZING team that let's their light shine everyday!
Learning Conferences will be held on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th February 2020. Half hour appointments can be made with your child's teacher on one of these days. Appointments can be made :
https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code?code=xm3y3
Normal classes start Wednesday 5th February 2020 at 8.45am
If you cannot book online, please call the office and we can do this for you.
Uniform -Sun hats are compulsory in Term 1 and 4. Please ensure your child comes to school with a plain navy blue school hat with his or her name clearly marked.Please also make sure sunscreen is applied each morning. We will provide sunscreen in each class to be reapplied as needed.
The office will be open for purchasing new uniform items in the New Year on Thursday 30th January 2020.
Lost property- Please call into the office and check the jerseys and jackets we have, with no names. If your child has outgrown their uniform and it is still in good condition, please consider donating it to the school so we can pass on to families that might need it. Please also check the name tags on your childs uniform in case they have someone else's uniform item by mistake.
Stationery lists have been sent to the The Warehouse Stationery in Kilbirnie and are available online on our website.
Outstanding extra curricular sport payments. If you have any outstanding fees for sports that have been played throughout the year, please arrange to make payment to the school office.
Thank you for your ongoing support and we wish you a very Merry Christmas :)
A big thanks from the Parents’ Support Group for your support of PSG activities through 2019. Our final events for the year are:
- A free sausage sizzle for children at school lunch time on Monday 16 December
- Tea and coffee for parents and caregivers from 2.30pm on Monday 16 December, in the library.
- There will also be a GTT stall set up outside the library so that you can purchase fresh vegetables and herbs from our school garden.
For those last-minute Christmas gifts, Keep Cups are available to buy from the school office for $10 each.
We wish you a happy, safe and restful Christmas.
The final delivery of Eat My Lunch was on Thursday 5th December.
Unfortunately Eat My Lunch will not be available in Term 1 2020 but we are hoping they will be back up and running from term 2, as they look for new premises to work from. We will keep you informed when we hear some more news.
We would like to thank Eat My Lunch for their great support providing lunches for may of our students throughout the year. Please support this organisation if you can. Their motto is Buy one. Give one.
Last Tuesday we were delighted with a concert by the students and teachers from Arohanui Strings. The students have worked so hard throughout the year and their progress is amazing. We hope they continue to pursue this next year and we would like to thank Margaret Guldborg and her team of wonderful volunteers that pass on their amazing knowledge and expertise each week.
Last Wednesday evening we gathered in the hall for our Christmas Liturgy. The children dressed in their cutural costumes and we acknowledged the Year 8 students that will be leaving us at the end of the year by presenting them each with a small wooden cross. Enjoy the lovely photos of the celebration.
Last Tuesday afternoon some members of the Hurricanes came to visit Holy Cross School, unfortunately the weather was not playing ball so we had the skills session in the hall!
A new initiative has been set up between the two rugby bodies (Hurricanes and Wellington Rrugby) to promote physical activity with primary school aged children through the new, non contact rugby game of ‘Quick Rip’.
It was an opportunity for Holy Cross School to have some of the Hurricanes players pop in for a visit, run some fun activities and games of Quick Rip, handout some giveaways and get a few photos taken.
Calling Creative Kids!
Do your kids dream of being an artist or an author one day? Or do they just enjoy drawing and making up stories for fun? Write Like an Author and Draw Like an Artist offer workshops in the school holidays for 8-14 year olds. This summer they are being hosted by Rata Studios at Scots College, Strathmore, with Award Winning Children's book authors Fifi Colston & Maria Gill. Find out more from brochures held in reception or www.writelikeanauthor.com or www.drawlikeanartist.com.
NOTICEBOARD