Thank you to all for helping us have a very settled and smooth start to the year. After a very successful whānau conference time last week, our teachers felt very connected and prepared to start the year with a growing knowledge of our tamariki and their whānau - we appreciated what you shared. If you were unable to attend, please don’t hesitate to email or phone to organise a separate meeting with your child’s teacher- these are very important meetings and we don’t want to miss anyone out. 

We welcome a number of new families to our kura. We welcomed 6 new entrant students this week to Room 11. We are enjoying getting to know 6 new Year 7 students who have quickly found their way around the school and into learning! Two further new faces can be seen, one in Room 7 and one in Room 5. Our prayer is that you quickly feel a part of Holy Cross School. Staff wise- we welcome Ben Gittos to Room 3, Mr Solia has quickly made us feel that he has never left! And Dominique Vincent has ably stepped into the  Room 6 slot. We have two new part time staff- Fiona Maddever is working with our Reading Recovery students and Rob Ngan-Woo is teaching on Thursday's and some other days as required for Room 1 as Matua Tala is released to cover the many Assistant Principal duties he is juggling. 

Another highlight has been the increased activity at play breaks. We have made a range of equipment available at morning tea and lunchtime so children can have plenty to do in their bubbles. We have also taken time to show children how to use the equipment with the older children demonstrating for the younger children. Our playground is buzzing with lots of action and activity. 

Our theme for the year is Connections- Our school, Our faith, Our families, Our place- Wellington, Our past. Staff are planning activities for term 1 that focus on our tamariki making connections with their friends and learning how to work together in their classes. Our school value of whānau is very important to this. We are also focusing on oral language skills, especially looking at how children listen to others as this is an important way that we learn. Throughout the year we hope to explore our community more and also the wider community of Wellington. 

We are very excited that the project to resurface the pump track will begin next week. Access to this area will be restricted with fencing while the contractor begins to reshape the earth in preparation for asphalt that will be laid. A big thank you to WCC and Bikes in Schools for providing us with a significant grant to get this work started and to the Parent Support Group team for supporting this project through their ongoing fundraising.

If you are new to Holy Cross School or are looking for ways to practically support what we do, there are lots of opportunities to serve on the Parent Support Group. They are a small group of people with a great heart and I know they would welcome some new faces for 2022. If you are interested please Contact Amiee at psg@hcm.school.nz

We have some up coming opportunities to help out at a possible sausage sizzle at Bunnings and contributing to our Easter raffle, more details will follow soon. 

It was wonderful to begin our year with an outdoor liturgy prepared by our Director of Religious Studies Mr Solia. This focused on setting goals for the year and remembering our Holy Cross Way values- Whānau, Aroha and Yes.

We thank Cooper, Avalani and Nathan for contributing. We are blessed with a very capable group of Year 8 leaders in our school- it is great to see them step up so early in the term. 

Another aspect of our school to be very grateful for is your gracious, flexible response to all that we have put into place to ensure our school is safe under the Red setting. The changes that have been made have been accommodated by you all- thankyou. 

As case numbers grow, schools in the Wellington Region may experience high levels of sickness and it could become difficult to staff classrooms, especially when cases begin to happen in our community. We are being guided closely by the Ministry of Education through regular updates of information.  

We have plans in place for when there is high staff absence or disruption. In very extreme situations, we may need to quickly text and email parents of some classes or bubbles the night before to ask if it is at all possible to keep children at home and we will provide on-line learning support. At all times if this is not an option that works for you, you will be able to send your child to school and your child will be supervised for learning. 

We have very clear guidelines to follow set out by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health when cases occur in our school community. Holy Cross School will continue to operate.  Where students have been identified as close contacts we have procedures in place to follow- which include 

• The identification of close contacts. 
• Communication with whanau of classes affected and the wider school community. 
• Providing students who are close contacts self isolating at home with learning opportunities and learning support. 

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Lyn or Lucy. We are here to support you. 

Kia ora! Arohanui Strings at Holy Cross school is starting up again this Tuesday, the 15th of February 2022 . We provide free violin and cello music lessons in group settings after school from 3.00 - 4:45pm, for 8 weeks of each term. Instruments are provided as is afternoon tea. Anyone from Holy Cross School is welcome! If you think your child would be interested, please email wellington@arohanuistrings.org, or ask for a registration letter on Tuesday. For more information our website is arohanuistrings.org

Ngā mihi,

Margaret Guldborg,

Programme leader.

Subway lunches will start up again next Friday. Students can place their order from 8.30am in the library. Thank you to the Parent Support Group for managing this. If you would like some spare Subway envelopes, these can be picked up from the office.

A message from the Eat My Lunch team:

Eat My Lunch are making alternative plans to keep our Give schools safe.

We are so looking forward to feeding thousands of Kiwi kids again in 2022. However, with the current COVID-19 traffic light system, Eat My Lunch will be operating a little differently over the coming weeks. 

Our original start date with our Give schools was 8^th February, we now anticipate a later start date.     

Rest assured, the safety of our Give schools, volunteers, customers, and staff is paramount. 

From the Eat My Lunch Team, stay safe and remember we are working to keep our Give school communities safe.   

We will let you know when lunches become available again at Holy Cross School.