‘Achieving More Than We Ever Dreamed Possible’ 

Kia ora Holy Cross Whānau

A very warm welcome to the 2020 school year and a special welcome to staff, students and families new to our school community.  

Yesterday we had our beginning of year powhiri at which I shared an experience I had a few nights ago. I was driving around Oriental Bay and stopped to enjoy the most beautiful full moon reflecting on the harbour, lighting up the night sky and our beautiful city. I likened our Holy Cross vision to  that moon; our vision shines a light on what is important at our school, helps us to see clearly, and guides our way.

Achieving More Than We Ever Dreamed Possible

We look forward to sharing and celebrating in a joyful manner- stories, photographs and examples of what this means to us, throughout the year.

We will also provide opportunities to help deepen our understanding and experience of living ‘The Holy Cross Way’ this in turn will make us stronger and more connected  as a Community.

At the powhiri we welcomed nineteen new students and two new members of staff. Genevieve Krefft who is teaching in Room 2 and Corrie Skells who is teaching in Room 12.

Staff Organisation 2020

At Holy Cross we have two syndicates: Marcellin and McAuley.  The syndicate names recognise the leaders of the two founding orders associated with our school; the Marist Brothers and the Mercy Sisters.  

This year there are three teams within the school

Year 0-2  Corrie Skells, Lucy Wooles, Virginia Blewman ( Rooms 12,11,7)

Year 3-6  Ashleigh Walsh, Nik Solia, Tim Carson  (Rooms 6, 5 and 3)

Year 7-8  Tala Moemai , Genevieve Krefft,   (Rooms 1 and 2)

Other full time teachers:  Susie Sumner: Deputy Principal, Marcellin Syndicate leader, Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO)

Brenda O’Hare: reading recovery, mathematics Room 11, ESOL support and DRS release.  

Part time teachers who do release across the school are Ethel Renata, Patsy Wooles and Eleanor Stefinidis. Marie Anstiss is employed by Kimi Ora School provides support for students with additional learning needs.

 We are very fortunate to have a brilliant team of support staff who work alongside our  teachers to support students and programmes of learning.

Student support: Kate Caseley, Karin Graham, Jo Harvell, Vicky Holben, Kathleen O’Connor, Malisha Patel, Ameera Yokhanna

Learning Support:  Holy Cross School supports English Language Assistants and Teacher Aide training to implement  the Think- Talk- Create programme in junior classes.

The Board also support the Garden to Table Programme at Holy Cross School.  Olivia Boyd -Garden Coordinator. 

Senior Leadership Team:    Susie Sumner (DP, Syndicate Leader, SENCO, Curriculum Leader); Tim Carson (AP, Syndicate Leader, Curriculum Development); Nik Solia (Director of Religious Studies, DRS) ; Celeste Hastings (Principal)

Administration Team : Leanne Chote (Office Manager), Suzanne Dawe (Finance), Deb Paget (Office Support), Kirsten Puddick (Librarian)

Grounds and Buildings: Jimmy Stokes ( Caretaker); Crest Clean Salen & Joshleen Narayan ( Cleaners)

I am very much looking forward to the year ahead, focussing on and bringing to life the wonderful strategic plan we have set; working with you, our community for benefit of  our beautiful children, our precious tamariki. I conclude with a quote from Cardinal Newman which I share as an invitation to us all as we journey throughout the year, 2020:

‘We are called to grow and be the best we can be, as God intended for all humanity….. Growth is the only evidence of life…. ‘ Cardinal Newman

May God bless and guide us all,

Celeste Hastings

Mission Expo 2020: Cardinal John Dew wrote to archdiocese parishes and schools last December to advise the year 2020 would be dedicated to a Year of Mission. ‘I will be announcing a Year of Mission and plan to officially launch it with a ‘Mission Expo’ in March’, he wrote. ‘All Catholic organisations and people within the Archdiocese and beyond are being invited to participate…to celebrate who we are and how we are missionary disciples in our world today.’

Mission Expo 2020 is to help us all to understand and appreciate we all have gifts to offer to our school, the Church and in service to our world, to the society we live in.

The Wellington expo will be held at Bishop Viard College on Saturday 14 March from 10am- 4:00pm.  There will be music, workshops, food, booths, games, kids activities, kapa haka and so much more. 

We will continue to share information about this event and how we will support the dedicated Year of Mission.

On Thursday we welcomed 2 new teachers Corrie Skells and Genevieve Krefft and 19 new students and their families to Holy Cross School.

We hope you settle well and make lots of new friends, welcome to Holy Cross Community.

The Learning Conversation meetings were a great way to start the year and provided a way of sharing ideas and answering questions.  

We strive to communicate in a timely manner and have set in place a number of ways for this to happen.  Currently we share information in the following ways:

Electronically:

Newsletter: sent electronically each week to your email 

Website        www.hcm.school.nz

School App:  Download the Holy Cross School App

Facebook :   Holy Cross School Miramar - Home

eTAP alerts  ( eTAP is our Student Management System)

School Docs - Provides information about policies and procedures at Holy Cross School :SchoolDocs - Policies and Procedures Made Easy   

Username : hcm    Password: schooldocs

Paper notices and permissions: 

We continue to wor on reducing our paper use but do at times require signed permissions

Questions, Ideas, Concerns

At Holy Cross we enjoy positive support and engagement from our community. We are committed to honest, open, respectful relationships- valuing ideas,  as well as addressing questions or concerns promptly. We respect the privacy of all members of our community.  

General Reminder: For day to day matters we ask that you speak with your child’s teacher in the first instance.   

If you have a  concern relating  to another child please do not speak with that child directly but address your concerns to school staff.

We will continue to provide information about, and seek your input on, practices in place at Holy Cross School; see also the link to Schooldocs which provides further, more detailed information relating to these  areas. 

Our  Week 1, learning conversations were extremely well-attended with between 90 and 100% attendance for every class; what a great achievement, it reflects the value you place upon these meeting.

 The purpose of these conversations was to provide focussed, quality time for students, whanau and teachers to meet and discuss hopes, dreams and possibilities. Conversations touched on all aspects of growth and learning: social, spiritual and academic. 

Yesterday staff met to synthesise some of the information they had gathered to build up a picture of their class, looking for trends and common interests to help personalise learning for the students in their class.   Throughout the year students will be supported to develop a ‘learning pathway’ which they will share at follow up meetings toward the end of term 1 and throughout the year.  

We would like to extend our thanks to our parent supporters who have helped make this wonderful opportunity possible.

Year 7 and 8 consent forms for immunisation of Gardasil and HPV were given out this week.

Please read the information and sign and return the consent form as soon as possible to the office.

Your help returning these forms as soon as possible is most appreciated.

Please remember your child needs to have a hat to wear at school. Caps and bucket hats are sold at the office for $10 and $12.

We have a sun smart policy of No Hat No Play.

Please also ensure your child applies sunscreen before coming to school in the morning.

We have sunscreen in each classroom and if needed students can reapply at morning tea or lunchtime.

Yoga classes for children - Age 6- 11 years

Location : Strathmore Community Centre, 108 Strathmore Ave, Strathmore

When : Wednesday 3.20pm -4.00pm

Cost : Koha

Contact 021 024 06746

Wellington Ballet Studios

2020 enrolments now open- Jazz, RAD ballet, contemporary dance

Email: hannah@wellingtonballetstudio.co.nz

Phone: 021 207 6757

Changing Brains, Exploring a New Reality: An Evening With Barbara Arrowsmith-Young

St Mark's School is delighted to be hosting Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, the founder of the Arrowsmith Program, on Monday 24 February from 7-8.30pm.  

 Barbara's talk about her own journey and her cognitive training programme will be fascinating to anyone who is interested in the links between education, neuroplasticity and the brain, or who has or teaches a child with a learning difference such as dyslexia, processing difficulties, dyscalculia or auditory processing difficulties. 

 Further information is attached. 

 Entry is free. Please register online at https://www.st-marks.school.nz/arrowsmith/