There is a huge sense of relief and accomplishment as we come to the end of a very busy term. There is a season for all things under the sun and this term has been that kind of season- with celebrations and mourning. Please enjoy all the class reports in our newsletter showing what has been happening at Holy Cross. We explored Wellington and loved getting into the city. 

I want to welcome our new Board of Trustees for their new 3 year term of office. Congratulations to Paresh Patel, Sarah Sinnott, Steven Skells, Craig Rofe and Harley Durkin. These people join Hillary Yiasoumi, Paulus Romijn and Father Bill who are our proprietors reps and Brenda O’Hare as our staff rep.  Thanks for seeing the importance of the Board of Trustee role and putting yourself forward to serve. We appreciate the support that you give to Holy Cross School. School governance in New Zealand is a unique democratic process where people have a voice with their vote. Thanks  to all the parents who voted.

Although we weren’t able to have our Bike Track Celebration we did have an amazing group of people from our community who worked hard to repair our bike fleet last Saturday. A big thankyou to Aimee Geoghegan and the team of bike repair volunteers from our Miramar Community. Another example of people saying yes to  opportunity and we are grateful for your help. 

Looking towards term 4, this is the term for Celebrations starting in week 2 where Holy Cross is hosting the Catholic Schools Cultural celebration on Wednesday 26th October with St Francis de Sales, St Annes, St Patrick's Primary School and St Benedicts Khandallah joining us. Now we are no longer under the influence of the traffic light system we can enjoy all those other end of year celebrations that have been put on hold including the Holy Cross  School Food Fair on Friday 18th November- thanks to our great PSG team who are putting this together. Athletics day for our Rooms 6,5, 3,2 and 1 is on Friday 28th October.  Our Christmas Liturgy is scheduled for Tuesday 6th of December and our Year 8 Graduation event is on Tuesday 13th of December before we finish on Friday 16th December. 

Thanks to all the parents who visited on Thursday for our Celebration of Learning in classes. Our tamariki are very proud of what they achieve and enjoyed having the opportunity to share their learning with you all. Thanks to the parents that filled out the Board of Trustees Whanau questionnaire about our uniform as well. We will include a link in our newsletter today for parents who have not had the opportunity to fill this out. We would like your responses by Monday 17th October. 

Finally have a wonderful holiday with your tamariki. My message to our tamariki today at prayers  was to 1. Read a book, 2. Do something special for someone, 3. Get outside and run around. What ever you do, please stay safe and recharge the batteries. 

I joined Room 1 and 2 as they visited the Home of Compassion. Their focus has been on exploring the life of Suzanne Aubert, an amazing role model of kindness and mercy who has left an incredible legacy. For a special character comment look to the report from Room 1 and 2 and enjoy the beautiful photos of their time at the Home of Compassion- a special place that we have here in Wellington. 

30th of September 2022

Board of Trustees Election Results 2022

Dear Holy Cross School Community and Staff members, 

Every 3 years the Board of Trustees are required to hold a board election, where members of our community and staff get to nominate and vote for who they want to represent them on the Holy Cross Board of Trustees. As of Wednesday, we have counted all received voting forms and therefore I am happy to announce the following results:

School Board Elections

Parent & Staff Elections Results Declaration

Parent representative votes:

Craig Rofe - 39 votes

Harley Durkin - 35 votes

Matthew Itzstein - 32 votes

Paresh Patel - 57 votes

Sarah Sinnott - 42 votes

Steven Skells - 43 votes

Invalid Votes - 0

I hereby declare that Craig Rofe, Harley Durkin, Paresh Patel, Sarah Sinnott and Steven Skells are duly elected parent representatives.

Staff representative 

Brenda O’Hare (only 1 nomination received)

I hereby declare Brenda O’Hare duly elected as Staff representative.

Thank you

Karin Graham

Returning Officer

28 September 2022

Report on our Visit to the Home of Compassion

A Few Thoughts from Rm 2 Students

We went to the Home of Compassion in Island Bay to learn about the history and work of a hardworking woman, Suzanne Aubert, who was also called Meri Hohepa. She accepted everyone, loved people and was a giving person. She looked after people who were sick and poor. She also learned how to speak te reo and had a very special friendship with Māori people.

By Mikey, Y7.

Have a Heart Like an Artichoke

“Let us have a heartlike an artichoke, and such a big one that everyone can have a leaf of it.” - Suzanne Aubert

When Deirdre took our Liturgy, we had to write a prayer based on Suzanne Aubert’s saying about artichokes. We talked about the meaning of this quote in class. Lily explained the meaning like this. 

“I thought about it’s meaning and think of it like this, you can keep taking off the leaves of the artichoke filled with love and it keeps on giving love because there are a lot of leaves.”

By Lily, Y6.

A Long Life

With my eyes closed my brain was full of facts about Suzanne Aubert and her amazing work, how many people she inspired and who inspired her. I learnt what motivated her to help everyone, how the sisters of Compassion formed. Suzanne Aubert or Meri Hohepa lived a long life and one that is unforgettable.

By Anneke, Y7

A Humble Woman

At the Home of Compassion we went to see the history of the most humble woman in Aotearoa, Suzanne Aubert. I walked up a mountain to where Suzanne had walked to build a reservoir for the hospital at the Home of Compassion. I walked  where the sisters of compassion walked, and where Suzanne Aubert walked when she was very old. Halfway through the walk I saw history shining between my eyes, It was a little shelter, the reservoir.  By the time i saw it, it had mother nature grown all over it.

By Mason, Y6

A Cool Saying on the Pathway

“Let us never lose courage on our journey.” We have a great day learning about Suzanne Aubert!

The students of Room 3 have had another busy and successful term. The students have worked hard and made pleasing progress this term. Moreover, we had a fabulous trip to the cable car and to Te Papa as part of our Inquiry about Wellington. Below are a selection of snaps from Term 3.

Students in room 5 have been learning and exploring what makes Wellington so special. We were fortunate to go to a couple of iconic places; Te Papa and the Wellington Cable Cars. There children learned what each place presented and wrote whether they think either place is a must place to see if you are a tourist to Wellington. Students also learnt about the mission of the church- reflecting on scripture readings and how they remind us to serve our community.

Room 6 has had a wonderful term of rich learning opportunities. Our focus for inquiry has been Our Place - Te Whanganui-a-Tara. We have explored our city maps, imagined life as a child in the 1800's, thought about what plants we can add to our garden (wind resistance helps!), shared our special places within our kāinga and talked to whānau about what brought us to live here. In week 8, we went on an adventure! A mini sightseeing bus tour to get the lie of the land, culminating in the quintessential Wellington experience of the Cable Car then a walk through the city, around the waterfront to Te Papa - the jewel of our city sites! 

Trip to Cable Car and Space Place

The children in room 7 had a great time on our trip to the Cable Car and Space Place. We learned that the Cable Car works with a pulley system and that the cable is 3 cm thick.

The best experience was seeing the lights in the tunnels. They showed the Union Jack and purple to honour the Queen.

At Space Place we learned that the earth is 1 million times smaller than the sun. It was amazing to sit in the planetarium and see which planets and constellations
you can see in the night sky over Wellington.

The new pump track.
We have some great bike and scooter experts in room 7 and the children are thoroughly enjoying using the new pump track.

Our Matariki star was Ururangi – the wind. Room 7 came up with some wonderful wind-korus.

Kia ora whānau,

Ngā mihi nui mō tō tautoko - a big thank you to our Room 11 parents, grandparents, extended family, for your support this term.  Please enjoy our photos, including some basketball shots, our trips to the city (visiting Te Papa, Space Place, the Cable Car and watching the NZSO Youth Orchestra) and our Sharing Our Learning afternoon yesterday.

Term 3 has been a busy term for Room 12.

Our topics have been: All About Me, Simple Machines and People in our Community. The children enjoyed each and every topic, and especially enjoyed our two school trips this term - one to the Michael Fowler Centre to hear the NZ Youth Orchestra and to Te Papa, and one to Space Place which linked to our Term 2 topic of The Solar System, and to The Cable Car to consolidate our learning about simple machines. The family support we had for these trips was very much appreciated.  When Jimmy, our caretaker, died earlier this term, Room 12 children prayed respectfully for him and his family, and completed a very special card with heartfelt messages for them. Recently, they also completed some very unique pictures of Queen Elizabeth II and decorated them with things that Queen Elizabeth enjoyed.

In Religious Education, we focussed on Prayer for Weeks 1 and 2, The Assumption of Mary in Week 3, God (creation, and also the creation story of Rangi and Papa) and finally Church. 

And of course, they loved learning new basketball skills each Thursday afternoon.

Our celebration of learning day on Thursday was well attended and enjoyed by all!

Enjoy our photos!

At Garden to Table we made  honey lemon ginger syrup, after we made the honey lemon ginger syrup we went to Miramar Central school to eat with them. We would all share the food we made. Once we got there we learnt how to cook some damper as if we were at a campsite. We had to wait a while until the Miramar Central school kids were finished so we could use their sticks to cook the damper. Once we received a stick we placed at the tip of the stick what seems like bread dough. We then placed it over the fire to be cooked. Once it was done we got to eat it. We (red tomatoes) also planted some beans in their garden (because Miramar Central School has a small garden, while we have a huge garden).

By Ryder and Daniel 

Room 6 had a very interesting visitor on Tuesday, were visited by Adrian Boyd (Olivia's husband) who is a beekeeper.

If your child loves doing cartwheels, trampolining, handstands, flips, dance, or parkour moves, then they will thrive at BigAir Gym!

GET IN QUICK FOR TERM 4 GYM CLASSES & BIGAIRS POPULAR HOLIDAY PROGRAMME! Bookings open Mon 19^th September. Booking in is easy online at www.bigairgym.co.nz or contact your local Bigair Gym office today.