Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta
Dear Families
This week, I would like to share another of our school Gospel values with you – the value of integrity/ngākau pono. When we talk with the children about this Gospel value, we often say it is all about “doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason!” Ngākau means to be true, to have strength of heart. Pono also has many meanings … truth, heart, social justice, acting with an honourable heart, mana, integrity, acting with personal dignity.
The following except is from our school vision and mission booklet … At the basis of all interactions is the value of integrity (ngākau pono). This will be seen in the way that staff, students and the whole school community interact with each other. It is the “quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”, “the state of being whole and undivided”.
In the parable of the “Wise and Foolish Builders” (Matthew 7:24-27), Jesus stresses that the house built on rock, the one with strong foundations, will withstand natural weather conditions. The house built on sand will be destroyed. This parable appears as part of the Sermon on the Mount and illustrates the importance of building one’s life on obedience to the teachings and example of Jesus. The wise man, who built his house on a rock, listened to Jesus and followed his instructions. The foolish man also listened but did not follow instructions. His house did not last. We build our faith on the firm foundation of God’s word, a faith that stands strong against the storms of life. The parable emphasises that it is not enough to know about God and what he wants us to do. If we are going to build our faith on a solid foundation we must actually do what God wants us to do, listen to the teachings of Jesus, believe, have faith, trust Him, love Him, act on it. We must live life according to word of God.
Similarly, our children … our students need strong foundations of integrity to build on to ensure stability within the challenges of today’s world. With integrity as a practised and lived Gospel value, students will have strength to do what is right in the way of Jesus.
Integrity is about: being honest, knowing and doing what is right, adhering to the highest standards of behaviour and living them, standing up for what is just and good, respecting diversity, upholding high standards of fairness and acknowledging the contributions of others in the spirit of collaboration.
We see integrity in action when: we articulate and live the belief that God, who made us and invites us into relationship with Him and one another, our school remains strong in its identity as a Catholic School, it is represented in all actions whether this be face to face, visually, verbally or digitally, there is a culture of trust and respect in the school, there is high value placed on truth, students, staff and the wider community are fair and equitable in their dealings with and between each other, actions are consistent with words, written or spoken; words and actions are sincere and not misleading, we stand up for injustice seen/experienced at our school or within our community
As a school community, we have many opportunities throughout our day to practice the Gospel value of integrity. As a family, have a discussion yourselves about where, when and what integrity looks like for you in your home setting, social setting, church/parish setting, work setting, sports setting etc. This will really help the children to understand that integrity/ngākau pono is all about acting in a way that God asks us to.
School Car-park Closure
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your patience, understanding and consideration shown this week as we set a new ‘drop off and pick up’ system in place whilst our car-park is closed (due to earthworks at the far end of the car-park). Auckland Transport personnel have been out supporting us as we endeavour to put ‘end of the day pick up’ organisation into place. Auckland Transport are very impressed with the way our families have coped with the changes and the good practices you are using to ensure everyone is kept safe.
THANK YOU for parking in the neighbouring side streets and walking to/from school.
THANK YOU for NOT queuing on Airfield Road, trying to turn right into school.
THANK YOU for NOT parking on Airfield Rd.
THANK YOU for continuing down to the Mill Rd roundabout and returning to school, to enter the pick up zone from the left hand side
THANK YOU for staying in your cars in the pick up zone so we can get the children to you quickly and you can depart safely.
THANK YOU for staggering your pick up time at school – there is plenty of space to come in to the pick up zone after 3:05pm when there is less congestion.
THANK YOU for driving slowly and carefully to ensure everyone is kept SAFE.
WELL DONE FAMILIES – along with Auckland Transport, we are very proud of you too!
Alpha Programme
Our school is hosting the Alpaha Programme being organised by St Mary’s Parish in Papakura. We are very excited to be part of this Outreach programme that provides such a wonderful opportunity for families to come together to explore further about life, faith and meaning! The Alpha Programme is a series of interactive sessions that explores all the big questions about life and faith. The sessions commence with a meal, then a talk and an open discussion time to follow.
The first session will be Thursday 12th September here at school in Taamaua/school Hall commencing 6:30pm. It includes dinner and childcare if required.
For further information contact Jovita ph: 09 298 5773 – 027 2485334 and to register email skayes@slingshot.co.nz
This is a fantastic programme that encourages faith formation and a time of inquiry to ask the big questions and to seek the answers. We hope you will join with us!
DRS Report
Feast of the Assumption Mass
Thank you to our families and parishioners who joined us for our school Mass last week on Thursday 15 August. Father Brian Prendeville of St Anne’s Parish, Manurewa reminded us of Mary’s love for her son Jesus and how she was assumed into heaven both body and soul when her earthly life came to an end. It was an extra special Mass as student leaders received their blessed badges as well as a special blessing from Father Brian. These students are recognised as leaders within our school and we sincerely congratulate them.
Student Special Character Committee:
Destin Barte, Lusia Koloamatangi, Zac Baptista & Mya Tabobo
Whānau Leaders:
Stephen Thomas, Paea Nau, Pierre Quizora, Tianna Tewake, Trisha Senituli, Stephen Sajan, Rosaline Petelo & Avian Chand
Hauora Leaders:
Noah Seluone & Charlita Agafili
Sports Leaders:
Alexander Timere & Tevita Koloamatangi
Librarian
Brayden Greaves
Cultural Leaders:
Rosaline Petelo & P’torio Taimalie
John Burland Concert
On Tuesday 20 August, our school hosted a concert with John Burland performing. John is a well known music composer and song artist from Australia. Our children, staff and families joined in the singing and learned some actions to go with the songs. It was a wonderful opportunity to see how we can pray through the gift of music and dance.
Father’s Day Liturgy
On Friday 30th August, our school will be having a special Father’s Day Liturgy in Taamaua (school hall) at 2:15pm. We invite all our dads, grandads, godfathers and all those who are father figures in our own families to join with us as we celebrate and give thanks to God for the gift of our Dads.
Baptism Classes
We are very blessed to have our Parish Priests, Father Peter Murphy of St Mary’s Parish, Papakura and Father Brian Prendeville of St Anne’s Parish, Manurewa, offering our families and students an opportunity to commence their faith journey, beginning with the Sacrament of Baptism. We will be holding two sessions with the families who have signed up on Tuesday 17 September and Tuesday 24 September at 6.00pm in the staffroom at school. If you are interested or would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to come by or call the Office and leave a message for Ana Silva (DRS).
Religious Education Learning
Over the next couple of weeks, our students will be bringing home their RE books to share their Religious Education learning with you. We encourage you to set some time aside with your child to look through their books and write a Family/Whānau comment in the space provided. The front cover of the children’s books will have some useful suggestions on what you can comment on. We appreciate and thank you in advance for taking the time to do this. We have come to the end of SYSTEMS concept learning and are now looking at DISCIPLESHIP as our next connected curriculum concept learning. This is an exciting way of exploring what it is to be a disciple of Christ during this time.
SOCIAL JUSTICE WEEK / CAN DRIVE
Each year the Catholic Bishops of New Zealand, set aside a week in September for Social Justice Week, inviting us to reflect and take action on a current social justice issue. This year, Social Justice Week falls in Week 8 from Sunday 8th – Saturday 14th September. Leading up to Social Justice Week, we will be running our annual Can Drive with the final donated cans of food being collected on Friday 6th September. Throughout the week of Monday 2nd – Friday 6th September, students are encouraged to bring a can of food to the Taamaua/Hall which will earn points for their Whānau House. At the end of the week, the Whānau House that has donated the most cans of food will be announced the winners. As a result, Mr Williams will dye his hair the colour of the winning Whānau House and Mr Brown will dye his hair the colour of the runner up Whānau House!!!!!!
Patrick Dunn Whānau – GOLD
Pompallier Whānau – PURPLE
MacKillop Whānau – RED
Aubert Whānau – GREEN
All cans collected will go to St Vincent de Paul. This wonderful outreach service action group, will distribute these to our Auckland families who are in need of food this coming Christmas. Let’s all work together to bring a little joy to our wider Auckland community. To celebrate Social Justice Week, our school will be having a mufti day on Friday 13th September. More information will come out closer to the day.
CAN DRIVE 2019
Bishop Patrick Dunn
The Catholic Diocese of Auckland has uploaded a short film on Facebook recognising Bishop Pat’s 25th Anniversary as Bishop. We have an embedded a link below that you are able to open so that as a family, you can enjoy this lovely film about our very own Bishop. Congratulations Bishop Pat!
School Enrolments
It is very helpful to us, if you can ensure that your pre-schoolers are enrolled here at school even if they are only 1-4 years of age. This helps us with future planning for the predicted roll growth and gives us a clearer picture of needs for staffing, learning communities, composition of year levels and school development of the property/environment.
You are able to enrol on-line by going to our school website www.holytrinity.school.nz – clicking on the enrolment tab, then clicking on the enrolment form tab. Complete the electronic enrolment form and then submit. The enrolment form will then be actioned at school with a confirmation letter being sent to you as a follow up. Thank you.
Policy and Procedures
It is always good practice to inform parents and community of the appropriate channel to share concerns or worries. Schools are required to have a Complaints Policy in place. The purpose is to provide clear guidelines for the school community in raising and resolving concerns and complaints.
These procedures enable us to:
- maintain the best learning environment for our students
- resolve matters of concern early, if possible
- respond to feedback and concerns constructively
- deal with complaints fairly, effectively, and promptly
- take into account individual circumstances
- maintain confidentiality
- preserve school/community relationships and communication
- monitor and record complaints and concerns about student safety.
Most complaints can be resolved informally by discussions with the people concerned:
1. Discuss the issue with the right person
2. Work towards a resolution.
If you are concerned about your child:
1. Meet with the Learning Community teacher/kaitiaki
2. If no resolution, meet with the Senior Leader/manutaki
3. If still unresolved, request a meeting with the Principal
4. If the concern remains unresolved, a formal complaint can be made
Our school policies and procedures are held online with SchoolDocs.
Board of Trustees News
On Wednesday 4th September from 6:00pm, the newly elected Board of Trustees are hosting an early evening get together for our school community. The new Board would like to take this opportunity to introduce themselves to our families and to share some social time together, as well as listening to your thoughts and ideas, dreams and aspirations for our school community/whānau!
Do come along and meet our new folk!
Student Achievement!
Congratulations to our very own Maddison Briones-Ochoa, who recently won medals for her outstanding performances at the Dance Academy. Maddison received medals for Hip Hop, Jazz and Ballet in her category. What a great achievement Maddison – we are very proud of you and the way you are demonstrating the Gospel value of hiranga/excellence!
Learning Community News
Learning Community Whenua
The children in Whenua have been consolidating their learning on Systems. Our focus has been the ecosystem. We have researched and discussed the impact people are making on the Pukekos around our school. The suggested solutions to the problem that they have come up with are:
- Make nests for the Pukekos
- Take the Pukekos to another forest
- Stop destroying the forests
We went out onto the field to look at the Pukekos grazing and the nearby machines that are preparing the ground for construction. The Pukekos flew away as we approached and returned as we walked away. This resulted in much discussion about how we are affecting the Pukekos lives.
It has been great to see children working collaboratively, rearranging words, that have been jumbled up, so that they can construct a meaningful sentence about systems.. It was good to see the children were able to recall Whenua’s definition of what a system is.
Learning Communities Awa and Whenua
It was great to end our Get Firewise programme with the Firefighter’s visit today. The Firefighters were very impressed with the way students shared their learning around key messages about fire safety: being safe with matches, lighters and candles, the speed of fire and escaping from a room that has smoke in it. A highlight was the students excitement about sharing their escape plans with each other at school. This was one of the many homework activities completed at home with whānau to ensure that the message of fire safety reaches everyone!
Curriculum News
Concept Learning
We are currently underway with our third connected curriculum concept of the year “Discipleship”. This concept is about learning, exploring and experiencing knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help answer our overarching essentail questions
- How can we make a difference?
- What is discipleship?
- How does discipleship affect growth?
Our school-wide understanding is to know, understand and action that … Our call to discipleship helps us grow as we live out the teachings of Christ through learning, loving and serving.
Family Learning Maths Information Evening
We had a great turnout at our Maths Information Evening in Taamaua, this week. Students and whānau had a fun time learning maths games and working with hands on activities. We had pizza fractions, play-dough measurement and so much more more. If you have any questions about the maths teaching and learning programme at Holy Trinity, please feel free to email your child’s kaitiaki/teacher.
Rehu Tai – Oral Language Competition
In Learning Communities Moana and Maunga, we have been focussing on the oral language part of our English curriculum. Students have written and presented a variety of speeches, flash talks, poetry and raps. After presenting to their learning community, some students were chosen to present to the whole team. From this presentation, we have chosen a few students to share their speeches at the Papakura Schools Rehu Tai Competition which is being held at Hingaia Peninsula School.
Good luck to those students selected to represent Holy Trinity!
Kāhui Ako Kapa Haka Celebration
In week seven, Learning Communities Moana and Maunga, will be representing Holy Trinity at our Community of Learners/Kāhui Ako Kapa Haka Celebration. We attended this last year with great success. The celebration will be held at Holy Cross Catholic Primary School in Papatoetoe. A notice will be coming home soon with more details about the event. We would love as much parent support as possible!
Wheels Day – Friday 30th August
On Friday 30th August, we plan to run a Wheels Day at school for all the students. The focus will be on road safety awareness and skill development and will help to promote health, fitness and fun! As a Travelwise School we are currently working alongside Auckland Transport personnel and we will have the Travelwise Co-ordinator assisting us with planning for a great day of wheels action! Thanks to Miss Alana Gaynor and Mrs Lynn Rhodé for leading these fantastic learning opportunities for the children. Further information will be shared closer to Wheels Day.
Māori Whānau Hui
Our Māori Whānau had an awesome gathering last week! It was great to catch up everyone again and the potluck dinner was delicious! Rangimaria Hotere, our Te Reo Māori Kaitiaki/Teacher, joined us on the night and so it was a wonderful opportunity for her to share on tikanga and te reo learning that she is helping us with at school. Many thanks to Kosta James and Krissy Bishop, our two Board of Trustees members who facilitated the meeting on the night. We look forward to seeing you all soon!
PTFA (Parents Teachers and Friends Association)
We have a very small but wonderful group of parents that make up our hard working PTFA. As we know, many hands make light work and our PTFA are in need of more members. This will ensure that we can have further successful fundraiser events like the School Fun Run as well as social community events like the Children’s DISCO. It is so rewarding to be actively part of school life so please do come along to share your gifts, talents, skills and ideas.
The next PTFA meeting will be held Tuesday 27th August 7pm in the school staffroom. Please come along!
Reminders
Heath and Well-Being
Auckland Regional Public Health Services sent information to schools this week on “Measles in Schools” reporting and resources. It is not too late to get vaccinated. Everyone from 1-50 year olds is encouraged to get at least one MMR vaccination. This will protect yourself and others especially those who are risk of complications from the disease. Thank you to our families for endeavouring to reduce the impact of measles in our community.
Scholastic Book Club
Issue 6 of the Book Club catalogue is out now. This is the last issue before the school holidays, so stock up now to keep the kids busy during the break. Each order earns reward dollars for the school so we can get books for free, so it’s a great way to support the school while also encouraging your child to read.School Events
Tongan Language Week 
Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e Lea Faka-Tonga is being held from Sunday 1 September – Saturday 7 September. We are planning activities that will help us to learn Tongan language, traditions and customs, and would like to invite our Tongan families to participate and help us to celebrate Uike Kātoaga’i ‘o e Lea Faka-Tonga – Tongan Language Week.
Pasifika Fono Evening
Talofa lava (Samoan), Malo e lelei (Tongan), Bula vinaka (Fijian), Kia orana (Cook Islands),Fakaalofa lahi atu (Niuean)
Fakatalofa atu (Tuvaluan),Malo ni (Tokelauan), Mauri (Kiribati)
Welcome All to our next “Pasifika Family Evening” on Wednesday 11th September 6pm in Taamaua/School Hall.
This is a great chance to meet other Pasifika families and to share a meal with each other. Come along and have some fun!
Netball Prize-giving
The end of season Prize-giving for Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School Netball Teams, will be held on Friday 30th August from 6pm in Taamaua/School Hall. We are very grateful to the wonderful band of parents who are the administrators, coaches, managers and supporters of our school teams who play each Saturday of the winter season – rain, hail or shine! THANK YOU for providing this opportunity for our young netball players. We look forward to celebrating the season with you on Friday evening.
Upcoming School Events
PTFA Meeting
Tuesday 27th August 7pm in the school staffroom
Board of Trustees Monthly Meeting
Wednesday 28th August 6pm in the school staffroom
Rehu Tai Speech Competition (Year 5-8)
Thursday 29th August 10am @ Hingaia Primary
Hearing and Vision Testing for Year 7s/New Entrants
Friday 30th August
Travelwise WHEELS DAY at SCHOOL
Friday 30th August
Fathers’ Day Liturgy
Friday 30th August 2:15pm in Taamaua/School Hall
Netball Prize-giving
Friday 30th August 5:50pm in Taamaua/School Hall
Tongan Language Week
Monday 2nd – Friday 6th September
CAN DRIVE WEEK
Monday 2nd – Friday 6th September
Gathering Prayer and Assembly – Learning Community Awa leading
Monday 2nd September 8:50am in Taamaua/School Hall
Kapa Haka Celebration – Year 4-8 students
Tuesday 3rd September 10:30am @ Holy Cross Catholic Primary School, Papatoetoe
Board of Trustees and Community Social Time
Wednesday 4th September from 6pm in Taamaua/School Hall
Pasifika Fono Hui – Shared Meal
Wednesday 11th September 6pm in Taamaua/School Hall
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