Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta
Dear Families
It is with great delight we warmly welcome you physically back to our school site after the restrictions of the Alert Levels. It certainly brings a smile to our faces to see our mums and dads, our grandparents and family members back in Learning Communities with your children, chatting to kaitiaki, sharing in learning conversations, looking at the children’s work and catching up with other families. It is wonderful to have your presence at school and brings us together in kotahitanga/unity – one of our school’s Gospel values.
We were very excited to be able to welcome our new families with a Whakatau on Monday – welcoming our new school members by sharing the stories of our mana whenua, our catholic story, and our school story through our haka, karakia, mihi and waiata. We hope through our words and actions of learning ka ako, loving ka aroha and serving ka manaaki, it won’t be too long before you feel a true sense of belonging to Holy Trinity whānau!
Welcome to New Staff
We warmly welcome two new staff members to our school community; Mrs Carmel Stewart and Mrs Sahlee Cortez. Both Carmel and Sahlee are working as Learning Assistants in our Learning Communities supporting our students with their learning and assisting our kaitiaki with the teaching and learning programmes. Carmel and Sahlee bring many gifts to our staff team and we are delighted to have them on board with us!
We also warmly welcome, Mrs Vicki Alexander to our teaching team for the next 4 weeks. Vicki is completing her Teacher Education Refresh Programme practicum with us and will be working alongside Mrs Rhodé and the students in Learning Community Whenua. We hope this will be a time of effective professional growth, learning and development and successful practical ‘hands on’ experience for Vicki.
DRS Report
Whole School Mass
On Thursday 15 October, we gathered as a school community for the first time since the lockdowns and celebrated Eucharistic Mass together. We reflected on our journey this year and look forward to the many celebrations and special events that will take place this term. A very special thanks go out to our Aubert Whānau kaitiaki who planned and prepared the Mass for the day. It was truly beautiful to see our students participate and contribute in the Mass as well as the school families being there to witness another special occasion.
Month of the Rosary/Angelus Prayer
October is the month of the Rosary and our children are saying the rosary prayers as part of their morning Learning Community karakia/prayers. We are also gathering together twice a week as a school to say the rosary and reflect on the mysteries that highlight the events of Jesus’ life. Everyday Christians around the world say the rosary and it’s a beautiful thing to know that we can join this special prayer from any where at any time. When we pray, it’s important to take our time. As we pray the rosary, we ask our Mother Mary to intercede for us and help us to be more like her son, Jesus Christ. We invite you to join us when we say rosary together as a school in Taamaua (school hall) on Mondays and Fridays at 9am during this very special month of October.
Another way that we honour the month of the rosary is saying the Angelus prayer as a whole school at 12pm midday. In the busyness of our learning and teaching, when we hear the chimes of the bell at 12pm, we stop and kneel as we participate in the Angelus devotional prayer. It’s a 3 minute prayer that helps to centre us and bring us to stillness as we reflect and ponder on Mary’s journey when she said ‘Yes’ to being the mother of Jesus and therefore our mother too. The Angelus is a special devotional prayer that Catholics recite three times a day all around the world. We literally come to a standstill as we turn our focus away from the buzzing of life’s tasks and be centred on God’s love for us all.
Roads
I enjoy looking at other people’s roads.
They are different from mine and yet basically the same.
They all facilitate journey from here to there, self to other, and they are all interconnected.
The fact that I love my own road with it’s comfortable landmarks and familiar faces,
doesn’t restrict my appreciation of someone else’s neighbourhood.
And if go into another area and walk a mile or two with someone else,
I return as a larger being.
The love of my own road is deepened, the appreciation of others’ roads is widened
and I’m blessed in the knowledge that all roads lead to God.
By Joy Cowley
Mission Sunday
This coming Sunday 18 October, is World Mission Sunday when all Churches throughout the world come together to support mission. Recently, Pope Francis talked about the call to be missionaries, especially during this time of global pandemic. He reminds us that our God asks us, “Whom shall I send?” and this is an invitation for us all to step out of ourselves for love of God and neighbour through our service and prayers. May we reflect on this call for us as disciples of Jesus and answer this missionary call as Isaiah has beautifully written, “Here am I. Send me.” Isaiah 6:8.
End of Year Dates
The end of the year is fast approaching! Please note these important schools dates so that you don’t miss out on any of the activities and events leading up to the end of term. We will advise immediately if there are any changes.
Friday 13th November Twilight Mission Market Day from 3pm
Friday 27th November Orientation Morning for 2021 New Families and Students 9am @ school
Wednesday 2nd December Mahi Tahi “Working Together” Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences 3pm-6pm
Friday 4th December Praise-giving Awards 1:00pm @ school
Tuesday 8th December End of Year Mass/Leavers acknowledgement 9:15am @ school
Wednesday 9th December Family Picnic and Nativity Liturgy celebrations 5pm @ school
Thursday 10th December Morning Tea for Family, Community and Agency Helpers 10:15am @ school
Monday 14th December Liturgy and Assembly for Other Leavers and Service Awards 9am @ school
Wednesday 16th December School concludes for the year 1:00pm
2021 School Dates
Term One Tuesday 2nd February – Friday 16th April
Term Two Monday 3rd May – Friday 9th July
Term Three Monday 26th July – Friday 1st October
Term Four Monday 18th October – Tuesday 14th December
School Holidays 2021
EASTER Friday 2nd April to Tuesday 6th April
End Term One – Saturday 17th April – Sunday 2nd May includes ANZAC Day Sun 25th April
End Term Two – Saturday 10th July – Sunday 25th July
End Term Three – Saturday 2nd October – Sunday 17th October
PTFA News
The PTFA met on Wednesday evening for the first time since Alert Level gathering restrictions. It was wonderful to see many new faces at the meeting and to hear of all the great ideas that families had to support the PTFA activities and events.
The team are currently working on a proposal for a Twilight School Community Event for Friday 13th November – keep this date free! More information will follow once organisation is confirmed. We will need volunteers to make this a successful twilight community evening so please do help out if you are able to!
The next PTFA meeting is to be held Tuesday 27th October 7:30pm in the school staffroom. All are welcome!
Water Safety Swimming Programme
Tēnā koutou,
This term, Holy Trinity will be heading over to the Massey Park Pools in Papakura to take part in a water safety swimming programme.
Water Safety is a vital skill for students to learn, especially in Auckland where we are surrounded by water; swimming pools, beaches, rivers, streams and lakes.
The focus of these sessions is water safety in order to provide our children/tamariki with knowledge and understanding of how to move above, through and under the water in a variety of different water situations.
These sessions should not be seen as formal swimming lessons where students will come away with the ability to use the more formal swimming techniques of freestyle, backstroke etc. We strongly recommend that all parents still send their tamariki to swimming lessons for these techniques if needed.
All costs associated with this programme will be met by local grants and school funding.
We will be travelling every day during Week 2 (19th – 23rd Otober) & Week 3 (27th – 30th October) of Term 4 in groups by bus, take lessons and then head back to school afterwards.
Week 2 (October 19th – 23rd) Learning Communities Moana and Maunga
Week 3 ( October 27th – 30th) Learning Communities Ngahere / Whenua & Awa
All Massey Park Swimming instructors are qualified to provide a safe environment for our children/tamariki. They are working towards or have ASTA (Swimming NZ course), Skills Active Swim Ed Level 3, AustSwim teacher of Swimming and Water Safety. The instructors participate in many inter facility training sessions across the Auckland Community, Leisure Management sites, as well as regular Massey Park training and meetings.
Our students will be organised into groups for the purposes of participating in this programme. Closer to the time further details of groups will be made available via each Learning Community
Each day, students will need to come to school with their togs, a towel and a swim bag to take their wet gear home in. Caps and goggles are optional, but the students may find it more comfortable for the water safety swim sessions to wear goggles, due to chlorine in the water.
We expect every student to take part in this water safety swimming programme and will be encouraging students to take part and linking these skills to our school values of:
Excellence – Hiranga
Resilience – Ngāwari
Unity – Kotahitanga
If you have any questions please email or come in and see us at school.
Kind regards,
Mr Quenten Brown
qbrown@holytrinity.school.nz
Sports Co-ordinator
Learning Community News
Learning Community Moana
Last term, we had two students that were going to represent our kura at the local regional Rehu Tai speech competition. With covid restrictions in place, we couldn’t attend as a cohort, but we managed to enter a third speech participant into the competition.
Ysabelle Gayatin was nervous because it was her first speech competition and she was worried about how the audience would react to her jokes. Lucas Hancy-Scott was a cool and calm customer ready to take on the world; and Franxon Villa, our late addition, wasn’t sure he was ready to compete at a regional level.
With social distancing well in place at Hingaia Primary, our three students presented their speeches and they were amazing.
Ysabelle came away with the ‘bug’ wanting to do it again and looking forward to competing next year. She did exceptionally well for her first time. Lucas was smooth in his delivery and was on point with his beat and rhythm. Franxon captured and captivated his audience, right from the word go.
Congratulations to Franxon Villa, who was the overall Year 8 Speech winner and to Lucas Hancy Scott who was the overall Year 8 Rap winner.
This coming October the 29th, Franxon and Lucas will represent our kura and the Papakura, Takanini Schoools Cluster at the Auckland Rehu Tai Finals at Point Chevalier Primary. Congratulations to all three of our speech finalists, and we wish Lucas and Franxon all the best for their up and coming finals.
Learning Community Whenua
Whenua reflected on what ‘journey’ meant to them. They said that a ‘journey’ could be long or short, take us to different places, is about overcoming fears, is part of exploring new and interesting places and things. Some learners shared their journey of growing up – from a baby to a young child – or even their trip to their grandparents during the holiday. Along the way things were learnt and new things discovered.
Whenua welcomed a visit from our Hauora Student Team in the week. The team played games with them based on well-being and team work. The learners had the opportunity to play alongside children from Ngahere Pukapuka. What a lot of fun they had!
This week was ‘Bullying-free NZ Week’ to raise awareness of the harmful effects of bullying in society today and our pledge to stamp it out. Some learners made heart shape cards with special messages on.
Curriculum News
The learning concept of ‘Innovation’ has helped us to ‘think like a scientist’ and apply science skills to carry out our own inquiries.
On the last Friday of Term 3, we had the privilege of working alongside Andy, who is a scientist from the University of Auckland, and Rangatahi from Te Pua nga maara. We were interested in finding out about the water quality in the Papakura stream near our school.
A small group of students visited the stream the day before, to collect water samples from the stream so that we could test for nitrate in the water. We also took our gloves and a rubbish bag to pick up rubbish lying around but to our surprise the stream was fairly clean which was great to see!
Andy and Te Pua nga Maara worked with groups of students from Learning Communities Awa, Maunga and Moana to test for the presence of nitrate. How exciting it was for the students to use science equipment, Andy’s prototype equipment to measure the level of nitrate and speak the language of science throughout the process.
Many thanks to Mrs Krissy Bishop (from our Board of Trustees) who helped us with the organisation of the two days and Andy and the team from Te Pua nga Maara.
School Summer Uniform
Students are expected to be in the correct school uniform from Tuesday 27th October, Term 4. This includes the short sleeved blouse or shirt, open toed black school sandals and the school sunhat. Please name all items of clothing so that they can be returned to the children immediately when found.
Our School uniform is only available for purchase from NZ Uniforms on 20/5 Lambie Drive, Manukau.
All students are required to wear the correct school uniform for summer as listed below.
Girls Uniform
Tartan skort
Blue short sleeved monogrammed blouse (summer)
Black open toed school sandals (summer)
Navy bucket sun-hat monogrammed
Navy woollen monogrammed school jumper OR school jacket
Boys Uniform
Navy shorts
Blue short sleeved monogrammed shirt (summer)
Black open toed school sandals (summer)
Navy bucket sun-hat monogrammed
Navy woollen monogrammed school jumper OR school jacket
Health, Safety and Well Being
Bullying-Free NZ Week
Today, our school joined the pink shirt day movement to take a stand against bullying and create a kind environment in which everyone feels safe and included.
A HUGE thanks to everyone who dressed up in pink today to raise awareness around bullying. It was wonderful to see such a great PINK turn out!
Together we need to continue to speak up and stand strong!
Whether bullying is physical, verbal, or social (relational), four widely-accepted factors can be used to identify it:
- Bullying is deliberate – harming another person intentionally
- Bullying involves a misuse of power in a relationship
- Bullying is usually not a one-off – it is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated over time
- Bullying involves behaviour that can cause harm – it is not a normal part of growing up.
Bullying can happen anywhere, in person or online (cyberbullying), at any time, and can be verbal, physical or social (relational). It can be obvious or hidden.
You can find more information using the following link https://www.bullyingfree.
Back to School Traffic Campaign
As our tamariki head back don’t forget to SLOW down when driving around our school. Next week on Thursday 22nd October, our Hauora Student Team will be outside BEFORE school promoting safer speed around our school.
Let’s keep our tamariki safe this term!
From the Hauora Student Team
Property News
The Relocatable Building project also got underway with the relocatables now on site without too much damage done to the back of the car park! This work area is fenced off and the students have been advised to stay clear during the break periods.Upcoming School Events
School Liturgy and Assembly – led by Learning Community Awa
Monday 19th October 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall
Water Safety Swimming Programme commences for LCs Moana and Maunga
Monday 19th October @ Massey Park Pools, Papakura
Labour Weekend Holiday – school closed
Monday 26th October
School Liturgy and Assembly – led by Learning Community Moana
Tuesday 27th October 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall
Water Safety Swimming Programme commences for LCs Ngahere/Library, Ngahere, Whenua and Awa
Tuesday 27th October @ Massey Park Pools, Papakura
Year 7&8 Inter-school Athletics Day
Tuesday 27th October @ Massey Park, Papakura
PTFA Meeting
Tuesday 27th October 7:30pm in the school staffroom
Board of Trustees Monthly Meeting
Wednesday 28th October 6pm in the school staffroom
Auckland Speech Finals Competition Year 7/8 representatives
Thursday 29th October @ Pt Chevalier School
Term 4 concludes
Wednesday 16th December 1:00pm
Community Information
