Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta, Namaskārām,
Sat Shri Akaal, Vanakkam and Ayubowan
Dear Families
This weekend, a number of our students will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation at St Mary’s Parish, Papakura.
Receiving the sacraments is a special time in our journey of faith, and it is the means by which baptised children can complete their journey into full membership of the Catholic Church. These celebrations are community events, which remind us of the role of the community in our faith life.
The gift of God’s Holy Spirit which the children received in Baptism is strengthened in the Sacrament of Confirmation, and the children complete their initiation with the reception of first Holy Communion – a public declaration that they are now fully a part of this community, this “Communion” of God’s family. Being involved in the parish programme itself, strives to help our students grow into a church community, and feel a real sense of belonging to the wider Family of God.
St Mary’s Parish Papakura:
Sunday 2 June at 2:00pm – students will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at Mass
Sunday 7 July at 5:00pm – students will receive the Sacrament of Eucharist/First Holy Communion at Mass
Congratulations to: Edith Aita, Christen-Miles Altamirano, Sam Balbona, Liam Clarito, Kai Costello, Lupea Kaloni, Mele Kaloni, Daniel Kaloni, Carl Leonidas, Matt Marcasote, Paul Moscoso, Petranelle Peter-Tulaga, Precious Peter-Tulaga, Khayla Platon, Celyn Rogayan, Marion Rosales, Zia Sarath, Johan Solanga and Keira Vibal.
We will be praying for you all!
THANK YOU Campers!
We extend grateful thanks to our school CAMP Staff, parent volunteers and families who supported with the recent Year 5/6 Camp. It was so exciting to see our young ones having such a fantastic time learning in the outdoors, mastering new skills, challenging themselves, managing themselves, collaborating, working together, sharing and caring, having fun and creating memories.
We can’t offer these learning experiences without having the dedication and commitment of our school staff – teachers and support staff plus the partnership with and support of our whānau so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Ka mau to wehi – you are amazing!
It was wonderful to have all of our students attending Camp … building resilience by stepping outside of the known to take on the unknown and engaging with each new challenge and activity. We are SO proud of you too and are in “AWE” of the wonderful ‘can do’ attitude you are nurturing in yourselves! Tino pai tātou – WELL DONE ALL!
DRS Report
This is a beautiful time in the Church season when we celebrate two of the oldest and most sacred days – “The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ” and “The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus”. We love the month of June, because of the wealth and richness of these beautiful feast days. It is so easy to be too busy about life and to let these days bypass us. It is always uplifting to be called back to these traditional, rich days through the celebration of the sacraments – especially for our Holy Trinity students who are receiving the gift of Confirmation and First Holy Communion. We extend our love and blessings upon them all.
The Feast of the Scared Heart – we know that the heart is a sign of love. Jesus’ heart is so full of love that he shares his life and love with everyone. We rejoice in the gifts of love that we have received from the heart of Jesus and we pray that our hearts will be opened too, to share in Jesus’ life and to continue to be blessed by his love!
Parish Alpha Programme
You’re invited to the St Mary’s Parish Alpha Programme – a time of exploring the faith, asking questions and sharing views! Alpha is a series of sessions exploring the Christian faith, open to all. Each session includes food, video and discussion where you can share your thoughts and ask questions.
Towards October 2024 – NZ Catholic Bishops
A new consultation document prepared by the Bishops as part of the Holy Father’s Synod 2021-24 process has been sent to Rome.
This document, titled Towards October 2024, follows the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference being asked to establish a consultation process to discern responses to specific questions related to the Vatican’s Synodal Church in Mission report. That report was published after the First Session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in Rome last October.
National Catholic lay organisations, agencies of the bishops conference, religious, diocesan bodies, educational institutions, young people’s groups, parish groups and groups involved in previous synodal processes took part in the consultation, between February and April this year.
A copy ofTowards October 2024 is attached. Towards October 2024 Synod Consultation May 15
A statement about the document, and the document, are online here: https://www.catholic.org.nz/
Staff/Teacher Only Day
School will be closed for students this coming Friday 7th June 2024.
Teachers and Support Staff will be involved in a professional development and learning day about the newly released New Zealand Curriculum Refresh. The Ministry of Education has granted this time/day to schools to allow teachers to work with the new document – to understand why changes have been made and to plan for the implication for our current Holy Trinity localised curriculum teaching and learning programme.
Please make alternative arrangements for your child/ren for Friday 7th June. sKids will be open and operating on this day on the school site. Please click on the link to make a booking for the day – https://www.skids.co.nz/
Community Hui News … Filipino Families Gathering
Kumusta Filipino Families!
Our Filipino Families will be gathering together on Wednesday12th June at 6:30pm in Taamaua /school hall commencing with a shared meal. We look forward to spending special time together with our Filipino families as we celebrate Filipino Independence Day.
Please bring a plate of food to share for dinner.
After dinner, we will have some fun learning activities to engage with so we are all learning and playing together! There will also be time to share ideas to help plan for a further bigger celebration in August or September for our Filipino families.
We value this time together in getting to know our families, your stories, your desires for your children and your desires for our school. Please come along and share in this special time!
PTFA News …
PTFA AGM – Tuesday, 25th June
We are excited to announce our upcoming PTFA Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 25th June 7:00pm in the school staffroom. This year, the roles of Secretary and Chairperson/s will become available as our current holders step down. We are looking for new volunteers to take on these roles and to bring fresh energy to our committee. Rest assured, ongoing support will be provided to ensure a smooth transition.
The PTFA (Parents, Teachers, and Friends Association) is an important part of our school community, organising fun events through the year and fundraising initiatives to support our students, improve the school environment and bring the school community together. Joining the PTFA is a wonderful way to get involved, meet other parents, and make a positive impact on our school.
Second-hand Uniform Shop Open
The second-hand uniform shop will be open on Thursday, 6th June, from 8:30 – 9:00 am upstairs in Taamaua (the school hall).
Teaching and Learning News
Dog-wise Programme
Last week “Dog-wise” visited us. They came to teach us ways to be safe around dogs.
Learning Community News
Learning Community Awa
In Learning Community Awa, learners have been engaged in science, learning all about water and the water cycle. This stemmed from their curiosities about Noah’s Ark and the rain. Learners were curious about how Noah’s Ark floated so we began with a sink and float experiment where learners had the opportunity to choose an object and think if it would sink or float. They tested out their theories and we discussed why each of their objects either sank or floated. This grew their curiosity around water and how it rained for 40 days. We have begun investigating the water cycle and have made our ‘water cycle in a bag’ experiments. Learners in Awa have been able to think like scientists; observe, hypothesise/guess and make great conclusions on what they have observed during our experiments.
Learning Community Whenua
In Learning Community Whenua, our learners have been engaged in the Dog-wise Kiwi Kids Programme. Our learners were able to connect their learning with our lessons in keeping ourselves safe as part of taking care of our Haoura. In addition, they related that NO means NO – not only when we pet our dogs but also when they want to play with others. In addition, our tamariki learnt health safety with CMS Balance Bike Day. They had a fantastic time developing body balance with the activity.
In RE, we are learning different ways to engage in prayers. We are actively participating and appreciating these ways of doing prayers, while we continue to grow our curiosities in the miracle stories of Jesus.
In Science, we continue our scientific journey using the KWHLAQ process. Our tamariki are actively sharing their thoughts and learning about caring for our environment and sustainability as a way of thanking God for his creations.
And as we celebrate Samoan Language Week, our learners enjoyed learning samoan songs and writing about their own story of Lavalava (Samoan Skirt). They also savoured Koko alaisa a samoan dish.
Learning Community Ngahere
We have enjoyed celebrating Samoan Language Week in Learning Community Ngahere. We have listened to stories from the samoan culture such as ‘Sina and the Eel’ and ‘The Tale of the Terrible Tuna’ and have listed our curiosities from these stories. We also worked hard to create a samoan snowflake – this was very tricky, but we tried our best and showed lots of resilience when creating these.
We have also been busy investigating our curiosities about ‘navigation’ through listening to stories, watching videos and reading online. We have learnt that there are so many ways to navigate! We are now working on sharing our learning about navigation through creating a visual art piece.
Learning Community Maunga
Maunga ākonga are Science Investigators! They have been busy drafting questions to seek new scientific knowledge and researching to find answers. The learners are now planning their exciting science experiments. In Visual Arts, we have examined different forms of art to compare and contrast how stories are shared and how they can inspire our curiosity. We have enjoyed celebrating Samoan Language Week engaging in hands-on learning experiences through singing samoan action songs, learning a sãsã, reading samoan myths and legends and learning how to tie a lavalava.
Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa-Samoan Language Week
Tautua i le alofa, manuia le lumana’i – Serve in love for a blessed future. We had a great Samoan Language Week, linking our learning activities to keeping the Samoan language and culture alive through love and service. It was wonderful to see our students working together to support each other while learning various activities like siva, tie a lavalava, tapa and making a sei and ula. The koko alaisa was a success and helped keep us warm on a cold day.The children listened to stories from Samoa and were highly curious about the origins of the coconut after hearing the tale of Sina and the Tuna.
Hauora/WellBeing News
Pass the Kindness On …
As the weather gets colder, we think of those who aren’t feeling too well physically as well as mentally and emotionally.
One of the best things we can do for our wellbeing is to be kind or give to others (our time, actions and words). So it’s important that we encourage kindness, giving and expressing gratitude.
Whānau Challenge: Think of a way to spread kindness as a family. You could bake something for your next door neighbour, give others compliments, spend time with someone you don’t see very often.
School Photos
Our 2024 School Photo Day will be Monday 24th June.
Children will bring home a Flyer with the upcoming Photo Day information.
SIBLING Forms are on the backside of the Flyer for students who request a sibling image to be taken and it needs to be returned by Wednesday 19th June to the School Office.
Online Photo Access Key will be sent to you AFTER Photo Day to purchase.
Flyer information will be sent home closer to the day. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact our school office with any queries.
Reminders!
Student Illnesses
As we head into the winter months, we are aware of the many illnesses that students and families are suffering with. THANK YOU for keeping students at home when they are unwell. When children fall unwell during the school day, we will make contact with families to come to school to collect them as soon as possible. We are not able to have sick children remaining in the Health Room for the day. Please ensure you have alternative care arrangements in place if your child needs to be collected from school in this situation. Thank you for understanding!
School Attendance
The Ministry of Education is requesting schools to have an “intervention tier” in place so that student attendance is monitored, tracked and intervention strategies are put in place quickly and efficiently to ensure high rates of school attendance for every child.
Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School bell times are 8:50am – 2:50pm.
For Holy Trinity, our student attendance concern is with the large number of children who are regularly arriving late to school after the 8:50am bell and/or are leaving school early in the afternoon.
The school gates open from 8:30am and children are able to be on site.
School begins at 8:50am with morning karakia/prayer – it’s important that the children are at school and have this time for prayer, song, reflection and meditation.
As the first intervention tier for our school, we will be …
1. monitoring student lateness and we will be communicating promptly with those families where there is regular lateness – special circumstances permitting.
2. asking parents to refrain from requesting early afternoon finishing time for their child/ren unless it is necessary or a special circumstance. If you need to collect your child early from school then you must notify school the day before where practicable.
Please do not be offended if we say “no” to your child leaving school before the end of the school day if you do not have a legitimate reason. We are abiding by the Ministry of Education guidelines.
We are confident that by working together and respecting the school bell times, we can ensure our children have the best possible opportunity for their learning!
School Winter Uniform
Students are expected to wear the correct winter school uniform in Term 2. This includes the school navy knee high socks with the red and blue stripe and black closed shoes. Stockings and leggings are not part of the Holy Trinity School uniform. Please help us to have the children in their correct, neat and tidy school uniform so that they can wear their Holy Trinity uniform with pride and respect.
Upcoming School Events
King’s Birthday PUBLIC HOLIDAY – school closed
Monday 3rd June
School Gathering Liturgy and Assembly led by Catholic Special Character Student Leaders
Tuesday 4th June @ 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall
Fundamental /Movement Skills/Gym lessons for LC Moana/Year 5
Wednesday 5th June @ 10am-11am Bruce Pulman Park Recreation Centre
Fundamental /Movement Skills/Gym lessons for LC Moana/Year 6
Wednesday 5th June @ 11am-12:00 Bruce Pulman Park Recreation Centre
Pedal Power Programme for Year 4 students
Wednesday 5th June @ school
Pedal Power Programme for Year 4 students
Thursday 6th June @ school
Second-hand Uniform Shop Open
Thursday 6th June @ 8:30am-9:00am mezzanine floor in Taamaua/school hall
TEACHER/STAFF ONLY DAY – school closed for students
Friday 7th June
School Gathering Liturgy and Assembly led by Mrs Cortez/LC Whenua and Mrs Davies/LC Maunga
Monday 10th June @ 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall
Inter-school Netball Tournament – Year 5/6 students
Wednesday 12th June @ Bruce Pulman Park Netball Centre
Pedal Power Programme for Year 5/6 students
Wednesday 12th June @ school
Priest Visits to Learning Communities
Wednesday 12th June 10:00am – 11:30am
Community Hui for Filipino Families – Independence Day Celebration
Wednesday 12th June 6:30pm – 8:00pm in Taamaua/school hall
Pedal Power Programme for Year 5/6 students
Thursday 13th June @ school
Term 2 Concludes at 2:50pm
Friday 5th July
Term 3 Commences at 8:50am
Monday 22nd July
Upcoming Community Events
Artz on Show – July Holidays
Workshops for the July School Holidays!! The theme for the upcoming Workshops is ‘Madagascar’ – to be held in Karaka between Monday 8th July until Friday 12th July 2024.
