Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta, Namaskārām,
Sat Shri Akaal, Vanakkam and Ayubowan
Dear Families
Kotahitanga/Unity is one of our school Gospel values and we have witnessed this Gospel value in action lately with the large group of staff, families, children and community friends and neighbours who have all helped to contribute to the design build, creation of our school’s entry in the Up-cycle Garden Challenge for the Festival of Roses 2025 in Parnell!
THANK YOU Holy Trinity Whānau for always giving of your best, your talents, your helping hands and your constant words of encouragement to help us be a school community that reaches out to others to show our respect, love and care for God’s creation – our own environment!
Here’s a lovely note below from our amazing Mrs Sydney Buzmion, Learning Community Whenua Kaitiaki and leader of this project …
Our garden entry is titled Dancing in the Rain, celebrating the joy of play, music, and connection with nature even on rainy days! The children have worked creatively, using recyclable and up-cycled materials (thanks to our HTCPS community for bringing in donations of empty containers) to design a scene that reflects our theme of caring for the environment and finding beauty in every season ( with the help of parents and the local community- which is really good!).
We would love your support on Sunday, 9 November 2025, by coming along to the Festival of Roses in Parnell and voting for our garden in the People’s Choice Award. There are only six entries in total, a mix of schools and independent groups so your support could really make a difference!
Please also encourage your whānau, friends, and community members to visit the festival and cast their votes too as every vote counts! (Not sure if the voting will also be done online but will share it whenever..so stay tuned ;))
Your support means a lot to our tamariki (and parents ;)), who have shown teamwork, creativity, and environmental awareness through this project. Let’s help them shine and celebrate their hard mahi together!
Children: Grayson Con-el, Tala Atienza, Lucy Buzmion, Addy Gumerno, Umaiza Manjani, Lilith Farley, Onofre Conception, Lachlan Cortez, Mikayla Cortez
Community Helpers: Mr. and Mrs. Joel and Aline Justiniani, parents and teachers, HTCPS children who donated the materials (without them, we cannot make these recycled materials turned into artwork, thank you!!!)
School Board News …
Due to a recently elected Board member’s relocation to Australia for work, we are in a position of needing to fill the vacancy of a parent elect role so that we can continue with a full Board for this next term of office.
We extend grateful thanks to Mitchell Wright for his brief time on the Board and wish him every success in his new adventure of working and residing in Australia. Mitchell’s family will join him at the end of this term.
To fill Mitchell’s vacated position, the Board has decided to fill the vacancy by selection – meaning the Board chooses who fills this position. Please see the notice below.
A casual vacancy has occurred on the School Board for an elected parent representative.
The Board has decided to fill the vacancy by selection.
If 10% or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.
Request for a by-election should be sent to:
Jason CJ Farley
Presiding Member
Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School Board
If less than 10% ask the Board to hold a by-election, then the Board will process with the selection process. The Board will then pass a motion to select the nominated person and they will take Office immediately – completing the full complement of our School Board for this next three year term.
DRS Report
Reconciliation
This week, our senior students spent some time with Father Ephrem from Holy Cross Parish, Henderson and Father Joseph of St Anthony’s Parish, Waiuku, celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This beautiful sacrament offers our tamariki and kaitiaki an opportunity to reflect and rebuild their personal relationship with God. The students spent time talking with the priests and acting on the penance they received. Reconciliation is a joyful sacrament where we are spiritually healed and nourished with God’s mercy and forgiveness.
Peer Ministry Retreats
Our Peer Ministry Student Leaders planned and facilitated prayerful retreats for younger students in the school this week. It has been two wonderful mornings where our peer ministry team guided the morning with prayer, reflection, sharing of faith stories and enjoying praying through music, drama and dance. Our younger children have been fully engaged and have shared some great reflections at the end of the Retreat time where they gave thanks to God for his love and protection in their lives.
Feast of Christ the King – Mass in the Park!
Invitation to “A Night at the Conclave”
“Reflections on Jubilee 2025-Pilgrims of Hope”
As we draw near the end of the Jubilee Year in January 2026, Te Kupenga Catholic Theological College is offering its last webinar for the year “Reflections on Jubilee 2025-Pilgrims of Hope” with Fadi Yalda, Lecturer in Biblical Studies. This webinar is on Wednesday, 26 November 5:00-6:00pm via Zoom. Fee is $20. To register, go to www.tekupenga.ac.nz/webinar2025 “
Health & Well-Being – Measles Information
Information to share with parents, caregivers and your communities
Measles is highly contagious and serious – about one in three people may need hospital care. It spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.
- Measles is circulating and is very contagious. There is now measles in Northland, Auckland, Manawatu, Nelson and Wellington, and we expect further cases across New Zealand.
- Watch out for symptoms – fever, cough, runny nose, sore eyes, and a blotchy rash:
- Anyone with measles symptoms must stay at home and should seek urgent advice by ringing their doctor or Healthline on 0800 611 116.
- Anyone who is closely exposed to a measles case must stay at home. Heath New Zealand will provide individuals with advice on a case-by-case basis (including when they can leave quarantine at home).
- Health New Zealand is actively working with the schools that currently have measles cases.
- People are considered immune to measles after having two doses of a measles vaccine from 12 months or older, or if you have had measles before. For more information on measles immunity visit:
Measles immunity – Health New Zealand
- Encourage families and whānau to check their own and their child/childrens’ immunisation status through My Health Record:
My Health Record – Health New Zealand
- Anyone born between 1969 and 2004 may have only received one vaccine dose and might not be fully protected. It’s safe to get extra doses. A free vaccine can be booked online or via the Vaccination Helpline on 0800 28 29 26.
PTFA News …
HTCPS Colour Fun Run – Friday 28th November
- Access to the colour run obstacle course
- Fun activities to win prizes
- Ice block
- Cathy Mei from Ray White who is our main event sponsor
- Ostle Electrical who are sponsoring our BBQ
- 24 Engineering, sKids Holy Trinity and Priyanka Chacko who are sponsoring our colour stations
Thank you for your support and looking forward to seeing you all there!
HTCPS PTFA
Mahi Tahi – Student, Parent and Teacher Conferences
Mahi Tahi Conferences will take place Wednesday 19th November (1:30pm–7:00pm) and Thursday 20th November (3:15pm–5:30pm). This is a valuable opportunity for all to discuss and celebrate your child’s learning progress and achievement in relation to their year-level expectations for Reading, Writing and Maths.
Next week, you will receive a Hero notification with instructions on how to book your 15-minute interview time.
Please keep an eye on Hero communications and ensure you’ve read the notice so that you don’t miss out on securing a time that works best for your whānau.
End-of-Year Online Student Achievement Reporting on Hero
End-of-year reports will be published on Hero on Monday 1 December. These reports provide information about where your child is working in relation to the expected curriculum levels across key learning areas.
This information will also be a focus during our Mahi Tahi meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, 19–20 November, where students, parents and teachers will have the opportunity to discuss your child’s learning progress and achievements, as well as next steps.
Teaching and Learning News
Term 4 Concept Learning – Serve
At the beginning of this term, we have been bringing together our previous concept learning of Kaitiakitanga, Systems and Innovations, and now Serve. Through this learning, we are focusing on how we can serve our common home by taking action to respond to a need that will nurture and sustain the way we encounter Christ.
Our learners are taking on opportunities to apply their learning through the concept of Serve, exploring how they can use this year’s learning to encounter Christ by actively seeking ways to serve, nurture, and sustain our common home far and wide—beyond the Holy Trinity community.
How whānau can support learning at home …
One way you can support your child at home, is by asking the essential questions of Serve to deepen their understanding and encourage them to share their learning from school. This helps them make meaningful connections between their learning and home life.
Essential questions:
- Why serve?
- How can the way we serve our common home affect the way we encounter Christ?
Outdoor Education Days … This Coming Week
As part of our curriculum focus on learning through outdoor experiences, we have two Outdoor Education Days planned for next week.
- Maunga and Moana learning communities will have their day on Tuesday, 11 November.
- Ngahere and Awa learning communities will have theirs on Thursday, 13 November.
- Learning Community Whenua, Thursday 20th November.
Please check the Hero notices for more details about each day and how you can support your child — including bringing along a food ingredient from home to contribute to what the students will be cooking outdoors.
Learning Community News
Whenua
In RE, our learners are exploring what it means to serve as a Church and how our actions can help others encounter Christ. Through reflection the students are able to think deeply about how simple acts such as showing Manaakitia-Respect to each other, can show God’s love and our service to others in our community. We also looked into the lives of Saints as real examples of how we can show Arohanui-Compassion and Serve each other in our everyday lives. We unpacked how the lives of the Saints can guide us to live and care for others today.
In Literacy, learners have been working on procedural writing and next we will move into descriptive writing. This will enable our learners to share their ideas with detail and communicate their message in a way that connects with their audience.
This term our focus for Maths is Statistics and Probability. Through hands-on activities, learners are beginning to explore and notice patterns in presented pictorial graphs. Learners also start to use everyday mathematical language of ‘more, less and most likely’ to describe what they see and make simple predictions by answering simple Yes/No questions.
For Health and PE this term, we are emphasising ways to keep ourselves healthy so that we can serve others in our community with energy, care and compassion. LC Whenua children have been developing their Run, Jump, Throw skills which supported their readiness for Athletics Day. They also actively participated in games such as Rakau – passing the stick, blind-fold drawing, and ‘Balloon in the Air’ as part of our Play Week activities to build co-ordination, confidence, and teamwork.
In Arts-Drama, learners have been using role play to act out different ways people serve in the community. Through movement, voice, and simple performances, they explored how our everyday community helpers show care and support.
Awa
In Religious Education, our learners deepened their understanding of how serving as a Church can lead others to encounter Christ. They explored meaningful ways they can be part of the Church.
In Mathematics, we have been learning about measurement, focusing on length, mass (weight), volume, and capacity. We are also exploring fractions of a set. These concepts are directly linked to our Outdoor Education and Serve transfer task activities, supporting practical, hands-on learning.
In Social Sciences, our tamariki have been using Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast the ways people serve in different communities. They are also exploring how acts of service can bring people together and strengthen community connections.
This term, our learning concept focuses on “SERVE.” Serving in the community means helping and contributing to the well-being of others in our local and parish communities without expecting anything in return, and making a positive difference through simple acts of kindness. As part of their transfer task and with the support of the kaitiaki, our tamariki will be having an Outdoor Education Day on Thursday 13th November. The students will be making gift boxes, candles, prayer cards, and will be cooking soup. The soup will be made from vegetables harvested by the students from our school garden, while the prayer cards and candles have been thoughtfully created using recyclable materials.
Through this activity, we hope to share God’s love, promote sustainability, and strengthen our sense of community and care for one another!
Ngahere
Learners in Learning Community Ngahere celebrated National Play Week in Week 3. Play Week Aotearoa is an annual nationwide initiative in New Zealand led by Sport NZ to promote the value of play for children, whānau, and communities. Play helps develop movement skills, creativity, social interaction, and risk‑taking in a safe way. It also helps children make sense of the world around them. During the week, we played hand games, worked together to create new constructions from recyclable materials, learned some new dance moves, and enjoyed games involving balloons.
In Social Science, learners explored how people serve in different communities. They compared examples like firefighters, sports coaches, food bank volunteers, marae helpers, and community garden helpers, discussing what is similar and different about their ways of serving and why service brings people together. Learners created T-charts, Venn diagrams, and class charts to reflect on how acts of service connect and support communities.
In Religious Education, learners studied the Sacraments, identifying rituals and symbols for each, and discussed how these help them encounter Christ in their daily lives.
Through these activities, our learners are not only developing knowledge and skills but also nurturing empathy, understanding, and a strong sense of community — values that will guide them well beyond the classroom.
Maunga
This week in Religious Education, our tamariki were engaged in a creative and meaningful activities. They worked diligently to create freeze frames depicting significant events from Jesus’ life that connect to their given sacraments.
As part of the activity, when the teacher gently touches a student’s shoulder, it signals them to explain how their scene relates to their sacrament. The children shared insightful reflections on how they encounter Christ through the Sacraments, such as Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, and others. They demonstrated a growing understanding of how these sacred moments help us experience Jesus’ love and presence in our daily lives.
Our students also engaged in an exciting drama activity focused on understanding how we serve others and nurture our shared home. Using flowcharts, they explored and articulated important ideas about faith, service, and leadership.
The students began by identifying the reasons why their chosen techniques—such as role-play, storytelling, or improvisation—are effective in showing ways to serve in our common home. In the first box of their flowcharts, they explained how these techniques help communicate the importance of caring for our environment, each other, and God’s creation.
Next, they reflected on how they can lead others to take action to encounter Christ more deeply. In the second box, students described ways they might inspire their peers to show kindness, respect, and love—ways that help others experience Jesus’ presence in their lives.
In addition, they considered how their leadership can encourage others to sustain this way of encountering Christ over time. The third box highlighted the importance of ongoing actions, such as caring for creation and supporting one another, to keep Christ’s love alive in our community.
We are proud of their thoughtful insights and leadership aspirations. Their creative activities help us all remember that serving, leading, and sustaining are essential parts of living our faith.
Moana
In Learning Community Moana, our learners have been continuing to work on their Big Transfer Task. They have shown wonderful creativity and teamwork by recycling a variety of materials to make items for care packs, which will be donated to charitable organisations within our community. This meaningful project has helped our learners understand the importance of service, sustainability, and caring for others. Later this week and next they will be writing an explanation letter to their whānau explaining to them about the work that they had done in class.Their letter will be given to their whanau on Mahi Tahi day as part of their task.
This week, Tuesday, was a significant day for many of our learners as we celebrated Reconciliation Day. It was a special time for reflection, forgiveness, and strengthening our faith together as a community.
In addition, students explored different forms of drama such as mime, improvisation, charades, and choral speaking. They were encouraged to choose a drama activity they found most effective and explain how it could be used to serve others and care for our common home. Through these activities, our learners demonstrated creativity, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of how the arts can be a way to express Gospel values in action.
Congratulations to … Lachlan and Enzo!
Little Lachlan Cortez, Year 3, Learning Community Ngahere for his wonderful and excellent participation in the Pipe Band Competition held last weekend in Te Aroha. This was Lachlan’s first time participating in a Pipe Band Contest. Lachlan was one of the the snare drummers. He has been practicing and part of Papakura Pipe Band for a year now. They won on the drumming where Lachlan played in. WOW! You are so talented Lachlan – we are very proud of you and your fantastic success! Ka mau te wehi – you are awesome!
AND WELL DONE to little Enzo Tabobo, Year 3 and also from Learning Community Ngahere! Here’s a highlight from Enzo’s Labour Weekend adventures … he joined the Whaka 100 Kids event in Rotorua and completed a 5km mountain bike trail! He was super proud of his achievement and hopes more Holy Trinity kids will be inspired to join this amazing event next year with their families. It’s a great way to challenge yourself, have fun, and make unforgettable memories! You are an inspiration to us all, Enzo! We are so very proud of you!
Hauora/WellBeing News
Awhi Team Peer Mediation
This week the Awhi Team visited every learning community with a slideshow and activities to promote their services to the tamariki. The presentations covered what peer mediation is and why peer mediation is a great way to solve problems.Health and Safety
Emergency Drills
Recently, our school has had emergency drill practices for Earthquake and Fire. It’s wonderful to see our tamariki being very familiar with the procedure in the event of any of these happening. The most important thing that we encourage our children to know, is to stay calm and follow their kaitiaki. Our next emergency drill coming up will be for Lockdown situation.
Sports News
North Counties Inter-schools Athletics Day
Next Wednesday 12th November, we have some of our Year 5/6 students attending the North Counties Athletics Day held at Massey Park in Papakura. It promises to be a great day with students from different schools competing in different events for Athletics.
Orientation Morning for 2026 New Families
We are excited to welcome our 2026 new families and students at our Orientation Morning on Thursday 20th November from 9.00am-12.00pm. Join us to receive important school information and help ensure a smooth transition to school for your child. We look forward to meeting you all!
Book Club
Issue 8 of the Book Club catalogue has arrived! Look out for your copy of the catalogue coming home in your child’s school bag. It’s packed with hundreds of books from just $3.50 to help your child on their reading journey.
This is the last issue for 2025, so now is the time to purchase books for Christmas, the school holidays, and upcoming birthdays. If ordering online, you can choose the gift option – that means the order will be put aside at the school office for you to pick up so your child won’t find out what they are receiving.
There are two ways to order:
1) order online at https://www.scholastic.co.nz/
2) complete the order form in the catalogue and pay at the school office.
Orders close at 3pm on Tuesday 18 November. The orders are expected to arrive at school by the end of November – first week of December.
Duffy Books in Homes Summer Reading Offer – deadline for ordering extended
Running alongside our last Book Club issue is the Duffy Books in Homes Summer Reading Offer. This is a chance to buy a small selection of books at the heavily reduced price of only $5 each. The deadline to order from the Summer Reading offer is now 3pm on Friday 14 November. Online ordering is not available for this offer, so please complete the order form and pay at the school office.
An online version of the order form for printing is available on HERO. Alternatively, just write down your child’s full name and learning community, as well as the book item number and title on a piece of paper, and hand it in to the school office along with your payment.
Ngā mihi,
Ms Gill
Book Club and Duffy Books Coordinator
Save the Dates: Term 4 2025 End of Year Special Events and Activities
Please save the date for these ‘end of Term 4’ celebrations events and activities. These are all family/whānau events and we are delighted to warmly welcome our school families and wider school community to be part of each special event and activity where we celebrate who we are as a catholic school – rejoicing in our catholic faith, our students achievements and our school’s achievements from throughout 2025.
Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th November
Mahi Tahi Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences
Thursday 20th November
Orientation Morning for 2026 New Families and Students 9am – 12pm @ school
Friday 28th November
Praise-giving Awards Afternoon 12:00pm @ school in Taamaua/school hall
Friday 28th November
PTFA School Colour Fun Run 5:00pm – 6:30pm @ school
Monday 1st December
Liturgy and Assembly for Other School Leavers and Service/Leadership Awards 9:00am @ school
Wednesday 3rd December
Whole School End of Year Mass – Blessing and Acknowledgement of 2025 Year 6 Leavers and their families @ St Mary’s Church, Papakura 1:00pm followed by afternoon tea for Year 6 leavers and families back at school
Thursday 4th December
School Supporters and Helpers THANK YOU Morning Tea 10:30am @ school
Wednesday 10th December
Whole School Whānau/Family Picnic and Nativity Liturgy celebrations 5:00pm – 7:00pm @ school
Eye Health Aotearoa
As a follow up to the whole school eye screening assessments completed at the end of last term, the Eye Health Aotearoa Vision Bus will be on site, at school from Monday 17th – Wednesday 19th November to further assess students who were identified with visual issues.
Students who did not pass the school screening assessment will undergo a full screening test this time – receiving a complete Eye Examination from Vision Bus Aotearoa. And if needed, they will be provided with donated glasses.
Having the Eye Vision Bus in school will help to raise the importance of eye health and provide the much needed support for the Vision Bus to be in all schools.
We are very grateful to the School of Optometry and Vision Services (University of Auckland) and Eye Vision Aotearoa teams for this wonderful opportunity for our students and families.
Reminders!
Term 4 School Summer Uniform
Students are expected to be in the correct school summer uniform for 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.
BEING SUN SMART!
To help keep our children safe in the sun, every day please make sure they have:
- school sun-hats
- water bottles
- applied sunscreen
- black school sandals
Upcoming School Events
Up-Cycle Garden Challenge ‘Build Day’
Saturday 8th November @ Parnell Rose Gardens
Up-Cycle Garden Challenge ‘SHOW DAY’
Sunday 9th November @ Parnell Rose Gardens
Outdoor Education Day on site for Learning Communities Maunga and Moana students
Tuesday 11th November @ school
Year 6 Supported Learners Transition Morning at St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College
Tuesday 11th November @ St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College, Drury
Year 6 Students Transition Day at St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College
Wednesday 12th November @ St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College, Drury
North Counties Inter-schools Year 5/6 Athletics Day
Wednesday 12th November
Outdoor Education Day on site for Learning Communities Awa and Ngahere students
Thursday 13th November @ school
PTFA Ice-Block Sales Day – lunchtime
Friday 14th November @ school
School Gathering Liturgy/All Saints and Assembly – Mrs Buzmion/LC Whenua and Mrs Davies/ LC Maunga to lead
Monday 17th November 8:50am Taamaua/school Hall
Vision Bus Aotearoa on site for further screening of identified students
Monday 17th/Tuesday 18th/Wednesday 19th November @ school
Travel-wise Student Leaders Celebration Day
Wednesday 19th November @ Rainbows End
Parish Priest Visiting Learning Communities
Wednesday 19th November @ school 10:00am – 11:30am
Mahi Tahi Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences – allocated bookings to be made available
Wednesday 19th November @ school from 1:30pm – 7:00pm
Orientation Morning for 2026 New Families and Students
Thursday 20th November @ 9:00am at school
Mahi Tahi Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences – allocated bookings to be made available
Thursday 20th November @ school from 3:15pm – 5:30pm
PTFA Ice-Block Sales Day – lunchtime
Friday 21st November @ school
Students’ Religious Education Books Going Home
From Monday 24th November
Monthly PTFA Meeting – planning for School Colour Fun Run
Tuesday 25th November @ 7pm in the school staffroom
Monthly School Board Meeting
Wednesday 26th November @ 6pm in the school staffroom
Praise-giving Awards Celebration
Friday 28th November 12:00pm @ school in Taamaua/school hall
PTFA School Colour Fun Run
Friday 28th November 5:00pm – 6:30pm @ school
Liturgy and Assembly for Other Leavers and Service/Leadership Awards
Monday 1st December @ 9:00am in Taamaua/school hall
2025 Student Achievement Online Reporting published on HERO
Monday 1st December
Whole School End of Year School Mass/Acknowledgement and Blessing of 2025 Year 6 Leavers
Wednesday 3rd December 1:00pm @ St Mary’s Parish Church, Papakura
followed by afternoon tea for Year 6 leavers/families back at school
School Supporters and Helpers Morning Tea
Thursday 4th December 10:30am @ school
Sailing Day programme for Year 6 Students
Monday 8th December @ Okahu Bay, Mission Bay
Whānau/Family Picnic and Nativity Liturgy celebrations
Wednesday 10th December 5:00pm-7:00pm at school
Term 4 Concludes for the 2025 year at 1:00pm
Tuesday 16th December
