Greetings, Kia ora, Kia orana, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Namaste, Ni Hao, Bula, Hola, Kumusta
Dear Families
Term 4 is certainly shaping up to be a very busy one with many school activities and events for all our students, staff and whānau to be involved in. We’re very excited to be able to share news of the TWILIGHT MARKET to be held at school on Friday 13th November from 3pm. This is a collaborative event between our senior students and our PTFA (Parent Teacher and Friends Association).
Generally each October, the students run a Mission Market Day ‘hour’ of fun activities and stalls to raise funds for MissioNZ as part of out Outreach service. This year, it will be an after school event in conjunction with our PTFA. We hope this is an opportunity for our families/whānau to come together to enjoy a social time, a chance to catch up with one another and to raise funds not only for MissioNZ but also for our school’s special project – an external sacred space being planned for one of our current bark areas in the courtyard. We hope you will all be able to spend some time with us on Friday 13th November from 3pm enjoying fun, food and friendship. THANK YOU to our PTFA and to our senior students for such a great initiative.
DRS Report
Religious Education (R.E.) Learning
Next week, your child will be bringing home their Religious Education book to share their learning with you. Please take time to ask your child to go through the RE Strand they are currently learning about in class and a highlight from their learning so far. Last time we did this sharing, it was so inspiring to read the variety of comments from our families/whānau who encouraged their children to continue to learn about God, to share their new learning with others and … who shared with us how they as a family, pray together. We are blessed to be a part of such a wonderful supportive faith community.
Twilight Market
On Friday 13th November, our school will be having a Twilight Market to raise money for Mission NZ outreach and for our school’s special project of creating a sacred outdoor space for prayer and reflection. Along with the PTFA, our senior students are involved in planning, preparing and running different stalls on the day. There will be baking, raffles, games with prizes to win and lots and lots of food. It will be a fun day for the family which starts at 3pm until 5pm. Our staff and students will be coming to school on the day dressed in their Whānau colours as well. It will be a fun filled day with lots to explore and fun memories to celebrate. We look forward to a wonderful day with our school community!
Papakura Community Dinner
The Papakura Community Dinner is now back on after the lockdowns. On Tuesday 27th October some of our staff and Board of Trustees and school family members volunteered an hour of their time from 6pm to help serve our community in need. The Papakura Community Dinner is held on Tuesday nights 6pm at Crossroads Methodist Church at 25 Broadway Papakura. Our school is rostered to serve at the community dinner every last Tuesday of the month. If you are able to spare an hour of your time to serve our community with your service and smile as well as representing our school, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Ana Silva or Apaula Lautua.
Ana Silva – asilva@holytrinity.school.nz
Apaula Lautua – apaulalautua@gmail.com
All Saints and All Souls Days
November begins with double Feast Days in remembrance of those who have died. This coming Sunday 1st November, we celebrate the Feast of All Saints and the following day on Monday 2nd November, we commemorate All Souls Day. On both these days we are reminded of all who have lived as faithful Christians. We pray for all those who have died, especially in our own families and school community. We continue to pray for their souls and cherish their memories with love. Our Catholic faith tells us that one day, we will all be reunited with God in heaven, because we share in the resurrection of Jesus. This belief is known as the Communion of Saints. Some of our senior students will be able to share their learning about the Communion of Saints with you at home.
Parish Newsletters
PTFA News
TWILIGHT MARKET Friday 13th November from 3pm at school!
Come along and join in the fun …
RIDES: Bouncy castle, Ferris wheel and an inflatable slide
FUN GAMES and FACE PAINTING: knock the blocks, mazes, darts,
GAMES ZONE: in Taamaua/school hall
FOOD STALLS and DRINKS: Filipino Foods, Indian Foods, Pacific Foods – candy floss, popcorn, sweets and chocolates, home baking … apple juice, slushies, water, ice blocks …
RAFFLES and LUCKY DIPS … handmade Christmas gifts …
We are still in need of volunteers, please email ptfa@holytrinity.school.nz if you are able to help out for an hour or two in the afternoon with set up or with helping out at a stall. THANK YOU!
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
Community Meetings
We are keen to meet with our different community groups throughout this term. This is to spend time together to share our Holy Trinity student learners profile and to discuss the NZ Health Curriculum programme especially the key learning area of sexuality education.
It’s also an opportunity for our families to share aspects of school life that are going well and other areas we can improve on AND it’s a great time to enjoy each other’s company and friendship.
We would love to see you here at school for this special time.
Our Filipino Families are invited to gather next Tuesday 3rd November from 5-6pm in the staffroom.
Our Maori and Pacific Families are invited to gather on Wednesday 11th November from 6-8pm pm in Taamaua/school hall.
Further details will be shared through HERO communications.
Dates for other family communities will be advertised as well. Thank you to our community liaison people who are assisting with these family meetings.
Learning Community News
Learning Community Ngahere Swimming
What a great week of learning for the children from Ngahere, this week. They learnt water safety and showed great resilience as they progressed into deeper water, engaged in more challenging activities and embarked on activities that required courage, determination and resilience. Apart from learning water safety, our tamariki showed our school Gospel values in action by having respect for the various environments they found themselves in. These included greeting the bus driver and thanking him for taking them to the pool and back each day, taking care of their belongings and ensuring that they left the pool and change rooms in a neat and tidy manner. The children worked together, supported each other and displayed unity/kotahitanga in and out of the pool.
This week at the pool was enjoyed by all the children. Some comments were;
“ I remembered my togs”
“ I can button my own shirt ”
“ I can put my head under the water”
“ Look at me Mrs …”
“ I am sad it’s the last day of swimming”
“ Thank you driver and God bless you”
A big thank you to all parent helpers for your time and support, this week!
Learning Community Whenua Swimming
All our learners have been enjoying the benefits of targeted instruction at Massey Park Pools focusing on water safety; how to be safe in, around and on the water.
Learning Community Awa Swimming
Awa students have had a busy week of swimming with the swimming instructors from Massey Park Pools! The big focus has been around water safety, providing our tamariki with knowledge and understanding of how to move above, through and under the water in a variety of different water situations. It has been wonderful to see the students’ progress in the necessary skills and confidence they need to be safe in and around water. The experience of wearing appropriate water safety gear such as life jackets caused great excitement but soon they were able to listen and practise important water survival skills. One student said that she was able to learn about water currents and that knowing about it will help her to survive in the water when she is at the beach. Great learning opportunities for our students!
Another important skill they have also learnt is to independently undress, put on their togs and dress themselves after swimming and the Awa students were great at this! Many thanks to all our awesome parents for helping Awa children to be organised and ready for swimming this week and a special thank you to our parents who came along to help with supervision.
Learning Communities Maunga and Moana Swimming
Students were looking forward to the usual swimming lessons and were quietly planning amongst themselves as to who would race who. But to their surprise, they were exposed to regular items (that you would normally find on a pier or at the beach) that could be used as flotation devices; they leapt off the edge of the pool, which was a good metre from the surface, into water at a depth of 2 metres; they were treated to running water that simulated a river, and how best to navigate with the current; they went through exercises where you set yourself in a position that would give you the energy and time to shout for help and how to gather rope or string to lasso to a swimmer in distress and correctly pull them in.
It was more than learning about how to be safe in water. It was about learning to think quickly in an event if you get into trouble in the water; how to stay calm and search your surroundings for anything that could help you or the person in distress; it was about learning skills that may one day save themselves or save another human being.
Each day the students returned to school, spent and very hungry, but all agreed that the water safety lessons were indeed very important. They were engaged in the sessions, and were very surprised at how much they learned, and how easy it is to panic and loose control.
The highlight for all kaitiaki was seeing students who were reluctant at the start, develop confidence through the sessions and do things that they would have never thought they could ever do!
Special Events
APPA Rehu Tai Auckland Speech Finals 2020
7.00pm at Point Chevalier Primary, Lucas Hancy Scott, Franxon Villa (along with their families) are waiting anxiously for their turn on the centre stage. 26,000 students later, the top 13 speakers in Auckland go head to head for the prestigious title of Rehu Tai Overall Speech Final Winner. Lucas is given his place in the line up and he is the opening speech. In the presence of his family, families of those competing, Miss Lindstrom, Mrs Notley, Mrs Nikolao, Miss Lautua, Miss Aiesi and Mr Malele, Lucas demands those watching to listen to his ‘flow.’ And flowed he did because the judges were awed by his words, and claimed that they heard this unique individual destined for great things.
Having to wait a very long time, and with the strength of a lion to control all his nerves and anxieties, Franxon who was the third to last speaker, commanded the audience with his smooth voice and strong presence, which the judges were inspired and impressed by.
The competition was indeed challenging – ALL speakers were fantastic. The prestigious Shortland Street actress judges spent a great deal deliberating, and we were so glad that we were not in their shoes. Congratulations to Lucas Hancy Scott – who was Highly Commended for his rap speech and the winner for his category. The overall title was shared with 2 students whose spoken word captivated and engaged the audience.
As a community we would like to acknowledge Franxon and Lucas for their efforts and success. It was great to see our Kura represented twice at a heavily contested event. Franxon and Lucas, you both certainly have made your kaitiaki, whānau, your Learning Community and Kura, extremely proud. Thank you and well done gentlemen!
Community of Learning (CoL) Student Leadership Day
Friday the 30th October saw 8 of our students attend a leadership day, run by Mr Shaun Ginders of Holy Cross Papatoetoe and Mrs Ronise Laumemea of De La Salle College. The day was an opportunity for our students to explore leadership qualities that they have, and how to hone into these skills to develop even further. They were also lucky to ask some senior college students about life as a high school student, and about some of the challenges and successes of being at high school. There was fun, laughter, learning, sharing but more importantly a unity of our faith. The students were very enthused at the end of the day, and claimed it was one of the best things that they have been to yet. Sincere thanks to the following students who represented our school well at the event:
National Young Leaders Day 2020
Leaders are often made, not simply born. We are dedicated to sparking the leadership potential that’s inside every young person through practical, inspirational events and leadership resources.
National Young Leaders Day is the largest and longest running leadership event for primary and intermediate school students aiming to develop student leadership.
The objectives of NYLD are Inspiration, Connection, Student empowerment, Promoting positivity, Motivation and Education
Our whānau leaders will be attending this event. We pray that this event will inspire our young people to become excellent leaders and to achieve the best of their ability through learning, loving and serving. If you would like more information, please check out their website through this link here.
Curriculum News
Learning Community Whenua
Whenua learners have been sharing their life journeys with others. They were able to reflect on why this journey is important to them, e.g. I am a big sister; I went on a trip with my family; it was the first time they challenged themselves with certain activities or how they have grown from a baby to now. They reflected that family and friends are all part of their kete taonga.
LC Whenua welcomes Mrs Alexander into our Learning Community. Mrs Alexander is completing a four-week practicum with us, making Whenua learners so lucky to have an extra kaitiaki helping us on our learning journey. Welcome and thank you Mrs Alexander!
Learning Community Awa
We have enjoyed learning more about each other through the sharing of our ‘journey’ stories and we have identified that the stories about our ‘journey’ is taonga. Some examples of ‘journeys’ have been about sports, moving house, dance, an experience, a life journey etc. Telling our stories has allowed us to make connections with each other’s ‘journey’. How we have presented our ‘journey’ stories has given us an opportunity to explore a variety of ways that stories can be told. We have been amazed at the creativity, time and planning that has taken to put together such a taonga. Next week, we will compare and contrast the different ways we have chosen to share our taonga (journey stories) to inspire whakapuāwai in our community.
Learning Community Moana
Over the last weeks, we have reflected on the year and how we have responded as individuals and as a community. We have paid special attention to our personal responses because as a part of the Health Curriculum programme, we have engaged in learning about changes to our bodies, especially for those of us heading towards our early teens. Our journey learning is acknowledging God’s gift in all of us, how ours and everyones else’s lives are sacred, how these changes are normal and fine; that they will always happen and that with this new learning we better understand ourselves and why things start making more sense or can be more complicated. These discussions have generated further discussions at home and have really created a healthy and sacred space to enable students to start focusing on their own wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of others. It has been great to see our students blossom and bloom in their own understanding, and really acknowledge their value as individuals and positive contributing members of our school community.
Enviro Team News
The Enviro Team is very excited to share some photos of our new planters, which we enjoyed working on last Friday. Each learning community has a planter with flower and vegetable seedlings to look after. Thanks to Ebenezer from LC Awa and Annie from LC Maunga for helping to choose our seedlings.
Sports News
Year 7/8 Inter-school Athletics Day
After a year of uncertainty, we were finally able to send some of our Year 7/8 students to the North Counties Athletic event, held at Massey Park, Papakura. Representing our Year 7s were Julian Viloria and Linkin Karena. Both participated in a field and track event and achieved their personal best. Lucas Hancy-Scott, P’torio Taimalie and Hao Bui represented the Year 8s. P’torio and Lucas competed in most of the field events, whilst Hao participated in both field and track events. They too achieved personal bests in their respective events. All in all the boys enjoyed their time at the event and were pleased to be able to compete with other schools. Sincere thanks to D’Arion Taimalie and Simon Karena who were our parent volunteers that supervised our students for the whole day. Your support and generosity is very much appreciated!
Year 5/6 Inter-school Athletics Day
Our next Inter-school event is for our Year 5/6 students which Mr Brown will coordinate. He will be running a few lunchtime trials – so if your child is interested, please remind them to check out for notices from Mr Brown. The Year 5/6 North Counties Athletics Day will also be held at Massey Park, Papakura on Tuesday 10th November.
HTCPS ANNUAL ATHLETICS DAY
Friday 20th November – is our scheduled whole school Athletics Day. Closer to the time we will send out more details, but if you are planning to come, we ask that you come dressed in your child’s whānau house colours. In case you have forgotten, Yellow is Patrick Dunn, Green is Aubert, Red is MacKillop and Purple is for Pompallier. It will be a great day for all our whānau to come, support and celebrate with each other.
Health and Safety
EMERGENCY DRILLS!
In the coming week, we will be practising school emergency drills procedures.. The drills are necessary because we all know that even though you may have practised something once before, it does not mean that you will remember that one practice for a very long time.
It is a gentle reminder for our students, that things may happen, and the best way to respond to those moments is by knowing what to do safely and being prepared. Feel free to korero with your child/children about about the importance of these drills and chat with them after they’ve been through these drills.
Any queries or concerns that you may have, please feel free to contact the school.
Kids Artworks
Now is the time to be thinking of presents as Christmas is fast approaching. Where has the time gone?– children will bring home a form with their individual code to view your child’s artwork online
– orders are made online so there is no need to handle payments manually at school
– completed orders are sent back to the school within 1-3 weeks
– products available; Calendars, diary’s, notebooks, cards and mouse pads
Thank you for your support,
Mavis Chung
School Liaison with the PTFA.
Upcoming School Events
School Liturgy and Assembly – led by Student Catholic Special Character Team
Monday 2nd November 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall
Community Meeting – Filipino Families
Tuesday 3rd November 5-6pm in the school staffroom
Board of Trustees Strategic Planning Day
Saturday 7th November @ school
School Liturgy and Assembly – led by Learning Community Ngahere
Monday 9th November 8:50am in Taamaua/school hall
Year 5&6 Inter-school Athletics Day
Tuesday 10th November @ Massey Park, Papakura
PTFA Meeting
Tuesday 10th November 7:30pm in the school staffroom
Community Meeting – Maori and Pacific Families
Wednesday 11th November 6-8pm in Taamaua/school hall
National Young Leaders Day NYLD for Whānau student leaders
Thursday 12th November @ Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau
TWILIGHT MARKET DAY
Friday 13th November 3- 5pm @ school
HTCPS School Athletics Day
Friday 20th November @ school
Term 4 concludes
Wednesday 16th December 1:00pm
Beginning Experience Grief Resolution Weekend Retreat
6 – 8 November 2020
ALONE AGAIN? Widowed, Separated or Divorced? The Beginning Experience is a non-profit organization with the motto a “Weekend Away for a Lifetime of Change” for adults. The retreat will help you work through your painful loss. The participants find new hope, increased emotional health and renewed energy. Date Friday evening to Sunday afternoon 6 – 8 November. Cost $350 or early bird price of $325 if paid by 25 Sept. Includes accommodation, meals and materials. Contact Kelly 027-686-4416 or Bev (09)298-9943 & 027-248-1631 www.beginningexperience.org.nz
Kumon Papakura Education Centre
Papakura Old Central School Hall
