Term 1 Week 7 Newsletter #4

Term1 Week 7                            17 March  2022                                  Newsletter#04

Principal’s Message

Tena Koutou Katoa    Talofa Lava    Kamusta    Malo el lelei    Mauri    Hello Everyone

Happy St Patrick’s Day! 

As you know, St Patrick is the patron of our parish as well as being the patron saint for Ireland; a favourite day for many of my ancestors. On Saturday is an even more important day for our school: the feast day of St Joseph. St Joseph was chosen as patron of many of our Mission Sisters’ schools being the father figure in the Holy Family and teacher of the child, Jesus. St Joseph’s Day is one of our favourite school celebrations. This year, as we cannot attend Mass as a whole school, we will have a dedicated liturgy shared in our teams followed by our house tabloid sports led by our Year 8 student leaders. This year, following Covid guidelines, although we may have some parent helpers, we cannot have additional spectators on the school grounds. Our PTA usually treats our children with an ice-block at the end of the day and they have been able to source them tomorrow. They are always appreciated by the children. Thank you, PTA!

This week it has been great to see the children returning to school again after being unwell or isolating. While we now have 75% of our children back at school, our teachers are still supplying home learning opportunities to children at home. If children are sick there is no obligation to attend these lessons but if they are well I strongly encourage them to do so. Now, with a 7 day turnaround we are hoping more children will return to school. There is no reason for children to have long absences from now on. Once the majority of children are back at school, our teachers will be focussing on the children attending. We hope we can get back to our ‘near normal’ soon.

The St Joseph’s School community wishes to pass on our sincere condolences to the Farrell family at the loss of Jack. Jack was a past pupil and student leader of our school. May he rest peacefully.

Stay safe and God bless.
Ngā mihi nui

Ursula Hall
Principal – Tumuaki

KEY DATES TERM 1

Please note these dates are subject to change For further dates see calendars on the Skool Loop app or at: www.stjosephs.co.nz

Special Catholic Character

ST JOSEPH’S DAY

Tomorrow we celebrate St Joseph’s Day which is on Saturday 19 March. Saint Joseph’s feast day is no ordinary feast—it is, in fact, a solemnity; this means it is the highest ranking of any feast in the Liturgical calendar. As St Joseph is the patron saint of our school, we will be holding a Liturgy within our teams in the morning. We will then be holding our annual Tabloid Sports Day in the afternoon. This is a fun-filled afternoon consisting of eight tabloid activities in which the students, in their house teams, rotate around competing for as many points as they can. These points are then combined at the conclusion of the event and the winning house receives the Tabloid House Trophy which is announced at our End Of Year Prizegiving. Students can come to school in their House mufti clothes on the day. Please ensure your child has a hat and a drink bottle for the day. Unfortunately, due to our COVID restrictions at present, parents and whanau are unable to come on-site to support and cheer on the children.  

LENT

We continue to focus our Lenten Journey on growing in faith and understanding, as we prepare for the glorious celebrations of the Paschal Triduum.  This is a moveable observance recalling the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.  As a Pilgrim Church, we are called to bear witness to God’s love and grace as we prepare for Easter.  Our akonga continue to make this Lenten Season significant, by following their pledges to either fast, give alms or pray for 40 days. Our Year 7 & 8 students are focusing their studies on the laws of Leviticus and other Lenten Readings which challenge us as Christians to follow God’s call to lead just and Holy lives. As we reflect on the messages of “The unforgiving servant” Matt 18: 21 – 35  and “The rich man and Lazarus” Luke 16: 19 – 31, we acknowledge that Lent is a time for is an inward journey that takes place in people’s hearts, that helps them to grow closer to Jesus. The quiet, reflective, inward journey also helps us to notice others and reach outward to serve them; especially those in need of fair and just treatment. In helping others, we live a more just life; as Jesus did and as God wants us to. This is another way of God calling us to become holy. 

“Pope Francis wants to hear from you!” 

The bishops are using this direct papal message to invite people – Catholic or not – to take part in a survey for the ongoing international synod on the future direction of the Church. The survey is being advertised on Stuff and in social media such as Facebook, so you might see it pop up. Please share it with friends who may not be reached by your parish/diocesan Synod consultation. Details including a link to the survey: https://www.catholic.org.nz/news/media-releases/synod-feedback/

Catholic Church Aotearoa Feedback Form

Haere mai, Talofa lava, Maligayang pagdating, Malo e leilei, Hwan yeong, Bienvenido, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Bienvenue, and Welcome!

Pope Francis has asked the question of ‘how we journey together’. The purpose is to ‘listen to the questions, concerns and hopes of every church, people and nation’.

We’d like to hear from you! People of all backgrounds are invited to contribute.

Completing this feedback form takes about five minutes and your input will feed into a diocesan/regional paper on how we as a Church and as Catholics ‘journey together’, which then informs a paper to the Vatican. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZCBCSynod

School Board News

School Board Elections 2022

This year our next triannual School Board Elections will be held in September. Every board member brings their own unique set of skills and experiences to the board. As a member, you will need to work well in a team and have good communication skills. You may have financial skills and experience in managing people, knowledge and understanding of particular communities within your school, or experience working within the school and wider community. Please consider standing for our School Board elections later in the year. 

If you would like to contact the Board directly at any time, please do so through bot@stjosephs.co.nz

School Notices

St Joseph’s Tabloid Sports and House Mufti Day tomorrow, Friday 18th March

Term 1 Parent/Child/Teacher Goal Setting Conferences   – These sessions will be held on Thursday April 7th (week 10) and Tuesday April 12th (week 11) between 3:00 and 8:00 pm. As in previous years, we will be using the School Interviews online booking system but, the sessions this year will all be done online via Zoom (no face to face meetings). More information around how to book your sessions will be sent out in a separate email early next week.  

Covid-19 Omicron Information: If your child is unwell, do not send them to school.  If your child is being tested please let the school know, and when you receive their result (negative or positive) please let us know that too. This information helps us to be prepared. 

If there is a positive result within your household, then all must self-isolate from the day the person with COVID-19 tests positive until they complete 7 days of isolation. All members must get a test for COVID-19 on Day 3, and on Day 7 of the isolation period, or sooner if they develop symptoms. 

If someone else in your household tests positive, you do not need to restart your isolation period. You can complete your isolation at the same time as the first person in your household who had COVID-19 if:

• your Day 7 test was negative
• you have no new or worsening symptoms

We assure you that we are following the same strict health and safety guidelines at school to mitigate the risk as much as possible. Mask wearing and the monitoring of symptoms remains one of the best ways to keep ourselves and others safe. 

Here’s a useful website https://howlongtoisolate.co.nz 

SchoolDocs: Policies and Procedures: 

https://stjosephspukekohe.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm

In 2022, all schools will review the Health, Safety, and Welfare Policy section throughout the year. 

In Term One, the focus is on the Health and Safety Management and Emergency, Disaster, and Crisis Management sections. Not all policies are reviewed by parents. This term parents are invited to comment on the following topics: Visitors, Contact in an Emergency, School Closure, Earthquakes, COVID-19 Information and Procedures, and COVID-19 Red.

Search for the policy (under the school emblem), click on the topic name link, read through the policy then click the red UNDER REVIEW flag (top right-hand corner of the page) and submit your feedback. We consider all feedback given.

This term’s policies will be approved at our next School Board Meeting on 23 rd March.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE DUES

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Financial assistance is available to assist families who may need financial

support with the payment of Attendance Dues for preference students attending

both primary and secondary Catholic schools in Auckland Diocese.

Families facing financial difficulties can contact their school office, their Parish

Priest, or Auckland Common Fund Ltd at the Catholic Diocese of Auckland on

09-360-3069 for further information.

Application forms for this assistance are available from school and parish offices,

or can be downloaded from the Catholic Diocese of Auckland Website:

https://www.aucklandcatholic.org.nz/catholic-schools-2/ 

Attendance Dues are the compulsory component of the school account and Attendance Dues are paid for every child who attends a Catholic School in New Zealand. Without this charge, the CDA would not be able to provide new buildings, build new schools, repay the loans incurred for recent new builds or pay insurance and compliance costs on integrated buildings.

Please remember to contact Mrs Hall if you need any assistance with your child’s attendance fees. 

Start making a regular weekly/fortnightly payment now and as long as you have demonstrated that an effort to make payments has been made, at a level, you can afford, we can support your application for assistance.

School Events 

Aroha Assembly Awards

Ako Tahi 

In Ako Tahi, we have been learning about Turangawaewae – Our Place.  We have learnt about some of the special places around Pukekohe and put these into posters about Pukekohe.  We have also finished our portrait art.  The sunglasses show us on holiday.

Ako Rua

We have been super busy in Ako 2 with swimming and learning all rolled into one. Our students are really getting into the groove of what life is like in Ako Rua and they are all prospering. Check out our mihis and awards from our last team assembly. 

Easter Raffle for Ako2 Camp Fundraiser

In Week 8 we will be selling raffles for our annual camp fundraiser. 
We will be selling the raffles for $1 and we are hoping for multiple winners. 
The raffle will be drawn on the last day of school – Thursday 14th April.

Arahi

We have had a wonderful couple of weeks in Arahi. It is great to see so many students back at school after their isolation and we are looking forward to a settled last half of this term. We want to congratulate our tamariki who have really demonstrated resilience and dedication to their learning, but jumping online if they were at home and by being flexible with the changes that have had to happen to accommodate those who are isolating.

Community Notices

Positive parenting during COVID-19
To support mental health, resilience and emotional wellbeing for our tamariki and rangatahi, the Ministry of Health has partnered with Whāraurau to offer parents, whānau and caregivers free online versions of the Triple P: Positive Parenting Programme across the country.

Find out more about Triple P and register for programmes.

There are three free Triple P online programmes available to help positively support children to reduce anxiety, build emotional resilience and life skills and cope with challenges:

• Fear-Less Triple P Online – for parents and caregivers of children and teenagers (aged six to 14 years) who have significant anxiety
• Triple P Online – for parents with toddlers to 12-year-olds
• Teen Triple P Online – for parents with ‘tweens’ or teenagers aged 10 to 16 years.

These programmes will also provide whānau a toolkit to help them to guide behaviour positively and encourage children’s learning.

Help for whānau who are self-isolating
If you need extra support while you are self-isolating because of COVID-19, Work and Income may be able to help you. 

Visit the Work and Income website and use their online form to let them know how they can help.

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