Term 1 Week 3 Newsletter #02

Term 1 Week 3                           16 February 2023                                     Newsletter# 02

Principal’s Message

Tena Koutou Katoa  Talofa Lava   Kamusta   Malo e lelei,  Mauri   Malo ni   Faka talofa atu  Namaste  Greetings to all

Welcome back to school. Who would have imagined that our first few weeks of 2023 would be so disrupted; especially as we were looking forward to a settled year post covid? So we find ourselves restarting after two significant weather events and, God willing, the rest of the year now flows smoothly for us. We have had no real weather damage at school and hope that you have managed to weather the storm also. Our thoughts and prayers are with our whaanau who have been affected and we ask that you let the school know if you need support in your situation. Our school charism is Mission and we are here to help if we can.

As I mentioned in my first newsletter, this year our focus is student attendance and punctuality at school. If children aren’t at school they are missing out on learning opportunities. If they are late every day, you are not setting your child up for success. So many routines and notices happen first thing in the morning, including prayer, when your child is late and misses these it means that they are on the back foot before their day begins. Please aim to drop your children off at school at 8:30 am in the morning to give them time to put away their bags and bring their things into class and be there ready to begin at 8:45 am.

We are so pleased with the development of our school frontage and appreciate your positive comments. We will need to wait a while for our natural shade to grow over our seating. As well as creating a safer entrance and eliminating the hedge maintenance, it enhances our school profile. We are looking forward to seeing a completed centenary mural on the end of Room 9 facing the road. This year our school whakataukī is “ Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamua – Look back and reflect in order to move forward”. Our mural will reflect our story.

Seddon St seems to be getting busier and busier, so we are pleased to hear that work on the raised pedestrian crossing is starting soon. We know there will be some inconvenience for all of us while it is being done but are pleased it will provide a safer crossing for our students arriving and leaving from school. A temporary crossing will be created and once that happens we will be able to establish a safety plan while this work takes place. You will be asked to follow the direction of the safety management team. Remember, you can drop your children off at the Dublin St entrance. Thank you for your consideration and patience at this time. 

Today we have had our School Dedication Mass for 2023. At this first school mass, our school leaders, house captains and class councillors have been appointed and blessed in their roles. St Joseph’s School has always been good at growing student leaders and there is some sadness that this year is the last year we will have our Year 7&8 students. So it is with interest we look at our current Year 5 students who will be our Year 6 student leaders in 2024.

2023 is a big year for St Joseph’s School. We have our school fair coming up on Saturday, March 11th and our school’s centenary on the 8th and 9th of September. We want you all to be involved so please save those dates. We will also end our year farewelling our Year 6-8 children. We lose our Year 7&8 at the end of this year in order for St Ignatius of Loyola College in Drury to be established and open in 2024. This will be the college of choice for many of our South Auckland Catholic families.

We are looking forward to a year of success and celebrations with all of our students and school community. 

Stay safe and God bless.

Before all things in this jubilee (centenary) year,
all glory and all thanksgiving… may grace, charity
and peace be always with us.”

Euphrasie Barbier 1886

KEY DATES

          TERM 1 KEY DATES

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

Staff Professional Development – Our Charism

During one of our January Teacher Only Days, Sr. Anne Sklenars, who is an RNDM Mission Sister, led our staff in learning more about our School Charism as we embark on our school’s centennial year. Our School Charism is the God-given legacy or taonga of those who founded our school. Our foundresses were the RNDM Mission Sisters from France (Religieuses de Notre Dame de Missions), whose foundress, Euphrasie Barbier, came to Pukekohe in 1885 where she set up the first school and convent near our parish church. Our school Mission Statement is part of their legacy, and certainly a great Christian philosophy to live by:

 To be in right relationship with God, 
with ourselves and others, 
and with creation.

School Dedication Mass
Today’s Dedication Mass was very special and we are grateful that we could come together to celebrate the beginning of our school year after such extraordinary weather events. During this Mass our School Leaders and Class Councillors were announced, class treaties were presented and teachers re-dedicated themselves to the mission of our Catholic school. This Mass also reminded us that as we begin our school’s one-hundredth year, we are challenged to “Titiro whakamuri, kokiri whakamau – To look back and reflect, in order to move forward”. We are called to bring God’s hope to others with kind hearts and generous hands, as a school community where everyone feels valued and welcomed.

St. Pat’s Kids Choir 2023
Thursday 16 February there will be a sign-up afternoon from 3pm – 3:40 at the Church for those tamariki who wish to join St Pat’s Kids Choir this year (ages 5 – 13). They will need to know their T-shirt size and their parent’s email. Practices will begin on Thursday 2 March and run each Thursday until the end of term. If you are available to help with the choir admin, or if your child has missed sign-up and you wish for them to join, please email maireadg@stjosephs.co.nz 

Donations to Caritas for Earthquake in Turkey & Syria 
Caritas Aotearoa NZ is accepting donations to help the people of south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria, seriously affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks of Monday 6 February which toppled hundreds of buildings and killed many thousands of people.

Keep the people of Turkey and Syria in your prayers as they face widespread devastation and loss of life. They’re in contact with our partners on the ground as they assess the scale of the damage and critical needs at this time.

If you would like to donate, you can do so online through the Caritas Emergency Donation tab at this link: www.caritas.org.nz/donate-online (Please specify that your donation is for Turkey Earthquake)

Congratulations to our past-pupils Anthony Hawke and Tonga Helu, who are both Deputy Head Prefects  at Sacred Heart College this year. Tonga also is Head Border. We are proud of you.

School Board

SchoolDocs: Policies and Procedures: 

Parents can view our school policies and procedures online by visiting the schooldocs website.  SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. Our board of trustees has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented. We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review.

1. Visit the website https://stjosephspukekohe.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm

2. Enter the username (stjosephspukekohe) and password (mission). 

Copyright: Except where stated, the content on this site is the copyright of SchoolDocs Ltd. It may not be reproduced without written permission from SchoolDocs Ltd.

3. Select the  Parents and Whanāu section on your SchoolDocs site – it has a brief description of SchoolDocs, a navigation quiz, and important information about parent involvement, communication and reporting, community conduct expectations, and social media guidelines. 

There is also a Quick Links for Parents topic with links to the most relevant policies and procedures.

If you don’t have internet access, school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.

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

School Notices

Attendance Dues:  All Attendance Dues for the term should be paid by the end of Week 5 $121.75/term. As this is not always possible, please start an automatic payment now
(12-3023-0338374-01) for your child/ren’s school fees each week ($12.25/week) or fortnightly ($24.50/fortnight). This may help you keep up-to-date with payments.

If you have any financial or wellbeing concerns, or need support in any way, please contact our principal, Mrs Hall: principal@stjosephs.co.nz or phone 092387745. We will do our best to help you if we can.

          Skool Loop App : Keep in touch with what is happening at school through the Skool Loop app.  It’s free to download!  Parents can easily access school notices, newsletters and alerts.  SMS the school about absences through the app.  In a school emergency if we need to contact parents this is the quickest way to get a message to you. Please re-download the app to ensure that you have the latest version and do not miss out on any important information. 

New Pedestrian Crossing Coming!  This week roadworks to improve our pedestrian crossing are starting on Seddon Street. This is a much needed project but it is going to cause us disruption for up to 8 weeks – realistically the rest of this school term. 

Over this time, traffic (and pedestrians) on Seddon Street will be managed by road control and the front of our school will not be accessible for drop offs, pickups or parking.  There will be a temporary crossing available, however, if you wish to park you will need to do so further away from the school – There is no parking in the school car park – Staff only
We suggest that over this time, for the safety of our students, parents use our Dublin Street entrances to drop off and pick up their children. We will know more as this project begins.

Rental Accommodation Needed:  A new family to St Joseph’s School and St Patrick’s Parish, are urgently looking to rent a 3 bedroom house, close to the church and school. Please contact Jo and Francis (022) 375 4798 or (022) 065 0571

Scholastic Book Club:  Today your child will bring home a Book Club Catalogue, offering a wide range of titles for you to purchase.  Two catalogues are issued each term, your purchases earn free books and resources for our school.
Simply fill in the Student Order Form and return to school along with payment , or order online through the website.  Please place orders by Monday 20th February.

Second Hand Uniform: If you have any used St Joseph’s  uniform that you no longer require, our second hand uniform shop would gratefully accept any donations.  We are running particularly low on girls summer tunics at present. Thank you. 

Please find Key Dates attached below

School Events 

Parent Information/Meet the Team Evening: On Tuesday 21st of February we will be having a Digital Safety presentation from NEST Consulting in our school hall starting at 6pm. This information session is valuable to any parents who want to keep their children safe when they are online and to give you a better understanding of the challenges our children face when accessing digital content. The topics will include:

* What’s going on in NZ, cyberwise

* Positive aspects of being online

* Setting up a cybersafe house & managing risks – parental controls & tips for protection

* Screen Time / Age limits & Accessibility

* Cellphones & Apps

* Streaming

* Gaming

* Social Media

* Online bullying / Trolls & Haters

* Privacy & Information Security / Scams

* Inappropriate content/images online

* Internet & Digital Citizenship / Etiquette online

* When things go wrong 

Directly following this talk we invite parents to visit your children’s learning spaces to meet the kaitiaki/teachers and learn more about how the learning programme will operate this year for your child. This is also a great opportunity to ask any questions you might have and find out how you can support your child’s learning journey. We hope you make this evening a priority to attend.

SCHOOL FAIR: Just under 4 weeks to go! If you haven’t returned your form please do asap! We need helpers on the day still so let us know your preferred time or we will find one for you.

This week we are asking our tamariki to bring in a grocery item (details below). 

Please hand these to your kaitiaki teacher by Tuesday so they can record your house points and keep a total.

The kaitiaki who brings in the most grocery items will have a special ice block treat on Tuesday afternoon. Thanks so much to all our whanau for your continued support of our 2023 Fun Fair.

Year 1 – Chips/Popcorn/Muesli Bars

Year 2 – Crackers/Biscuits

Year 3 – Baking Goods

Year 4 – Cereals/Spreads

Year 5 – Sauces/Oils

Year 6 – Canned Goods

Year 7 – Pasta/Rice

Year 8 – Noodles/Meal Sachets
or an item of your choice
*Also if anyone has plums or plum pulp they could donate to the school, we would appreciate it!

Congratulations to all our Year 8 students that were named School and House Captains for the 2023 school year at today’s Dedication Mass. 

We also congratulate our Student Council, students from years 3-8, that were named for 2023.

Learning in Arahi: This has definitely been an eventful start to the school year and not the one we had planned. We are grateful that everyone is safe and hopefully the weather has settled. Last week we sent out our team newsletter with all of our important information for the term, including camp dates and sporting events. We would love to meet you all at our Meet the Teacher evening on Tuesday 21 February. This evening begins with an information session on internet safety that will be highly valuable to all of us. After the session we invite you back to our classroom space where you can meet the teachers and learn about our 2023 learning programme. This year we are very much focusing on the importance of attendance (oh the irony…) and developing agentic learners.

Fundraising for Y7&8 Camp: Please note that we will be having a Winter Camp Fundraising meeting on Wednesday 15 March 7-8pm.

Kapa Haka Support Needed: We are desperately seeking support for our Kapa Haka group. If you, anyone in your whaanau or if you know someone who may be able to support, for an hour a week please get in touch with Mrs Burns ASAP. robinb@stjosephs.co.nz

House Colour Mufti Day:  We will have a House Colour mufti day on Friday, February 24th. Students are to come to school wearing their house colours. No gold coin is necessary; this day is for students to celebrate their houses (Chanel-blue, Barbier-green, Pompallier-red and Costello-yellow) and to learn cheers and chants for our House Competition Days. Accessories are welcome (hats, glasses, tutus etc though we ask no feather boas or pom poms please).  New students and younger children will be informed/reminded of their houses in the coming week. 

Steam Club: Steam Club is still as popular as ever and we are full for Term 1. Working with Mr Surrey, the students had their first session yesterday and are developing their ability to code using Tinkercad, a free web app for 3D design, electronics, and coding. If you would like to get your child on the waitlist for Term 2 please contact Mrs Mravicich or the school office.

Hot Dog Day: Friday 24th February. Notices will go home on Monday next week. Please help support the Year 7&8 Winter Camp and enjoy a not having to make a school lunch.

School Garden:  Mrs Irwin and some of our students have been working in our school garden, and are successfully growing vegetables, including sweet corn that some students were happy to eat!

Community Notices

 NZ Modern School of Music

Looking for a fun activity?
Enquire now about in-school guitar/ ukulele  lessons for term one 2023.
Fun, creative and convenient.  All levels. Learn to play your favourite songs! 
One on one lessons or buddy up with a friend. 
Opportunity to enter into local music competitions and music exams. 
Limited numbers, so be quick!
Contact Donna Allely for lesson information. 
Phone 021 1858553

Email allelyjd@gmail.com
Website www.nzmsmcounties.co.nz

Pukekohe Junior Rugby Registrations/Weigh-in

Pukekohe Rugby Club are taking registrations for 
ALL players for Junior Rugby for 2023 season!
Teams available for boys & girls 5-13 years old,
 as well as a standalone Girls Only Rippa Competition
 run on Wednesday evenings.

Registration/Weigh-in dates:

Sunday 19th February 3.00-5.00pm

Monday 20th February 6.00-7.30pm

Tuesday 21st February 6.00-7.30pm

Venue: Pukekohe Rugby Club clubrooms

 – Colin Lawrie Fields, Reynolds Rd, Pukekohe 

Registration fees are $75.00 per player. 

Shorts & socks additional. 

Preferable to complete the online registration first. 

Registrations are not considered completed until  ALL players are weighed in and all registration fees are paid.

Visit our website for further details – www.pukekoherugby.co.nz

 

 

Term 1 Key Dates 2023  
These are subject to change – please check fortnightly newsletters for changes