Term 1 Week 3 Newsletter #02

Term1 Week 3                                17 February 2022                                  Newsletter#02

Principal’s Message

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

We welcome Mrs Hartland and Mrs Wilcox back to school and look forward to Mrs Gallagher-Pile’s return at the end of the term. 

It was wonderful to see so many parents pop into our Parent Information Zoom Meetings on Tuesday night; possibly more than would have attended if we had held them at school. Each team delivered a comprehensive introduction to how learning happens for your child and what parents might need to know in order to keep that learning happening at home if their child needed to isolate but was well enough to continue to learn. Fingers crossed that this does not happen. It is very unlikely that the whole school would be affected if we had a Covid case at school. We have separated our teams and office into five groups and we are working quite separately with lots of opportunities to be outside.

Our swimming programme began this week and it is great to see the children in the water and building their water confidence, as well as, refreshing them on our recent very hot days. NZ’s summer swimming statistics were tragic and learning to swim is so important in a country like ours. We were so pleased with our Caritas mufti day for Tonga last week. You will hear more about it further in the newsletter. We were also delighted that Fr Robert could come and say Mass for us. I’m sure many children have not attended mass for some time. We were very careful and kept our teams distanced from each other with Y4-8 and adults wearing masks. It was the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, whose statue stands in our school grounds. We were also able to announce our student leaders for 2022. It is always wonderful to see these young people grow in their leadership roles and wear their badges with pride. 

This year, our deputy principal, Mrs Mravicich, has been awarded study leave in order to complete her Master’s Degree in Education. This means she will be away from school for most of the school year leaving us at the end of next week and returning in the middle of Term 4. We will, however, see her at school from time to time throughout the year as she completes her work. We wish her all the best in her studies.

We have received a generous gift from one of our grandparents: a fan for every classroom. We are hoping that MOE guidelines about the use of air conditioners in the classrooms will change as our Covid levels change. School routines are being established again and it is great to see so many children back at school. We are keeping teams apart as much as possible and mask-wearing, ventilation and distance continue to be our biggest defence. Outside the children do not have to wear masks so we have created more opportunities for them to be outside during the school day.

If you have any concerns about school fees or family needs, please contact me directly.

Stay safe and God bless.
Ngā mihi nui

Ursula Hall
Principal – Tumuaki

Pray for the Beatification of  Euphrasie Barbier

Loving God, the power of the Holy Spirit led Euphraisie Barbier to found a Congregation of Sisters consecrated for Mission. 
Grant that through the witness of our life today your work in her may be more widely known and your name glorified. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. 

Amen.

KEY DATES

     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

Caritas Mufti Day for Tonga:  On Thursday 10th of February, St Joseph’s students brought in their gold coins and wore red and white to raise money and awareness for the relief efforts still needed for our families still struggling after the devastating eruption last month. We raised $500 and held a special short assembly in the afternoon where our Pasifika boys and girls groups performed and we  heard from some of our Tongan students.

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Reconciliation: Next Friday the 25th of February, Father Robert will be coming to school to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation with our Years 5 – 8 students. Those that have received this sacrament already will be able to participate, whilst the other students will be encouraged to receive a blessing from Father and to quietly reflect through the service. This is a wonderful opportunity and we are so lucky to have Father Robert share this beautiful celebration with our students. 

School Notices

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 they have a Covid test, they cannot return to school until they get a negative result.
Under RED Phase 2, the rest of the family can carry on as usual and do not need to be in isolation. It is only when someone is a positive case that all family members have to stay at home and isolate. If your child is required to isolate, his/her teacher will contact you about learning from home.
If your Year 5-8 child/ren receive a chromebook to help them with their learning from home while in isolation, it must come back to school the first day they return to school. It has been allocated to them for their use this year and if they don’t bring it back to school they will not be able to use another one.

School Fees: School Fees are required to be paid in full at the beginning of each term ($117.00/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 ($11.70/week) or fortnightly ($23.40/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.

Summer Uniform: Just a reminder that sandals (black or brown) and a rimmed sun hat (bottle green) are part of our summer uniform. Everyone should have these by now.
You can still purchase second hand uniforms through the school. Just ring our school office 092387745 or email stjoesoffice@stjosephs.co.nz and our office staff will help you out.

Kick Start Breakfast: Breakfast is available for any child who needs it from 8:30 am – 9:00am. Breakfast is weetbix (Sanitarium), milk (Fonterra) and, when possible, fruit supplied by a local grower. This term Mrs Irwin is serving breakfast outside on the Hall deck.

Scholastic Book Club: Brochure Issue 1 will go out to classrooms this Thursday, orders due back by Tuesday 22 Feb. Thank you.

Spare Magazines: Our New Entrant room would love some magazines for cutting up as we match pictures to letter sounds. Please drop them to the school front door if you have any. Thanks.

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.

School Events 

** Please find Key dates for Term 1 following **

House Colour Mufti Day:  We will have a house colour mufti day on Friday, February 25th. 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.

Community Notices

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