Term 1 Week 5 Newsletter #03

Term1 Week 5                              3 March  2022                                  Newsletter#03

Principal’s Message

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

Last week we were fortunate to be able to hold Reconciliation for our Year 5-8 students at school. Fr Robert and some visiting priests spread themselves out in shady areas outside the hall to hear confession. We were pleased to be able to provide this sacrament at school for our children before the beginning of Lent; which started yesterday with Ash Wednesday. A liturgy was held in each team and children were able to receive the ashes sprinkled on their heads. The season of Lent is a time of preparation for Holy Week and Easter, a time of giving, going without, and prayer.

This week our more able swimmers were able to go to Jubilee Pools for our annual school swimming competition. Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions, we were unable to send all our children this year for this special day in our school calendar. Because we have a reduced number of staff at school, we were pleased we were able to go at all. Thank you to the parents who helped to make this possible.

As we now have several staff members affected by isolation rules, we decided to postpone our Religious Education Teacher Only Day until Term 2. This does mean that we will now have two teacher only days in Term 2 but it is important that all teaching staff can attend the day. This year teachers are completing a paper through The Catholic Theological College focusing on the New Testament. Each year, teachers in Catholic schools are expected to complete 12 hours of RE professional learning. 

Our teaching staff attended the annual Auckland Diocese Teachers’ Dedication Mass on Tuesday evening online. Usually, we would travel into the city to celebrate this with our colleagues from the 57 Catholic schools in our diocese. Bishop Steve Lowe said this Mass and spoke to us about the vocation of teaching. We are very blessed to be part of this dedicated community of educators.

We now have had several positive Covid cases attached to our school. I am pleased with the way you have remained cautious and vigilant in monitoring your children’s symptoms. Keeping them at home if they display any COVID related symptoms and getting a RAT is the best way to keep everyone safe. At this time it appears most positive cases have been transferred within the home. In Red Phase 3, only household contacts of confirmed cases are required to self-isolate for 10 days and can come back to school on Day 11 if symptom-free. All other contacts of COVID-positive people are no longer required to isolate, but they will need to monitor for symptoms. Some of our staff are also isolating at home, while not necessarily unwell, and so we have moved to hybrid learning with ‘at school’ and ‘distance learning’ in place. We will be able to maintain this as long as our teachers remain well.

I hope that you all are managing well during this uncertain time. If you have a need and the school can help, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Stay safe and God bless.
Ngā mihi nui

Ursula Hall
Principal – Tumuaki

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

Here is a link for the NZ Catholic publication..

https://indd.adobe.com/view/e25bfeca-e399-42ba-9da3-2a0caa12f2ee 

Some headlines from this issue: Bishop Stephen Lowe installed as Bishop of Auckland. Catholic korero on Treaty of Waitangi. Vocations talk at city pub. Seminary rector climbs mountains.

RECONCILIATION
On Friday the 25th of February our akonga from Ako 2 and Arahi were pleased to be able to take part in Rite 2 Reconciliation with Father Robert and five priests from neighbouring parishes. We held our liturgy in the hall and following an examination of conscience; all students from Years 5 – 8 went outside to either receive Reconciliation or a special blessing from the priests. We were very lucky to be able to celebrate this here at school and are very thankful to Father Robert for helping organise it. During COVID restrictions we have missed out on so many opportunities to celebrate our faith and it was lovely to see how much the children and the priests enjoyed sharing in this sacrament.

TEACHER’S DEDICATION MASS
On Tuesday the 1st of March our Staff got together in their teams to celebrate Mass with our Bishop, Steven Lowe. Traditionally every year, we travel up to Auckland as a staff and celebrate our commitment to Catholic teaching. We were unable this year due to the current Covid restrictions but that did not make the experience any less special. The Mass was beautiful and focused on how we, as teachers, have the awesome privilege to teach Catholic Values and facilitate our akonga’s relationship with God. Matthew 5 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” A wonderful reminder that as a Mission school we can and must, glorify God through both our teaching and through our good deeds for others.

ASH WEDNESDAY
We celebrated the beginning of Lent a little different this year with Ash Wednesday liturgies in our own bubbles. Father Robert brought blessed ashes over to our school and our teachers distributed the ashes amongst the students. The powerful symbol of ashes on our forehead, is a sign that we admit to making wrong decisions in our lives, such as being mean to others, not being peaceful, not sharing or not helping others when in need. This symbol shows that we want to change and make better choices. This symbol is a powerful sign to others that we live with Christ and want to follow in his footsteps.

School Board News

At our February Board Meeting, our re-election of officers was held and Simon Dykes continues to hold the position of Presiding Chair, Sandra Hawke: Deputy Chair, Elvira Balle: Secretary, and Losa Helu: Treasurer. Fr Robert, Losa Helu, Allan Murello and Sandra Hawke are our proprietor’s representatives, and Simon Dykes, Elvira Balle, Mike Noble, and Nikki Tarapa are our parent representatives. Lori Mravicich is our teacher representative.

Also at our meeting, Linda McQuade (presiding chair) and John Mills (deputy chair), from the St Ignatius of Loyola College Establishment Board, spoke to us about the progress of the development of our new Catholic College in Drury opening 2024. The College is required to have a Ministry of Education approved enrolment scheme, which applies once the College receives more applications for enrolment than can be accepted. It is highly likely that in this enrolment scheme the first priority for acceptance will be students from the three contributing Catholic Primary Schools (St Joseph’s Pukekohe, St Mary’s Papakura and Holy Trinity Takanini) with a signed Preference of Enrolment Certificate. 

Some parents are asking right now what that looks like for their children. At the end of next year, 2023, children at our school in Years 6, 7 & 8, can move onto the new college as Years 7, 8 & 9 students in 2024. We see St Joseph’s School as a pathway to attending St Ignatius College; a long-awaited Catholic College for our Catholic families in South Auckland. We are all very pleased it is finally happening and Catholic secondary education will be more available for our community without having our children travel each day into the city.

One of our current Board members, Elvira Balle, has been appointed as our Pukekohe community representative on the St Ignatius College Establishment Board. The Establishment Board is currently advertising for an Establishment Principal and the school site, on Burtt Road, is under development. We hope to see buildings rising later in this year.

School Notices

SCHOOL IS OPEN TOMORROW FRIDAY 4 MARCH. OUR TEACHER ONLY DAY HAS BEEN POSTPONED!

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 your child has a Covid test, they cannot return to school until they get a negative result.

While you are awaiting results for the test the rest of the family may carry-on as normal. 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 10 days of isolation. All members must get a test for COVID-19 on Day 3, and on Day 10 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 10 test was negative
• you have no new or worsening symptoms

Please note that in this phase, with Omicron spreading in the community, the school is no longer required to send a notice home to inform you that there has been a positive case within the school. We assure you that we are following the same strict health and safety guidelines 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.

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 Events 

MOTAT Visit : MOTAT came to Ako Tahi at St Joseph’s school last Thursday.  The students were able to learn about different types of technology from the past. This included Maori tools, early NZ European household items, feather quills, typewriters, cameras, telephones and modern NZ inventions.

SWIMMING SPORTS
Our House spirit was alive and well this week at our annual swimming sports. Held at the Jubilee Pools, we took our competitive swimmers down to compete for their houses and for the swimming trophies. There was some fierce competition between the houses and excellent swimming skills on display. During our break time, between races, we were witness to some impressive bombs, dance moves and wonderful house spirit. Although we were disappointed to not have our traditional Year 5 – 8 swimming sport, we made the best of it and had a fabulous day. Thank you very much to the parents who were able to time-keep and to the parents who came along to cheer their children on, even if it had to be from afar.

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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