Welcome back for Term 2. We are looking forward to and hoping for our first uninterrupted term for the past 2 years. It has been great to be able to welcome parents and visitors back into the school grounds and we thank you for respecting our guidelines of not entering the classrooms. Staff are working hard on events that parents can be involved in as the term progresses as well as some exciting learning for the children.

May is the month of Mary. May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary refer to special Marian devotions held in the Catholic Church during the month of May honouring Mary, mother of God as "the Queen of May". A "May Crowning" is a traditional Roman Catholic ritual that occurs in the month of May.

We are delighted to be able to attend Friday Masses in the church as classes and syndicates again. Kapa haka and choirs will be starting also. It has been great to see the amount of time classes are spending learning outside and enjoying the autumn weather. Our last Matariki celebration was a huge success and we are looking to make it bigger and better this year. Please mark the important dates in this newsletter on your calendars.

The covid cases in the school have markedly reduced with only one active case amongst our children at present but we do have 2 families isolating at home this week with cases in their households. We do encourage you all to remain vigilant and test if there are any symptoms. Thank you for not sending children to school that are unwell.

Have a great weekend.

It has been great to see senior students leading games for the junior students during the lunchtimes this week. The sunshine has also meant lots of time for PE and Sport outside. The middle and senior students enjoyed learning some football skills led by the Cashmere Technical Football Club. This will continue for the next 5 weeks.

Basketball begins at Pioneer in Week 3 and the teams are now training for this.

Good luck to all students who are involved in club sports that begin this weekend.

Class Masses

As we are currently in the Orange setting for the Covid-19 response classes can attend weekday masses. The first classes to participate at a Friday Mass will be Muriwai (new entrants) and Aumoana (year one). The children will attend Mass on Friday 13th May at 9 am. The following Friday will be Teretere (year two) and Paretai (year 3). This year the students will contribute by presenting work, singing, leading the Reading and Prayers of the Faithful and taking up the Offertory. All whānau members are welcome to join the students and community for Mass.

School Mass

Father Phil leaves for Ireland early in June. A farewell Mass, which the school will arrange, will be held for him. The Mass will be celebrated with song, prayers, gifts, blessings and messages for safe travel, health and happiness for Father Phil. The date for this Mass has not yet been finalised but is likely to be on Friday the 27th of May.

Quotes on current topics

On Monday 25th April Pope Francis spoke with a group of students from Northern Ireland. He said, “If we truly believe in Jesus, we must do what Jesus does: encounter others, encounter our neighbours, in order to share with them the saving truth of the Gospel". He went on to say that:

“Building a culture of encounter is not simply about seeing, but looking; it is not about hearing, but listening; it is not about just meeting or passing people by, but stopping to engage with them about the things that really matter.”

We need to ask ourselves how we can become promoters of this culture of encounter in our communities.

Liturgical Year

Tuesday 3 May is the feast of St Philip and James, the apostles. Philip and James were both apostles, and both served Christ faithfully during the very early days of the Church.

Philip seems to have been an enthusiastic person. He was the one who brought his friend Nathanael to Jesus, insisting to Nathanael that he had found the person about whom Moses had written. Some years later it was Philip who made arrangements, with the help of Andrew, to have a group of Greek Gentiles brought to Jesus. Philip also had a practical, down-to-earth mind. He was the apostle who commented that it would take a considerable amount of money to feed a crowd of more than 5,000 hungry men, women, and children!

Tonga - Year 1

Tesei - Year 3

Charlize - Year 6

Malia - Year 8

We are ready to reLaunch our Daily Breakfasts.

All children are welcome to come and have breakfast together each morning from next Monday.

• Monday 2 May - Start of Term 2

• Tuesday 10 May - Zone Cross Country Try outs

• Wednesday 11 May - 16 May - Life Education Lessons

• Thursday 19 May - Board Meeting in the Senior Room 5.30pm

• Friday 3 June - Teacher Only Day, Kahukura Conference - School closed

• Monday 6 June - Queen’s Birthday - School Closed

• Thursday 23 June - Matariki Whanau Fun day at school

• Friday 24 June - Matariki - School Closed

• Monday 4 July and Tuesday 5 July - Parent - Teacher Interviews

• Monday 27 June - 8 July - Keeping Ourselves Safe Lessons

• Friday 8 July - Last day of Term 2

We have all our policies and procedures on School Docs. At present we have policies that we would appreciate your feedback on. Please follow the link below and review these policies.

1. Visit the website

http://sacredheartchch.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm (note that there is no “www”!)

2. Enter the user name (sacred) and password (heart).

3. Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.

4. Read the policy.

5. Click the Policy Review button at the right-hand top corner of the page.

6. Select the reviewer type "Parent".

7. Enter your name (optional).

8. Submit your ratings and comments.

We are able to share the Totstoteens Magazine so you can access some great info and prizes over the holidays.

https://issue2203.totstoteens.co.nz/

Due to the on-going pressures on our health system from Omicron, we will be providing limited dental care at 2 of our clinics over the upcoming school break. Most of our dental team continue to be redeployed to support the delivery of essential health services.

The Community Dental Service will be providing urgent and relief of pain appointments during the school break at:

Aranui Community Dental Clinic, 240 Breezes Road, Christchurch

Hornby Community Dental Clinic, 2 Hei Hei Road, Christchurch

You can access these appointments by calling our Contact Centre on 0800 846 983.

For any dental advice please call the Contact Centre on 0800 846 983 or email

commdental@cdhb.health.nz