Newsletter - Week 1 Term 3
Newsletter 20 27 July 2022
Principal's Message
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to Term 3. We have an action-packed term planned with great learning experiences for our students. School production practices have started with Jane Trask and all our children will be performing Little Red Rocking Hood at the end of the term.
This term we welcome Lori Norton who has been appointed Learning Support Coordinator replacing Brigitte Holmes who moves into a Deputy Principal role with Sylvia Dunkley. I am sure that you will make Lori feel very welcome.
Welcome to our new children who started at St Mary’s this week : Sienna Bridget Philip, Nihal Shijo, David Tony, Reign Kerr-Grant in Kakano 8, together with Lori Norton and Sophie Harper, from schools outside the area.
We also welcome Ellie McClenaghan who is on placement from Waikato University for a term with Karen Tabuteau and Room 14 students.
Three Way Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday 2nd August from 2.30 to 6.00 pm and Wednesday 3rd August 3.10 - 5.30 pm. Please see booking process below. The booking code for our school is srprt. Please note also that school closes early on Tuesday at 2pm to facilitate these conference times. If you are needing assistance to make a booking, please call at the school office for assistance.
The time allowed for each conference is 10 minutes. Please be considerate of the teacher (who needs to keep to the appointment schedule) and other parents who have made bookings. If you feel you need more time for discussion, please organise another time to meet with the teacher.
The purpose of the conference is so parents/students/teachers can co-construct a literacy goal, maths goal, and a values goal.
Reports will be sent home with your child this Friday. With the reports, there is a whanau sheet for you to rate your child’s progress against the key competency area.
The Key Competencies are capabilities that help your child learn. Using the scale you tick the appropriate box that you think best describes your child. Please return the form to your classroom teacher on Monday the 1st of August. This document will form part of the conference discussion, in order to co-construct your child’s next learning goals.
We have Board of Trustees elections coming up soon. View process for nomination below.
The Catholic Schools’ Annual Sport and Cultural Day is at Aquinas College Tauranga this year, on Monday 15th August. We are sending netball, football, rippa rugby, hockey, mini ball and chess teams to the event. From this group of children we are selecting children to participate in religious drama, RE quiz, Scripture Reading and speeches. Children selected to participate will be bringing a letter home on Friday.
The draw for the reading logs will be next Friday 5 August, so children need to bring their logs back by this coming Monday, August 1st.
We are also looking for transport for two of our students, morning and afternoon, from Frank Street, Koutu. Please call the office if you might be able to assist.
Kind regards,
David Macmillan,
Principal.
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Welcome back to another busy term!
This term we have one whole school Mass. This Mass is Friday the 12th of August at 9am, and we will be celebrating the Feast day of Mary MacKillop. We invite all our community to join us in this celebration. Please keep a watchful eye on your child’s class blog for when they will be attending a parish Mass.
At the end of last term the staff participated in professional learning around Catholic Meditation. We looked at different ways our children could use meditation to deepen their relationship with God. We suggest that a form of Catholic Meditation you could try at home is called Visio Divina - Divine Seeing. There are 3 steps in this process: Focus on a Catholic image, meditate on a part of the image, share what it means to you, pray to God using the image as a prompt.
We hope you all have a blessed week,
Sara Mines and Lorna Dobson
DRS.
PARENT INTERVIEWS - THREE WAY CONFERENCES
We encourage all parents to make a booking for their child/children for Three Way conferences scheduled for next week. Interview days are as follows:
Tuesday 2nd August 2.30 - 6.00 pm (Last booking 5.50 pm) - School will close at 2 pm.
Wednesday 3rd August 3.10 - 5.20 pm (Last booking 5.10 pm)
SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS 2022
Parent Election Notice
Nominations are open for the election of five (5) parent representatives to the St Mary’s Catholic School Board of Trustees. All eligible voters will receive a nomination form and information this week (via email and the school app). Use this form to nominate yourself or someone in your community. Information on who is not eligible to be a board member is provided with the nomination form. If you need more nomination forms, contact the school office.
Nominations close at 12 Noon on 17th August 2022. You may provide a signed candidate statement and photograph with your nomination.
The electoral roll is held at the school and can be viewed during normal school hours.
As nominations are received, there will be a list of candidates’ names kept at the school up until Election Day, for people to view.
Voting closes at 4 pm on 21st September 2022.
Signed
Margo Mason
Returning Officer
SPELLING BEE
Once again the University of Canterbury is offering the Kiwi Spelling Bee competitions for Yr 5/6 Primary school students . The competitions cover grammar, spelling and vocabulary.
The online competitions will be run for the last 3 weeks of Term 3. Parents/caregivers will be provided with an individual student report outlining student performance distributed by the school. All participating students will be awarded a certificate and prizes will be awarded to the overall top students in each year group.
The cost for a student to participate is $9.50. Entries must be received by Tuesday August 2nd.
Letter to parents inviting students to participate
(Years 5/6 only)
SPORTS NEWS
TOUGH GUY AND TOUGH GIRL CHALLENGE
Tough Guy & Girl Challenge Registrations need to be in the office by this Friday with payment. [$25.00] - No Payment -No Entry- and No late entries accepted. Years 3 - 6. Registration forms at the school office.
If you are attending your child/childrens' sporting events and have some good photos to share, please send to sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz with a notation about the occasion.
Please regularly check our school website for information about the sport/s your child is playing. If you have any sports queries please do not ring the office. Contact for the Sports
Co-ordinator is : sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz. or mobile 0272857579
Eat Yummy Apples for new sports gear...
Sticker sheets available from the School office.
LUCKY BOOK ORDERS
Book orders due back 12 August 12 noon – no late orders please. Please ensure that your child’s name and room number are on the order form otherwise there will be a delay in receiving the order. If the order is a gift highlight this, and the order will be left for collection in the office.
There is a special offer with the online ordering this issue with 1 free book for an order over $30, 2 free books with orders over $50 and 3 free books for an order worth over $70. This is only with online orders, through the loop system.
Please go to LUCKY Book Club | Scholastic New Zealand and follow the simple prompts to place your order using your credit card.
There are 2 printing errors in the magazine. To order Might as Wool Alpa Funny Book use the code 010 and The Jungle Book 011.
LUNCHEON ONLINE PROMOTION
Charity Fundraiser - Dress for Success
One of our families is involved with this charity fundraiser : Dress for success - Recycle the
Runway, and pupils Danica and Sheina are participants. They would love your support!!
For this event local designers and dressmakers have taken up the challenge of creating bespoke one-off garments using pre-loved and recycled items.
The garments are then showcased on the catwalk in a spectacular light and sound event curated by the talented Kharl WiRepa.
A special invitation with heavily reduced rates is available to all staff and families of St Mary's.
Contact 027 392 4644 if you would like to purchase tickets.