Newsletter Week 3, Term 4 2021

Principal's Message

Nau Mai Haere Mai,

A special welcome to Kennedy Tunnicliffe who has started school in Akonga Hub this week. I have watched Kennedy grow over the years and now she is 5. Kennedy is very lucky to have her big sister Carla at school. Welcome Kennedy! Our current role is 209 and keeps grow growing which we love!

This week is Mission Week. A special thank you for the donations of money that you have given so that the children can enjoy lots of activities, food and items over the week. All of the money raised is given to our three missions that we support; Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, Holy Childhood Fund and St Columban Society Aotearoa. There is a MUFTI DAY on Friday. No gold coin donation, it is just for fun!

As we work our way through Level 2 guidelines, we have been notified that the Morrinsville Schools District Athletics Competition and the Catholic Intermediate Schools Athletics Competition will not go ahead this year. We will continue to have our school Athletics Day. The children and teachers have been very diligently preparing for this event.

Just a reminder that this Monday 8 November is an Accord Teacher Only Day. Only staff will be onsite. Alternative childcare arrangements need to be made for this day.

Have a great week everyone!

God Bless you and your whānau.

Andrea Colebourn, Principal

Scripture Reading

We held our Scripture Reading Finals last week for year 5 - 8. It is such a special opportunity to take part in reading the liturgy of the word. Father Mark and Mrs Pigou had a very challenging role of judging the finals. A special thank you to our finalists. You did an incredible job. We are proud to announce the 2021 winners:

Year 7 and 8

Winner - Madison Nickalls

Runner Up - Mia Hyde

Year 5 and 6

Winner - Ezra Arnephy

Runner Up - Sheina Bantugan

Honours and Excellence Badges

Our year 7 and 8 students take part in a Leadership Programme that we have designed. Part of the leadership is working towards excellence and honours. We have four areas that we focus on; service, cultural, academic and sporting. An excellence badge is 10 merits and an honours badge is 20 merits.

Congratulations to our students who have gained badges in the following areas:

Excellence Badges

Kyralee Martinson. Academic, Service

Brendan Unka Cultural

Amaya Powell. Service

Kate Mourits Service

Madison Nickalls. Service

Bailee Horan. Cultural

Mia Hyde. Academic, Service, Cultural

Charlie Vowles. Sporting

Honours Badges

Tahnay Sonnendecker. Sporting, Service

Emma Van Vliet. Service

Brooke Devaney Service

Sonechka Lee Service

Mission Week

Our school is preparing for our edited version of Mission Day. Mission Day (week)is a very important part of the Charism of our school. The day brings lots of excitement, fun and interesting activities and things to buy. What sits behind this is the purpose of the Day.

St Joseph’s Catholic School has three missions that we raise money for each year.

They are:

Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions… Our school was founded by this chapter. Their divine mission is through contemplation, communion and mission. The priority is to be present and work with those who are vulnerable and neglected, those marginalised in our world today, with particular regard to women, children and youth. Past donations from our school have helped with Education programmes for girls, especially those who were denied opportunities

Holy Childhood Fund… This society is run through Catholic Primary Schools with ‘children helping children.’ The key focus of this principle is almsgiving where schools help by raising money for the missions. Did you know that our school is the leading school for making the largest donation each year to this fund?

St Columban Society Aotearoa… This mission focuses on Mission Education with concern for Social Justice and the environment in response to global mission. Father Don Hornsey, who is connected to our Parish is hugely involved in this society. Our donations have helped children in need, especially those in poorer countries. We would like our children and families to know about the essence of our Mission Day as to why we raise money and where we send that money to.

Accord Day - Teacher Only Day

As mentioned in the Principal's Message over the past few weeks, We have a Teacher Only Day next Monday 8 November. This means that school is not open for students so alternative childcare arrangements will need to be made. Thanks for your support

Class organisation for 2022

We are currently finalising our classes for 2022. When putting classes together the teachers look at aspects such as class size, gender ratio, academic needs, social needs, learning styles verse teaching styles. I ask that you recognise the experience of the senior teachers and classroom teachers in their ability to place children accordingly under the outlined criteria. The final decision as to which child is in what class remains the responsibility of the school. If you have anything that you think we need to know regarding the placement of your children in a class please contact Simone Campbell simonec@stjoes.school.nz or principal@stjoes.school.nz. While we respect all your requests, this will not always be met if we consider other factors to be greater.

If your family is moving or planning to move out of the Morrinsville area or your child will not be returning to St Joseph’s School for 2022, please contact myself principal@stjoes.school.nz or drop by my office asap. We appreciate this as this also can affect class placements and class sizes for next year so as much notice as possible is extremely important.

Mr Flynn is leaving

Our amazing caretaker Mr Peter Flynn is leaving our school after 26 years of looking after St Joes. We are so sad to see him go as he has made sure that our school looks top notch. He is the pool guy, the lawns man, Mr fix-it and he also gets balls off the roof. We know that there will be lots of people that would have some lovely kind words that they would like to share about Peter. Please email those words to admin@stjoes.school.nz so we can pass on your lovely messages.

We are looking to find a new Mr Flynn! The position is 5 hours per week and the job entails general maintenance. We also have a shed and lots of cool tools that come with the job.

If you are interested, please send CV and enquiries to principal@stjoes.school.nz

Applications close 15 November 2021

School Photos

You are now able to order your children's class/individual/family/sport/leadership photos. Yesterday details were sent home via the eldest in each family on how to use the Key Code system to order all photo requirements on line. Please check that you have received these.

Reminder : to obtain free delivery of your photos via school, please have your order placed by Sunday, November 14th. After this date orders will incur a delivery charge to your home.

Thank you and happy viewing. Cheers

Good Luck Hockey Teams

GOOD LUCK to 4 of our hockey teams who play in the finals of Hockey this Thursday and Friday. We look forward to some exciting games. Have Fun!

Uniform Returns - last call for basketball singlets and any other outstanding sports uniforms. If these are not returned by Friday. invoices will be issued for replacement costs. Thank you.

Our Parish

The Church dedicates the month of November to our faithful departed commencing with the feast of ‘All Saints’ where we recognize and honour all our Saints in Heaven.

Today is “All Souls Day”, a day the Church devotes to prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died, our loved ones and all loved ones, and we pray that through the mercy of God they will rest in peace with him.

After 5.30 Mass this evening you are invited to join Father Mark to bless graves at the Piako cemetery for you (weather permitting).

There is also a box in front of the Altar where you can place the name(s) of those you wish to especially remember as we continue to offer an extra prayer at Mass throughout the month praying as a community together for this special intention.