Newsletter 16th March 2022

Marian Catholic School

Principal's Reflection

Tena koutou te whānau



Well what a fortnight we have had. We feel we may have reached our COVID peak and are possibly coming down the other side. It has been great to welcome back many children this week who have recovered or completed their isolation with their families. Overall we have been blessed with minimal disruption to our regular school routines. Over the past two weeks we had up to 30% students absent which made for a sense of calmness around the classes and playground. During this time we had up to five staff affected either with COVID or isolating. We have been able to use our regular part time teachers as relievers to work in classes. This is brilliant for our students to ensure smooth running of classes continues.


I want to acknowledge the outstanding work all the staff are doing to ensure learning is seamless between home and school for our students isolating. This is evident with the smooth transition back to school on their return. A HUGE thank you to our parents for all your support as you manage working at home and distance learning.


Learning Conversations

Last week we held our Learning Conversations and many of these were held over zoom. The overall numbers were slightly down understandably with our current COVID numbers. Please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher to arrange a meeting if you missed the learning Conversations.



Gully

Titoki Landcare - a specialist ecological company has been contracted by the church to complete work in the gully in order to meet the resource consent for their new apartment build. The owner of Titoki Landcare, Adam Purcell, is an old boy of Marian, and is passionate about sharing his ecological knowledge with our students. The HCC resource consent requires a number of measures to mitigate the negative impact of the new build. This work includes:

clearing weeds and restoring approx 3000 square metres of the gully to native planting, extensive bat management work - installing bat houses and predator exclusion bands, and a lizard protection programme. This work is providing rich learning opportunities for our students. Thank you to Adam and his team for spending time talking to our students.


A HUGE THANK YOU to Mr Stu McIntyre and Mr Matt Iremonger for spreading mulch in our gully. Our gully is a treasure for our school and we are so grateful to these parents who had a couple of hours spare to help spread mulch around our new planting.


Would you have a couple of hours spare to help with pruning, planting or spreading mulch in our gully? We would love to have a team of parents who could chip away at these jobs supporting our Enviroschools programme. If you are interested please email me: dwhite@marian.school.nz



Ma te Atua koutou e manaaki


Arohanui, Debra

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Gospel Reflection

Stand strong in the Lord

Second Sunday in Lent (Luke 9: 28-36)

One day, Peter,James and John saw Jesus transfigured on the mountaintop. This means that his appearance changed as his face and clothes shone like the sun.

The light shining from Jesus was as bright as the sun. The rays of light were shafts of God's glory and a glimpse of his power and might.

Just as the light chases the darkness so that we can see, the light shining out from Jesus that day made the disciples see that he was the Son of God. Their lives were touched by the brilliance of God's power and love , and they were filled with the light of faith.

Jesus, fill me with the light of your faith. Make me shine in the darkness and touch the lives of others with the light of your goodness.

Charism Focus

Our Charism Focus for this term is the value of LIVE LOVE. We are lucky to have our school in a beautiful setting, with gardens and a wonderful Gully - thanks to so many people who have spent many hours caring for our grounds and planting the native trees in our beautiful gully.


As a part of our Live Love focus this term we are looking at how we can care for our world that God gave us. Our environment - our Common Home. Live Love includes caring for our environment.


How do we show love for the creation that God created? Pope Francis said, “All of us can co-operate as instruments of God, for the care of creation”. Creation is a gift from God.


So what does that mean to us this week at Marian School? How can we show respect for the gardens and the gully? Being careful of plants and flowers and not damaging them by walking over them. Not dropping rubbish - reusing and recycling our waste are all simple things we can do that will make a difference and keep our world a beautiful place to enjoy and treasure.


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DRS News

This week we have two special Feast Days to celebrate.


St Patrick’s Day.

Tomorrow, 17th March is the Feast day of St Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland.

St Patrick’s faith and courage brought many people to believe in God. He was a great teacher who used simple ideas to explain his beliefs. He used the Shamrock – a small Irish plant to explain the mystery of the Trinity – three persons in one God


As a school we are celebrating St Patrick’s Day tomorrow. The staff and students are encouraged to wear something green to school tomorrow, Thursday.


St Joseph’s Day.

This Saturday, March 19th, we celebrate the Feast day of St Joseph. He was the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. St Joseph is a patron of workers partly because he was a worker himself – a carpenter – but also because of the gift that he gave of himself when he agreed to take care of Mary and Jesus. Joseph was a hard-working carpenter, so he was able to give Mary and Jesus the things they needed to live. Joseph gladly gave of himself to be a husband to Mary and a father to Jesus.


We wish all St Joseph’s schools well on their special day.



Feast of the Annunciation

Next Friday 25th March is the Feast of the Annunciation, when Mary said ‘Yes’ to God and agreed to be the Mother of Jesus. She agreed, and calmly said, ‘Yes, let it happen to me’.

This was an expression of Mary’s faith. She, like many other women of the Old Testament, displayed absolute faith.

As Marian Catholic School, this feast day of Mary is a special day for us.

May the light of Mary’s grace shine upon us. Help us to have the courage to say ‘Yes’ as Mary did and answer God’s call.



God Bless,

Nicki Whyte DRS

Upcoming Events

  • St Patrick's Day Mufti Day - 17 March
  • Teacher Only Day - Friday 1 April (No BSC or ASC on this day)
  • L3 Tennis - Tuesday 22 and 29 March and 5 April

Education Outside the Classroom & Digital Agreements

We have updated two or our previous paper forms to be in a digital format. The first form is for granting permission for your child to participate in low risk activities based education outside the classroom. The second is our digital agreement contract, that ensures students act responsible when using digital tools.


Those forms will be shared digitally with all families via our school communication system (Hero) on Thursday. They are very quick to complete, and we would appreciate having them submitted by Friday the 25th of March.


Aqua Education - LC4

In Week 5, LC4 students participated in Aqua Ed run by qualified instructors at Waterworld Swimming Pool. Students were taught a range of swimming skills throughout the week that were catered to their specific needs. They also experienced an invaluable Water Safety Skills session.

Some students have shared their skills with us

Aqua Ed was an awesome experience for LC4 students. We learned how to survive in the ocean if we ever fell out of a boat or got into trouble in the water. A technique we learned about was sculling. We had to lay on our backs and use our hands to push the water so we could go forward to get to shore.

By Jack S


My favourite activity from Aqua Ed was when we were trying to rescue a drowning person. We threw rescue equipment to the person in the water, like a ball and a bucket. They could use the ball as a support to get to safety by holding it tightly under their tummy and kicking. They could use the bucket to help them float by facing it upside down in the water so it doesn’t fill up. You could hold it tightly to your tummy and kick backwards to the shore.

By Adelene M


Early in the frosty morning, when the sun was rising, my buddies and I all lined up excitedly and headed over to the bus. However, the bus wasn't there! So we all sat down on the soft and prickly grass and we waited. Finally, the bus arrived and I was so glad to be out of the cold. We were off!

By Vitalija B


Absentees

Please remember to advise the school office before 9am if your child is going to be absent from school. You can contact us by leaving a voice message on the phone or through our School App.

Due to the current covid situation we do have Teachers absent from school too. So if you are emailing your absence to the Class Teacher, please also send copy to info@marian.school.nz Thanks.

Welcome

We warmly welcome into our school community the following children and their families; Royce Roby (Rm1), Ezra Riardy (Rm1), Bezalel Nobin (Rm 5), Angelina Pious (Rm21), Alaina Pious (Rm14), Kevin Alahakoon (Rm 14) and Alessandra Siozon (Rm5)


Lucky Book Clubs

Lucky Book clubs should have come home by now. Please enquire with your child’s teacher if you haven’t received a copy.

If you want to order any books please use the online LOOP ordering system. We will not be accepting CASH orders.

Every book purchased gains rewards for our school.

Orders close FRIDAY, 25th March at 3pm.

Any questions or concerns please message Miss D’Cruz: sdcruz@marian.school.nz.


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Marian Catholic School Jacket

These jackets are supplied through our sportswear supplier Kukri and are of a very good quality. They are a soft shell, water proof material with a polar fleece lining.


We have some sample sizes in the school office if you would like to come and have a look and try out the sizes before purchasing.


Child sizes available: 3-4 yrs, 5-6 yrs, 7-8 yrs,

9-10 yrs, 11-12 yrs, 13-14 yrs.

The cost is $70.00 each.

Adult sizes: X-small, Small, Medium, Large

The cost is $80.00 each.


Delivery of the Jackets are approx. 8 weeks from

order placed.


Payment must be made before we order.

To place an order please contact Jardine McIntyre:

jmcintyre@marian.school.nz or come into the

school office.

Last day to order: Friday 18 March

PE Tops

The sports tops have finally arrived. Thank you to the many families who have been patiently waiting for them.

The cost is $35.00 each.

These are available at the school office


Before School and After School Care


Please take note - there will be no BSC or ASC on Teacher Only Day - Friday 1 April


Before School Care: bsc@marian.school.nz If you are wishing to enrol your child at Before School Care please use the email above.


After school Care : asc@marian.school.nz For casual bookings please email the Friday before the following week. This is essential for our planning.


Advance Notice: ASC Holiday programme will run in the second week of the holidays : Tuesday 26 April - Friday 29 April

Second Hand Uniform Shop

Our Second-Hand Uniform shop is open Fridays from 2pm to 2:45pm. The shop is located in the Whare (situated on the edge of the church car-park)

All articles are from $2.00 to $10.00, the proceeds of which go to the Welfare Fund


Pastoral Care Team

If you are isolating and don’t have any Family connections or friends living close by and you need some assistance e.g Pharmacy items or food, please contact Tricia on 0275170671.

We will either arrange for a delivery or provide information to assist you.

Nga mihi nui

Tricia

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Saints United

Saints United Netball Trials 2022

Venue: Minogue Park

Moore Street, Hamilton

Date: Saturday 2nd April 2022

Time: Y7 @ 8am (Year 7’s will trial in 6 aside format)

Y8 @ 10am (Year 8’s will trial in 7 aside format)


Saints United Hockey Muster 2022

Date: Wednesday 30th March & Wednesday 6th April 2022.

Time: 4.00 – 5.30pm

Venue: St John’s College Hockey Turf.

You must register to attend beforehand. Registration forms are in the Atrium and they were emailed to you last week through Hero. Any queries please email: jmcintyre@marian.school.nz

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