Dear Parents

I trust everyone was glad that they didn’t have to deal with the extremely wet weather yesterday to get their children to school. Unfortunately it wasn’t the same for the staff who all attended the Teacher Only Day on Maori Spirituality which was led by Manuel Beazley who works as a Vicar for Maori at Catholic Diocese of Auckland.

This day was our second professional development day on Maori Spirituality and was both beneficial and valuable for all our staff and this will be beneficial to your children as we will develop some resources from this day and include them in our Local curriculum.

Nga manaakitanga ki a koutou katoa
Julie Paul

Principal

Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her.

May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Our prayers and sympathy are extended to Miss Pat Helsham and her family at the passing of their beloved Mother, Mary Helsham. Mary has been a loyal and devoted member of both our School and the Parish Community for well over 50 years. She has worked tirelessly supporting many people in numerous ways and will be greatly missed by the Holy Cross Community.

May she rest in peace.

Our sympathy and prayers are also extended to Mrs Donna Leaupepe and her family at the passing of her beloved mother-in-law over the weekend. May she rest in peace.

Haere mai, Talofa lava, Maligayang pagdating, Malo e lelei, Hwan yeong, Bienvenido, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Bienvenue, and Welcome!

Pope Francis has asked the question of ‘how we journey together’. The purpose is to ‘listen to the questions, concerns and hopes of every church, people and nation'.

We'd like to hear from you! People of all backgrounds are invited to contribute.

Completing this feedback form takes about five minutes and your input will feed into a diocesan/regional paper on how we as a Church and as Catholics 'journey together', which then informs a paper to the Vatican. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZCBCSynod

We are really encouraged by the increasing number of students we now have returning to school, but we are still being cautious and ensuring we maintain our safe practices

• Hand Sanisting

• Mask Wearing Year 3 - 8

• Social Distancing

• Keeping in our Bubbles

• Isolating when there are household contacts

• Staying home if we feel unwell or have symptoms

Thank you for your ongoing support in this area and for continuing to report any contacts or positive cases.

Please ensure these are returned by Friday 25 March 2022 as we still have some contact details missing from our database.

We would also remind families to ensure that details are updated if any changes occur. It is also vitally important that the school is informed if you wish to allow your child to be collected by any person who is not listed on your form as a contact.

Enrolments for 2023 for Year 9 are now open. The closing date for non-preference applications will close at the end of Term 1 (14/4/22)

Enrolments for preference students will close at the end of Term 2 (8/7/22).

To obtain an enrolment pack, please collect one from Holy Cross School Office. You can also download the forms from McAuley’s website McAuley High School - Enrolment (scroll to the bottom). For more information please contact McAuley High School on 09 276-8715.

De La Salle College is now accepting enrolments for 2023. Please go to their website

www.delasalle.school.nz/enrolment-form/ to download the enrolment form or alternatively call into their School Office to collect an enrolment pack.

You may also phone the enrolment officer on 09 276-4319 Ext 816 to make further enquiries.

Every family should have received their Attendance Dues account. The invoices were emailed to parents last week. Please note that this account reflects the total amount due for the year.

Attendance Dues can be paid each term or through regular automatic payments each week into our school BNZ account 02-0232-0158405-97.

The Special Catholic Character Contribution is a one off payment of $50.00 per child per year.

If you have any queries or concerns please contact Helen Peri by telephoning the school office on 09 2788224 or email accounts@hcsp.nz

Some of our students will be taking part in the Wonder Project Rocket Challenge next term. It’s an amazing programme designed to get young Kiwis excited about STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The programme pairs STEM professionals with teachers to deliver the challenge and we need more volunteers to help our kids design, build and launch water rockets! See how much fun it is here

Keen to help? It only requires 1 hour a week for 6–8 weeks during Term 2, either online or in their classroom if possible. The Wonder Project team provides everything we need so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to guide our students on the Rocket Challenge. We are looking for passionate and committed professionals working in STEM fields who want to make a real difference – and inspire wonder in the minds of young people in their community.

Register online at wonderproject.co.nz

The sKids holiday programme will run from 19th - 29th April 2022 and will be held at Papatoetoe South School, 58A Milan Road, Papatoetoe.

You will find information about the programme in the image below. For information about booking please phone

We are constantly monitoring and reviewing these lists and so I encourage you to make sure you have enrolled your children for 2023 and 2024.

If you have any family or friends who wish to join our school please remind them to get their enrolments completed as soon as possible for all levels within the school.