Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the cyclone here in New Zealand and those affected by the earthquake in Turkey. We in Christchurch know what it is like to be affected by natural disasters in both the short term and in the long term recovery phase. Local Catholic primary schools have asked our Catholic colleagues who have been affected, which schools need support. When they have time to let us know, we will be holding a casual clothes day to fundraise for those affected and our tamariki will be making and sending cards and messages to them. We will keep you posted re this day.

We are fortunate that our own start to the year has been much more settled and it is lovely to see our tamariki settling into new classes, making new friends and connecting with old friends. A reminder that the Meet the Teams meetings are being held today, Thursday 16th February from 3.30 p.m. - 4.00 p.m. and repeated again at 5.30 p.m. - 6.00 p.m. so that you can choose the time that best suits your family, or if you have children in different teams you can attend both team meetings. This is a great opportunity to meet with the teachers and hear about the team's learning programmes and expectations.

Ngā mihi nui

Janet and the Team @ OLA

Welcome back to the new school year!

We are very excited to let you know who our new Proprietor’s Representatives are on our School Board. These are Bishop Michael’s representatives and are appointed by him. We have 4 of these representatives on our board.

A very big welcome to:

Nicholas Collins

Emily Hutchison

Maria Powick

Ed Nystad

Last year Ed was elected as a parent representative and as Bishop Michael has now appointed him as a Proprietor’s Representative we have a vacancy. We met as a School Board on Tuesday night and decided to fill the vacancy by selection. You will have received a Hero notice about this on Wednesday 15th February.

Finally it is great to see, after our two years of transition, the whole school in our lovely new green and navy blue uniform. We do realise though that the we were not explicit enough in communicating our uniform shoes. We had said black traditional school shoe or black sports shoe with a black sole. By this we meant a totally black shoe. We notice that a small number of children have coloured strips or white sole parts. We acknowledge that shoes are an expensive item so request that, when you buy new shoes for your child you ensure that they are totally black.

And a reminder that long hair is to be tied back with a dark green, navy blue or black hair tie/scrunchie. If you are using a small elastic hair tie then it could also be the colour of your child’s hair.

Ngā mihi nui

OLA School Board

Young Vinnies serve our school by organising and running our Values Assemblies. They assist with fundraising and assist with the pastoral care of people in our community.

The Media Team are our digital technology specialists. They take school photos, set up all of our digital equipment, organise the end of year slide show presentation for the prizegiving and problem solve any technical issues.

PAL's stands for Physical Activity Leaders. PAL's organise physical activities around the school and organise the sports shed and equipment.

Eco Leaders work on increasing our sustainability knowledge and work in our garden. They also look after our lovely chickens.

1. Go go the SchoolDocs Website (ola.schooldocs.co.nz)
2. Enter the user name (ola) and password (assume11).
3. Click the green “Current Review” box.
4. Select the policy you wish to review and read it.
5. Click the blue “Start Your Review” button.
6. Select the reviewer type “Whānau".
7. Enter your name (optional).
8. Choose to either "leave a comment" or "not leave a comment".
9. Click the Privacy Statement box.
10. Click the blue "Submit Review" box.

If you do not have computer access, please see Carolyn or Kim in the office for a hardcopy of the document.

Front row: Henry, Zachary, Louie, Wilkie, Samuel and Aliyah

Back row: Maya, Irene and Haidee.

Front row (from left): Sylvester, Seraphin and Jahmia.

Back row: Sebastian, Finn, Reuben and Carys

Who are the PTA?

We are a group of parents and a teacher representative who meet on the first Monday of each month to work together to help organise fundraising and events for all our children at OLA. Think Disco, Raffles and Break the Rules Day, as well as helping to contribute to new play equipment, resources, buses and end of year events.

We are a team of mainly new members (less than one year) and would welcome anyone else interested in joining us. If you can't commit to our monthly meetings, but would like to offer your help at any of our events, please join the OLA PTA Facebook page where we will post events, how you can help and any other new PTA news.

We look forward to inviting you to our next meeting on Monday 6th March, or seeing you on the OLA PTA Facebook page.

Second Hand Uniform / PE Uniform

The PTA run the secondhand school and new sports uniform sales fortnightly on Wednesdays between 2.45p.m. - 3.15p.m. where you can buy or donate current uniforms that are washed and in good condition. Our next open day is Wednesday 22nd February. Bring cash if buying please.

God Bless

Janet and the Team at Our Lady of the Assumption School

The house at 170 Hoon Hay Rd is available for rent - a periodic tenancy or set period agreed to with the parish.

Please contact Judy at the Parish office for details.

Phone 338 8395 or email administration@christchurchsouth.org.nz