Newsletter Wk7 13th June 2022
Holy Cross Catholic School Papatoetoe
Our Vision: Learning and Growing in Christ
Dear Parents and Caregivers
The Feast of the Trinity is always celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost and represents a central belief of our faith. While there are three distinct and individual divine persons, they are so deeply bonded by their love for each other that they operate with one mind and heart. We often refer to the ‘mystery’ of the Trinity for good reason; it is simply beyond our human capacity to fully understand it.
One of the best ways to help children grasp the concept of the Trinity is to ‘teach by doing’. For example, the Sign of the Cross is a simple Trinity prayer that can be a powerful teaching tool on the nature of God
The Trinity Prayer - Make the Sign of the Cross
Step One: Prayers of Praise and Thanks to the Father.
The Father is the author of Creation and all good things in our lives originate in him. For maximum impact, focus on the specific details of your day when offering praise and thanks, and address your prayer to your Father in Heaven.
Step Two: Prayers of Sorrow to Jesus.
It was Jesus who suffered and died so that we might be saved. Our failure to love not only wounds the ones we hurt, it wounds the whole body of Christ. Like making a confession, people often find this a difficult prayer to voice out loud. However, it is doubly powerful when we do so, as in seeking the forgiveness of Jesus, we also seek the forgiveness of those closest to us.
Step Three: Prayers of Petition to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the source of life-giving energy and grace in the world. When making this prayer, think of specific spiritual strengths (or graces) that will help you love better. For example: courage to apologise, perseverance in a difficult task, kindness towards someone you dislike, compassion for someone who hurt you.
Finally, pray the Glory Be (or for an even grander ending, The Gloria!).
Liturgy on Wednesday 2pm for the Arohanui Team.
All whanau are welcome to join us in the Church for this liturgy.
Congratulations to Eden Mati from Room 14 who received the Catholic Character Award this week.
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents
What an extraordinary end to Week 6! We were finally able to farewell Mr Bruce Young who retired at the end of 2021 after 30 years as our school Principal. We never officially farewelled him as every event we planned was disrupted by COVID and the Red Light Phase. Eventually, the decision was made to farewell him as a school by limiting numbers in the orange light phase. We apologise that this had to be a school only event.
We know many people in the wider community would have liked to have attended but this was not possible. However, if anyone wishes to write a note or letter to Mr Young, you may drop it off at the office and they will be delivered to him at the end of this term.
Our farewell to Bruce began with a Haka Powhiri where a stained glass window in the office was unveiled along with our outdoor B.Young Couch in the playground. We attended Mass where Bruce received a Benemeranti medal from the Pope Francis, an award he truly deserves. He received this award for 40 exemplary years of service to Catholic Education in Aotearoa New Zealand, 30 of which he spent as Principal of Holy Cross Catholic School, Papatoetoe. This award also acknowledged his service to the New Zealand Catholic Primary Principals’ Association and the Auckland Catholic Primary Schools’ Principal Association.
Our school Kapa Haka Roopu presented Bruce with a Korowai . Bruce helped establish this group and has always supported them. This roopu consists of many past pupils who continue to belong to this group and support and help train our younger members.
After lunch, some of our cultural groups performed and presented items to Mr Young and the afternoon concluded with Mr Young addressing the school for his final time. He presented the school with a magnificent greenstone Patu with the inscription,
“Poipoia te Kākano Kia puawai - Nurture the seed and it will blossom.''
This will be something the school will value and treasure.
Sincere thanks to Dermot Kelly who created the stained-glass window and to Paddy Bourke, our potter, who designed and worked with teachers and students to create the couch.
Special thanks to Father Vaughan Hook who flew up from Dunedin to celebrate the Mass with Fathers Andrew and Albert.
To all the staff who gave tirelessly preparing the cultural groups and the Mass, to all our students who were brilliant in all the activities they participated in to make Mr Young’s farewell a truly memorable occasion, sincere thanks and blessings to you all,
Arohanui.
Nga manaakitanga ki a koutou katoa
Julie Paul
Principal
A Poem by Amy Young
At Mr Young’s Farewell on Friday, Amy, his middle daughter who is currently living in England, sent us the following poem aptly titled, Our Sister. I’ve attached this to the newsletter as I think you will all enjoy it.
Our Sister
Our sister is our Dad's favourite child
She's bold and she's passionate, not at all meek and mild
Over the years we've watched with pride as she grew brave, strong and kind
A role model to many, she knows her own mind
Our Dad always made sure that she had the best of the best
From libraries to playgrounds - so much better than the rest!
Of course the children were Dad's number one priority
With maybe just a touch of competitiveness to be better than the majority…
Each year she would win the St Anne's shield with ease
Not just sports though - top at Reading and math too - clearly our Dads not hard to please!
However, she wasn't always perfect and could misbehave like us
Like when the alarms would go off at 2am and create a lot of fuss
And there were those times when she'd cause Dad a bit of stress
When ERO would come round, Dad wanted 5 years, absolutely no less!
If you ask us, our favourite time with our sister was November each year
When Dad would come home with pickled onions and leftover treats from her fair
Or when we'd help Helen before the school year began
A tight ship Helen, oh... I mean Dad, ran
Some of the best times would be when Dad needed softening up a bit
In would arrive gifts of Chop Suey and Ginger crunch, oh how we loved it!
Now our Sister is all grown up, and ready for a new boss (go Julie!)
But she'll always be one of the Youngs, our Dear Holy Cross
By Amy Young
Mahi Tahi Transition to School Programme
There will be parent meetings for all children starting in Term 3 2022 on Wednesday morning at 9.00am or on Thursday evening at 5.30pm.
Please ensure you answer the email sent last week and inform the office what meeting you will be attending. I look forward to meeting with you all and giving you information about the school and some resources to support your child’s transition to school.
School Lunches
School lunches will resume on Friday 17th June. Donna Leaupepe and Moe Tipelu.
Parent Whanau Maths Workshops
It was great to see you- so many of you at our previous workshops. Feedback has been very positive. Our next workshops are on Wednesday 16 June in the library.
While there will NO LONGER be any 9am sessions. We will continue with 1.30pm and 5.30pm sessions. We look forward to seeing you all there.
Enrolments for 2023
Please ensure you have completed enrolments for any of your children who will be turning 5 or if you or anyone you know is wanting their children to come to Holy Cross Catholic School in 2023. We will be looking to finalise our roll in July and confirming places by the end of August 2022.
The School Day
The school day starts at 8.45am in class and finishes at 2.50pm each day. Please be aware of these times as we are concerned over the number of students arriving late after 9am and leaving early well before 2.30pm.
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Our school rolls are electronic and these children are being recorded as absent which will affect their term’s attendance on their school report. We are striving to ensure our school attendance is above 80% across the board as we do not want to be recorded as a school with poor attendance.
Parking and the Carpark
It has been brought to our attention that people are being inconsiderate when using our carpark.
Please ensure you are parking in the allocated carparks and not blocking the driveway or the Parents who walk into school to collect their children could also park further away from the school to reduce this congestion of traffic in the carpark.
Please DO NOT park in centre of the carpark blocking the car park as this is creating a dangerous situation for our students who cannot walk safely around the car park.
It is also illegal to park on any broken yellow lines so please do not stop outside the school gates or on either side of the crossing as you are likely to get a parking infringement notice with a fine of $60.00 or more.
We are really encouraging our children to walk a little distance away from school using the crossings and meeting whoever is picking them up in the side roads surrounding the school.
Cost of Mouthguards
The cost of mouthguards has increased to $4.00 each.
KidsCan Jackets
We have also noticed a number of our students without suitable coats or jackets to keep them warm and dry and so this week we will be distributing jackets which have been donated by KidsCan Charitable Trust.
Students are to keep these jackets so please make sure you name them clearly so they do not get lost. The jackets that have been given to our school are quite large so we will give them to our Years 3 - 7 students who require them first.
School Jackets - $30.00 each
We also have some smaller size school jackets sizes 5 - 6, 7 - 8 and 9 - 10 for sale in the uniform shop. These have been reduced to $30.00 each if anyone wishes to purchase one of these.
Sports Exchange
On Thursday 16th June, our teams will compete against Papatoetoe West School in a sports exchange.
The games start at 1.15pm and will be played at the following locations:
At Holy Cross - Netball A & B, Soccer Boys A & B
At Papatoetoe West - Rugby Under 50kg and Open Weight, Netball C, D, E & F, Girls Soccer
Auckland Netball for Year 7 and Year 8 Tuesday 7 June 2022
Below is the draw for the Years 7 & 8 teams for Tuesday 14th June 2022
HCS Y8 Blue vs Glenbrae Primary School Y8 at 4.00pm on Court 3
HCS Y8 Red vs Howick Intermediate Bolts at 4.00pm on Court 16
HCS Y7 Blue vs Bucklands Beach Intermediate Y7 Gold at 6.00pm on Court 2
HCS Y7 Red vs Bucklands Beach Intermediate Y7 Navy at 4.00pm on Court 17
Intermediate Soccer Tournament
Free Friday Water Polo Have A go Sessions!!
Cross students down at Manurewa Pools on Friday evenings making the most of this free opportunity to learn basic waterpolo skills! Great to see our parents poolside too.
Who: Any year 5-8 Students
Where: Manurewa Aquatic Centre, Sykes Rd, Manurewa
Where: Fridays 5.45 - 6.45pm, every week during Term 2
What: Have a go at Waterpolo - Club coaches will involve athletes in a skills training session with the aim to build to playing games.
The cost is FREE!
Bring togs and towel and a drink bottle.
Please Note: Waterpolo is played in 2m deep water. It is important that athletes are confident in not being able to touch the bottom. Some swimming ability is helpful.
For further information or with any questions, please contact Margaret events@mountfortwaterpolo.nz or Shimera u12@mountfortwaterpolo.nzGirls Rugby South West Zone Tournament Result
Congratulations to the Girl’s Intermediate rugby team who competed in the South West Zone Tournament on Wednesday, 8th June at Aorere Park. It was a huge effort from our Intermediate Open Rugby Girls Team who went through undefeated to claim another South west title. They will go on to compete in the Auckland Championship Tournament. The details of the games are as follows:
Holy Cross vs Viscount 60 – 0 Win
Holy Cross vs Bader Int 30 -0 Win
Holy Cross vs Papatoetoe Int 40 – 0 Win
Holy Cross vs Otahuhu Int 40 -0 Win
In the final vs Kedgley Holy Cross won 25 – 10. The overall placings were:
1st Holy Cross
2nd Kedgley
3rd Koru
Gold Medal Success
School App
Download our school app (which is free) so that you receive announcements and newsletters from school to keep you up to date.
This is what the app looks like on either the PlayStore (for Android phones) or the App Store (for iPhones). Please download it if you haven’t done so already.
Contact Us
Email: office@hcsp.school.nz
Website: https://hcsp.school.nz/
Location: Holy Cross Catholic School Papatoetoe 21 Carruth Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 278 8224
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hcsp.school.nz