Talofa, Kia ora, Malo e lelei, Habari, Hello,

Another busy week at Bishop Edward Gaines. It is lovely to see all the activities happening in classrooms and outside the classroom, which are engaging and enabling our students to participate fully. This Monday Mr Billing from JPC helped Roncalli finish their trap making and trap designs. The trap line has now been set, and these students are making daily observations and recording their findings. We will be looklng at our data collection at the end of the term to see what patterns we notice.

Today is St Patricks Day, and students have dressed in green and worn their favourite clothes to fundraise for Caritas. I was particularly impressed with Nifo, Hannah and Zoe and Hunni and their outfits today, well done girls for getting into the spirit of St Patricks Day!

This Friday we celebrate our St Joseph Mass with Father Fernando. This is an important feast day for our school as Mary MacKillop was a Josephite nun. This order had much to do with establishing Catholic Schools in Aotearoa and particularly in the Bay of Plenty. The Josephites were inspired by St Joseph and this is why we celebrate his Feast Day.

It is great to see most of our families are able to be at school during this Omicron wave. We all continue to be vigilant and practice sensible hygiene to help keep each other safe. We pray for those in our community affected by Covid and hope that they can return to a life more normal as soon as possible.

Our school lunches are going well. We are so fortunate to be getting free lunches in schools. This makes a big difference for families and is one less thing for parents to have to organise. As we are now receiving school lunches, we don't need to be offering the Fish and Chip option. This frees up valuable Teacher Aide and office staff time as well. It is wonderful to see students enjoy a healthy filling lunch each day, and trying new foods they may not otherwise have tried.

Special mention: Thanks to the St Pius Catholic Women's League who have generously donated $500 to our school. This donation will be spent on our 'Mary Garden' redesign. Which is now being actioned. Thanks to Joyce who has been volunteering her garden skills for our school too.

Please mark in your calendars our date for our Whanau Hui 24th March 6:00pm in the staff room. This is an opportunity to form a PTA or FOTS and brainstorm our community's wish list! We will also have our Strategic Plan available for our community to review and comment on. We hope many of our community caregivers and parents can join us for this. Bishop Edward Gaines is your school, and as such it is vital our community have a voice in what they see as our possible options to sustaining a creative and inviting school.

Ma te Atua koutou e manaaki—God’s blessings,

Bernadette Hall

Who is St Joseph?

St Joseph the worker, in the New Testament, Jesus earthly father and the virgin Mary's husband. St Joseph is the patron of the universal Church in the Roman Catholicisim, and his life is recorded in the Gospels. Joseph was a descendant of the house of King David. It was St Joseph who inspired Mary Mackillop as she began her order of sisters-the Josephites. Their main goal was to educate children and they literally build schools with the help of Father Tennison Woods. Mary Mackillop came to NZ several times and help start schools here. She was canonized a Saint in 2010 and is now called St Mary of the Cross Mackillop.

Who is St Patrick?

Patrick was never canonized as a Saint. To be canonized means the Pope recognises at least two miracles the person has performed or been witnessed. He was a 5th Century missionary to Ireland and later became a bishop there. He brought christianity to parts of Ireland, hence why he is a patron Saint of Ireland. St Patrick prayer:

"God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's word to speak to me, Gods shield to protect me..afar and near, alone and in a multitude".

From the Food for Faith Website: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGmvTvCvsbkbSBqPTrQPbDlKhJB

The mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus, humbly bowing low and ready to speak. Jesus got in first asking “What is it you want?”

For some reason that question reminds me of the Spice Girls hit a dozen years ago with its repetitive lyric: tell me what you want what you really really want!

Perhaps our problem is that we don’t know what we really want?

When Mrs Zebedee is asked she stumbles an answer seeking power and wealth for her two boys in Jesus’ kingdom.

We might dream of a magic moment when a magician appears offering us three wishes. We fantasise about what we might ask for.

But let’s now remember that this is the stuff of fairy tales. Magician’s don’t appear to us offering instant prizes.

No problem – something better is on offer: Today Jesus is offering us our heart’s desire, gazing directly at each of us asking: “What is it you want?

How do I respond?

I can try to think about what I want, what I think i need…

…or I can ask Jesus to reveal to me my heart’s desire, what it is that I really really want.

Let’s try that prayer today.

Are you up for fun, friends and adventure, then Girl Guiding could be for you?

We have units for girls aged between 5-17. We also are on the lookout for leaders to support these girls.

We have spaces available in our units both in Putaruru and Tokoroa, if you are interested then email Michelle on michellegirlguide@gmail.com to find out more.

We are currently looking for helpers to build some bench seats, help with garden building and contribute to our 'wish list' . The schools annual strategic plan will also be available for our community to read over and view.

Mrs Hall has noticed how well you have interacted alongside others this week and always set a great example. Also for having a fantastic BISHOP attitude!

Ka Pai!

This is a normal childhood occurance, and most children will get head lice at one point or another. We do have a case of head lice in school. Below is a link on how to treat head lice.

Important Dates:

Term Dates

Term One: 1 February-14 April

Term Two: 2 May-8 July

Term Three: 25 July-30 September

Term Four: 17 October-14 December (TBC)

Welcome Liturgy

1 February 9:30am on turf courts

School Mass

11 February 9:30am on school grounds

Swimming Days @ Aquatic Centre:

W 1: 2 February & 3 February 12-1pm

W 2: 8 February & 10 February 12-1pm

W 3: 14 February 12-1pm

W 4: No swimming

W 5: 28 February & 1 March 1:30-2:30pm

W 6: 7 March 1:30pm

W7: No swimming

W 8: No swimming

W 9: 29 March & 1 April 10:00am

W 10: 5 April & 8 April 10:00am

Swimming Sports

3rd March @ Putaruu 7 years and older

Senior Technology Classes

Tuesday at 9:00-10:30am.

Student Led Conferences

24 February 1:30-5:30pm

Preschool Visits

Note changes: Will run each Thursday and Friday from 9:00am -12:30 for the few weeks leading up to the child's 5th birthday. Please let the office know if you are wanting your child to have preschool visits. Also please let others know who may be interested.

Lunchtime Fun Sports for our Tamariki

Every Tuesday and Thursday

Tennis

Monday afternoons (courts opposite our school and bring a racquet if you have one)

Health Nurse Educational Talks to Senior Students

16 February-Talk

16 March-Immunisations HPV/Boostrix for our yr 7s and Yr 8s

Shrove Tuesday & Ash Wednesday

1 March and 2 March

Wheels Day

4 March. Bring a helmet and shoes.

Preschool & Kindy Picnic @ Bishop-Teddy Bears Picnic

10th March 11:30-1:00pm (note change as swimming sports is now 3rd March)

For preschoolers and their families to come find out more about our special character and early literacy programmes.

St Joseph Feast Day Liturgy

18 March 9:30am

Whanau Hui

24 March 6:00pm staffroom-all welcome. Come share ideas for upcoming school projects and meet others in our school community.

Swimming Fun Day

1st April 10:00-12:00pm

Holy Week

10-15 April