Tēnā koutou kātoa e te whānau,

Tihei mauri ora, nau mai, haere mai, tena koutou katoa, E nga whanau, e nga kaiako, e nga tamariki, e nga manuhiri, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

School Mass

We are in week 3 already. We are looking forward to celebrating our School Mass this Friday at St Mary Immaculate Church. Mass will start at 9.30am, you are all invited to celebrate the eucharist with us.

Procedure for resolving concerns

If you have any concerns through the term please make contact with your child's teacher in the first instance, then the Team Leader, and if required Lisa Broadmore or me. We are always wanting to make sure we are open and transparent around resolving concerns.

Sports/Cultural Day

I want to thank the parents and Aroha children for their excellent participation and representation of St Marys' at the Sports/Cultural day yesterday. You certainly showed great spirit and team work to showcase your talents. Be sure to read the article by Grace Raymond and see photos further in the newsletter.

Parent Information Evening Wednesday 26 May

We have a couple of changes we are hoping to make with HERO and the goals, so we can continue to show progress and achievement regularly. With this in mind, we have a parent information evening about Structured Literacy learning on Wednesday 26th May from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm held in the Aroha hub. There is more information to come, but please save this date. We will make sure parents can bring their children if they require this; we can put a movie on.

Toys to support learning

Poppet spinners are becoming a very popular toy. I would recommend that they are brought to school for the purpose of supporting learning so they don't go missing. We have a container that is slowly being filled with items to play and create with. If you have any items that may be of use please let me know.

Lost Property

Lost property works when we make sure items are named and we return them to their owners. All teams have designated areas for lost property and that is the first port of call. All items unnamed generally end up back at the office.

Thanks for your continued support around this.

Ngā mihi nui

James Murray

We wish our students who are being Confirmed this Sunday by Bishop Steve many blessings. Please keep them in your prayers. May they always feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Pink Shirt Day is about working together to celebrate diversity and promote positive social relationships. It’s about creating a community where all people feel safe, valued and respected, regardless of age, gender identity, ability, or cultural background.

Thank you for supporting Pink Shirt Day last year - your generous Pink Shirt Day donation helped us raise $374.70! This money was put towards free information, activities, resources and merchandise for schools, workplaces, communities and whānau, all of which help make Aotearoa a kinder, safer place for everyone.

This year Pink Shirt Day is on Friday the 21st of May.

Children will come to school in their school uniform and change into pink/mufti clothes at morning tea time after our Pentecost Mass at St Mary Immaculate church in the morning.

We will continue to enjoy our learning this week when we visit the Life Education classroom. It was very exciting to have Harold from Life Education join us at lunchtime last week.

On Thursday the 13th of May our kapa haka roopu travelled to Suzanne Aubert Catholic School in Papamoa. We were warmly welcomed by the children of the new school, who sang 'Ka Waiata' and 'Our Mother Suzanne'. We performed two waiata, 'He Honore' and 'Tutira Mai Ngā Iwi' accompanied by Matua Tūmanako on guitar. Erena and Hannah presented Mr Mills with a koha, a beautiful carved koru, on behalf of our school community. The girls spoke the following words:

E iti noa ana, Nā te aroha.

Although it is small, it is given with great love.

Ko te āhuatanga o te Koru – te mataora, te whakatipū, te kaha, me te rongo. Nā te hāpori o Hato Maria, te taonga nei.

This Koru symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace and is given to you from our St Mary’s community.

The school leaders, Ambassador Kaiarahi, then took our tamariki on a tour of the school before we headed back to St Mary's.

Thank you again to our whānau who provided transport to and from Suzanne Aubert School for this very special occasion.

Wednesday 19th May 2021

Today we’re going to the year 5 and 6 Rotorua sports exchange! There is Rippa Rugby, Football, Netball and Basketball. I’m doing Rippa with Matthew, Henry, Tom, Tyson, Erena and Hannah. Our team and a basketball team hop into the second bus. When we arrive it’s raining. I see Sammy go up to Mrs Laban and ask “ If it keeps raining will we have to go back to school?” “No! It’s supposed to clear up late morning anyway”, she replies. We go into the gym at John Paul College and get welcomed by a Kapa Haka group and we see a few other schools do their drama. After that we eat and Mr McCabe tells us that our game will be starting in 10 minutes. At 11:45 we go off to our field that we’re supposed to be playing at. We meet our opposing team and the game kicks off. Matthew starts with the ball and passes it to Henry which then runs up and spins past the player and we score our first try. We all give Henry high-fives and run back to our side. After a couple of minutes Matthew got a try, Hannah got one, Erena grabbed one too. Tom crosses the line, and I finally have too. Finally, the air horn goes and that signals that the game is over. We shake hands with the other team and both teams cheer for each other. Mr McCabe congratulates us and then says “You guys have another game so get ready…”

1 hour later...

Our last game, let's do this! It’s about 1-1 right now so we’re doing alright. They have the ball so I go and rip one of the fastest players. That was the last rip before it was hand-over so we now had the ball. Erena has the ball - oh no! A boy’s tried to rip her and she's fallen! She's crying! Now she's hobbling off the field! Ouch! My teammates have passed the ball to me but there's 4 people surrounding me. I run at them and spin which makes me get through and I get a try! A few minutes later it’s a tie and the games just finished. Well, we still won about 4 or 5 certificates! This was the best day ever!

By Grace Raymond (Aroha Hub)

Sensory Sam products will be on display at the next A-typical parents group.

Thursday 27th May, 9am at St Mary Immaculate Church

Coffee Tea and biscuits available

If you’re interested in sensory products go to www.mockingbird.org.Nz and select the “shop” tab. For more information you can contact Sarah@mockingbird.org.Nz

Term 2 - Monday 3 May - Thursday 8 July

Monday 7 June - Queens Birthday

Friday 9 July - Kahui Ako Teacher Only Day

Term 3 - Monday 26 July - Friday 1 October

Wednesday 11 August - Accord Day Teacher Only Day

Term 4 - Monday 18 October - Friday 17 December (12 noon)

Monday 25 October - Labour Day