Newsletter Week 4 Term 3
St Joseph's School Waipukurau 18th August 2021
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Kia ora Whānau
As you may already be aware from the announcement made earlier by the Prime Minister that we have gone into COVID level 4 from midnight on Tuesday for the next 3 days. The link below has more information on how you can stay safe at Level 4.
This means that school will be closed for the next 3 days and we will find out more later on in the week if there will be further restrictions in the coming weeks. We will endeavour to keep you up to date on any changes.
What will this mean for students learning:
We are aware that not all families have devices, at this stage it is only for 3 days so we will not send any devices home; however, this will be reassessed depending on future developments. Currently, staff are not allowed on the school site as advised by the Ministry of Education.
At this stage, online learning will start on Monday if the lockdown continues. Please look at the next three days as a midterm break, a chance to rest and recharge batteries as there has been a lot of illness with coughs and colds going around the school. However, if you are wanting work for your child to do, some students already have access to some online learning programmes such as matific or maths buddy.
Please keep safe and blessings to everyone.
School Mass on Saturday at St Patrick’s church was a beautiful celebration with the Waipawa Catholic Parish. Thank you to all the families and students who attended. The singing was outstanding and your wonderful prayers of the faithful in your own languages displayed the richness of our school cultures. A very big thank you to Gine Dingle who played the piano for us and to Gayleen and Tohu for your guitar skills, it really made the mass a special celebration. The Board, staff and myself have had lots of fabulous comments. Once again a big thank you to Miss Girvan for her hard work and dedication putting the mass together and to Father Paul who makes the mass so relatable for the children.
Well done to all the students who took part in the Ongaonga 7’s last week, it was a fantastic day and everyone had fun taking part. Thank you to Madison who took all the photos.
Our new school house flags arrived last week. It was really nice having them on display at our Monday Liturgy and they will be great to have at any of our house events such as PALS, cross-country or athletics.
This year I have taken part in the SpringBoard Trust Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme. The Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme (SLPP) brings New Zealand principals together with strategic experts to develop your leadership and to support clear, insightful planning for schools. I have been fortunate enough to work with Andrew Boyce from RaboBank.
The focus of the programme is to unpack our Why (school vision & purpose) and to unpack what our goals and outcomes are and to develop a plan on a page strategic plan, with a road map and annual goals.
Part of the work we have done is around unpacking our school vision and looking at it to see if it was fit for purpose. Our current vision is “Aspire to Excel”, with the Springboard Trust team, staff and board we looked at whether or not our current vision was relevant. Did it describe our purpose and does it describe what success would look like? The short answer was no.
We asked ourselves what our school strengths are and what if there was no St Joseph’s School what would be missing from our community. What we came up with was, our strength is our leadership & learning and there would be no faith based school in our community.
The new vision we came up with after a lot of discussion and different versions is:
“Leading in Faith, Learning for Life”
I welcome any feedback you may have on this so please feel free to email me with your thoughts.
Kia pai tō rā (Have a good day)
Sarah Laugesen
Principal
Proudly Sponsored by
School Cross-Country - on hold
The school’s cross-country is next Friday, the 27th of August; however, due to COVID, this date may change, we will keep you updated.
Students will arrive at the venue by 11 am to walk their courses. Races will start at 12 pm in the following order. After all the races are completed there will be a colour powder run where the students can get covered in coloured powder.
5 year olds (500m)
6 year olds (700m)
7, 8 & 9 year olds (1.5 km)
11 and 10 year olds (2 km)
12 and over (2.5 km)
Students will come dressed in their PE uniform with their house T-Shirt - they can also bring a white T-Shirt for the colour powder run and a change of clothes. They will need a jersey, sneakers, a packed lunch and a water bottle.
Juices will be on sale on the day so please bring some change.
We need parent helpers on the day to be marshalls out on the course, if you are available can you please let Sarah know in the office.Ngati Whai
We are needing people who can sew to make any repairs and to make some new outfits. If you are available can you please either let me know or let Sarah know in the office.
Ngati What is on the 22nd of September. Students are doing daily practice for this cultural celebration.
Speech Competition
We will be holding our Annual School Speech Competition on the 24th of September at 1 pm in the school hall. In-class speeches will take place before the school speech competition and the top 4 from each class (room 4 to room 6) will go through to the finals on the 24th. The year 1 to 3 students will do poetry recitals.
The Rotary Speech Competition is on the 27th in the evening at Waipukurau School.
School Fun Run 2021
So far we have now raised $3600 to date, great job team - keep up the awesome effort! We have 1 and half weeks until the cross-country run. So if you haven’t created your fundraising account yet, there’s still time.
"Never see a need without doing something about it" - St Mary MacKillop
MESSAGE FROM OUR SCHOOL LEADERS
Ki-ora everyone welcome to week 4.
On Saturday night we had our School Mass, it was an awesome night. Thank you to everyone who came. Everyone was singing beautifully and it was amazing to hear.
This week the year 7 and 8 girls are learning self-defense and also this Thursday the year 8s are going to the year 8 Hui which is at the CHB college.
Make sure to follow our school value this term which is spirituality. Have a wonderful week and keep safe.
By Jonty. K and Riley.
CATHOLIC CHARACTER
First Holy Communion – we are currently taking registrations for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion. If your child is over 8 years of age please register at the office. This is an important part of your child’s faith journey.
This substantial Aotearoa-themed artwork depicting Mary and the child Jesus was unveiled during the weekend for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary – NZs Feast Day. Created by Rangiora artist Damien Walke, the artwork has left for Invercargill; the start of a hīkoi around the country.’ The hīkoi will end with the artwork’s return and permanent placement in St Mary of the Angels, in Wellington, which will become a national shrine.
This substantial Aotearoa-themed artwork depicting Mary and the child Jesus was unveiled during the weekend for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary – NZs Feast Day. Created by Rangiora artist Damien Walke, the artwork has left for Invercargill; the start of a hīkoi around the country.’ The hīkoi will end with the artwork’s return and permanent placement in St Mary of the Angels, in Wellington, which will become a national shrine.
Sausage Sizzle and Bake Sale:
On the 3rd of September, Room 6 is having a sausage sizzle and bake sale as a fundraiser for their class camp.
You will be given a list of what you can buy... Make sure you hand your list in on the 31st of August!
We will be doing the sale during lunchtime.
PFG Update
Another week closer to our quiz night!! Make sure you book a table - you don't want to miss out! Again we are asking if anyone can help by donating an item, voucher, service or experience so we can use as spot prizes or raffle on the evening. Thank you.
Lunches
Some great feedback from the students last week about the extended menu. We hope you continue to enjoy.
Have a great week and as always thank you for your support.
PFG Committee
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT:
Assembly: This Thursday @ 2.30pm
Platinum Homes Back Paddock Off Road Challenge
It is the Platinum Homes Back Paddock Off Road Challenge that will be held on Sunday 17 October on private farmland at Backpaddock Lakes, 10 minutes south of Waipukurau. This involves a triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon, solo swim, solo bike, solo run options as well as Corporate Challenge for workplaces and teaching staff and we have kids events such as a 3km mountain bike (7-14 years), 2.5km run (7-14 years) and parents can accompany them for FREE.
All paid entrants get a cool medal AND a free meal and it is just a wonderful family day out.
To encourage the local community to check it out we are offering a massive 50% OFF all entries using the code DISCOUNT50BP2021 when registering before 31st August on this link https://events.onetime.sport/event/674.
Altar Service: JD, Jafet, Kaleb
Upcoming Events
August:
20th – Teacher Only Day (School closed for instruction)
26th – School Photos
27th – School Cross Country (postponement 30th)
September:
16th – Inter-School Cross Country
17th – PFG Quiz night
22nd – Ngati Whai
October:
1st – Teacher Only Day (School closed for instruction)
Contact Us
Email: office@stjosephschb.school.nz
Website: http://www.stjosephschb.school.nz/
Location: 6 Russell Street, Waipukurau, New Zealand
Phone: 06 858 9221
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stjosephschb/