Newsletter - Week 5 Term 2

Welcome to Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa – Sāmoa Language Week,

The theme for this week is ‘Fa’aāuāu le Folauga i le Va’a o Tautai – Continue the Voyage with Competent Wayfinders of the Ocean’.

This year's theme reflects the journey of revitalising and maintaining Gagana Samoa. It also recognises the importance of having the right tools, leadership skills, relationships and va’a that adapt to faring the ocean and its elements.

We were able to hold the Holiday Reading Programme draw at our assembly last Friday. This draw was held over from the Christmas holidays. A few weeks ago we had the Easter holidays draw so we are all up to date now and look forward to preparing for the Winter Holiday reading programme.

A few weeks ago we hosted a parent meeting to explain our Structured Literacy programme. We recorded the meeting - link follows : HERE

This weekend a large number of our students will be making their First Holy Communion and Confirmation. This is an important step in children’s faith journeys and a very exciting time. I still have vivid memories of making my first Holy Communion many many years ago and in the olden days, we were Confirmed in our secondary school years. Please keep our children in your prayers.

Last weekend our Parish welcomed a very special visitor to our Parish – Ko Hāta Maria, te Maria Wahine o te Atua, Holy Mary, Mother of God. This beautiful icon commissioned by the Bishops of Aotearoa New Zealand to re-dedicate Aotearoa New Zealand to Mary, Mother of God, is on a Hikoi visiting all the Catholic Dioceses in our country. Currently Te Hikoi Wairua mo Te Ara a Maria is in the Diocese of Hamilton. Our children had the honour of seeing this icon today in our church.

On Friday, as a school, we will be celebrating Mass together for the first time this year in St Mary's Church. We are celebrating Pentecost and we warmly invite you to join in this celebration. Mass starts at 9.00am.

With a number of events being cancelled over the last few months, it is great to see that a number of these events will be taking place this term. We have students playing in a regional chess tournament inTaupo today, and we have students playing in a rippa rugby tournament next Tuesday. Isn’t it great that these opportunities are now available again. I wish our students all the best. Thanks to the parents who are helping with transport etc.

Tomorrow is our School Cross Country in the Redwoods for years 4 - 6. We are hoping that the weather is kind to us so the event can go ahead. If we have to cancel the event, a notification will be sent out to you.

Monday is a public holiday as we celebrate Queen’s birthday. A reminder too that we have a Teacher Only day on Tuesday 7 June, so there is no school for our children. If you need care for your child on this day, contact Maryanne Roling on 0211 215599.

Have a good week,

David Macmillan,

Principal

Today all children visited Ko Hāta Maria, te Matua Wahine o te Atua - Holy Mary, Mother of God icon. This is a Holy icon that has been on display in our parish. Holy icons are considered a prayer, they are not drawn but instead written and therefore when looking at an icon you are reading it. Icons are full of symbols, in an icon EVERYTHING means something. Ask your child what they learned about the Ko Hāta Maria icon.

Friday sees our first whole school Mass in the Church. We feel blessed to be able to invite our families to join us in the celebration of the Eucharist. If you wish to join us we ask you sit towards the back of the church. Mass commences at 9am. We thank the children and teachers from Kākano who have been busy preparing for Mass and are looking forward to sharing this celebration with you all. This Mass is extra special with Mrs Thomson and Mrs Mareroa being invited into the Catholic church by Father Thomas.

This weekend we celebrate the Birthday of our Church; this is known as Pentecost. We also celebrate the children who are receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion.

We ask you to pray for the following children as they strengthen their relationship with God; Jayde, Penelope, Xyrus, Ezechiel, Joshua, Eliza, Claire, Leah, Wyatt, Adrianna, Chloe, Julia, Matty, Max, Taytum, Benjamin, Emma D, Lea, Luca, Myles, Mico, Hunter, Jackson, Liam, Sara, Rosa, Terrence, Alexa, Indie, Carwyn, Chris, Noah, Violet, Ariane, Max , Aoife, Braxton, Indie, Jana, Kyree, Mac, Mia, Aron, Joaquin, Amakaga, Nicklaus, Olivia, Tayla, Xavier, Aleihson, Joachim, Vincent, Neena, Arabella, Isabella, Patrick.

God bless,

Sara Mines and Lorna Dobson

Interview dates to meet with Enrolment officers from JPC will be 8 - 9 - 10 June, and will take place at St Mary's School. Appointments for interviews can be booked through our school office.

Open Day at JPC is tomorrow, Thursday 2 June from 4pm to 5.15pm.

For every lunch that is ordered in Term 2, Pita Pit will donate $1.00 to the Fundraising efforts of the PTA. Help the school by ordering your child/ren Pita Pit for lunch on any Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during Term 2.

Four colour cartridges suitable for a Brother printer : LC40. Call at the office if interested.

Mobile Phones : Any old mobile phones welcome for Starship Hospital. Chargers not required. Please leave at office.

Education Savings Account. Brochures and application forms in office foyer.

Cross Country 2022 in Redwoods tomorrow (Thursday) for Years 4 - 6 at 1pm:

Event outline:

1:10pm 8 yr old Girls 1:20pm 8 yr old Boys

1:30pm 9 year old Girls 1:40pm 9 Year old Boys

1:50 pm 10/11 year old Girls 2:00pm 10/11 year old Boys

11 year olds to wear vests for identification

Sports Fees:

Sports fees are now due. If you are unsure if you have paid or not, please contact the office to check this out.

If you are attending your child/childrens' sporting events and have some good photos to share, please send to sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz with a notation about the occasion.

Please regularly check our school website for information about the sport/s your child is playing. If you have any sports queries please do not ring the office. Contact for the Sports

Co-ordinator is : sports@stmarysrotorua.school.nz. or mobile 0272857579

Join our Swim-Able NZ Winter Challenge NOW!

Swim or exercise in water - 10 km, 50 km or 100 km during Winter (1st June - 23rd September), get a really cool Medal on completion and support Swim-Able NZ Charitable Trust by doing so.

Did you know?

Swim-Able NZ Charitable Trust provides client focused in-water sessions for all abilities. For many of our clients this is a 1 on 1 or in a small group to enable a quality specialised service.

Participating in this event means you will be supporting Swim-Able NZ to keep our costs to our unique clients affordable

Registration cost is $20 but you are welcome to increase your entry fee if wanted

We trust in your integrity and we will not require any evidence on your completed distances. Once you have completed the distance you signed up for - please email us or message us to let us know.

swim.ablenz@gmail.com

ENTER NOW VIA THIS LINK:

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