Kia ora koutou,

What a wonderful Book Week we had, with everyone reading and sharing their favourite books. The competition this year focused on the favourite character with each of our tamariki writing a description of theirs. Classes then voted for their top favourites who then competed in front of the whole school.  The character that proved most popular was Manny from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Alice, Cedric and Sam A took out the prize as Manny was the favourite character for all three. 

We had great delight, last week seeing the range of book characters that came to school - our tamariki and whānau excelled with their efforts so ka pai to you all. Thanks to Sophie, the staff looked fabulous as the characters from ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ Check out FB and Instagram to see more. 

Our grateful thanks to those who supported the school by purchasing at the Book Fair - may you have many hours of fun and reading. 

Thanks to Te Moana for leading our Assembly this week - it was great to hear the quality of the creative writing and to find that they are exploring what their individual strengths are - Ka Pai Te Moana.

We loved having NED visit us, even though it was an online experience, we all still learnt a great deal. As Ethan explained to us in,  ‘Last week we had a visitor on zoom. His name was Ned and he talked about what his name stands for.

N is for never give up,

E is for encourage and

D is do your best.
The yoyos remind us of Ned's name and what it means.’ 

Thanks to all those who bought yoyos as this allows us to pay it forward to another school to benefit from learning about growth mindset and your child now has something to practise persistence with as they master the various yoyo tricks.

Sadly this week we took down the cross on He Atawhai facade while we wait to hear from Catholic Education as to when the facade will be repaired. By taking the cross down we are able to reopen the ramp for use. 

Ngā manaakitanga

Denise

August 15 is the Feast of the Assumption. This special feast of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, recognises her abundant love, faith and trust. This feast is a celebration of God’s great and special love of Mary who was so faithful to the will of God that, upon her death, she received the fullness of God’s life in heaven, both body and soul. This gives us hope for our eternal life. She was an ordinary woman who placed her trust so completely in God. Through her life, we see the great blessings that can come to us when we believe and trust in God’s way. That is our challenge this week - to go in faith with Te Atua.

The current Board would like to acknowledge and thank those who agreed to nomination to the parent representative positions on the School Board in the 2022 election process. This is an important part of the functioning of the school and it is wonderful that people are willing to contribute their skills, time, and effort in this way.

Nominations closed on 10 August and our returning officer, Prue Kelly, has informed us:-

Parent Election Results

Declaration (no voting election required)

At the close of nominations, the number of valid nominations was four; one fewer than the five vacancies required to be filled.

I hereby declare the following four nominated candidates duly elected:

      Miriama Williams       George Bouras       Janine Smith        David Crosbie

 Signed:   Prue Kelly

                Returning Officer

 Our grateful thanks to Miriama, George, Janine, and David for their commitment to this important role and we invite you to consider whether you would like to join the board as well.

Our next meeting is on September 13 from 6 - 8 pm when we will farewell our past board and welcome in the new. You are most welcome to come along to this. 

In Te Awa, we have been learning about descriptive writing. 

In the desert, which is flat and grassy, there is an old desert tree. It looks like a tree and a pile of branches and leaves. It feels like wood and moss and I can feel ants. It feels wet and I can feel crunchy leaves. The tree has gone brown because it is wet from the rain. 

-Samuel Tye

We have also planted some seeds to see how they grow. 

Last Friday we learned about how to plant seeds. The stuff we had to use was potting mix and 2 ice cream containers, some gardening gloves and water. We had to wear masks. The seeds we could plant were broccoli and carrot. There weren’t many carrot seeds so mostly everyone got broccoli. We had to wear masks because the potting mix had chemicals in it. We also had to get 2 yoghurt containers and fill them up with water. I liked this a lot because we were experimenting and at the end of the experiment there might or might not be something exciting. My sprout house has changed because last week all I saw was seeds. Then this week I saw Sprouts. A lot of sprouts! Next week I think there might be a few more sprouts. In the green house we have rows and the sunflower is the only one growing yet. Next week I think a few more plants will pop up. 

-Charlie Smith

Last Friday we learnt about how to plant seeds. We needed a plastic bag and potting mix. We had to put the potting mix in the plastic bags. After putting the potting mix in we had to put seeds inside the bags and the seeds were broccoli and carrot. Miss Smyth made a greenhouse. We had to get the soil palette and soak it in water for a long time. In the greenhouse the seeds were tomato, basil and sunflower. I liked it because in the plastic bags we got to choose our own seeds. I chose the broccoli but there were not enough so I had to do carrot. I also liked doing the greenhouse and soaking the pallet in the water. I also liked putting in the seeds in our greenhouse. My sprout house has not changed at all. There are just blue seeds and the blue seeds are carrot seeds. Next week I think my carrots will grow. The greenhouse has changed because the sunflowers are sprouting and I think next week all the seeds will grow big. 

-Gila Crosbie

Parishes and dioceses around the country took part in the local phase of Pope Francis's synodal path to the Church’s future, which will culminate in an Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome in October next year. The NZ bishops have just published the National Synod synthesis document that emerged from the diocesan phase of the process and the national hui held in Wellington in June. The national document has been sent to Rome as one of the many such documents from around the Catholic world as part of the Synod process.

A copy of the National Synod document is attached. The document, a summary of its contents, and an outline of the Synod process are online here: https://www.catholic.org.nz/news/media-releases/nz-synod-synthesis/

A team drawn from Holy Trinity Parish of the Eastern Suburbs is again preparing to run the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA/OCIA).

The RCIA/OCIA is the process for welcoming new adult members into the Catholic Church. It begins in August with a number of inquiry sessions for those interested in Catholicism.

If you know someone who may be interested in these ' no pressure ' inquiry sessions, please ask them to contact the parish office on 388 6953.

Just a reminder that school photos are scheduled for next Tuesday 23rd August.  If you would like a photo with out-of-school siblings then please let Kirsten know and be at school by 8.30 am for your photo.  

This Friday we have Subway on offer for our Friday lunch order.  Envelopes should have come home earlier in the week but if not there are more at the school office.  Please note that we can not accept online payment for Subway so this needs to be cash-only. Thanks to our parent helper Jacinta Handscomb and her two year 6 helpers for getting this organised for the students.

ONE EVENT. ONE START TIME. MULTIPLE LOCATIONS.

On Sunday 16th October 2022, a synchronised running event will take place across 22 cities in Australia & Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Over 100,000 participants will run for a cause, running for the Great Barrier Reef and WWF New Zealand.

Races will start simultaneously with a global leaderboard where you will not only compete against Wellington runners on our epic Wellington course, but runners from across the continent. Register for your preferred distance with races at 1km, 5km, 10km, or the race2zero 10km designed for elite runners. We are really excited about this cause. Join us to show our friends across the ditch who's boss! 

Find out more: https://www.run4reef.org/wellington-nz/