Dear Parents

Sunday, the 28th of November is the first Sunday of the Season of Advent. The Season of Advent is the time in which we, the church, prepare for celebration of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Advent is the beginning of the church liturgical year and lasts four weeks. It sees the Advent Calendar being put up in the children’s bedrooms and the Advent wreath being put up in churches and homes. The four Sundays preceding Christmas, the candles are lit in a specific order on the Advent wreath. The candles symbolize hope, love, joy and peace. A new one is lit each Sunday along with the previous candles lit on the previous Sundays. Enjoy the Season of Advent.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) contacted schools this week to inform them that the current school procedures, along with health and safety procedures, are to remain in place till the end of the school year. There will be no changes in what schools are currently doing when the traffic light system starts. The MOE are developing guidelines as to what schooling will look like from the 1st of January onwards.

Ka manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman
Tumuaki

The Principal’s Message will cover the following topics

• Final Weeks
• Farewell
• End of Year Reports
• School App
• Please Return
• Second Hand Uniforms
• Support
• Parish News

Now that the MOE has made it’s position clear that schools continue as they are, we have finalised our plans for the last weeks of 2021:

Part Time School

• Friday 10 December – Thursday/Friday Group – Final Day of Attendance
• Tuesday 14 December – Monday/Tuesday Group – Final Day of Attendance

Bubble School

• Wednesday 15 December – Final Day of Attendance

Team Google Sites

• Sunday 5 December – Final update which will be for the final two weeks of term

Final Activity Pack

• Monday 6 December – Final Activity Pack (two week pack) distribution
• Friday 3 December – Thursday/Friday Group will receive it
• Monday 6 December – Monday/Tuesday Group will receive it

End of Year Home Group Zoom Liturgy

• All Home Groups will be having an End of Year Zoom Liturgy. We encourage all students and their families to Zoom in for their liturgy
• The HG teachers will send out the Zoom link
• Wednesday 8 December will see all teams having their liturgies
• Team Kiwi – 9:30
• Team Kea – 10:30
• Team Kakapo – 11:30
• Team Kakariki – 12:30

Year 6 Farewell

• Monday 13 December – 6 pm – Year 6 Zoom Celebration
• Thursday 16 December – 9.30 am to 10.30 am – Year 6 Celebration
• Further information will be shortly sent to Year 6 students and parents

This year we farewell Sarah Nicolson and Alice Simmers.

Sarah has been an Associate Principal since 2018. It has been wonderful having Sarah on the leadership team, sharing her humour, skills and knowledge. The Kakariki team, staff and students, have really enjoyed her enthusiasm and the way in which she supported student learning. Sarah has also managed Sports at St Joseph’s. A complex role over the last 2 years working around Covid protocols.

Sarah has decided to move closer to her home to reduce the significant travel time she has been managing over the last year or so and to take up a part time teaching role at a local school. We wish her well with her next life adventure. She will be missed.

We were pleased to welcome back Alice this year from her time in England. She has decided to experience the NZ Private schooling system and will be teaching at the Diocesesan School for Girls beginning next year. Alice has been the Kakapo Team Leader and has successfully led the team through all the changes necessitated by Covid 19. We thank her for her time with us this year and wish her well in her new teaching position at Dio. Alice will also be missed.

We wish both Sarah and Alice all the best for their respective new journeys.

Ka manaakitia koutou e te Atua

It has been wonderful to see our students face-to-face with them attending school part-time for the last few weeks. 

As the focus for this return to school was on students connecting with teachers and other students, we have put our assessment schedule on hold until the beginning of next year. In Term 1, students will be assessed and parents will be invited in for a parent/teacher conference to discuss progress and next steps for learning. 

As a result, our End of Year Report will look different this year. As most of the learning has been from a distance, you will receive a report that focuses on the child as a learner and their learning skills and behaviours. 

There will be one section on the Key Competencies: 

• Managing self
• Participating and contributing
• Relating to others
• Thinking
• Using languages, symbols and texts

There will also be a General Comment from the teacher that will talk about your child’s learning, their demonstration of the School values and motto, their learning from home, and their learning behaviours.

Reports will be shared with you on Wednesday, 15th December.

You will receive your child’s report on the @School App. If it has been over a month since you used the App, you will have been logged out. If this is the case and you cannot remember your password, please reset it. Once you reset your password, you will need to close the App before opening it again to login.

Please try to login prior to the day reports are shared so that if you have any issues, we can get them resolved prior to the 15th December. If you are new to the school and have not downloaded the App yet, we recommend that you do this following the instructions on the attached @school app instructions.

If you have any of the following at home, please could you return them to school to the school office.

• Library books
• Sports uniforms
• School readers

If you have any school uniforms you no longer require you are welcome to donate them to the school. Please leave them in the basket outside the school office.

At this time of year there are a number of families in our parish community in need. Here are a couple of ways you can offer them support.

Parish St Vincent de Paul Cans for Christmas

We invite all families to bring a can for our ‘Cans for Christmas’ collection. These cans go to our Parish St Vincent de Paul Group who distribute to families in need. Please place the cans in the basket outside the office

Parish Angel Tree

Each year our Community of Faith is blessed to support the Monte Cecilia Housing Trust at Christmas. This year we would like to encourage our students to take a little time to purchase a small gift to go towards our Christmas giving.

Here are some great ideas.

• Art supplies
• Small cars
• Small dolls
• Games
• Outdoor sports games.

Please do not wrap the gift. Please place it in the basket outside the office.

Parish Newsletter – 28 November

Family Liturgy – 28 November

Monsignor Tonks Message – 25 November

Synod Snapshot

Laudato Si’