Dear Parents,

What an amazing Book Week we have had. Thank you to the students and parents for all their support of this fun week. It was an AWESOME book character day parade on Monday. The children came in an incredible array of outfits. Thank you to the many parents and whanau who supported this event and the Book Fair. The library has been a very busy place this week with parents and students viewing the Book Fair and buying their faviourite books. We appreciate your support of this school event.

Today we have had many books coming in for the Pacific Libraries Project. Thank you for taking the time to go through your book shelves to find these books for this cause. They will be greatly appreciated.

It was lovely to see whanau at our school Mass on Tuesday for the Feast of the Assumption. Our next school Mass is on the last day of this term, Friday the 21st of September. We will be celebrating Mercy Week. It would be lovely if you can join us for this special mass. Please pencil the date in your diary.

Next week sees our Kakapo Team, Year 3/4, having a retreat day on Monday. The day begins with the children attending the Parish Mass at 9.15 am. Whanau are welcome to join the children at this Mass. The day will see the children in groups rotating through a few activities focusing on the faith and the recent Sacramental Programme that many of them have participated in. Please keep these children in your prayers on this special day.

Yesterday, a number of staff attended the funeral of Damien Wannenburg, Kim Wannenburg’s husband. Kim was a teacher here at St Joseph’s a few years ago. A number of our families will have had children taught by her. Please keep Kim and her family in your prayers

Ka manaakitia e te Atua.

Alister Bridgman
Principal

The Principal’s Message will cover the following topics:

• Drop-off/Pick-up
• Covid Update
• Te Reo Maori
• Touch Rugby
• Playhouse NZ
• Book Week
• Daffodil Day
• PTFA Meeting
• Liturgical Dance
• PTFA “Stars In Their Eyes Musical Bingo”
• Choir Sing to 60’s Up Group
• Community Notices

Pick-Up – No Parking in Front of Gate
If you wish to collect your child by drive-by pick up you will need to arrive AFTER 3PM. If the gate is not open you will need to park your car and walk in and collect your child. Parking in front of the gate or down the drive, waiting for the gate to open creates a chain effect, with cars queuing down Dominion St, Fred Thomas Drive, and Taharoto Rd.

Drop-Off – No Parking in Front of the Gate
Thank you to parents who arrive before 8.15 am and keep their children with them in the car. This ensures that they do not walk into school before 8.15 am, when the school opens for the day; and that they are walked across the carpark with their parents or Mrs Bridgman. The gate is opened for drive-by drop off shortly after 8.15 am. If the gate is not open you will need to park your car and walk your child across the car park.

Thank you for your support of these two procedures, as they will allow traffic to flow through the school when collecting the and dropping off the children

You will have seen that the Government has announced the removal of the mandatory COVID isolation rule, which took effect on 15 August 2023. Public health officials have advised risk from COVID-19 is now considered low compared to other stages of the pandemic and it is safe to remove the final requirements. 

As with any other illness it is recommended that students | ākonga and staff stay at home if they are feeling unwell. Please read the guidance on this from Te Whatu Ora can be found here:
 

Please refer to the Unite against COVID-19 website for more health advice and for further advice on managing COVID-19 infections.

We invite parents to enrol their children for:

Touch Rugby (Term 4) – Years 1-6

Played at Becroft Park or Sunnynook Park (this will be confirmed by the organisers in September) on Thursdays after school.

Games start on Thursday, 19th October until Thursday, 14th December.

The cost is $45.00.

Registrations close Friday 25 August 2023

How to enrol?

Please go to www.sj.school.nz   

 – scroll down to the link to SCHOOL/SPORTS PAYMENTS

 – this will take you to Enrolmy

 – Log in/create a login (if you haven’t already got one)

 – Click “See School Activities”

 – When you click  ‘Book Activity’  if you have already registered your child for an activity through your enrolmy login, please just select the box of the child you are wanting to enrol. 

Please consider your child’s schedule carefully before booking, please take note of Spring netball or other summer sports.  Any refunds will be charged a $5 administration fee unless they can be transferred to another activity.

Playhouse NZ

By Aaron, HG1

This week, we watched a play from NZ Playhouse in the hall. It was a funny show about pirates who were trying to find the pirate treasure. It started when a mum and her child were running an inn. The mum was eager to keep her inn at 5 stars on Tripadvisor, but barely anyone came to her inn. The mum kept worrying that she would lose her 5 star rating!

A pirate with a large wooden chest arrived to stay at the inn. The plot got complicated when a rival,  enemy pirate arrived. The first pirate opened the chest and told them something about a map but he died  before he could say where the treasure was. Inside the chest, she found a treasure  map and the whole story took a turn through a lot of problems and much laughter, until they finally found the treasure!

It was good to see how the background scenes had many uses, with slight changes. We enjoyed the way that they used their props too! We were amused by how quickly they could change costumes and be different characters and they inspired us, as we are writing our plays now.

Friday, the 25th of August we will be having a Weekend Wear Daffodil Day.

Children are welcome to come to school in YELLOW weekend wear and bring along a gold coin for the Cancer Society.

This is a very worthy cause as many families are supported by this organistion.

All are welcome at the PTFA meeting that is being held next Monday, the 21st of August, beginning 7.15 pm in the staffroom. It is a wonderful opportunity to be involved in your child’s school. See you there.

Liturgical Dance

By Indi, HG9

On Tuesday, the 15th of August, 2023, we had a school Mass for Mary’s Assumption. Our school liturgical dancers performed the song, “Rivers of Your Peace”and “Light the Way”. The liturgical dancers are all Year 4’s and we meet every Tuesday at lunch.

Our school choir was invited to sing to the Takapuna 60’s Up group. They sang their hearts out and showed our Mercy Value Aroha in action.

The following are some of the feelings of the choir members:

• ” It was great singing to the people in the hall and seeing their smiles.”
• ” I felt happy singing to the 60’s Up because I like to sing and make people happy with my singing”
• “I felt a little nervous as I started but as I got into it I wanted to keep singing because I could see how happy it was making the audience feel’
• ” It was awesome doing something for others, and it made us feel proud to be St Joseph’s students.”
Here is some feedback from the 60s Up group:

• “What can I say about the smiling faces of your beautiful choir, and their singing for us today.
• To hear the absolute joy of song from the young ones was a treat beyond words. All will be well with this world with beautiful young ones like them in it.
• We all thoroughly enjoyed their performance and on behalf of all of us, we would like to thank you.”

Please check out the latest community notices  which you can find on our school website.