Dear Parents,

I trust you’ve been able to enjoy some family time with your children over the last couple of weeks.

Tomorrow New Zealand will celebrate our second Matariki public holiday. Over the coming weeks students will be furthering their learning about Matariki through their Home Group’s programme of learning.

Students will also continue learning about our school’s 130 year history. The focus this term is on Catherine McAuley. Sister Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1778. In 1824, she used her inheritance, from an Irish couple she had served for 20 years, to build a large House of Mercy. This is where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House on Baggot Street opened in 1827. To give these efforts greater stability, Catherine and her co-workers founded a new religious congregation. On the 12th December, 1831, she and two others professed their vows as the first Sisters of Mercy. Before her death, on the 11th November, 1841, Catherine founded convents and works of mercy throughout Ireland and England.

In 1893, the Mercy Sisters arrived in Takapuna. Sister M. Alphonsus and Sister M. Mildred, rowed across the harbour with six boys and took possession of what is now known as the orphanage. They opened St Joseph’s School. Initially it was for educating underprivileged boys; and then boys and girls, providing Catholic Education for Year 1 – 6 students on the North Shore.

In 1989, we saw the departure of the last Sister of Mercy, Sister Gemma, from St Joseph’s Catholic School Takapuna.

In the final week this term, we will be celebrating Mercy Week with a School Mass and Cultural Festival. Both celebrations will reflect two of the areas of focus for students for the term.

Take care.

Ka manaakitia e te Atua.

Alister Bridgman
Principal

The Principal’s Message will cover the following topics:

• Matariki
• Matariki Whanau Coffee
• Monday 17 July
• Whanau Meetings
• Absences
• @school App
• AskYourTeam Survey
• Drop Off
• Drop Off and Pick Up Safety

The parish Coffee Truck will be onsite Friday, 21st July. You are welcome to come and grab yourself a coffee, have a catch up with friends and whanau and join us for our first school prayers for the term.

On Monday, 17th July (Term 3 Day 1), Year 2 – 6 students will go to the hall for the afternoon, following their lunch break, which finishes at 1 pm.

Parents are welcome to collect their students any time after 12.00 noon, or following their whanau meeting. Parents are also welcome to pick up their children at the normal time of 2.50 pm. The bus timetable is as per normal.

Monday 17 July Sign Out

• 12 Noon – 1 pm: Please sign your child out at the office.
• 1 pm – 2.50 pm: Please sign your child out at the hall where your child will be.

Students in Year 0/1 classes (Kiwi) will have their normal day with their teachers. If, however, you are taking their sibling home early, you are welcome to also take home your Kiwi Kid early. Please sign them out either at the office or the hall.

On Monday, 17th July, parents of year 2 – 6 students are offered the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher for a 10 minute chat. Bookings are made through the @school app. Bookings close at 11.45 pm Friday, 14th July. Parents who met with their child’s teacher at the end of last term, do not need to make a booking. Parents of Year 0/1 students meet with their child’s teacher on a different whanau meeting schedule. Please note – whanau meetings are optional.

Beginning this term, notification of student absences will need to be done through the @school App. You will no longer be able to do it through the school website. The @school App provides you complete details about your child’s absence and lateness over the year.

Our @school App is one of two platforms of communication for our school. The @school App provides access to:

• My Child (student profile)
• Principal Message (Newsletter)
• School Notices
• Messages (teachers/teams)
• School Website (sj.school.nz)
• Facebook (PTFA)
• Absence
• Permission Slips
• Reports (past and present)
• Interview (bookings for whanau meetings)
• Accounts
• Calendar (school)
• Kindo (lunch orders)
• Sports Registration
• School Docs (policies & procedures)
• School Contact

If you would like assistance with your @school App, please contact Lizzy, secretary@sj.school.nz

Since 2019, the school has carried out an annual Community Involvement Survey. The survey provides our three key stakeholders: students, parents and staff, the opportunity to give feedback on our performance as a place of teaching and learning, and how we could improve.

AskYourTeam is an independent research company who works across various sectors including education. They have designed the Community Involvement Survey for schools. We have used it over the last four years and will be using it again this year. The survey allows us to look at the various themes raised through the feedback in one year and across the years. Our goal is to continually improve and develop what we offer our students and their whanau, as a centre of Catholic education for our community.

On Tuesday, 18th July, next week, you will receive an email with the survey link, from AskYourTeam. It will be either in your ‘inbox’ or in your ‘spam’. If parents share a common email address on our school database, you will only receive one survey link. Please complete it together.

Please follow the link to respond to the multi choice and open ended questions provided. AskYourTeam will collate the results and these will inform our 2024 planning.

Once you complete the survey please could you send your child’s teacher an email to let them know you have completed it, and your child’s name will go into the hat for a home group prize. If you have more than one child at school please inform each child’s teacher.

The survey opens Tuesday, 18th July and closes Sunday, 6th August.

Thank you for your support with this survey.

The school opens for students at 8.15 am. Please do not let your child out of the car or leave them either by the office or by the church until you see Mrs Bridgman. This will be at 8.15 am

Please do not allow your child to walk through the carpark on their own. Park your car and escort them to either the church or the office and wait with them if it is before 8.15 am.

At 8.15 am Mrs Bridgman will escort the students from the church to the office. At that point students and parents can enter the school. The gate will then be opened for parents to do a driveby drop off after 8.15 am. Thank you!

Last term we noted a number of drivers driving faster than was safe when we have students and parents walking through the car park areas. Please SLOW DOWN and ensure that you are driving at a slow enough speed to allow you to break and stop, should a child run out in front of you.