Kia ora whanau

We are all settling back into normality post the Christmas break. The traffic is increasing and meetings are happening. 

Thank you for endeavouring to get your children to school before the bell goes. This is important for them as hanging up their bag and catching up with friends prior to the bell going, is part of their social development and school day. Arriving in the middle of morning prayers puts your child on the back foot. Please consider leaving home earlier so in case there’s heavy traffic, your child still has time to hang their bag before the bell goes.

All parents are welcome to stay for their child’s home group prayers in the morning, when they drop them off. This is a very important part of our school day and we encourage parents to take up this invitation. Children enjoy having their parents at prayers. It shows children that we all see prayer as an important part of their lives. Please consider joining your child’s home group for prayers. They are over by about 9:10 am.

Next week we have our first PTFA (Parent Teacher Friends Association). All parents are welcome to join this group. The group organises social events and fundraising events for the school. It is a great way to get involved in the life of the school, meet other parents and support the school programme of learning. Meetings happen several times a year and the details of next week’s meeting are below.

Hopefully your whanau were able to come to the ‘Back to School Picnic’ and you caught up with your child’s friends and teacher. Have a wonderful weekend.

Ka manaakitia e te Atua

Alister Bridgman

Tumuaki

The Principal’s Message will cover the following topics:

• Pope Francis
• Communication
• Children Leaving School For the Day
• Accessing School Grounds
• Road Works
• Teddy Bear’s Picnic 
• PTFA
• Colour Dash
• Shore-to-Shore 
• Skids
• Parish News
• Community Notices

Please keep our Holy Father Pope Francis in your prayers as he recovers from a recent illness that saw him being admitted to hospital. His condition is currently stable.

It is important for all organisations to have clear lines of communication. Please read how we communicate to our parent community and ways in which you can communicate with the school.

School Communication to Parents

• The school website is the central communication point. It contains the school calendar, Principal Message, School Notices, Team Notices, and Community / General Notices.
• The Principal’s Message is posted on the website on Friday each week. Parents receive an email notification at 6:00 pm. It is beneficial for parents to read the Principal’s Message as it shares the week’s activities and upcoming events, plus any notifications of importance. 
• School Notices are for specific events that either weren’t covered in the Principal Message; or acts as a reminder for notices that have been posted previously. These too are posted on the website and parents receive an email notification at 6:00 pm.
• Team Notices are emailed out at the beginning of each term by teams. They are also posted on the website.

We appreciate that parents organise appointments for their children throughout the school day. In order to not disrupt your child’s Home Group learning, we ask that you consider making the appointment out of school hours. If your child has an appointment during the day, please remember to sign your children out at the office, in order that we have a record they have left the school.

We ask that parents refrain from signing out their children after 2 pm in order to avoid after school traffic. This is both disruptive to your child’s programme of learning and the children in their learning space.

Parents are asked to enter/exit via the path between the school office and the Pompallier Learning Center. Please do not use the school hall drive / school hall corridor. Our before/after school care programme sKids leases the hall and it is for their use only.

Auckland Transport has notified the Parish that Dominion St is to be resealed. They have received two notifications, however they have not carried out the sealing yet. This work will be weather dependent. Please be aware that Dominion St is on their programme for resealing. When the work begins, there will be disruption to the drop-off and pick-up process for our school. Please be patient and allow additional time at both ends of the day. Should there need to be a change in our procedure, we will send out a notification about the temporary adjustment. Thank you!

Latest News from St Joseph’s Takapuna Parish

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