A QUOTE FROM THE POPE!
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Pope Francis says: One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal (in evangelisation) is a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned “sour pusses” EG 85
Are you scared to talk about your faith? Are you gloomy about the way society or life is going? Don’t be a sourpuss, be joyful, and positive – share the good news. Isn’t life, creation wonderful, isn’t God good!
What a week!
Fifty fabulous singers from our school choir performed beautifully and enthusiastically at Kids for Kids Concert on Monday night. Nicole A won a soloist part and performed Weather With You, beautifully and with confidence; Ally B played the ukulele for several songs, with a small group from other schools; Sebastian P had some cool moves for She’s a Mod; Maddy McC was a believable punk performing as the Kina! It was a very enjoyable concert and we are so proud of the way our students performed. Thank you to the parents who helped us on Monday morning and to all of who you supported their children and “endured” hearing the songs over and over in the weeks leading up to the night! Thank you to the Basa family for the photos!
On Tuesday, The KOS (Keeping Ourselves Safe) Meeting was held for parents. It was at 2 pm which didn’t suit a lot of people but was dependent on the availability of the presenter. We will try to organise an evening meeting next term. Most of us are very diligent about keeping our children safe, however, the online environment is an area where most adults need a lot of education and support. Net Safe is a helpful website for families.
http://www.netsafe.org.nz/archive/home/home_default.html
Rooms 7, 8, 9 and 10 children continued with their swimming lessons this week and great progress has been made. Rooms 11-15 children start their lessons today. What is provided through school is just a taste and it is ideal if children can have the opportunity for lessons at other times throughout their primary years.
Catholic Schools Cross Country was held at Monte Cecilia on Wednesday and 40 children from Years 3-6 represented our school. They were a great team, outstanding in attitude, performance and behaviour. We had a number placed in the first 20-out of a field of approximately 50 in each race. Our team was ahead in points until the second last race when 3 teams were even! Unfortunately, we were pipped at the post, coming in third overall. Great individual results for Keegan K 1st, Luca B 2nd, Rosemary 5th, Jack Mc 6th, Fletcher &Mikal M 7th, Marcus & Charlie M 8th , Lucy 9th, Charlie D 12th. Thank you to parents and grandparents who supported us and helped out on the day.
Pupuke Cluster Cross Country on Thursday morning was a great event and a team of 32 children from Years 3-6 represented us very well with some outstanding results:
|
Year 3 Boys |
Year 3 Girls |
Year 4 Boys |
Year 4 Girls |
Year 5 Boys |
|
Fergus M 1st Cash B 3rd |
Rosemary W 1st |
Keegan K 1st |
Maia L 3rd |
Charlie D 1st |
Thank you again to parents and grandparents who supported the children and helped us out.
#L2L Learning to Learn at St Joseph’s
Modern Learning Environments
Teaching Teams have been or will be visiting schools who are developing their modern learning environments, such as Sancta Maria, Ormiston and Stonefields, to continue their own learning. Next term, on the 28 October, the day after Labour Day which is a public holiday, there will be no school for the children. This day will be used for professional learning for all staff regarding teaching and learning in the modern learning environment.
Some of the links from the information meeting held for parents earlier in the month are as follows:
- Best Evidence Synthesis on School leadership and student outcomes,
talks about the need for leaders to strategically allocate ‘material, intellectual, and human resources’ that are aligned to pedagogical and philosophical purposes. (Page 41)
- In terms of resourcing Modern Learning Environments (MLEs) having clear understandings about learning and effective pedagogy as well as the influence of physical spaces and digital technologies will fundamentally drive decision-making processes. In an Edtalks video, Mark Osborne asks, how can we create learning spaces/environments that enable different learning processes to become rich, real and relevant for our learners?
- In an early video from Enabling e-Learning, Developing learning spaces Hingaia Peninsula School senior leaders talk about how their school vision for learning has driven decisions for planning Modern Learning Environments.
- This story was a focus on Campbell Live.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Bringing-the-Kiwi-classroom-into-the-digital-age/tabid/367/articleID/304224/Default.aspx
Another interesting publication is:
Supporting future-oriented learning & teaching —a New Zealand perspective
Report to the Ministry of Education
R Bolstad & J Gilbert with S McDowall, A Bull, S Boyd & R Hipkins New Zealand Council for Educational Research
Have a great weekend. Stay well.
God bless!
Ka kite ano
Phil