Newsletter No 8 1 June 2011

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

WEE

K 6

6 June Queens Birthday

7-Jun Teacher only day

8-Jun ICAS Science Xcountry Zones

9-Jun Storyteller @ 1.30pm

10-Jun

WEE

K 7

13 Jun

14-Jun Science Alive Rimu & Rata

15-Jun Young Vinnies to Rest Home Newsletter

16-Jun

17-Jun

Dear Parents/Caregivers Tena koutou nga mihi ki a koutou - greetings to you all. This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven. Let us pray…

Lord our God, open us up to your Spirit living within us, that we may live fully each day of our lives. Touch us, that we may become more aware

of all that is around us, growing in a sense of wonder and awe

and in appreciation for all that we see and hear and touch, taste and smell.

May we live in such a way that we never take anything for granted,

but always be appreciative and express our thanks to those who are part of our lives.

Amen. Young Vinn ies: Following the Family Mass last Sunday, our Young Vinnies, with the help of parents, parishioners and a school family, collected pinecones in Woodend. They all did a fantastic job collecting dry pinecones perfect for woodburners. They are selling these at $5.00 per sack with the money raised going to help families in need of basic food essentials within the community. Please support this effort by our young people by letting Mrs O’Halloran or Mrs Arthurs know how many bags you want and dropping the money off with either of them. The bags can be collected from Totara. Debating: Our intrepid team of Year 8 debaters (Fiona Maclean, Michael Malone, Bobbi Braxton and Hannah Hegarty) are in action yet again tomorrow arguing the affirmative to a very tricky moot: that our grandparents had life easy. Their opponents are Ohoka 1. Best of luck team! Cross Country Congratulations to our Kaiapoi Schools Cross Country Team Thomas Coulston Jack Grundy Brandon Kuipers Liam Veevers Jacob Walker Jake Wielsma Jacob McKay Dylan Oberndorfer Mitchell O’Hara Peter McRandle Jaiden- Lee Manera Zach McKay Matthew Falloon Leith McKenzie Connor Oberndorfer Tessa McKay Chessie Cooper Chantal MacDonald Christine Chandler Courtney Gray Brianna Fitzgerald Alexia Evans Charlotte Cossens Bobbi Braxton Well done all of you. Great effort and you represented our school wonderfully. Congratulations to the following children who qualified for the Pegasus Cross Country Team. This event is on Wednesday 8th June at Rangiora Showgrounds. If you can help with transport please contact Alwyn McRandle. Thomas Coulston Jacob McKay Dylan Oberndorfer Jaiden- Lee Manera Zach McKay Leith McKenzie Tessa McKay Chessie Cooper Brianna Fitzgerald Charlotte Cossens Bobbi Braxton A big thank you to Mrs Engelbrecht and her Mum Di. They have donated 2 class sets of new sports balls (30 in total) with the help of Al and Hayley Chapman from the Frontrunner at Bush Inn. The Frontrunner crew sold them at a huge discount and also pumped them all up. Mrs Engelbrecht and her Mum (who lives in Ashburton) are pretty amazing and wanted to do something for our school. Wow we are so lucky having such support - THANKS HEAPS.

11/06 Matthew Ham 15/06 Courtney Gray

Congratulations to the following for the great work over the last two weeks:- Rebekah Caldwell, Evelyn Hancock, Helena Broers, Caitlin O’Loughlin, Jorja Higgs, Matthew Burroughs, Christine Chandler, Diane Tay, Jessica Ruck, Jacob Walker, Ethan Evans, William Foster, Keely Cooper, Ellen Burroughs, Sean Wilkie, Tanesha Etwell, Liam Brown, Jacob Etwell, Samara McIntyre, Maria Hancock, Kane Webb, Stevie Hamblyn, Blake Scott, Carenza Rosie, Theo Clark,. Cassie Falloon, Elijah Cullen-Reid, Saskia Barlow, Connor Falloon, Natalie Schofield, Dylan McDonald, Breanna Walters, Madison O’Loughlin & Marco Foorde. Fri 03/06 – A Ham & C McKenzie Fri 10/06 – T Wielsma & R Malone Class Mass – Kahikatea will attend the 9am Mass on Friday, 17 June. Please join us. Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is being held between 2pm and 3pm tomorrow, 2nd June. An ideal opportunity to pray before collecting your children! First Communion God’s blessings and congratulations to these children who make their First Holy Communion this Sunday: Barnaby Bird, Zach McIntyre, James McSweeney, Finn Tasker, Chantal MacDonald, Jazmyn Higgs, Marco Foord, Megan Koppen, Jakeb Tane, Taylor White, Liam Veevers, Taine Veevers, Shaun de Voil, Cassidy Fitzgerald, Matteus Sweetman, Ryan Wilkie, Chessie Cooper. Please keep these children in your prayers.

God Bless TAColeman Therese Coleman Principal

On your bike: *Keep your eyes on the road. *Keep left and don’t wobble. *Signal if you are going to turn. *Be prepared to stop quickly.

News and Updates from the happenings around the Board table: Last Meeting 17.05.11

*Strategic Planning: Part of Board duties involve looking ahead and ensuring the vision and goals of the school reflect the best path forward. Progress has been made on confirming the objectives and indicators in the strategic plan. *ICT: St Patrick’s web site has had a lot of work completed by Miss Sutherland and the teaching team. The blog and class pages are showing us all where this learning is heading. Keep up the good work it is inspiring seeing where everyone is being led in this. *Principal’s Report: Mrs Coleman spent a week in Melbourne Catholic schools recently. She reported their system differs markedly to ours and NZ schools are doing very well, especially around special character and with the incorporation of computers into the class. They too have national testing which has similar challenges being faced. An excellent week and she believes we have a lot to offer these schools. *Finance: A review of the budget will be made shortly and the juggling act of balancing the books is looking reasonably good. In fact there may be some room for putting some extra $$$ into key areas and the teachers are putting together a needs based analysis of where to direct those funds. *The Ministry of Education has advised this year’s funding for the remainder of the year will be from the roll at the start of the year, which is great news as we have lost some students after February. *As always though we need every dollar and we will be reminding families who have outstanding accounts shortly. *Property: Over the July holiday break the ramp behind the Office block will be replaced due to its age. Maintenance is an ongoing necessity and the Board is very pleased with progress made over recent times in improving the site. Winter is now upon us and the new heatpumps installed in the last year should come into their own. With winter months we will be monitoring drainage remedies on part of the site. The works carried out should see improvements around the senior block. The field is still to be addressed and indicators are that this will be quite a significant cost, options are being explored to progress this project. *Health & Safety: Fr Michael reported that church buildings may have to be strengthened in the future to meet the new codes after the earthquakes. To date no information has been received advising the school of any changes to building codes and the school has withstood them very well. *Next Meeting 21.06.11 @ 7pm *If any of you have any ideas on contributing to the school do not hesitate to bring them to the Principal’s or Board’s attention. We welcome ideas and always strive to achieve the best we possibly can for our community. God Bless Mike McRandle

Piano, Keyboard, V iol in, Theory. Tuition

by Margaret Maw LTCL,AIRM T,DBM,TTC

Phone 0 3-32 76 40 4

Cell Phones for Starship Hospital A big thank you to Mr Mike McRandle for rounding up all those old cell phones from his work for us! What a great idea! Keep collecting those phones! Ask your friends, family and work mates to help us collect as many unused or broken cellphones as we can! These will be recycled and at the same time raise money for Starship Hospital and we earn rewards for the school in the way of brand new IT equipment! The box is ready and waiting to be filled with your pre-loved phones in the office!

Young performers 7 - 17 wanted! JACK AND THE BEANSTALK AUDITIONS

MONDAY JUNE 6th 1 -2 pm or 2-3 pm

Alfred Hall , cnr Knowles St and Nancy Ave, Mairehau

Contact hellnhighwater@gmail.com to register

Congratulations to Nicola, Callum & Lauren on the birth of their new daughter and sister, Savanah.

Our heartfelt condolences to the Hegarty family on the recent loss of their Father and Grandfather.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace.