25 July 2008

Dear Parents

Ko te reo te taikura o te whakaao marama (Language is the key to understanding).

Welcome back to Term 3 at Sacred Heart. We welcome Jakobe Paraki, Katelyn Maloney and Cameron Roulston to school. We hope they enjoy their time with us. Room 5 is also pleased to have Trent Ronald back in their class.
In the last week of Term 2 I was fortunate to attend the New Zealand Principals Conference in Christchurch. The speakers ranged from an American motivationalist to an Australian academic, with a range of New Zealand educationalists thrown in for good measure.
Our President’s address outlined the list of current Ministry Initiatives being pushed onto our schools. There were about 20 of them including the New Curriculum, Pandemic Planning, Mission On, Numeracy Project and Ka Hikitia. While each programme is worthwhile and in some schools make a huge difference to children’s learning potential, the point was made that unless the Government was prepared to fund the implementation properly, more and more schools would refuse to take part. In Auckland a group of high schools have refused to subscribe to the School Plus Initiative, due to a lack of appropriate funding. In an election year it is always good to be able to put pressure on politicians. Interestingly this year Helen Clarke also addressed the conference. Regardless of your politics she is a very accomplished speaker with the ability to gel with an audience and very up to date with issues relevant to them.
We are sad to farewell the Millynn family back to Australia. We thank them for their support. Also Tania Lock as a teacher aide. Tania has worked here for two and a half years and we wish her all the best in the future.

FIRST RECONCILIATION - the children being prepared for the Sacrament of Reconciliation should have brought the following notice home on Tuesday this week. A meeting for parents of children being prepared for the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be held next week on Wednesday 30 July at 7pm in Room 5. The programme covers 4 themes which the children will work through at home. Over the following weeks they will meet at school for 3 sessions, to assist them as they work through the themes presented. The programme book costs $5 and is to be paid to school please. This book is being subsidized by the Parish
1st children¹s session Wednesday 6 August 3.15 pm -¬ 4.00pm in Room 1
2nd children¹s session Wednesday 20 August 3.15 pm ¬- 4.00pm in Room 1
3rd children¹s session Wednesday 3 September 3.15 pm ¬- 4.00pm in the church for a practice.

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATON - Thursday 4 September at 6.30pm in the church.
Please see Miss O'Neill if you have any questions.

KAPA HAKA
We are still looking for someone to help with our Kapa Haka group. If you know of anyone who could be interested, please see Miss T.

OLYMPIC DAY
On Tuesday 5th August 10 am – 12 noon, the school will be holding an Olympic Day at the Stadium. It will be similar to our Community Day we held in Term 1. Parents are welcome to join us. Please fill in the slip if we can expect your company on this day.

LUNCH WARM UPS
PLEASE ensure that lunch warm ups are well named as almost every day we have problems identifying lunches.
As a result of mix ups some children have had their lunch eaten by other children.

PTA
The next PTA meeting will be held on Monday 28th July 7.30 p.m. at the home of Pauline Harrington, 15 West Plains School Road.

NETBALL
Stars lost 9 – 15. Players of the Day was Imelda Wilkes & Brooke O’Connor
Steel lost 5 – 11. Player of the Day was Briar Kilsby.
Sting lost 2 - 7. Player of the Day was MacKenzie Wild.

Draw for the 29th July
Sting vs Waihopai Rebels, court 3 at 4 pm
Steel vs Newfield Cougars, court 2 at 3.30 pm
Stars vs Woodlands Steelers, court 7 at 4 pm

LADIES SHOPPING NIGHT ~ THURSDAY 31ST JULY FROM 7.30 PM AT THE MAKAREWA COUNTRY CLUB
This will be a great night out with free wine tasting and a great array of stalls. Lucky spot prizes and a ‘Pamper Hamper’ up for grabs.
Tickets available for $6 or 2 for $10 from the Makarewa school office or contact Liz 235-8323.