26 July

Dear Parents

A big thank you to Mrs Lieshout and all the teachers for the Olympic Day we had at the stadium on Tuesday. It was a marvellous day and all the children really enjoyed themselves. Thanks also to all the parents who were able to join us.

We farewell Macy Richardson tomorrow and wish her and her family all the best in their shift to Wellington.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Johnson, Rabbit & Morgan Families.

Submarine Catholics

In recent years I have witnessed a new branch of religious practice.

One that stays in the deep canyons of the .sea - intact, but generally submerged. It comes out of the depths at certain occasions and then goes back into the depths! Welcome to the submarine Catholic, who comes up for breath at Christmas, Easter, family anniversaries, and especially Catholic school enrolments of their children! And I am truly amazed at the number of .Catholic connections that surface at enrolment time; the aunties who are nuns, the great-uncle who was a priest, the parents educated at a Catholic school in India, Fiji, Gibraltar or Australia, etc. It is as if parents see the real value of a religious-based institution; for example, schools, but are unwilling to invest time or energy into the 2000-year-old tradition to which a Catholic school belongs. They want their children to .belong to this 2000 year Catholic tradition, even if they themselves find it difficult.

.But all is not lost. . '.' '.

I suspect there is a shift from the faith of a modem parent to the faith at the grandparent level.

· Grandparents know from history and experience what really matters and what works.

· They know how forgiveness and reconciliation trump the petty gains of ego status and power,

· They know. how loyalty and' ritual make families and institutions work.

· They .know how a, personal .and communal faith allows, encourages and enables risk taking; ,

· They know the difference between justice and law.

The Faith of our fathers is no longer practised in spite of "dungeon, fire and sword".' Our faith is practiced in a secular, nano-second commodity-driven world. As' such it needs to be repackaged and made into a tradition worthy of investment of time, energy and money. That is the value of a Catholic school that submarine Catholics sense. We try to package a tradition that makes sense intellectually and makes sense on a heart level. Not a task for the timid. But it must be remembered that the "spirit who blows at will" does not have an accountancy degree. The spirit does not measure, judge or tick boxes.

So welcome, submarine Catholics. Come out of the dark depths. Invest your time, money and energy into the institutions of the Church now. And .enjoy the journey on the surface. Reclaim the faith of our fathers.

- Kieran F. Fouhy is headmaster of 1200 boys at St Peter's College, Grafton, Auckland.

ALiM & ALL Contracts

Mrs Buxton and Mrs Lieshout have started on their specialist teaching in Writing and Maths to small groups of children. As I have mentioned previously, there are 2 outcomes to our participation in these contracts.

One is to provide feedback to the Ministry on National Standards, the other is to provide funding to allow schools to try different/innovative ways to teaching targeted children that otherwise could not occur. The idea being that we then incorporate the successful practices into our school delivery plans. Please remember the Maths meeting on 1^st Aug @ 7.00 pm. Numbers please to the office.

Newsletter Cover ~ It is time again to renew our newsletter cover. If you have a business and are interested in sponsoring our weekly newsletter, please contact the office for more information.

Gymnastics Yr 4-6 Boys and Girls ~ The Gymsports Festival is coming up on the 26th August. If your child is interested they will need to be available and willing to participate in 2-3 lunch practices and at least one after school and one weekend practice for the next four weeks. The cost for this is $5 per person. Please see Mrs T-K or Miss Harding by Monday 30th July.

Outstanding Sports Fees ~ We still have children owing for Netball, Cricket and Flipperball. We would appreciate your attention to get these settled. Thank you.

PTA

Monday 30^th July at school

PTA Meeting 7.00pm (short meeting prior to Fair Meeting)

FAIR Meeting 7.30pm – all welcome

Social Night ~ The PTA have organised a Quiz Night for a bit of fun & for new families to get the chance to meet others in the school. This is on Saturday 11 August and will be held in the school hall. Teams of 4 (& they don’t necessarily all have to be Sacred Heart people if you want to bring a friend) - $10 per team and BYO. To gauge numbers please advise the office next week if you have a team so we can confirm all details in next week’s newsletter. This is meant to be a very casual and fun night for all to enjoy. Hope you can come.

Entertainment Books ~ We have 4 books left if you are still wanting to purchase one.

Altar Servers

Saturday 28^th July 7.00 pm Reuben & Caleb Brown

Sunday 29^th July 10.30 am Abby Humm & Lucy Nind

Children’s Liturgy Amanda Smith

Netball Results

Shooters won 9-4 ‘Players of the Day’ – Tanesha Tagomoa-Kaa & Paris Johnson

Congratulations to:

The Ridd family on the arrival of a baby girl.

Our Olympic Teams

Class Happenings – Room 3

On Tuesday Sacred Heart had their own mini Olympic Games at the Velodrome. Each of our houses were allocated a country that will be competing at the Olympic Games at the end of this week. The countries were chosen based on the colours of our school houses. Once we had our opening ceremony, complete with torch bearers, the Olympic oath and a march around the outside of the events stage with our flags, the games were declared open by Mr Forde.

There were lots of games at the Olympics.

I enjoyed all of the games. I even enjoyed the hockey game. Well, I wasn’t very good at it. There was a javelin game that was my favourite game because I love throwing things. There was a parachute and that was my second favourite game because we got to go under it. Greta

The Olympics were funny because we got to go under the tent and make a mushroom. We had to sit on it. The koosh balls couldn’t go off the tent. Thomas

Canteen Prices ~ Friday’s Only

Hot Food

Chicken Burger $3.00

(with lettuce, cheese & mayo) $3.30

Chicken Nuggets $2.50

Pizza $1.60

Cheese Rolls $1.00

American Hotdog $2.50

(comes with BBQ, tomato or mustard sauce)

Budget 2 minute noodles $1.50

Maggi 2 minute noodles $3.00

Sandwiches

Chicken Wrap $3.00

Bacon Sandwich $2.50

(comes with the choice of 2 fillings – carrot, cheese, lettuce, egg &

BBQ sauce or mayonnaise)

Snacks

Chocolate Muffin $1.10

Cookie Time (small) $ .90

Cookie Time (large) $1.30

Fruit & marshmallow stick $1.00

Popcorn $ .60

Popcorn with icing sugar $ .70

Drinks

Can flavoured water – orange or peach $2.00

Box juice – tropical or orange $1.10

LOL fruit juice $2.50